This is a B2 Japanese poster, printed in 1994, for the movie “Pom Poko” (平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ).

As civilisation draws ever nearer to their idyllic forest home, a group of mischievous Japanese tanuki (raccoon dogs – Nyctereutes procyonoides) try to scare humans away. But they soon discover that humans are not their only rivals in the struggle for their age-old territory.

Released in 1994 as the Japanese economy slumped, but looking back to the sixties construction boom in Tokyo’s Tama Hills, Pom Poko questions the money-grabbing ethics of yuppie Japan, and mourns the loss of the countryside. Drawing on Japanese myths and legends, writer and director Isao Takahata presents a satirical view of woodland spirits using every available magical ruse to take on modern developers: including transformations, sabotage and trickery.

Pom Poko is a unique window into Japanese folklore, a comedy of modern failings, and an elegiac tale of unlikely heroes fighting insurmountable odds.

Note that the poster does not have the Eirin Mark and, for that reason, we think that it is not an original movie poster. It was produced by Tokuma Shoten and may have been used either to promote other merchandise or was given as a free gift with the purchase of the cinema ticket.