18×2 Beyond Youthful Days is a 2024 romance film directed by Michihito Fujii and produced by Chang Chen. Starring Greg Hsu and Kaya Kiyohara, alongside an ensemble cast including Joseph Chang, Shunsuke Michieda, Haru Kuroki, Hitomi Kuroki, and Yutaka Matsushige, the film follows a recently fired Taiwanese video game developer (Hsu) on a solo trip to Japan, reminiscing about a past romantic entanglement with a Japanese backpacker (Kiyohara) that never blossomed into a relationship.
Adapted from a web travelogue by Taiwanese video game developer Jimmy Lai in 2014, the film was stuck in development hell before Japanese filmmaker Michihito Fujii joined the project in 2019, turning it into a collaborative film between Taiwan and Japan. Fujii spent four years penning the screenplay, while lead actors Hsu and Kiyohara were announced to be part of the production in March 2023. Principal photography commenced in Japan in the same month and continued in Taiwan in April. Following the completion of filming in May 2023, the film underwent six months of post-production.
The film held its world premiere at Ambassador Theatres Taipei, on 14 February 2024, followed by a theatrical release on 14 March and 3 May in Taiwan and Japan, respectively. It performed well at the box office and received generally positive reviews from critics, particularly for the acting and aesthetics, but the writing faced criticism. The film also secured four nominations in the 61st Golden Horse Awards.
Plot Jimmy, the founder of a video game development studio, gets fired from his own company during a board meeting. Devastated, he returns to his hometown of Tainan. While tidying his room, he stumbles upon a postcard he received 18 years ago from his dear Japanese friend Ami. He then receives a phone call from the studio co-founder, who invites him on the final business trip to Tokyo. After the business meeting, Jimmy embarks on a solo trip without a destination in Japan.
Jimmy's thoughts drift back 18 years to when he works at the struggling Karaoke Kobe in Tainan during the summer before university. He meets Ami, a new employee and Japanese backpacker looking for a working place to save up money for an upcoming journey. Assigned to show her around, Jimmy interacts with Ami and becomes romantically interested in her. During the welcoming meal, Ami is asked about her trip. She explains that she plans to go on a trip without a destination and shows her sketchbook of drawings recording her previous footsteps in Taiwan. Impressed, Jimmy suggests she decorate a wall at the karaoke. After the meal, Ami expresses her interest in motorcycles, and Jimmy rides her to an observation deck with a stunning view of Tainan. They bond and discuss their dreams. Jimmy confesses his uncertainty, and Ami encourages him to search for a dream.
In the present, Jimmy arrives in Matsumoto and encounters Liu, a Taiwanese izakaya owner who suggests that he visits Ami's hometown, Tadami. On his journey, he meets a young backpacker named Koji on the Iiyama Line, who recommends they stop at the snowing Nagaoka, where Jimmy is captivated by the scenery, reminiscent of a classic romance film Love Letter. Jimmy recalls that his co-workers asked Ami to describe her ideal boyfriend, but her description contradicts Jimmy's characteristics. However, a co-worker encourages him to date her anyway and gives him tickets to Love Letter. During the movie, Ami cries miserably and finds an excuse to leave the scene, leaving Jimmy confused.
Back in the present, Jimmy meets and befriends Yukiko, a staff member at an internet café who is playing the game he developed. Yukiko offers to drive him to the sky lantern festival. Jimmy then recalls Ami's sudden departure, and her subsequent announcement of returning to Japan. Jimmy is furious with Ami and refuses to talk to her, even when she finishes the wall art. However, encouraged by his father's advice to leave no regrets, Jimmy decides to ask Ami out one last time before she leaves and takes her to a sky lantern festival. They make a promise to meet each other again after they have the opportunity to pursue and fulfill their dreams.
Upon arriving in Tadami, Jimmy meets Ami's mother, Yuko, who reveals Ami's passing. Yuko gives Jimmy Ami's sketchbook, which contains drawings of Taiwan. Through the drawings, it is revealed that Ami had been suffering from cardiomyopathy and had wished to travel around the world during the final days of her life. However, after meeting and falling in love with Jimmy in Taiwan, her desire to continue living is ignited, and she decides to seek alternative treatments in Japan. Therefore, she abruptly leaves Taiwan before her condition deteriorates and refuses Jimmy's requests to see her in later years while she is hospitalized. Overwhelmed, Jimmy weeps as he reaches the last page of the sketchbook—a picture of them releasing sky lanterns, symbolizing their promise.
On his journey back, Jimmy writes a letter to Ami, sharing his life since their separation. He reveals that he was aware of Ami's passing after completing his first game, where he fulfilled his promise to achieve his dream and attempted to reach out to her, but to no avail. Jimmy expresses his gratitude for Ami's presence in his youthful days at the end of the letter, and promises to go on a trip without a destination in her honor.
Cast Greg Hsu as Jimmy, a successful former video game developer who went on a trip to Japan Kaya Kiyohara as Ami, a Japanese backpacker romantically entwined with Jimmy 18 years ago Joseph Chang as Liu, the Taiwanese owner of a Matsumoto-based izakaya Shunsuke Michieda as Koji, a young backpacker Haru Kuroki as Yukiko, an internet café staff member Hitomi Kuroki as Yuko, Ami's mother Yutaka Matsushige as Nakazato, a resident at Tadami who drives Jimmy to Yuko
Also appearing in the film are Toyoharu Kitamura as Shimada, the Japanese boss of Karaoke Kobe; Buffy Chen as Hsiao-ting, Jane Liao as Shu-yi, Lee Kuan-yi as Wei, the co-workers of Jimmy and Ami at Karaoke Kobe; and Figaro Tseng as Aaron, the co-founder of Jimmy's video game development studio.
Production Conception
18×2 Beyond Youthful Days is adapted from and based on real-life events recorded in a travelogue titled Wandering Journey on Slow Train in Japan (Chinese: 日本慢車流浪記), written by Jimmy Lai under the pseudonym "Blue Fox". Lai, a Taiwanese video game developer, embarked on a vacation journey across Japan using the Seishun 18 Ticket and wrote the travelogue, aiming to reminisce about his romantic past with a Japanese backpacker. After publishing the travelogue on the Taiwanese blog Backpackers and it went viral in 2014, Lai was approached by film production studios interested in purchasing the adaptation rights. Eventually, producer Roger Huang acquired the rights and began searching for film directors and screenwriters to join the project. Actor Chang Chen and director-producer Lin Yu-hsien became attached to the project in the early stages, with Chang making his producer debut at the invitation of his friend Huang, and he described the experience as a "learning opportunity". However, Lai became dissatisfied with the numerous screenplay drafts, feeling that the filmmakers and production companies were excessively expanding the story length and introducing new elements that deviated from the essence of his travelogue. As script after script was rejected and with Lai's subsequent migration to the United States, the project was stuck in development hell for four years. In 2019, during the Kaohsiung Film Festival, Huang met Japanese filmmaker Michihito Fujii, who expressed interest in participating in Taiwanese film productions. Huang invited Fujii to helm the project, and Fujii accepted the role of director and screenwriter shortly after reading the travelogue. After Fujii joined the project, Huang rebranded the film from a domestic production with overseas location shoots into a collaborative film between Taiwan and Japan. Fujii initiated negotiations with Japanese production companies and sponsors, including East Japan Railway Company, which also permitted the crew to film on the railways with loaned train carriages.
Pre-production After attaching to the project in 2019, Michihito Fujii spent four years penning the screenplay. He retained several background settings from Jimmy Lai's travelogue, including Lai's occupation as a video game developer and the names of the two main characters, Jimmy and Ami. However, he made numerous amendments, such as changing the story's background from Chiayi to Tainan, the hometown of Fujii's Taiwanese grandfather, as he found an older city more fitting for the film's tone. The time period was adjusted from 1996 to 2006, fitting Fujii's adolescence and allowing for a better grasp of the social atmosphere. Fujii also added backstories for Jimmy, detailing his venture into starting his own video game company, and revealed the reasons why Ami traveled to Taiwan, which further strengthened their character arcs. Brian Lee, a real-life friend of Jimmy Lai and a video game developer for SIGONO, also influenced the portrayal of Jimmy's entrepreneurial failure. Opus: Rocket of Whispers and Opus: Echo of Starsong, two video games developed by Lee, were featured in the film.
The film's production was officially announced under the working title Youth (Chinese: 青春) in March 2023, with Far EasTone as a major sponsor and starring Greg Hsu, Kaya Kiyohara, Hitomi Kuroki, and Chang Chen in lead roles. Chang later dropped out of the acting role to focus on his duties as producer. The casting choices were all proposed by Fujii, and Chang Chen provided advice but did not have a direct role in the casting process. Greg Hsu was recommended to Fujii by his friends due to his ability to portray both the 18-year-old and 36-year-old versions of the character, which Fujii described as having "a sense of both youthful and mature". Hsu accepted the role after reading the script and was drawn to the film's robust production crew. Kaya Kiyohara, who had previously worked with Fujii on his 2019 film Day and Night and 2020 film The Brightest Roof in the Universe, readily accepted the role as she was fond of the story and interested in joining an international project.
Hitomi Kuroki was invited by Chang Chen to make a cameo appearance, following their collaboration as award presenters at the 59th Golden Horse Awards, where Chang revealed to her that he was involved in a project with Michihito Fujii, and Kuroki gladly accepted the offer. The production crew consisted of an equal mix of Taiwanese and Japanese members, and Fujii prioritized the employment of crew members who were around 36 years old to better understand Jimmy's character traits in the film. Hsu was sent to Japan on the film's budget a week prior to filming to learn Japanese.
Filming