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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Dear KineJapaners,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>If anyone cares to suggest answers to some questions on
<EM>Japanese Girls at the Harbor</EM>, I would much appreciate it. It
would be nice to think that Keiko McDonald's promised book on Shimizu has a
midwife somewhere, but in the meantime a viewing has aroused my curiosity.
</FONT><FONT face=Arial>One advantage of a boxed set of a director's films is
that you can spread their viewing out, rather than keep within the short
concentration of a cinethecque convoy.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I got round to watching Shimizu's <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><EM>Minato
no nihon musume</EM><FONT color=#000000> last night which was more than up to
expectation. What surprised me at the end was how Shimizu could show
emigration as a positive and morally redeeming conclusion to his story in
1933. Although Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano, in her <EM>Nippon Modern</EM>, says
just that Sunako disappears in the end; William Drew, in his
<EM>Midnight Eye </EM>piece, says that 'Sunako ultimately takes charge of her
destiny by going abroad with her artist-paramour in search of a new life' - a
reading with which I concur.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT
color=#000000>Although the dialogue (and perhaps the script submitted to
the censors?) does not mention emigration, the direction of the ship out
of Yokohama, and the opening sequence, of the Canadian Pacific gangplank onto
the 'Empress of Russia' seems to leave little doubt. I went back and
checked the beginning to see if it was a revealed flash-back - it's not - but
this did remind me that I had tried to adjust my set when the opening pan seemed
to have the bottom cut off, leaving ships and foreground apparently unsupported
by water or quayside. But the contrast to the closing pan, showing the
flotsam and jetsam left behind in Japan has to be deliberate. The
paintings of Sunako, in her old-world guise as a bar hostess/prostitute,
which she asks her partner to jettison from the ship, mysteriously do not fade
or wash away, but remain in full appearance, clinging to the Japan shore, whilst
the redeemed couple sail away.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Has
emigration in Japanese cinema (beyond the Japanese empire) been discussed or
observed previously ?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Are
there other such filmic examples of emigration portrayed in a positive
light ?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Can
anyone suggest likely western movies of the time that inspired the story ?
Two couples who have no family seems very Hollywood. <FONT color=#000000>(The
writer of the original story,</FONT> <FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#ff0000>北林透馬<FONT face=Arial color=#000000>, isn't in WINE - still looking
for suitable directories.).</FONT></FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Would
a silent film in 1933 be suitable for an émigré market ?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #003399; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12