inquiry on c. 50s-60s film

[Joanne Bernardi]

A colleague is looking for info on the following film, it sounds like it
would be 1950s-1960s, Japanese production, starring a"reasonably
well-known American actor?" I'm thinking this is more touchy-feely than
Oshima's "Shiiku?"

If you have a clue, my friend would apreciate the tip. You can respond to
the list or directly to her, Rebecca Copeland, copeland at artsci.wustl, edu.
Thanks,
Joanne Bernardi (U Rochester) 
> From: Walter Schwartz <wschwartz at worldnet.att.net>
> To: copeland at artsci.wustl.edu
> Subject: Campus Visit and Japanese Films
> 
> Professor Copeland,
> 
>   I got your card from the E. Asian Studies Office - I hope you
> don't mind my following up with an obscure question of personal interest to
> me.
> 
> For five or six years we hosted junior high school exchange visitors from
> Tonami, Japan for week-long summer visits.  The visits were arranged by a
> Jaycees member in Tonami who said he was inspired by a movie he saw as a boy
> in Japan.  I have always wanted to identify the movie so that I could give
> him a copy as a gift.
> 
> Here is how he described the movie from his memory as a boy in the early
> 60's: A Japanese boy befriends an American man (or soldier) in postwar
> Japan.  The American was a reasonably well-known actor (he doesn't remember
> who), but the movie was Japanese, probably produced in the late 50's.
> 
> The Jaycee says this friendship story inspired him to devote huge amounts of
> time to send 20-30 Japanese students to visit the U.S. each year over a ten
> year period.  However, he doesn't remember the title.  I'm a little
> concerned that the Jaycee's story is apocryphal and maybe there is no such
> movie.  Doe the story line ring a bell with you?  Do you know someone I
> could contact who might know?
> 
> Thanks for any help you can give.
> 
> - Walter Schwartz, San Mateo, CA
> 
> 
>