Miho Ichiki -

Ichiki is not without her detractors. Some critics, both in Japan and abroad, find her work "narcissistic" or "unbearably slow." The well-known critic Taro Yoda wrote in Kinema Junpo that Ichiki’s films "mistake silence for depth and repetition for meaning." He argues that her refusal to intervene in her subjects’ lives—especially in The Conductor of Ward 4 —borders on clinical negligence rather than artistic respect.