K-DOCS

Synopsis

For low-income and isolated people, Japan’s public bathhouses are more than places to bathe—they are vital community spaces. For decades, 85-year-old chimney sweeper Yoshio Saito has kept wood-fired bathhouses alive, even as his profession disappears. After the Noto Peninsula earthquake, a damaged bathhouse asks him to rebuild its collapsed chimney so it can reopen. Risking his life, Yoshio restores more than a chimney—he helps revive a community. As the smoke rises again, he confronts a profound question: when the places that once needed us begin to disappear, how can we continue to age with pride and dignity?

Director's Statement

As a child, I watched my aunt, a supermarket cleaner, receive little respect despite the importance of her work. That experience made me question why essential labor is so often overlooked. Through Yoshio, an 85-year-old chimney sweeper, I found someone who sees cleaning not as menial work but as an act of care that sustains a community. As his profession disappears, he continues with quiet pride. Through his final and most dangerous job, I hope to illuminate the dignity of invisible labor and ask how we can grow old with pride as the places that once needed us disappear.