A New Production by Yellow Brick Studio

Shikata Ga Nai

A Japanese saying for "It could not be helped," is the title of a fictional tale inspired by real events. The movie tells the story of a Hawaii veteran, Tatsuo Kaneshiro, a member of the 442nd RCT, who in 1999, is still haunted by visions of something he did in the war, for which he has never told his family.

The Fateful Patrol

Coming upon a German caravan of supply trucks in the mountains of Bruyeres, France, in 1944, Tats is forced to kill a German soldier else risk he and lifelong friend, Seichi Mochizuki, being discovered. But the soldier turns out to be a 16-year-old kid only wanting to eat a candy bar in peace. The moment will haunt Tats for the rest of his life.

Filmed & edited by Denny Hironaga. Seichi (Cory Nemoto) and Tatsuo (Titus Nakagawa) confront the German Soldier (Blake Kirkpatrick)

Production Team Interview

Shikata Ga Nai is written and directed by Eric Nemoto, and features some of Hawaii's finest actors. See the video to get their take on what they feel will be a very personal and special movie.

Video edited by Christine Tsuzaki

Production Status

Shikata Ga Nai was scheduled to be filmed in 2020. But a little old thing like a worldwide pandemic forced us to postpone. A few scenes were shot in 2021 during a window of low COVID cases. Barring no further state shutdowns, we will proceed with periodic shoots and wrap filming by the end of 2022.

Setting up one of Tats' haunting visions of the Young German Man

Hawaii Herald Cover Story

The Hawaii Herald, the newspaper that focuses on Hawaii's Japanese American community, did a feature story on Shikata Ga Nai in its July 2022 issue. A link to the article is provided below. Another link is offered for those who wish to be a subscriber.

Read The Article

Subscribe To The Hawaii Herald

Fundraising

We've made movies on big budgets (well, for us), small budgets, and no budgets. Shikata Ga Nai will require a moderate budget. Please help us by donating today!