Tottori, the hometown of internationally acclaimed manga artist Jiro Taniguchi, has been working on a film adaptation of Taniguchi's Harukanaru Machi e (English title: A Distant Neighborhood) for years. However, the mayor of city Kotaro Ishida admitted that the city might give up the production of the film due to lack of funds at the city council's main meeting yesterday.

The film was originally planned as the main attraction for the up-coming events "The 13th International Comic Artist Conference" and "International Manga Expo" in August-November of 2012. The estimated budget was about 200 million yen (approximately US$2,5 million). But the city has come to a standstill for lack of funds. They still need several tens of millions of yen more to start the production, and have no means of raising it. The mayor said, "I still have a ray of hope, but I also have to understand objectively that we are facing very difficult situation now."

English covers by Fanfare/Ponent Mon

The manga already had a live-action apaptation film as "Quartier lointain" in Europe by German director

Sam Garbarski in 2010. Here's a trailer.

Source: Nihonkai Shimbun

© Jiro Taniguchi/Shogakukan

© Fanfare/Ponent Mon