Shochiku coup

Peter B. High j45843a
Wed Jan 21 06:26:25 EST 1998


Aaron wrote:
> 
> P.S. If they fire anyone, it should have been whoever thought up Kamakura 
> Cinema World.  Now one I know who has gone there likes it and I found it 
> embarassingly childish (except for a few sections of Shochiku history).  
> Who was responsible for that?
> 

I am fairly certain that the non-profitability of Cinema World, which was little more than a white-elephant 
merchandizing scheme from the word go, looms large in the background of the turmoil at Shochiku. On 
three quarters or so of the old Ofuna Studio lot, Shochiku has invested billions and billions of yen into a 
theme "amusement" park, which provides as much fun  as a tour of the Port Authority Bus Terminal...and a 
lot safer too!

On a visit to Ofuna a couple of  years before it opened, I was granted an audience with some suits from the 
Eigyo and Publicity departments. Their knowledge of their own company`s cinematic product seemed to be 
limited to in-house hagiographies of Kido Shiro, Ozu and of course St. Yamada Yoji. In any case, they didn`t 
want to talk film. Ineluctably, they maneuveried the conversation over to the up-coming Cinema World 
project. From there on, I felt as comfotable as if I had been lured into a Jehova`s Witnesses "fellowship 
supper." I was ceremoniously presented with a mound of tracts  lauding the project as the most thrilling 
phenomenon since the Solom`s Temple.Or, more to the point, the Shrine at Lourds. The fanciful cover  
illustrations depicted a temendous throng, with ecstatic children in the foreground impatiently tugging their 
equally ecstatic parents, streaming toward the glistening gates of ...Cinema World! 
Next, a huge map of the studio was unscrolled across the conference table with the outline of the proposed  
New Jerusalem superimposed in neon magenta. Whereas the company reps had been taciturn and the 
conversation desultory as we talked about expanding the list of Shochiku`s classic film video offerings, 
their eyes now glowed with enthusiasm and they couldn`t seem to wait their turn to expand on the thrilling 
features their own sub-departments had cooked up. At the time, their chief concern was parking. Several 
parking structures had already been built into the plan but, as they evisioned it, they would soon be strained 
to the limit.
My secret scepticism was abundantly confirmed when I visited the completed Cinema World the summer 
before last. I was a "specially invited" guest, which meant that parking and admission were free. Maybe it 
was just the day I chose to visit, but the underground parking area I was ushered into could easily have 
acomodated a hundred or so cars more. Upstairs, on the exhibition floors, there was a steady flow of 
visitors, but the total crowd didn`t seem to be much geater than you`d expect in a shopping arcade in 
Hamamatsu, on a weekday. And I didn`t see anybody ecstatic...or even mildly interested for that matter. And 
where were the kids? Their absence seemed to be explained by the nature of the exhibits. Judging by their 
fairly low-tech quality, it seems the planners were expecting a large number of quantum leapers from the 
mid-1960s. There was, tucked away in a shabby corner like the smoker`s 'lounge' at Seoul airport, a video 
game room with all the eqipment of your local Uny Department Store roof garden. But since its an 
all-Shochiku show, the kiddies will look in vain for  a Mothra wind-tunnel or a chance to join Godzilla  in a 
tramp through Tokyo. So, for whom was Cinema World brought into existence? It would seem the planners 
saw as their ideal visitors, a mid-to-late- middle-aged couple who  never missed a New Years Tor-san 
opening and whose idea of interior decor is to create their very own home altar to the dear departed, 
Atsumi Kiyoshi.  I may have my Cinema World geography somewhat confused here--correct me if I`m wrong 
all ye Cinema World regulars!--but I remember the Tora-san/Atsumi Kiyoshi sacristy as being down on the 
lowest level. Featured here is the brefly interesting (actual?) set of Sakura`s dango-ya shop. Exiting the 
shop in the direction of Tako`s little factory, one immediately comes upon the Tora-san Gudzu Corner. Not 
to be missed!--well, try if you can. The little Atsumi figurines modeled in guaranteed non-biodegradable 
plastic are (or will be) a bargain at a mere thousand or so yen apiece. (Just imagine how valuable they will 
be when your great-great grandkids sell them off at the end of next century!) Deeper into the labrynth 
(sp.?) is the Shochiku history section Aaron speaks of. If you`ve never seen an actual, working (well, it 
actually wasn`t working the day I saw it) Zoetrope, the excursion is worth the trouble. And a little further 
on is Ozu Ysujiro himself, sitting crosslegged on the set with his camera trained on...who was it? Hara 
Setsuko? Chishu Ryu? Step right up (or crouch, actually) and look through the view-finder. This, ladies and 
gentlemen, is what is referred to as "Ozu`s dog`s eye view." Trek down another blank corridor and you 
come to the outdoor Jidaigeki-land. I  remember seeing the 'street' before the renovation, when you could 
look through the loovers of Edo-period fronts and see stored inside actual props and sets for actual movies. 
Well all that junk`s cleared away now and Jidaigeki-land feels as much like the real old Edo (or, more to the 
point, the real old Shochiku Movie Studio)  as KFC tastes like real chicken. 

I could go on, and on. Up on the main level we have "a recreation of an old-time American town," obviously 
inspired by McDisney. Well, apparently small-town America looked something like the gift-shop mall at 
Frankfurt, no,  Abu Dhabi Airport. Quaint little roof-ettes with candy-striped awnings grace the entrances 
to shops as wide open to the "street" as an Akibahara cut-rate computer equipment outlet. Its Miki House 
cheek to jowl with Ye Olde (Morinaga`s) Ice Cream Parlor. 
Last, but not least, is the uppermost level--Futureland, or some such. It certainly seems to be the future 
of Shochiku. A huge, dark barren  void of a space. On the walls,  dimly lit by colored lights, are (I seem to 
remember) intergalactic scenes. In the center, lookng like a dusky and diminutive Grand Central Station 
Information booth, is a  round kiosk selling...oh God, I forget!...spaceship key holders and clear plastic balls 
that glow in the dark, I think. That`s it. That`s the future brought to you by Shochiku Kabushiki Kaisha. I 
overheard one of the rare young visitors sum it all up as he and his mother hurried past me on the stairs 
going back down: "Nanda..Kaerou" (Bullshit. Let`s go home.)

I followed his advice.

Peter B. High
Nagya, Japan







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