Q&A with Mariko Hashimoto, Child Rights Award-winning documentary filmmaker of Iori and Ibuki – Why We Were Born
(winner of the Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award 2011)

Iori and Ibuki – Why We Were Born is a documentary from Japan that tracks the lives of two siblings who were each born with a disability.

Older sister Iori is blind and used to be troubled by why she couldn’t see. "I can't do anything useful. I want to die," she says early in the film. Her younger brother Ibuki was born both physically and mentally impaired. He has undergone 11 operations and been admitted to hospital 33 times.

Early in the film, his parents confessed they used to wonder if they did a good thing bringing him into the world. The story unfolds a compelling tale of resilience and optimism, as Ibuki’s determination ultimately gives his sister and parents a source of strength and an appreciation for their own weaknesses and an understanding that everyone has a reason for being born – including people with disabilities.

Iori and Ibuki – Why We Were Born is the 2011 winner of the Child Rights Award, given each year to the best television programming on children’s rights produced in the Asia–Pacific region. The filmmaker and TV journalist, Mariko Hashimoto, talks with UNICEF about the 11 years she spent filming the documentary.

Q: What inspired you to make this film – how did you find this family?

MH: In 1999, I visited the Shizuoka Prefectural School for the Visually Impaired along the southern coast of central Japan to report on a ceremony to commemorate the school's 100th anniversary. Filming at a school for disabled children starts with checking who can be filmed and who cannot. During that process, a girl ran past my eyes. She was Iori Konagaya, then aged 8. She ran so fast that I initially assumed that she was weak-sighted. I later learned that she is totally blind. I felt a strong desire to talk to her. Although I had interviewed many children as an education news reporter, Iori had a different style of expression. What was the world like to a blind child like her? What kind of environment had she grown up in? I had so many questions to ask her. Iori took me to meet her family, including a blind older sister and a younger brother who is physically and mentally impaired. I thought life must have been hard for her family, but they were cheerful and resilient. Feeling that I might be able to convey something important through this family, I decided to film them.

Q: How did you develop the idea?

MH: In between periods of reporting other news, I frequently visited Iori's school and the Konagaya family and developed a relationship over 11 years of filming and interviewing them. When filming the same people for a long time, there is the advantage of establishing a rapport with the people being filmed. There is also the risk of becoming unable to view matters with a critical eye. I always tried to keep some distance. As a result, we managed to incorporate into the film universal issues in Japan, such as the increase in bullying, the increase in the number of severely handicapped children, the lack of nurses and facilities, schools being closed to the public and the economic depression – Mr Konagaya became unemployed during the filming due to restructuring of the company where he had worked. Iori often walks in circles in a room, and I felt that her conflicts were the conflicts of our society.

I was unable to decide when to turn the collected material into a program. Then I found myself at a turning point. Both my parents, who had suffered from cancer, died one after the other. The Konagaya family consoled me. They were my role models. Through the loss of my parents, I came to realize how I wished they had lived longer – despite their constant need for care and their loss of speech. In Japan, more than 30,000 people, including small children, commit suicide every year. That sobering thought made me earnestly desire that all of us should value our precious lives, so I decided to depict the Konagaya family just as I saw them.

Q: What other difficulties did you encounter in filming this story?

MH: At some point, Iori started being bullied at school. She frequently complained to me, saying, "I have not achieved anything with the piano, studying or swimming. I am useless. It is pointless filming me". Each time she complained, we talked the matter through. Sometimes I kept a little distance from her, saying, "Don't behave like a spoiled child". On such occasions, I had forgotten about Iori's blindness, and I was afraid of being told to stop filming. At the same time, we encountered an impasse on filming at Iori's school. She had been accepted at a nationally acclaimed junior high school in Tokyo for the visually impaired. People from all over Japan go to the school. When we applied for permission to film at the school, Iori's classmates were fiercely opposed to it, saying things like, "How can you dare to enjoy filming people with a visual impairment? It serves no purpose to make a display of our impairment!" And they refused to be filmed. I initially tried to persuade them, but then I thought doing so would likely cause the bullying Iori suffered to worsen.

Although it was regrettable that we could not film Iori taking a step forward in society, we had to put up with it. Today, many adults with acquired visual impairment caused by diabetes or other diseases go to schools for the blind to become masseuses, but most of them dislike being filmed. We had the same situation at the special support school that Ibuki attended. I wish that disabled people could express their thoughts freely in front of the camera. I believe that today's society, in which disabled people are obliged to live "secretly", must be changed. I long for a society free from discrimination. I believe that this longing is due to having seen my father fall victim to a speech disorder caused by sickness and consequently losing his confidence, forcing him to spend his later years in isolation.

Q: What has been the reaction from audiences after watching it?

MH: We received many comments, from both the young and the old, regardless of whether they were disabled or not, from viewers who put themselves in the shoes of the people being filmed. We had comments such as, "I strongly felt the significance of life and family" or "I began to think about the meaning of my birth". And, "I am ashamed of myself for brooding over trifle issues". The film was used for values education in many schools, and we received valuable comments from children.

Q: After 11 years, it must be odd to not meet the family without a camera. Is this the end of filming the family?

MH: After the program was broadcast, Iori said, "Please continue filming. Please keep making an appeal to people through me so that many handicapped people can live proudly." Her growth brought tears to my eyes. Ibuki also began to recognize me as "Ms. Hashimoto from TV Shizuoka" by hearing my voice. Kazumi, their mother, said, "Ibuki cannot do anything on his own. I am not sure how much he understands, but he can read minds. I believe that he is showing his gratitude for (your) filming him for a long time".

A good news story requires a good scoop. I believe that the same applies to documentaries. I believe that the power to find a shining protagonist and a persistent effort to reveal social issues are the sources of newsworthy stories. I am proud that I found this family. I am going to follow this family until the mother's wish is fulfilled, as expressed in her comment: "After Iori gets married, gives birth to a child who is able to see and the child becomes able to support Iori, I would like to focus my attention on the care of Ibuki".

Q: What are your plans in the future to promote the children's rights?

MH: Japan, as you know, was severely hit by an earthquake. Some children lost their parents instantly when the tsunami struck. Some children cannot go out or even breathe deeply because of the accident at the nuclear reactor. Some children have been bullied because they lived near the nuclear power plant. Some disabled children could not find safety in shelters due to the lack of medical equipment. To help children live happily and free from discrimination, I would like to continue to make programs that help to identify social issues and find solutions.