Filmmaker / Journalist — International NGO — On the Frontlines
NARITA JUN No life is too small to give up on.
Origin
Before I held a camera, the world treated me as if I did not exist.
Nagoya, 1993. I was born without a family register — a life left unrecorded, treated as if it did not exist. I know bullying, discrimination and loneliness firsthand.
But some people refused to give up on me. A camera I encountered at church became my light. Now it is my turn: I stand in the field to record that people — and every living thing — are still here.
Read my story
Approach
Film at the core — designed until it truly carries.
Film is always the axis. But for a message to reach people, it also takes design, words — and a person who has returned to who they truly are. That is why there are three doors.
Film
Filmmaking
The axis of everything. Standing in the field, recording — from documentary to brand films for changemaking companies and NPOs.
View works →Design & Web
Web / Design
It does not end with film. Websites, design, words — social creative that shapes the whole journey of a message.
View works →Counseling
Return to Humanity
Before creating, return to being human. One-on-one dialogue to come back to who you truly are, beneath the roles and expectations.
Learn more →The Small Lives
Size, species, nationality — none of it matters.
Migratory birds, refugee children, cats left behind in disaster zones, a voice at the end of a phone line. I point my camera at the smallest lives — the ones drowned out by louder voices. Stories recorded in the field.
Cover Story
Migratory birds & the people guarding the tidal flat
Field Note 01 — 35.08°N 136.84°E · Fujimae, Nagoya · 2024 · Ramsar 20th
Twenty years of the Ramsar listing. A film for the people who kept the sanctuary alive — premiered at our first self-organized screening, to a full house.
A voice & the hands holding the line
Suicide hotline, Hokkaido
Field Note 02 — 43.06°N 141.35°E · Hokkaido, Japan · 2021
Three calls get through out of a hundred. The frontline keeping fading voices connected.
Cats & the owners waiting to return
Noto, Ishikawa
Field Note 03 — 37.30°N 137.15°E · Noto, Japan · 2024
Cats left behind by the earthquake, and owners searching for them from evacuation shelters.
Migratory birds & the keepers of the tidal flat
Fujimae Tidal Flat / Patagonia
Field Note 04 — 35.08°N 136.84°E · Fujimae, Japan · 2024 · Long-term
Twenty years on the Ramsar list. A record of the people who kept a paradise for migratory birds alive.
Elephants & those who stay beside them
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Field Note 05 — 18.79°N 98.98°E · Chiang Mai, Thailand · 2023 · Two weeks in field
Elephants living in the gaps of the tourism industry, and daily life at a sanctuary.
Sea lions & the people who live by the sea
Shakotan, Hokkaido
Field Note 06 — 43.30°N 140.48°E · Shakotan, Japan · 2021
In a barren sea, tracing the coexistence of endangered Steller sea lions and fishermen.
Field Log
A record, in coordinates, of every field I have walked.
From the Seto Inland Sea in 2019 to Bangladesh, Thailand and Noto — every field I stood in with a camera, plotted by coordinates. Dots trace the land; lines trace each route from my base in Nagoya.
The world is full of loud voices.
And the smallest voices are always the first to be drowned out.
Still — no life is too small to give up on.
I stand beside the lives that went unrecorded.
I shine a light and say: they are still here.
That, I believe, is what film can do.
“The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.”
— John 1:5 ｜ Narita Jhonerick Manalo
Trusted By
Entrusted by countless fields and partners.
"The moment we received it, I knew it would become a company treasure. This film is alive."
Junko Nitta — neiro Inc.
"Through the film, people found what they had long been searching for. At its root, I believe, is love."
Sayuri Inoue — Core Essence Inc.
"He thinks about me more than I do myself. There is no one I trust more."
Tatsuki Sakurai — Good Life Fitness
"He captured something like proof that I have lived. I want it played at my own funeral."
Our Association
"It changed the atmosphere of the whole venue in an instant. The film reached the subconscious."
Rie Fukumoto — SPACE Inc.
"A companion in creation. Six years of honest, uncompromising collaboration."
Aya Muramoto — irodori Branding Inc.
"One photograph he took became the cover of a government publication."
Tomoko Shinkai
"My family told me: sit up straight before you watch this."
Miwa Suzuki — Kisouan
Clients & Partners
The people we have created with.
News
Latest updates
WAVE CREATIVE
The social-creative production company Narita leads. Working with companies, NPOs and communities to give feelings a form that carries. For commissions and latest articles, visit WAVE.