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Chihiro</title></head><body>
<div>Readers of this list may be interested in a Japanese/English
publication that appeared in September 1998 titled<u> Warawareru
nihonjin/ Japan: Made in USA</u>. It contained articles by Japanese
and American journalists and scholars dissecting the NYT
long-standing reportorial pratices with respect to Japan. There is
even reply by the notorious Nicolas De Kristof. Published by Zipangu
(IBN4-8123-0615-9), it was released at a special colloquium organized
by the International House in Tokyo.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Roddey Reid</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>To me, the whole situation is one more
installment in a long line<br>
demonstrating the New York Times resolutely provincial relation to
Japan on<br>
every imaginable level, but particularly with regard to editorial
policy on<br>
what passes for cultural commentary. Last year's NY Times magazine
had a<br>
"what I did on my subsidized vacation" story trying to pass
itself off as<br>
insight into contemporary Japanese culture. Conversations with
acquaintances<br>
at a bar were presented as native informants shedding light on
globalized<br>
Asian mystery. This kind of thing couldn't go on for five minutes
without<br>
deep editorial complicity and ignorance and would be unimaginable
regarding<br>
most other countries. Does anyone have the time or energy to take
the<br>
editorial staff of the Times to task for its repeatedly
demonstrated<br>
unprofessionalism and clear negligence of basic journalistic
responsibility<br>
regarding Japan? That's what I'd like to see. This issue goes way
beyond the<br>
uninformed, amateurish pretense of being qualified to review an
animated<br>
film. It may also be a question of personal and professional failure,
but<br>
it's more fundamentally a question of the Times' pervasive,
militantly<br>
provincial editorial culture as it relates to Japan.<br>
<br>
Mark Anderson<br>
----- Original Message -----<br>
From: "mark schilling"
<0934611501@jcom.home.ne.jp><br>
To: <KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu><br>
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 8:44 PM<br>
Subject: Re: New York Times and Sen to Chihiro<br>
<br>
<br>
> Bill Thompson describes James Brooke's NYT article on
"Spirited Away" as<br>
> "positive and upbeat," which I suppose it is if you
focus on the quotes<br>
from<br>
> fans, but from the rest of the piece it is clear that Brookes
(1) didn't<br>
do<br>
> the legwork for his story and (2) is woefully ignorant of the
country and<br>
> culture.<br>
><br>
> He says that Miyazaki "talks vaguely about one day opening
the film in the<br>
> United States," but if he had read the trade press or
listened carefully<br>
> during Katzenburg's Tokyo press conference, he would have known
that (1)<br>
> Disney, though an investor in the film, has decided not to
distribute it<br>
and<br>
> (2) Dreamworks is in talks with Studio Ghibli to release the
film in the<br>
US.<br>
> Nothing vague about that.<br>
><br>
> He opines that the popularity of comics here is "a
reflection of low<br>
> literacy rates due to the difficulty of learning Japanese
characters," the<br>
> sort of ethnocentric howler he probably picked up at the Press
Club bar.<br>
><br>
> He whines that a Studio Ghibli publicist would not "provide
background<br>
> material on 'Chihiro,' subtitled versions of earlier films, or
even a<br>
ticket<br>
> to Mr. Miyazaki's new studio museum." The necessary
'background material'<br>
is<br>
> freely available from Toho -- or indeed any theater selling the
program.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>If</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>> he needs English-language info, he
could have easily found it on the</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>> Nausicaa Net and other fan sites.
As for subtitled versions of earlier</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>> films, why should he expect Studio
Ghibli to supply them? The logical<br>
place<br>
> to ask is the sales company, in this case, Disney. And why
should Studio<br>
> Ghibli give him a free ticket to the museum, despite its
reservations-only<br>
> policy? If they made an exception for him, they would have
accommodate the<br>
> entire Japanese and foreign media. (Actually, they did, with a
press tour<br>
> last fall that Mr. Brookes obviously didn't attend.) His whole
plaint<br>
reeks<br>
> of entitlement -- but then what else should we expect from a
recently<br>
> parachuted reporter for America's Newspaper of
Record?</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>><br>
> Finally, he mentions that Sen "fends off dragons and
sorceresses while<br>
> trying to lift a curse on her parents." What
"dragon" is he talking about?<br>
> Haku, who is Sen's ally? Are the parents "cursed"? A
better word here, I<br>
> think, is "spell." Did this guy really see the movie?
Comments anyone?<br>
><br>
> Mark Schilling<br>
><br>
><br>
> ----- Original Message -----<br>
> From: "Bill Thompson"
<siswt@CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU><br>
> To: "KineJapan"
<KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu><br>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 9:08 AM<br>
> Subject: New York Times and Sen to Chihiro<br>
><br>
><br>
> ><br>
> > Kinejapan ---<br>
> ><br>
> > The New York Times had an article on Sen to Chihiro no
Kamikakushi/<br>
> > Spirited Away, written by James Brooke, last
Thursday. It can be<br>
> > found at:<br>
> ><br>
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/03/movies<span
></span>/03JAPA.html<br>
> ><br>
> > and access to the article is free for seven days from
publication<br>
> > (registration to the Times site is required, but that is
also free).<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > Overall, this is a positive and upbeat article about the
success<br>
> > of the film in Japan and its response, containing very
little<br>
> > that has not appeared in Kinejapan.<br>
> ><br>
> > For me, however, the interesting part appears near the
end:<br>
> ><br>
> > "With the film opening this winter in Asia and in
France, Mr.<br>
> > Miyazaki has talked vaguely about opening one day in the
United<br>
> > States. "Princess Mononoke," his only film
to open commercially<br>
> > in the United States, bombed, drawing barely 2 percent of
the $150<br>
> > million in box office revenue it had earned in Japan.<br>
> ><br>
> > "Not surprisingly, Studio Ghibli was in no rush to
raise its<br>
> > American profile. For this article, a publicist
declined to arrange<br>
> > interviews with anyone from the studio He would not
provide<br>
> > any background material on 'Chihiro,' subtitled video
versions<br>
> > of earlier films, or even a ticket to Mr. Miyazaki's new<br>
> > studio museum.<br>
> ><br>
> > "The publicist said, 'Other than my mother living in
New York,<br>
> > I am not interested in this article being
written.'"<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > I realize that the American box office for Princess M may
have been<br>
> > over-discussed in Kinejapan, but let me add a few
observations<br>
> > (and these are simply my observations, with no facts<br>
> > to back them up) about its New York run.<br>
> ><br>
> > Princess Mononoke initially played as a special event as
part<br>
> > of the 1999 New York Film Festival in October 1999, then<br>
> > opened a good month or so later, spaced to play well
away<br>
> > from the big Disney animation of the season. Its
distributor<br>
> > also helped to coordinate a Miyazaki retrospective at
the<br>
> > Museum of Modern Art in late September that was well<br>
> > attended and played in several other American and Canadian
cities.<br>
> ><br>
> > Many papers run features on forthcoming seasons (i.e., the
films<br>
> > that will play during the fall), and a couple included
articles<br>
> > on Miyazaki's films and/or Princess M in September.
In fact<br>
> > they appeared to generate more interest then<br>
> > than when the film actually opened.<br>
> ><br>
> > The Times review during the NY Film Festival was favorable
but<br>
> > lukewarm, certainly nothing to appeal to an art house
crowd.<br>
> > I had trouble determining the desired audience from the
ads<br>
> > which appeared at that time: the film was positioned
not as<br>
> > a young children's movie to keep the young Disney crowd<br>
> > from being disappointed; it also did not seek an art
house crowd.<br>
> > Instead, the ads implied that it was a kind of pure and
basic<br>
> > entertainment animation film for adults (??? a G-rated film
for<br>
> > adults?) that had something to do with ecology.
Perhaps this,<br>
> > plus the Miyazaki name, is enough to sell a film in
Japan,<br>
> > but the US is not Japan. A fair amount<br>
> > of money spent on these ads in NY when the film opened,
probably<br>
> > more than the entire annual budgets for companies like
Milestone<br>
> > or Kino (companies that have successfully distributed
Japanese<br>
> > films in the US, albeit on small budgets).<br>
> ><br>
> > Even though Princess Mononoke did not do well
commercially,<br>
> > its distributor did keep it in New York for a couple of
extra</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>> > months, and it helped to close
the Greenwich Theater in the<br>
> > West Village (which I believe is now a construction site<br>
> > for a new apartment complex). Although it
played in several<br>
> > large cities around the US, when the distributor became<br>
> > disillusioned with the box office results, it did not
try<br>
> > to open it more widely like a Milestone would have done.<br>
> > The Disney/Miramax people never realized what they had
nor<br>
> > how to advertise it, and when throwing a bit of money at<br>
> > it didn't seem to work, they just stopped.<br>
> > Presumably because of this disappointment, other
Miyazaki<br>
> > films have been released on video, but not theatrically,<br>
> > although titles like Kiki's Delivery Service have had<br>
> > special screenings as children's matinees in places like<br>
> > Lincoln Center.<br>
> ><br>
> > I'm not going to provide any moral here.<br>
> > I simply hope that I get to see Sen to Chihiro in New
York<br>
> > some day.<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > Bill Thompson<br>
><br>
><br>
></blockquote>
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