When the yen ruled the world: Shunji Iwai’s ‘Swallowtail Butterfly’ returns in 4K
The director talks about his approach to the 4K restoration of his classic film, now showing in theaters nationwide.
Chara (right) and Ayumi Ito star in Shunji Iwai's "Swallowtail Butterfly," which portrays a world where the yen reigns supreme. | © “SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY” PRODUCTION COMMITTEE
Sep 4, 2026
Shunji Iwai’s “Swallowtail Butterfly” has always resisted easy categorization. It’s part fable, part crime saga, part concert film built around a fictional band. Thirty years on, the film also reads like an elegy for a lost era.
In Iwai’s dystopian world, where the yen is the dominant global currency, Tokyo has been nicknamed “Yentown” by the wave of migrants who have come to Japan seeking their fortunes. Underneath the film’s invented pidgin language and junkyard aesthetic is a story about statelessness, belonging and the dignity of those who live on society’s margins.
Ahead of the theatrical release of a new 4K restoration, which Iwai supervised himself, the director sat down with The Japan Times to talk about the technical and emotional stakes of returning to the project and how a story about an imaginary age of yen supremacy feels different today.
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