Darling & Honey arson recovery fund

日本語での説明は一番下に書いております。

On the afternoon of April 12th, a fire broke out in the Shinjuku neighborhood of Tokyo, on the corner of a historic nightlife quarter called "Golden Gai." Thankfully the fire was contained but four buildings were heavily burned, and the cause of the fire was soon determined to be arson by a mentally-disturbed homeless man.

Fire in Golden Gai

Since the 1950's and 60's, Golden Gai has been a popular area for drinking and socializing in Tokyo, and is world-famous for its narrow pedestrian streets, along which hundreds of tiny bars are located, many of them only able to seat a handful of customers. The two-story buildings all date back to before Japan's "economic miracle," and Golden Gai is one of the few remaining areas in Tokyo that hasn't been redeveloped or razed by real estate corporations. It's been under constant threat of destruction, most recently due to the approaching 2020 Olympics, but the dedication of its shop-keepers and the love its customers have for its ramshackle buildings and old-fashioned atmosphere has so far been strong enough to keep the forces of gentrification at bay.

What is Golden Gai?
More on Golden Gai

The fire of April 12th was a stark reminder of how fragile the situation in Golden Gai actually is, and how unexpectedly tragedy can strike.

One of the bars to be destroyed in the fire was Snack Honey, the second-floor location of Bar Darling, both of which are owned by actor and entertainer Yuya Ishikawa.

This Go Fund Me page is being set up to offer financial support to Yuya not only to be able to rebuild Honey (and Darling, which will likely have to be torn down in order to be rebuilt), but also to provide a replacement for lost income while the bars are closed.

Bar Darling, which opened in 2005, has been a popular gathering spot for filmmakers, actors and musicians from Tokyo, as well as visiting film festival programmers and filmmakers from abroad. Its walls have been decorated with posters and flyers from documentary films, splatter movies like THE MACHINE GIRL or ROBO-GEISHA, promotional images from Sion Sono movies, and more. Sono is a frequent customer at Darling, as well as many other famous moviemakers, and Yuya has appeared as an actor in Sono's films dating back to the 1990's.

It's difficult to explain the appeal of a place like Darling or Snack Honey if you haven't been there before. The bars in Golden Gai aren't particularly cheap, and they're all tiny and usually crowded. They generally don't serve food, and if you're a non-smoker, they're sometimes difficult to tolerate. But the feelings of cameraderie and warmth generated there are impossible to overestimate. As soon as you poke your head inside the plastic curtain that usually hangs inside the door, you feel welcome, even if you don't speak Japanese. You feel compelled to bring other friends to Darling on your next visit, simply to experience the same thing you did when you first visited. And Yuya and his staff will always remember you - once you've been there, you immediately become family.

And that's the reason why I'm setting up this GoFundMe page on behalf of Yuya: to support one of my families. The independent film world in Japan is a small and closely-knit one, but nobody makes much money from working in it. Darling and Honey were Yuya's primary sources of income, and the financial problems caused by the fire are likely to be traumatic. The merchants of Golden Gai are already planning various benefits and fund-raising activities to support the bars which were destroyed in the fire, and this page is my personal attempt to extend that campaign overseas, to try to loop in the festival programmers, film buyers, actors, directors and other friends and associates who might have visited Darling once or twice, or even heard about it from mutual acquaintances. It's a required stop for anyone in the film or music business who visits Tokyo, and the thought of it not recovering after this tragedy is unbearable.

If you are able to contribute something to this appeal, know that your generous donation will go directly to Yuya to support the rebuilding of Darling and Honey, as well as to allow him to subsist until they are back. 100% of the money we receive from GoFundMe will go to Yuya, and my involvement is only as a financial intermediary and as an English-speaking administrator of the page. The target of $10K was randomly chosen; any amount that we are able to raise will go to Yuya, even if it's only a few dollars. But my aim is high, and I hope that even if you aren't able to contribute - and certainly if you are - that you'll help us to spread the news about this campaign to the right corners of the internet.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and hope that you'll be able to visit Darling and Honey again before 2016 draws to a close.

ニュース、メディアなどでご存知の方も多いかと思いますが、東京・新宿歌舞伎町の「ゴールデン街」で2016年4月12日午後、火災がおきました。

著名な映画監督、評論家、役者、ミュージシャン、アーティストなどの談義場として愛されているバー、一階の『ダーリン』２階の『スナック•ハニー』もこのようにほぼ全焼してしまいました。

一日も早い営業再開を願い、このファンドを立ち上げました。修復のために、皆様のご支援をお願いいたします。

これからも皆様と共に『ダーリン』『ハニー』を応援していきましょう！