Shinoda's Double Suicide is a modern treatment of a famous eighteenth-century puppet theater drama by Chikamatsu. The story concerns the pathetic fate of Jihei, a merchant of paper products, and Koharu, a prostitute for whom he has neglected his business and his family. Sybil Thornton writes,
“Shinoda's treatment of the Chikamatsu play is more than faithful to the spirit of the Bunraku or puppet theater for which it was written. Not only are there the kuroko, or black-robed and therefore invisible stage assistants, but Shima Iwashita (Shinoda's wife) plays both wife and prostitute, reflecting the Bunraku convention of using only one doll's face for a young woman (where character, rank, and marital status would be indicated by costume and wig). The overall effect is highly claustrophobic, well-suited to a representation of a closed moral code, a closed society, and to a closed dramaturgical rhetorical system. But unlike the Bunraku, Shinoda's production is very surrealist and overtly sexual and erotic. Of special note are the photography of Narushima, now a director in his own right, and the music of Takemitsu, one of Japan's leading composers and of considerable international reputation.”