![]() ![]() Then came the real reason for our meeting: my presentation to him of Criterion’s brand-new Eclipse box set Nikkatsu Noir, which includes three of his films (two starring roles, one supporting), which I’d carried to Tokyo with me from New York to hand to him in person. At the tonkatsu restaurant-where the chef and his wife knew Joe very well-we ordered beers (of course), and Joe chose some dishes for us. So with this bit of history behind us, we were able to dispense with formalities when we met again in early September, immediately decamping to a small tonkatsu-ya in Joe’s western Tokyo neighborhood of Sengawa, where he has lived for forty-plus years. Bring me a beer.” When Ace no Joe, the Dirty Joker, says drink, you drink. Joe’s manager (and son) also chose the nonalcoholic route, leaving me in the not-unhappy position of feeling obliged to slam my palm down on the table and exclaim, “Yes! Yes, I will drink with you, Joe. Joe pointed at all of us around the table and growled (in English), “Drink? Who drinks? Beer?” Schilling politely declined, and Iwamoto blanched, no doubt because he was on company time at the moment, not to mention it was only about ten in the morning. Schilling and I were accompanied by Nikkatsu’s Hideo Iwamoto, and fully expected the meeting to be over coffee, but we found Joe already well into his third or fourth beer of the day. While we were still trying to plan the event, we were able to meet Joe at a restaurant in Roppongi the morning of my flight home. Criterion and Janus Films had even agreed to cover some of his travel costs, but the remainder of the budget couldn’t be covered and the plans didn’t come to fruition. and Canada, we tried our best to bring Joe to New York as a guest for a Japan Society screening of Glass Johnny: Looks Like a Beast (1962), directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara. ![]() Then in late 2007, as I was in the midst of organizing, with Schilling, a smaller version of the Nikkatsu action retro to tour the U.S. Tokyo-based film critic Mark Schilling introduced me to Shishido, and I did the requisite photo op, but that’s where it all ended. Shishido was a special guest there-along with acclaimed director Toshio Masuda-as part of the festival’s retrospective of Nikkatsu action films from the late 1950s and 1960s. Our paths had crossed twice before, first in the spring of 2005, at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, in northern Italy. This wasn’t the first time I’d met, or been drinking with, Shishido. ![]() This was the situation I found myself in one evening at the beginning of September, as I did my best not only to remain standing but to help prevent legendary Japanese crime and action movie star Joe Shishido from being struck down by a city bus, as we stumbled happily from a small restaurant to an even smaller pub in a tiny suburban neighborhood of Tokyo. The problem is amplified at night, and particularly when you’re drunk and stumbling around with someone even drunker than you. Likely a holdover from when there weren’t as many cars around and people walked in the roads alongside carts and horses, this fact can sometimes prove a problem nowadays, as you’re forced to share narrow streets with buses, taxis, and private automobiles. If you’re doing anything specialized, like auto hauling, tankers, and bulk, it’s worth choosing a dispatcher with experience booking those specific types of loads.Full-size sidewalks aren’t very common in outer Tokyo, particularly in the many small residential neighborhoods that surround the city for miles. Nearly everyone on the list handles the most common types of freight – dry van, reefer, and flatbed. We’ve created a list of third-party dispatchers who specialize in finding loads. If the dispatchers don’t book anything, you don’t pay. With an independent dispatcher, the financial risk is reduced because you’ll typically only pay a flat rate or a percentage of each load. There’s also the risk of hiring a bad dispatcher and being stuck with them. ![]() Obviously, $30k-$50k for the average salary of a full time dispatcher is too much for an owner operator and even for some small fleets to take on. There are several advantages to using a dispatching service compared to hiring someone to work for your company. Many owner operators and small fleets are great at everything that goes into running a trucking business except for finding loads, in which case they better find someone who can do it for them. Some people are natural rate negotiators, have a nose for finding good freight, and have time to put their talents to use. ![]()
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