Listen up, people! It’s time to turn your attention toward a good cause.
Yuya Ishikawa is a Japanese character actor who has lent his talents to a variety of memorable and entertaining genre flicks - particularly some of the batshit insane films of Noboru Iguchi, including ROBOGEISHA (a personal favorite), DEAD SUSHI and THE MACHINE GIRL.
Yuya is also the proud owner of a two-story bar in Tokyo’s historic Golden Gai district. The first story is Darling, and the second story space is called Snack Honey. Yuya serves drinks and friendship to artists, actors, horror fiends, and anyone else who wanders through the door.
Sadly, a few days ago, an arsonist set a fire that destroyed both spaces, along with a number of other businesses in the neighborhood. Just like that, Yuya’s livelihood was swept away, along with the business that he had built and poured his heart and soul into. Like most establishments in the neighborhood, the bars are tiny (only seating 8 or 10 guests at a time), so it didn’t take much time for the fire to wipe them out completely.
A Go Fund Me campaign has been set up to help Yuya recoup the loss and rebuild.
The film community, and particularly the horror community, has always been a family. Yes, it’s kind of a deranged, dysfunctional family, given the massive amount of decapitations and our endless cheering when presented with geysers of blood, but we understand each other. We get it. And we celebrate it together. Yuya Ishikawa is one of us, and has contributed to the genre and many of the films that we hold so dear. Please send him your thoughts, your happy vibes, and maybe even a couple of bucks. This kind of tragedy is horrible in any context, but it feels much closer to home when it happens to someone you admire and who has brought you so much joy.
