Nara Toei Theater

Founder Yuzaburo Tanii gave the amazing green light by responding to requests from local residents across Nara City whose family members had gone to war to watch their troops during World War II by opening the Nara News Cinema on March 1, 1942, opening with the “East Asia War Annihilation Chronicle” and the wartime documentary “The Dawn Departure” alongside a Japan News newsreel.

Its days as a newsreel theater didn’t last long, as on April 8, 1944, the theater was renamed the Nara Eiga Theater and the theater officially became a first-run Japanese film theater, but only for at least a few years. Five days later, it became a white premiere theater. This also didn’t last long. It wasn’t until right after the death of the war that the theater immediately became a foreign film house alongside newsreels being revived, and began screening first-run foreign films including American movies on January 3, 1946. This was followed by an affiliate with United News newsreels beginning on March 28 of that same year.

After almost an 11-year run as an foreign film house, Toei stepped on the plate and swept the foreigners away from the Nara Eiga’s policy on December 28, 1956, officially becoming the Nara Toei Theater, and screening first-run Toei Japanese films. This continued for more than three decades until April 7, 1989, when it closed for the final time. It was immediately demolished a few months later, and construction of the Cinema Department Yuraku was built on the site, which officially opened in December 1990 and has its own Cinema Treasures page.

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