Actress Kazuko Kato Stunned by Parking Fee After 2-Hour Movie Trip in Shinjuku: ‘I Was Shocked’

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The story

On the 13th, actress Kazuko Kato updated her blog to report that she’d watched “Mr. Nelson, Have You Ever Killed Anyone?” at a Shinjuku movie theater’s first showing of the day. She revealed that even the earliest screening was nearly sold out, and that she was stunned by how expensive the parking turned out to be. On 5ch, commenters pored over the entry and exit times to calculate the exact parking duration and cost, while others chimed in with remarks like “she should’ve taken the train or a taxi” or “shopping at a department store would’ve gotten her free parking” — opinions were split over the state of parking in central Tokyo.

9/13 (Sun) 15:47

Actress Kazuko Kato updated her blog on the 13th, reporting that she’d watched the movie “Mr. Nelson, Have You Ever Killed Anyone?” (directed by Shinya Tsukamoto) at a movie theater in Shinjuku.

“Watched it in Shinjuku! I aimed for the first showing of the day, but it was almost completely sold out — everyone was crowding toward the same floor!!” she revealed, describing the early-morning screening.

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:48
Sonomanma Kazuko (a pun on her ex-husband's nickname 'Sonomanma Higashi')
69AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:13
Re: #2
Oh, that person.

Bye then.
5AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:49
Just take the train.
No one's gonna notice.
6AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:50
9:05 AM entry, 11:38 AM exit — 2 hours 3 minutes.
99AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:23
Re: #6
Re: #30
Maybe the first 30 minutes are free?
11AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:54
That auntie's kind of losing out without realizing it.
She should go to Takashimaya in Tachikawa —
spend about 4,000 yen there and parking's free.
74AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:14
Re: #11
If she'd gone to the TOHO at LaLaport, parking would probably be way cheaper.
12AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:54
Re: #1
To a rich person,
that's basically our 10 yen.
15AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:56
If you really can't stand taking the train, just get a taxi…
17AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:56
Hitchhiking would've been free, though.
18AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:56
Don't you check the parking rate before you park?
Must be nice being a celebrity.
19AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:56
She's probably going to make way more than that talking about this story on TV.
21AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:57
A movie you can watch start to finish in 2 hours 3 minutes? That's a short one.
49AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:08
Re: #21
Park → walk to the theater → buy ticket → grab a drink, hit the bathroom
watch the movie → walk back to the car
Even being generous with the estimate, that's only about an hour and a half.
25AnonymousSep 13, 2026 17:59
> Actress Kazuko Kato
First time I've ever seen that name in my life. Quit making self-promotion threads for comedians.
46AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:07
Re: #25
She's the one from Morisanchu (a comedy trio).
92AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:22
Re: #25
She's Sonomanma Higashi's ex-wife.
95AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:22
Re: #25
She's the veteran actress from 'Burari Tochū Gesha no Tabi' (a TV travel show about impromptu stopovers).
29AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:01
What I hate is this just makes rich landowners even richer.
Build more public parking lots already —
I'd actually be willing to pay for those.
53AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:09
Re: #29
We're already squeezing you on property tax, but we'll try even harder!
30AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:01
> '9:05 AM in, 11:38 AM out, 2 hours 3 minutes' for '7,040 yen'

The math doesn't add up.
Isn't that 2 hours 33 minutes?
31AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:01
Driving there is probably half the point for her.
She should just go to a mall in Saitama or Chiba that has a movie theater in it.
89AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:20
Re: #31
Apparently 'Mr. Nelson' (the movie) is only showing in a handful of theaters.
38AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:05
How many tens of thousands of yen a month does a monthly parking spot in central Tokyo run, anyway?
107AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:25
Re: #38
At least 50,000 yen? Probably even more these days.
40AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:06
Names where only the last part is written in kanji:
Kato Kazuko
Murotani Tsunezō
Can't think of any others
Are there actually a lot of these?
79AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:17
Re: #40
Mammoth Nishi
Grappler Baki
101AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:23
Re: #40
Sonomanma Higashi
111AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:27
Re: #40
Ikkodo
Kiyohiko
51AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:08
Buy a gift certificate at the department store to get a parking discount coupon

Sell the gift certificate at a discount ticket shop

Park for basically free
80AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:17
Re: #51
Sounds like a hassle.
82AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:18
Re: #51
Poor people really think of everything, huh.
63AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:11
Tokyo feels like the biggest ripoff, but nobody's caught onto it.
110AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:27
Re: #63
Then why does it have such a wildly outsized population?
People never stop flooding in.
Well, if you don't get it, you don't need to spend your whole life trying to.
90AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:21
Re: #82
There used to be one, though.
93AnonymousSep 13, 2026 18:22
Re: #89
Content-wise, Okinawa's the most packed with material.

Re: #90
It's always been that way.

Background and Key Points of the Discussion

Parking lots attached to movie theaters in central Tokyo tend to have high base rates — even when the first 30 minutes are free, many charge a few hundred yen for every 10-15 minutes after that, so once you factor in the time spent moving to and from the theater and buying drinks, the total can easily run higher than expected. Commenters pointed out that she apparently didn’t know about the trick of getting free parking by spending a set amount at a department store, but plenty of others argued that parking rates in central Tokyo are simply absurd to begin with, so opinions were divided. It’s worth noting that the figure “entered at 9:05, exited at 11:38, 2 hours 3 minutes” comes from commenters’ own calculations — some pointed out the math seems off — and the exact total parking fee was never stated in the blog post itself.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Actress Kazuko Kato Stunned by Parking Fee After 2-Hour Movie Trip in Shinjuku: ‘I Was Shocked’ — How Many Times the Ticket Price?!.”

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