A Farcical But Fascinating Premise
In the actual film too, Raju treats his protagonist as a larger-than-life character who cannot be harmed even by bullets. In a scene, Karthi explains the reason behind his name; he will fight and rise above all obstacles like how Japan rose back after the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. It gives you a phoenix-like powerful story for him, but it’s also ludicrous that he literally isn’t harmed by the explosions taking place around him. A cop tells us that Japan plunders all the wealth, and goes abroad to party. A part of this is true as he uses all his stolen wealth lavishly, making films based on his real stories, where he is all in all; director, actor, producer and everything else. When drunk, he becomes the Robin Hood of Tamil Nadu, giving jewels to everyone he meets on the road. But when we first see him for real, he is in a hospital waiting for a test report, and he has his issues to solve, including the typical “You too Brutus” problem of a gangster.
When 200-crore worth of jewels are stolen in Coimbatore and evidence points to Japan, special teams are formed to hunt him down. Now, there are 30-40 cases filed against him in every state, but why is this particular case important? Because the jewellery store is co-owned by a Minister. Raju Murugan uses this angle to address the politics and exploitation at large, while not deviating too much from narrating Japan’s life. Parallely, we get to see how all of Japan’s actions and the pressure from power affect a common man, who doesn’t have the power, connection or money to fight back when he is blamed for wrongdoing.
Raju Murugan’s works are known for his dialogues, and Japan has plenty that generate laughs. There is a scene where Japan learns he is suffering from a major disease, and he sadly talks about Karma. He says, “Karma na enna nu theriyuma? nee vaazhkai la adichaa kosu elaam dinosaur ah maari vandhu thaakum.” Likewise, he manages to crack us up even during certain serious circumstances, like the one involving two state police groups fighting to apprehend Japan, while cops from a third state always arrive late on the scene, or when a terrifically staged bomb sequence backfires.