it's actually very interesting to me how Schrader became interested in Japanese culture - his older brother dodged the draft by going to Japan and teaching English at a post-secondary school, and at night started hanging out with Yakuza guys https://twitter.com/gowturtle/status/1327296735861903360

his brother would write home from Japan which was the inspiration for Paul's first big Hollywood script (co-wrote with his brother) - a 1974 film called The Yakuza which was directed by Sydney Pollack. pretty neat movie imo

while in Japan, Leonard also wrote the scripts for a few other movies, such as the 1979 film The Man Who Stole the Sun directed by Kazuhiko Hasegawa, which is about a disillusioned high school science teacher who decides to build an atomic bomb.

i think it's a really interesting movie. vaugely Taxi Driver-adjacent but also denpa as shit and insanely unique. the main character is played by Kenji Sawada who was also in Mishima. https://twitter.com/cinexistenz/status/1172231656280739840

very cool cultural exchange to me how a guy from Grand Rapids could write scripts in Japanese, especially in like the 70s and 80s.