Tokyo Uber Blues

Unemployed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and with $40,000 of student debt, 26 year-old filmmaker Taku Aoyagi decides to try his luck at being an Uber Eats rider in the now, empty streets of Tokyo. Shot on a mixture of smartphones and GoPros, Taku brings the audience on his daily rides, deliveries, and as he talks to himself and his peers about if gig work can actually offer a path to economic security.

This screening will be preceded by a presentation from Brian Ott, Assistant Teaching Professor of Sociology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Based on sociological scholarship on platform labor, Dr. Ott's presentation, "Tokyo Uber Blues: The Promise and Reality of Platform Labor during Covid-19" will explain what constitutes platform labor, provide an overview of platform laborers in the U.S., and explain the disparate experiences of those who do platform labor for supplementary wages and those who are dependent on platform labor for their primary income.