Maiku Hama
(aka Mike Hama and Mike Yokohama)
Created by Kaizo Hayashi and Daisuke Tengan

It's Hama Time!

The rundown office of Yokohama private eye MAIKU HAMA (get it?) is on the second floor of an old theater, stuck between the projector and the screen, which is appropriate enough, since so much of Waga jinsei saiaku no toki (in English as The Most Terrible Time in My Life), a quirky Japanese detective flick, is based on old films.

It's even filmed in black and white. Hama dresses flashy, drives a classic car with California plates, and Hama serves up some tasty but terse Bogie-style voice-overs.

But, of course, this isn't some murky American-made film noir set in the distant past of San Francisco or Los Angeles of the 1940's here -- it's a modern day riff on those films, set in Japan in the 1990's. So we've got martial arts galore, and even a little good ol' Yakuza-style dismemberment.

When he's approached by a Taiwanese waiter who wants the detective to track down his missing brother, all easy-going Hama really wants is to earn enough money to send his little sister to college, But Hama soon finds himself involved in a series of double-crosses and violent revenge as sibling rivalry erupts into a full-tilt gang war.

Waga jinsei saiaku no toki was followed by two sequels, Harukana Jidai no Kaidan O in 1994 and Wana in 1996, and in 2002, it became a television show in Japan. There were twelve episodes produced, with Masatoshi Nagase reprising the role. But the writers and directors included Alex Cox (of Sid and Nancy/Repo Man fame)

UNDER OATH

• "Though die-hard fans of 1960s Japanese B-grade crime flicks might fault the film for relying on, rather than innovating, standard-issue genre clichés – or even if you caught The Most Terrible Time when it played the 1994 San Francisco International Film Festival – Hayashi's genre-torquing work, the first in a trilogy centered on the Maiku Hama character, makes for stylish entertainment."
  (Cheryl Eddy, San Francisco Bay Guardian )
  .
• "You've just got to add Maiku Hama to your PI list. I mean the name alone is a hoot and a half. But despite the nifty verbal homage to Spillane, Hama often seems as if he went to PI school with Jim Rockford: He has a criminal past, a circle of likable, but still slightly crooked friends and acquaintances, and often attempts to joke and/or b.s. his way out of trouble, and of course, he has an alarming tendency to get the crap kicked out of him. The Most Terrible Time in My Life is (currently) playing in art house theaters across the country. See it if you can ( I caught it myself tonight). "It ends with a trailer for the first of two Hama sequels, "Stairway To The Distant Past", apparently not yet released in this country. I'll be keeping an eye peeled!"
  (FRY2K, August 2000)

FILMS

• WAGA JINSEI SAIAKU NO TOKI.... Buy this DVD
  (AKA The Most Terrible Time in My Life)
  (1993, Japan)
  92 minutes, black and white
  Country of Origin: China/Japan/Taiwan
  Written by Kaizo Hayashi and Daisuke Tengan
  Directed by Kaizo Hayashi
  Starring Masatoshi Nagase as MAIKU HAMA
  Also starring Shirô Sano, Kiyotaka Nanbara, Yang Haitin, Hou De Jian, Akaji Maro, Shinya Tsukamoto, Jo Shishido, Haruko Wanibuchi, Kaho Minami , Mika Ohmine, Housei Kondo, Masako Miyachi, Kenji Anan, Zen Rajiwara
  
  .
• HARUKANA JIDAI NO KAIDAN O.... Buy this DVD
  (AKA Stairway to the Distant Past)
  (1994, Japan)
  101 minutes
  Country of Origin: China/Japan/Taiwan
  Written by Kaizo Hayashi and Daisuke Tengan
  Directed by Kaizo Hayashi
  Starring Masatoshi Nagase as MAIKU HAMA
  Also starring.Kiyotaka Nanbara, Haruko Wanibuchi, Shirô Sano, Eiji Okada, Tetta Sugimoto, Mika Ohmine, Shinya Tsukamoto, Jo Shishido, Keiji Matsuda, Akaji Maro, Kazuko Shirakawa, Sumiko Sakamoto, Noriko Sengoku, Yoichi Sai
  
  
• WANA.... Buy this DVD
  (AKA Trap)
  (1996, Japan)
  Country of Origin: China/Japan/Taiwan
  Written by Kaizo Hayashi and Daisuke Tengan
  Directed by Kaizo Hayashi
  Starring Masatoshi Nagase as MAIKU HAMA
  Also starring.Yui Natsukawa, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Kiyotaka Nanbara, Hiro Arai, Akaji Maro, Jo Shishido

DVD COLLECTIONS

• MAIKU HAMA PRIVATE EYE TRILOGY.... Buy this DVD set
  (2005, Kino Video)
  Contains all three films.

TELEVISION

• MIKE HAMA, PRIVATE DETECTIVE
  (2002, Yomiuri Television)
  12 episodes
  Based on characters created by Kaizo Hayashi and Daisuke Tengan
  Writers:Shinji Aoyama, Kaizo Hayashi, Alex Cox, Tetsuya Nakashima
  Directors: Alex Cox,Shinji Aoyama, Tetsuya Nakashima
  Starring Masatoshi Nagase as MIKE HAMA

  "Shiritsu tantei Hama Maiku: Namae no nai mori" (2002)
  (aka "Mike Yokohama: A Forest with No Name")

  "Mike Hama, Private Detective: Mike Hama Must Die!" (2002)

  "Mike Hama, Private Detective: Mr. Nippon-21st Century Man" (2002)
  And nine others.

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Special thanks to FRY2K for theheads up.
Photo is of Shinya Tsukamoto and Masatoshi Nagasn (as Hama) mixing it up in The Most Terrible Time of My Life.