'Nuclear Winter' cinema.　-Afternoon on the Islands of Langerhans-　Haruki Murakami

　　　The other day, I traveled to Kyoto for a small matter and had some extra time, so as usual, I went to a movie theater that caught my eye and watched a movie. To tell the truth, I love watching movies like this when traveling. Although I don't go to movie theaters so enthusiastically in Tokyo, when I go to an unknown town and see a movie theater sign, I almost reflexively go inside. I don't really know why.

In Kyoto, I watched a war movie called "Under Fire", but since I entered the first morning showing, there was only one person in the audience when the movie started, me. I felt somewhat relieved when the second person came in about ten minutes after the movie started, but watching a movie alone in a movie theater is a terribly restless and lonely experience. I suddenly imagined that if I were the only survivor of a nuclear war, this is what my life would be like. By the way, when I entered a movie theater near the Berlin Zoo station to watch "Christine F," there was only one person in the audience, me. Moreover, it was an old, spacious, and huge movie theater with a dark atmosphere, and sitting alone in such a place was really frightening. Unlike in Japan, foreign movie theaters suddenly become very dark when the movie starts, so even if I look around, I have no idea if any new customers have come in afterwards. Watching "Christine F" while feeling anxious, "Am I the only one in this darkness?", the darkness and sadness become even more intense. After the movie ended and the lights turned on, I looked around and found out that there were only four customers in total. That way, the four of us looked at each other's faces in the empty Berlin movie theater, like in a "nuclear winter".