<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear All, <div><br></div><div>The last thing I want to do is become an apologist for the absence of a comprehensive, user-friendly film heritage and promotion policy in Japan. Still, I think it will help us to be more precise in our discussion, especially if the important issues that Mark Roberts raises are to be pursued in an organized way. </div><div><br></div><div>For one, we need to distinguish the Japan Foundation's holdings from those of a film archive. We'd do better to compare the National Film Center in Kyobashi, rather than the Japan Foundation, with institutions like the BFI. Instead, the Japan Foundation, which has been incredibly supportive for particular projects organized and enjoyed by listmembers and at other times silent at best, needs to be understood for what it is: a branch of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this regard, we might compare its efforts to other overseas promotional agencies. I can think, on the one hand, of aggressive government-funded film=specific promotional projects such as KOFIC, the Korean Film Council which recently opened its own overseas office in Los Angeles. On the other, we have the example of Taiwan's Economic and Cultural Offices--Although TECO had been equipping its local offices with 16 mm collections of Taiwanese films from the New Wave on, it seems that that program was cut in at least some regions and local universities found themselves the recipients of 16 mm taiwanese bounty--but the broader film-culture promotional mission had ended.</div><div><br></div><div>Also, it's not quite fair to say that the Bunka-cho has been completely MIA. Limited it may be, I can recall at least one project in which the Bunka-cho has been proactive; it collaborated with Image Forum to sponsor a number of Japanese film promotional projects in Korea, screening materials from the period when Japanese cultural imports were banned. I know there are more. </div><div><br></div><div>Thanks, though, to Mark for pushing us to engage this issue. I'd be really interested in hearing what people want ... for whom are services expected? scholars? programmers? general audiences? Each demands a different kind of support.</div><div><br></div><div>I suspect many have noticed that Prime Minister Fukuda is stepping down; it looks increasingly likely that Aso Taro will become the new PM. With his reported fondness for manga, can we hope for more general support of Japanese popular culture?</div><div><br></div><div>Jonathan</div><div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div>Jonathan M. Hall</div><div>Assistant Professor</div><div>Comparative Literature/ Film & Media Studies</div><div>University of California Irvine</div><div>HIB 320 </div><div>Irvine CA 92697-2651 USA</div><div><br></div><div>tel 1-949-824-9778</div><div>fax 1-949-824-1992</div><div><br></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span> </div><br><div><div>On 3 Sep 2008, at 17:19, Mark D. Roberts wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">On Sep 3, 2008, at 10:32 PM, Aaron Gerow wrote:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> <blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">But many in the Japanese film industry these days are ignorant and short-sighted, only looking at the money in front of their faces and not thinking of long-term ways of building up their business. It is quite frustrating dealing with such people who don't understand their business or care much about movies.</div> </blockquote><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">If the production companies have proven themselves to be intransigent, shouldn't the issue be taken to a higher level?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Why, for example, does the Ministry of Culture claim to promote Japan as "a culture-oriented country", "the maintenance and establishment of cultural facilities", "international cultural exchange; designation of national treasures, important cultural properties", etc., and yet they seem to be completely MIA in this matter?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">M</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>