Americans / Foreigners in Japanese Film

[M Arnold]

From: SHUY at aol.com
>2  Any postwar (preferrably last twenty years or so) Japanese movies that
depict American person/people.

This is a question that seems to turn up every once in a while in this
group.  If we pooled our resources I bet we could come up with a very long
list of "foreigner" characters in Japanese films.

Here are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.  Some of these are
leading roles, others are very small roles.  I apologize if I mix anything
up.

Yassa mossa (1952)  - At least one American, and one other character whom I
believe is French.
Mikko zero rain (1960)  - I remember at least one very minor character.
Abashiri bangaichi bokyo hen (1965)  - Not American, but there's one young
girl who's the daughter of a Japanese woman and an American military man.
Kyuketsuki gokemidoro (1968)  - One of the passengers on the plane is an
American woman.
Saraba natsu no hikari (1968)  - I think Okada Mariko's (ex) boyfriend in
the film is American.
Tokugawa onna keibatsu-shi (1968) - A few foreign women get tortured.
Summer Soldier (Sama soruja, 1972) - The story is about American military
personnel who go AWOL in Japan.
Nihon chinbotsu (1973)  - I remember the Australian characters, but are
there Americans too?
Kobe kokusai gyangu (1975)  - I'm not positive about this one either.  There
are several "Asians" though.
Fukushu suru wa ware ni ari (1979) - Brief appearance by some American
military.  As Mitch Cullin noted you can find this sort of thing in quite a
few films.
Boku wa tenshi janai yo (197-?) - One eerie scene with a character dancing
around in blackface.
Africa Story (Afurika monogatari, 1980) - James Stewart (!!)
Zigeunerweisen (Tsigoineriwaizen, 1980)  - One very minor American
character.
Fukkatsu no hi VIRUS (1980)  - Most of the cast is non-Japanese.
Kapone oi ni naku (1985)  - The story is set mostly in America.
Hyoryu kyoshitsu (1987)  - Several of the main characters.
Bedtime Eyes (Beddotaimu aizu, 1987)  - Lead character, but I can't remember
if he's supposed to be "American" or of some other nationality.
Kyoko (1996)  - Several characters.
Puraido: Unmei no Toki (1998) - American military at the war crimes trial.
Tsuka to kinpatsu (2000) - Kimura Eri plays a blonde "American" exchange
student.
Pistol Opera (Pisutoru opera, 2001) - One indestructible American assassin.

I have a vague memory of seeing a non-Japanese character in one of the
Shintoho Line/Chitai Series films, but I can't remember which one it was.
While I'm at it here are a few titles with "Asian" characters:

Arigato-san (1936)
Onna shinjuo no fukushu (1956)
Zoku haikei tenno heika sama (1965)
Ikiteiru uchi ga hana nanoyo, shindara sore made tosengen (1985)
Tsuki wa dotchi ni deteiru (1993)
Gakko (1995)
Go (2001)
Hotaru (2001) - The Furuhata/Takakura film.
KT (2002)

If you looked at animated films and series as well I'm sure you'd come up
with a huge number of non-Japanese characters.  For two recent examples,
Cowboy Bebop and Final Fantasy.  (In the latter however I'm not sure if we
would say they are "Americans" in a "Japanese film" or it is a "Japanese" in
an "American film".)  Chinmoku no kantai has several Americans.  Kurenai no
buta is set in Italy, but still has one American.  I think Momotaro: umi no
shinpei also has a few American characters.

Michael Arnold
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