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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">A reminder that the next
meeting of the Meiji Gakuin Film Workshop will be held tomorrow, <b>Wednesday,
October 26th, from 6 to 8 PM</b>. </font><font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">Andrew Leong will be presenting on "</font><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">A <i>Bellflower</i> in
America: Women’s Education and Cinematic Diplomacy after the
Manchurian Incident" (abstract below).<br>
</font>
<p> </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Please note that the<b>
venue will be a different room from our last few meetings</b>:
<b>*room 7405* </b>(across the hall from where the workshop was
held previously), on the 4th floor of Hepburn Hall (the tall
building attached to the main building). <br>
</font></p>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">The Japanese Film Workshop is
open to all </font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">and
welcomes participants from any discipline. D</font><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">irections from stations and
the campus map can be found at: </font><font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/campus/shirokane/index_en.html">http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/campus/shirokane/index_en.html</a></font><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">. Following the presentation
and discussion, we will reconvene at an area Izakaya to continue
the conversation. We look forward to seeing you there! </font><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Presentation
Abstract:<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Following the
Manchurian Incident of 1931, Japanese consulates and immigrant
leaders in the United States embarked on a campaign of “people’s
diplomacy” (<i>kokumin gaiko</i>) aimed at converting overseas
Japanese into popular diplomats for the Empire. Throughout the
1930s, Japanese-language film distributors in the United States
linked themselves to the people’s diplomacy campaign by arguing
that film could serve as a means to educate American-born Nisei
about the history, culture, and foreign policies of the
motherland. Thus informed and mobilized, Nisei could become
effective advocates for Japan abroad. Young Nisei women, in
particular, were seen as key figures in the people’s diplomacy
campaigns. If Japanese film could win the hearts and minds of
Nisei women, these women could in turn, win the hearts and minds
of the American public.<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Although there
have been general historical studies about Japanese-language film
and people’s diplomacy in the United States, there is still a lack
of detailed analyses of how these campaigns worked in practice.
This presentation draws from the screening notes of Takeshi Ban
(1884-1956), a Congregationalist minister, <i>benshi</i>, and
film distributor responsible for presenting hundreds of films to
Japanese American audiences during the 1930s. I focus in
particular on his commentary around screenings of <i>Tsuriganeso</i>
(<i>The Bellflower</i>, Shinko Cinema, 1935). Based on a
bestselling short story written by Yoshiya Nobuko (1896-1973), <i>Tsuriganeso</i>
provides an object case of the contradictions inherent in people’s
diplomacy and cultural education efforts directed at Nisei women.
Japanese scholars have previously examined how <i>Tsuriganesao</i>
and other films based on Yoshiya’s girl’s stories rely on
“double-coding” where ostensibly sentimental films about
pure-hearted girls also encode critiques of Japanese patriarchy
and heterosexual marriage. The screenings of <i>Tsuriganeso</i>
in the United States raise another set of questions about how
these forms of double-coding would have been read, or interpreted
for and by Nisei women.<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Andrew Leong is a
Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature at the
University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation, <i>The
Stillness of the Migrant</i>, examines figures of stagnancy and
stasis in literature produced by Japanese travelers and immigrants
to the United States prior to 1938. His translations of Nagahara
Shoson’s <i>Lament in the Night</i> and <i>The Tale of Osato</i>,
two novels written and published in Los Angeles during the
mid-1920s, are forthcoming from Kaya Press.<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">For more
information about the workshop or if you are interested in
presenting, please contact: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:kicrever@uci.edu">kicrever@uci.edu</a>.<br>
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Kim Icreverzi<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">PhD Candidate<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Department of
Comparative Literature<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">University of
California, Irvine</font><br>
<br>
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