Planet Finance is a mostly unknown, adventurous and also attractive world for the retail trader. In Japan, you won't get interest on your savings for decades. Entering the foreign exchange market is then a low-threshold step. 'Mrs Watanabe' is a collective name for the one and a half million Japanese individuals in this market and a household name in the shiny towers of Planet Finance. But on the foreign exchange market, the value of one currency always rises or falls against another. Where one wins, by definition someone else loses. It's a Zero Sum Game. Who wins when you lose?

In this six-part documentary series, Marije Meerman takes you to Planet Finance. Who live and work there? What language do they speak? What is the use of this planet, and what makes this financial world so attractive to so many people?

Written & directed by Marije Meerman

Research: Marijntje Denters, Aya Asakura, Maarten Mosselman, Marlise van der Jagt
Cinematography: Matthew Allard acs. Anna Howard acs. Pim Hawinkels, David Woo
Sound: Edan Mason, Philip Myers, Benny Jansen, Skirmantas Ivanauskas
Editor: Michiel Hazebroek
Field director: Japan Aya Asakura
Archival research: Barbara Kist, Paula Witkamp
Visual & data design: Femke Herregraven
Motion design: Mark Visser, Jeroen Schellekens
Music: BJ Nilsen
Sound design: Tim van Peppen
Voice-over: Alice O’Connell
Colourist: Rachel Stone
Finishing: Jan Jaap Kuiper
Datahandlng: Watse Eisma
Online editor colour grading: Yannick Elferink
Producer colour grading: Marja Paeper, Remco Smit
Interns: Athena Potamianos, Julia Baud, Margeaux Abeyta, Malou Sandig, Piet Ruig
Camera Assistant Kezia Holland, Kyle Stephens, Taro Irei
Production assistant Pieter Wibaut
Line producer: Olivier Schuringa
Line producer: ZDF/ARTE Katharina Krohmann
Executive producer: Zoë de Wilde, Julia van Schieveen
Coach tot he director: Maaik Krijgsman
Commissioning editor: zdf/arte Türkān Schirmer, Frederic Ulferts
Head editorial department: ZDF/ARTE Martin Pieper
Commissioning editor VPRO: Barbara Truyen

Thanks to Hiromi Kanagawa, Takaya Torii, Grant Wilson, Ryan K. King, Phil Dobbie, Frank van Zegveld, Kim Attrill, Junichiro Hashimoto, Taro Irei, Amir Kamrani, Noriko Hama, Pablo Nakaichi, Daniel Leussink, Tsuyoshi Kitamura, Tomoyo Okamoto, Urumi Nozawa, Hiromi Yoshimura, Shoko Hamamoto, Michuko Kikuchi, Mariko Suzuki, Daan Wierda, David Kleijwegt, Reinier Zoutendijk, Diederik Plas, Mariska Schneider, Sharon Yosef, Vian Paashuis, Brigit Dopheide, Petra Vermeulen, Marleen Stikker

Archive: Japan Coast Guard, Official JPX Group Channel, Kino
Nippon Television Network Cooperation, AP Archive, Miyako City Office, Getty Images, CNN, ErathUncut TV

Presale: VRT

Planet Finance is produced by VPRO in co-production with ZDF and in collaboration with ARTE
This series was created with the support of NPO-fonds & CoBo
© VPRO & ZDF 2023

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