sake in films

[William Gardner]

I recently had the chance to tour the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum in Nada,
Kobe, and the narrative thread of their exhibits was provided by an
educational video on the sake-brewing process. Much of the footage was taken
from a wonderful 1927 documentary that was used to show how sake was
produced in "the old days" (even though it shows a considerable degree of
mechanization already employed by Hakutsuru in 1927). My friends and I were
all impressed by this 1927 documentary, but unfortunately I didn't get the
film's title or director, and no copies of it were available in the Museum's
store.

Your question seems to be more focused on narrative than documentary, but I
thought I'd mention this film since the impression is still fresh. I don't
know if it was a company film produced by Hakutsuru, or an independent
director's documentary. Perhaps some other KineJapaners know more about it?

Best,
Will Gardner  

On 6/17/03 6:57 PM, "Karen Riley" <chimaykaren at yahoo.com> wrote:

> This is a bit of an esoteric question...
> Can anybody think of images of sake drinking in
> Japanese film (or Japanese tv for that matter) and how
> the prevalence of drinking sake (as compared with say
> whiskey and beer) has changed/declined in film
> representation over the years...I guess what I'm after
> here is how film/tv media has mirrored the decline of
> this cultural symbol. Also, are there any outstanding
> scenes of drinking sake that come to mind in well
> known films?
> 
> Thanks,
> Karen
> 
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----------
William O. Gardner
Assistant Professor of Japanese Language, Literature, and Culture
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Swarthmore College
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, PA 19081
Phone: 610-690-6875
Fax: 610-328-7769
wgardne1 at swarthmore.edu