Kako Annika Esashi
what I do
I am interested in story. I dive into the different facets of my work with a central interest in using differnet forms, such as film, language, and community development to hear and transform different stories.
Film
I am a producer-director based in Tokyo, Japan. I have written, directed, and edited two short films, and am currently working on an omnibus film and a documentary. I have also worked in various roles for over 15 feature films.
Translation
I bridge the gap in communication via live and written translation. I have translated from Japanese-English in diplomatic settings, for local magazines, and national competitions. Currently, I create English subtitles for films and do live English-Japanese translation for a startup.
English Teaching
I have over five years of experience teaching English as a foreign language in Philadelphia, Comoros (Africa), and Japan. I taught pre-professionals at a trade school in Fukui, Japan and private lessons to adults.
Community Development
After completing an M.S.Ed in International Educational Development at the University of Pennsylvania and internship with UNESCO IICBA, I started working in Tsuruga, Japan as a community development worker. I also worked as the representative's assistant at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Japan.
Featured now
DIRECTORIAL HIGHLIGHT
"END of DINOSAURS"(2023)
Directed & Starred by Kako Annika Esashi
Winner of Special Jury Prize at Pia International Film Festival
Screened at:
JAPAN CUTS 2025 (New York)
Chiayi Int'l Art Doc Festival (Taiwan)
Tokyo International Film Festival (Japan)
PIA Film Festival (Japan)
Hokkaido International Film Festival (Japan)
Fukui Ekimae Short Film Festival (Japan)
Stream on Japan Airlines Flights from Spring-Fall 2025.
CREWED ON
Previously In Theatres
A story in the candid moments of actors
Having recently quit her part-time job, Shiho fills her emptiness with hookups. Rika despises being called "beautiful" by everyone she comes by. Hiroki works at a bar to make ends meet. All three of them are actors. But, they are also individual people. Their ideals and realities, as well as their past and futures come to clashing down in this story, as they try to live as actors through the drudgery of daily life.
"Todonotsumari" (After All is Said and Done)
Screening in theatres around Japan from Sept. 22, 2022
"Saikai Rakuen" (2025)
Directed by Keiko Tsuruoka, Assistant Directed by Kako Annika Esashi
Vancouver Film Festival 2025 (Canada)
Keiko Tsuruoka's wistful film features Kazunari Yanagitani as Kazu, an actor visiting his hometown, where he will have to confess a sad secret to his family. Saikai is a seaside municipality in Nagasaki prefecture — a place with charm, nice scenery, and not much going on. For Kazu, it's a nice contrast with Tokyo, where he has gone to make his living. His family and his old community welcome his return visit, and he is loath to disappoint them, but the truth about his upcoming marriage will have to be told
Coming to Theaters
A story strung together by the sounds only found in specific places
A dialect is a sound. It is a sound rooted in the land. Following the seasons from spring to winter in rural Japan, the narrative documentary style etches the every moment of lives of a young woman trying to retain history through traditional music, high school students in their fight to win the local theatre competition, generational fishermen in their ventures to the sea, and a lone man running away from his past in the wintery mountains, only to find the passion and warmth of locals towards the local festival dance.
Coming to theaters 2025
...as updated on the Blog
Follow my note for details of projects in production