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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>So, if soft drinks were in such short supply, what of sake
- given that there was, in any case general disapproval of frivolity and booze
?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I'm thinking of Kurosawa and his account of censorship of
<EM>Uma</EM>, in the chapter called 'Congenital Defects', p111 in my english
paperback edition. K reports that he got into stubborn, stand-off with the
military censor who demanded the cutting of an elaborately shot scene
because Takamine buys a bottle of booze for her family in the daytime. K
says he was particularly mad because the censor wouldn't explain himself.
Presumably the scene is lost (and I haven't seen the film). But if
drinks were in short supply, is it possible that the underlying battle is
whether the censors thought they saw the past being inserted into the present
? OK, this is a stretch ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Roger</FONT></DIV>
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style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=tkarsavina@yahoo.com href="mailto:tkarsavina@yahoo.com">Maria Jose
Gonzalez</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, February 28, 2011 5:53
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Spring Awakens (was: Hideko
the Bus Conductor)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<TD vAlign=top>I totally agree with film being an invocation of a near
past.It made me think that many Japanese viewers express feeling a sense
of nostalgia on seeing the boss drinking "ramune",
<DIV>He does so quite freely,again so perfectly evocative of a true
Japanese summer,pouring it on ice.</DIV>
<DIV>However,one can consider that such a drink would have been somehow
scarce during war time and indeed searching some ramune history,during
the Sino-Japanese war of 1937 production fell drastically due to the
lack of sugar,aromatic ingredients and carbonic gas.</DIV>
<DIV>In 1941,a great number of people working in ramune factories were
drafted,production fell and many factories were destroyed.By the end of
the war,there were only 468 factories left,producing just a mere 1%
compared to production figures in Taisho year 15.</DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>It seems very unrealistic that in such a remote-looking area as
appears in the film,this drink is so easy to buy,even for the
boss.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>--- On <B>Tue, 1/3/11, Maria Jose Gonzalez
<I><tkarsavina@yahoo.com></I></B> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From:
Maria Jose Gonzalez <tkarsavina@yahoo.com><BR>Subject: Re:
Spring Awakens (was: Hideko the Bus Conductor)<BR>To:
KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu<BR>Date: Tuesday, 1 March, 2011,
1:44 AM<BR><BR>
<DIV id=yiv276148528>
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<TD vAlign=top>Just months before that same year,another "bus"
film by Hiroshi Shimizu,"Akatsuki no Gassho" had been released
and Naruse was of course very much aware of the comparisons that
would arise.<BR>This film deals with yet another conductress and
again contains no traces of a country at war (apparently it was
filmed in Akita Prefecture which suggests films were moving away
from the capital area to avoid it).
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Maria-Jose</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>--- On <B>Tue, 1/3/11, Michael Kerpan
<I><mekerpan@verizon.net></I></B> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From:
Michael Kerpan <mekerpan@verizon.net><BR>Subject: Spring
Awakens (was: Hideko the Bus Conductor)<BR>To:
"KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu"
<KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu><BR>Date: Tuesday, 1
March, 2011, 1:12 AM<BR><BR>
<DIV id=yiv276148528>
<DIV style="COLOR: #000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<DIV><SPAN>> This has the feel of a story of the near past,
only pretending to be in the present.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN>This is true of one Naruse's early post-war
films. I get a feeling that this could as easily have
been set around 1930 as around the latter 1940s. (This is
another of my top 1940s Naruse films). ;~}<VAR
id=yiv276148528yui-ie-cursor></VAR></SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>