TheLong WayHome
A film by Heath Cozens
Twenty-five years with Osaka’s self-appointed Equalizer
Around me, as far as my arm stretches, this is Germany. My own Germany.
The Equalizer
Who gets to be valued in Japan?
In the bars and back streets of Osaka, Alfred was the Equalizer. Foreigners in trouble called him, and he came. For the price of a train ticket. And maybe a beer. Or twenty.
He was a towering German with swagger to spare and a fearsome command of gangster Japanese. He wanted to see how far bravado could take him.
Heath kept coming back to film him, for twenty-five years.
Osaka, 2007
I don’t want to be a rich asshole. … Actually, the best thing would be to be a rich, nice guy. I never thought about that before.
The film
A 25-year Japan chronicle. One foreigner, and the people he tried to help.
The heart of it is 2007 and 2011.
By 2007, everything had crumbled for Alfred. He kept helping people anyway.
In 2011, after the tsunami, he threw himself into aid work, driving supplies north to Tohoku. What followed was pure beautiful disaster.
Heath was there with a camera. First as an observer, then as part of the story.
2011
Why am I getting treated well? Because my nationality is German. I don’t get that. But that’s the way it is here, and it needs to be changed.
Why now
Now it’s politics.
Japan has more foreign residents and visitors than ever. In 2025 that became an election issue.
The Long Way Home takes the long view: one foreigner, twenty-five years, and the people he tried to help. It doesn’t take sides.
It happens in Germany, I’m sure. It happens in America. It happens in Japan. But I am in Japan, so I fight injustice here.
The filmmaker
Heath Cozens
Multiple award-winning director. Eighteen years in Japan.
Heath makes films about people who defy the status quo and define reality on their own terms. Born in New Zealand, he lived in Japan for eighteen years and speaks fluent Japanese. He met Alfred in Osaka and kept filming.
Documentary FilmJapanese Agency for
Cultural Affairs
Film Awards
Fearless, challenging, and touching in ways you will never see coming.
Always involving and sometimes deeply moving.
One of the most powerful blasts of empathy and humanity I’ve ever experienced.
- Doglegs — Best Director, Fantastic Fest. World premiere at Hot Docs. Runner-up for the Golden Kapok, Guangzhou. Also Cleveland, New Zealand and Nippon Connection. Six months in Japanese cinemas, then broadcast on Japanese TV.
- Only I Can Hear — Grand Prize for Documentary Film, Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs Film Awards. Jury’s Special Award, Breaking Down Barriers. World premiere at Hot Docs; also Doc Edge, TokyoDocs and ReelAbilities. Broadcast on NHK.
- Family Strong — Five Tellys, four Communicators.
- Ex Luna — Co-directed with seven-time Emmy winner Michael Werner. From Apollo to Artemis, with a national PBS broadcast commitment.
I have to be the equalizer, you see.
Make contact
Calling all fellow equalizers.
I met Alfred in Osaka and couldn’t stop filming him. Twenty-five years on, the footage is in the can and the story is in a good place.
Now I want to meet the people who can help me finish it. If you know Japan, or you’ve ever been the foreigner in the room, this one might be for you.
Heath