Shin No Shikoutei

[Roland Domenig]

Ann Hui's "The Song of Exile" and Clara Law's "Autumn Moon" are other
examples of a differentiated and quite sympathetic portrayal of Japanese in
Hongkong Cinema. 
A good source for everyone interested in how Japan is depicted in Asian
films are two books by Monma Takashi published by Shakai Hyorinsha in 1996:
"Ajia eiga ni miru Nihon" Part I (China, Taiwan, Hongkong) and Part II
(South-Korea, North-Korea and South East Asia).
   

Roland Domenig
Institute for Japanese Studies
University of Vienna



> 
> thanks for your help, it certainly sounds interesting. I'll post some
> comments on the film when/if I eventually receive it. As to your query, I
> wonder how such works compare with the portrayals of Japanese people/culture
> in Chinese film (I'm thinking here mainly of Hong Kong cinema).
> For many years Japanese characters seem to have been used as staple villains
> in popular Hong Kong film (for example the explanation of Japanese Karate
> given in Wang Yu's film 'One-armed Boxer' which seems to relegate all of
> Japanese culture to brutality and aggression). Only a few films that I can
> think of have made much attempt at any real cultural understanding, such as
> Liu Chia Liang's 'Shaolin Challenges Ninja' and some of the work of Eddie
> Fong, such as 'Kawashima Yoshiko'.
> Also, more recently, Yuen Woo Ping's 'Fist of Legend' has re-worked Bruce
> Lee's horribly racist 'Fist of Fury' to include much more sympathetic
> portrayals of Japanese characters. (I was hoping here to include some
> comments on Leong Po-chih's 'Hong Kong 1941', which deals with Japan's
> occupation of the colony, having just received the dvd. Unfortunately the
> disc is faulty so any comments will have to be postponed.)
> 
> Graham
>