English speakers generally do not understand Japanese

[drainer at mpinet.net]

You just answered yourself -- festival releases are not commercial releases.

It makes sense [to us] that those prints should be included on a DVD, so why 
aren't they?

As the name implies, domestic releases are not meant for international use, 
and as you well know the ones that get selected for international release 
will appear as a different version. A general rule that applies to 
commercial film releases in non-English speaking countries is that if a film 
is released domestically, it generally does not need English subtitles. 
Re-releases aren't common until after the film has proven to be commercially 
successful, even in countries where endowments are necessary.

There could be various reasons for this: maybe to stick it to the man and 
the hegemony enjoyed by English speakers (/sarcasm), no one present to do 
the subtitling (you'd be surprised), the projected sales in the domestic are 
low, the tested market historically runs without subtitles, etc...

The film industry is, after all, in the business of making money. It's true 
that they are not gaining sales by releasing unsubtitled copies of films, 
but you should ask yourself -- are they really losing any?

Due to the Hollywood system, almost anything produced outside of it is, 
whether we like it or not, a "specialist market," and specialist markets 
have exceptions. Maybe that's even a reason for not including subtitles --  
they know you're going to buy the DVD anyway. The most realistic reason for 
all of this (assumptions aside) is that not including English subtitles 
leaves the possibility open to sell licenses to a distributor abroad. I know 
this because I've been involved in it, and in Japan it doesn't just apply to 
film.

But again, to point to economics, the studio heads know their share of the 
market, even if their business practices seem odd or as if they are "afraid 
to make money" (this applies to almost all companies in Japan). If it didn't 
work for them, the movies wouldn't get produced.

--

I don't think that Hong Kong fits into this model for several reasons; for 
example, the fact that many pirated versions of films intended for export 
are produced there, the fact that English is an official language in Hong 
Kong, the fact that Hong Kong movies have had international success and been 
exported for quite some time, etc...

I can't offer a solution for Korea. I don't keep tabs with their releases 
but I can say that I have never seen a Korean movie with English subtitles. 
In fact, I was just at a Korean movie store a few weeks ago (randomly) and I 
was quite disappointed, but it makes perfect sense, all of their customers 
are Korean, so why should they bother with English subtitles? (There is a 
tone of sarcasm here but I think you'll get the point.)


-d



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J.sharp" <j.sharp at hpo.net>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 5:05 AM
Subject: Re: English speakers generally do not understand Japanese


> >
>>  That is not a matter of want or lack of interest, it's a matter of
>> economics.
>>
>
> In what way is it a matter of economics? Consider that English subtitled
> prints of most films are prepared for overseas festivals, and the 
> prevalence
> of English subs on DVD releases from neighbouring countries such as Hong
> Kong and Korea?
>
>