Problems with DVD

[Aaron Gerow]

I am writing to see if anyone else has experienced some problems in 
purchasing DVDs for university use in Japan.  I teach film, among other 
things, at Yokohama National University in Japan. Every year, I use 
university money to purchase VHS and DVD versions of Japanese films for 
class use. Since I teach courses that include international students, I 
have been especially pleased that some recent DVDs of Japanese films 
manufactured in Japan have included English subtitles and have made a 
point of purchasing those.

However this year, when I tried to purchase about 31 of those DVD, I was 
told by the accounting department which placed the orders that 29 of them 
could not be sold to universities because that would violate copyright 
law.  If it was a VHS copy, it would be OK, I was told, but DVD--the only 
format that has the English subtitles--was no good. This, I thought, was 
not only absurd, but I had faced no such problems with DVDs before, so I 
asked them to try another purchasing route. That however also did not 
work.

I am both furious and confused. First, from my knowledge of Japanese 
copyright law, there is not only no distinction made between DVD and VHS 
soft (after all, I had no problem purchasing 2 of the DVDs), but fair use 
by educational institutions is protected (I can use films in class if 
those who are seeing them are registered students--that is, that the 
screening is not for an indeterminate audience). Second, this clearly 
obstructs film education in Japan, if not research as well. Third, this 
also seems to be a short-sighted measure, where companies, afraid that 
university use will hurt sales to individuals, block the sales to 
universities, but forget that in a culture where young Japanese do not 
watch Japanese films, introducing Japanese cinema to students is one of 
the roles universities can play in supporting the future of Japanese 
film. Fourth, this also obstructs efforts to introduce Japanese culture 
to non-Japanese.

I was wondering if anyone else in Japan had the same experience. If these 
seems to be a general policy, I plan to launch an protest to the 
companies selling the DVDs. Since I personally know some of the directors 
of the films involved, I hope to enlist their help as well.

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171