Japanese CNC?

[Peter Larson]

Most of my students would always claim that Japanese films were "boring". I
think that younger people have learned to associate movies with something is
inherent to primarily american movies so they are less apt to go see low
budget Japanese films. Maybe this is changing as Japanese films get better
and more accessible to younger viewers, I don't know. Sure, there is some
conspiracy and shitty business tactics going on (the Evil American!) but
really the market is primarily based on market demand, which demands
Hollywood style productions (for better or worse!)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu]On Behalf Of John Gorman
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 11:13 PM
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: Japanese CNC?


Thanks Jasper and Mark.  After scouring Irish and British libraries for
copies of UniJapan's 'Japanese Film Year Book' or Jiji Tsushinsha's 'Eiga
Nenkan', I finally went the easy route and found UniJapan's Internet site
<http://www.unijapan.org/> which seems to be the closest equivalent to
France's centre national de la cinematographie <http://www.cnc.>.

Although parts of the site are still under construction, it seems quite
helpful providing such things as: a list of Japanese movies released during
the year (with English and Japanese titles*), award winners, contact details
for various associations, production companies, film festivals, film
commissions, film schools and the supporting members of UniJapan Film.

Most specific to my study at this time, it has statistics on: the number of
feature films released in Japan, attendance, average admission fees,
box-office receipts, number of screens and number of imported films
released. (I would like to know how these figures compare to those put forth
by Eiga Nenkan.)

According to UniJapan, imported films began to numerically dominate
domestically produced films in 1987 (there is no breakdown in box office
receipts) although it appears Japanese films have been gaining some ground
back since 1996. The number of screens showing domestically produced films
exclusively has also declined steadily while the number of screens showing
both domestic and imported movies has increased dramatically, again since
around 1996.

I've read various theories on why American movies have become dominant in
various markets (UniJapan's figures on the Internet do not break down
countries of origin for imported films <I've requested their yearbook>)
ranging from the effects of comparative GDP, rates of growth in consumer
spending, the number of television channels in a country, etc. I also
recently did an informal survey of 30 Japanese of various ages between 18
and 80 and found that virtually none of them saw more Japanese films than
American films nor preferred Japanese films to American films.

The statistics from UniJapan do not specify the role of American films and
perhaps my sampling was skewed but I'm hoping that the members of KineJapan,
hopefully in good spirits following the sake discussion, might offer their
opinions on the apparent loss of dominance of Japanese films in Japan to
American films.

With some trepidation,

John Gorman





On Thursday, June 19, 2003, at 04:59PM, Mark Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu>
wrote:

>Also see the Eiga Nenkan for all sorts of statistics and information.
>
>Markus
>
>
>
>
>
>On Wednesday, June 18, 2003, at 08:39  AM, J.sharp wrote:
>
>> Hi John,
>>
>> There's an organisation in Japan known as UniJapan, who publish a
>> yearly catalogue of all Japanese films released every year, under the
>> auspices of The Agency of Cultural Affairs for Japan. In the latest
>> one for 2002, they published figures for the percentage made up of
>> Japanese and foreign titles, stretching all the way back to 1985. It's
>> a slim, Readers Digest sized book, and you should be able to find it
>> at national film libraries, but you can always request it from them by
>> emailing unijapan at tokyo.interq.or.jp. Not sure how good they are at
>> replying though.
>> Good luck,
>>
>> Jasper Sharp
>> www.midnighteye.com
>>
>>
>>
>> --------- Original Message --------
>> From: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>> To: "KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu"
>> <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>> Subject: Japanese CNC?
>> Date: 18/06/03 04:54
>>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm working on a masters degree in Ireland.
>>
>> Is there a Japanese equivalent of the French 'Centre national de la
>> cin??matographie' where one can find comparative distribution and box
>> office figures for Japanese and Foreign films in Japan?
>>
>> http://www.cnc.fr/d_stat/fr_d2.htm
>>
>> If not, is there some other source, preferably on the Internet for
>> this info? I'm looking, hopefully as far back as the '50's.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> John Gorman
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________________
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>
>