Fwd: Japanese film in post-Occupation Taiwan

[stephanie deboer]

Greetings all:

I (as well) don't have all my research materials with me, but I conferred with a colleague, and these are the dates we've got:

1964: an organization called something like the "motion picture association" decided not to show any Japanese film 

1973: the government placed a ban on Japanese film

1978: (November) Japanese songs were totally prohibited in all public places

1984: (January) the ban was lifted and the government reopened the import
market to Japanese film

In terms of recent history, then, Japanese films have been shown in Taiwan since 1984.  I believe the ban from 1973 up to then was quite comprehensive.  But for the post-war time period before then, I'm not quite sure of the extent and consistency of Taiwan's policies and restrictions on Japanese film.  

As a side note, Japanese productions were not officially allowed to be shown on television in Taiwan until about a decade and a half ago (again, specific dates escape me, and I have no referenc
e materials with me).

Hope this information doesn't come too late to be helpful.

Stephanie DeBoer


----- Original Message -----
From: Aaron Gerow <onogerow at angel.ne.jp>
Date: Tuesday, October 7, 2003 0:43 am
Subject: Fwd: Japanese film in post-Occupation Taiwan

> > Quick (big) question: Though I'm well familiar with the state of 
> > Japanese film's official suppression in South Korea until about six 
> > years ago (I was at the Pusan film fest the year Kitano made an 
> > epoch-ending appearance with *Hana-bi*), I am far less familiar with 
> > the situation of Japanese film in Taiwan post-Japanese occupation 
> > (i.e. post-1946). Can anyone here provide me with a quick sketch of 
> > governmental sanctions/restrictions (if any) of Japanese films in 
> > Taiwan between, say, 1946 and 1990? Were Japanese films banned from 
> > circulation in Taiwan during this entire period, or at all, and if so, 
> > from when to when?
> 
> I don't have my reference books around either 
(they're mostly packed 
> and ready for the move), but Taiwan in general was more congenial to 
> Japanese pop culture after the war. It's well known that directors such 
> as Hou Hsiao-hsien grew up in postwar Taiwan watching Japanese films 
> (for him, Ozu (he's now making the Ozu homage film) and Nikkatsu 
> Action) and that those works did have an influence on their cinema. 
> Japanese studios were also not ignorant of the Taiwanese presence, if 
> not market.  Nikkatsu even made a Yujiro film about Kinmonto (as it's 
> called in Japanese) in the early 1960s with Taiwanese locations. I also 
> recall that some Okinawan theaters right after the war got some of 
> their Japanese films by smuggling them from Taiwan.
> 
> I'd like to hear from someone who knows a bit more about official 
> government policy, however.
> 
> Aaron Gerow
> 
>