Self-introduction, and a request for suggestions

[Alex Bates]

Hi Irene,
I am currently working on a dissertation on the Great Kanto Earthquake 
at the U of M.  Unfortunately there aren't many films that are 
accessible, in any case I'll send you more info off list.
As for other films- Naruse has some good things on the Moga in the 
early 30s. I think some are here too.
Alex


On Mar 15, 2005, at 11:57 PM, Irene Hahn wrote:

> Dear everyone,
>
> My name is Irene Hahn, and I'm a Lecturer in English at the University 
> of Michigan, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am also a fiction 
> writer at work on my first novel, a historical novel that takes place 
> mostly in Korea during the Japanese Occupation and the Korean War, but 
> which also includes a segment that takes place in Japan between the 
> years 1922 and 1924. The first portion of the novel won several 
> literary awards while I was a Master's student, and with luck I will 
> finish it in the next year. As part of my research, I am trying to 
> find films that try to re-create the early 1920s in Japan (or as close 
> to that time period as possible), and was hoping to enlist your 
> suggestions regarding films that might be helpful.
>
> By way of plot summary, the portion of my novel that takes place in 
> Japan follows the travels of a young Korean man named Juho, who is a 
> member of the landowning aristocracy in Korea. He wants desperately to 
> be a painter and goes to Japan to study at the Tokyo School of Fine 
> Arts and paint 100 views of Mount Fuji, following the model of 
> Hokusai. I suppose if I had to itemize the main areas that I am 
> interested in, they would fall along these lines:
>
> 1. Most of this portion of the novel takes place in Tokyo, and I would 
> like to learn more about student life (preferably among student 
> painters, although I imagine it'll be tough to find films on that 
> specifically), particularly student radicalism in the 
> universities--I've read that quite a few student intellectuals 
> advocated Communism, and I am trying to get a sense of what their 
> lives might have been like on a day to day basis, the conversations 
> they might have had, and whether they actually acted upon their ideas 
> and demonstrated or just talked about them.
> 2. I am trying to find out what the interactions between Koreans and 
> Japanese were like in Japan, especially Korean and Japanese students.
> 3. While in Tokyo, Juho falls in love with a "modern" woman. I've read 
> about the westernized Japanese girl of the 20s and 30s but would like 
> to see a moving representation of her, and so I am interested in any 
> film that illuminates gender relations and the opportunities that were 
> available to young women.
> 4. I am trying to learn more about the lives of Japanese painters in 
> this time period, particularly those who went to Paris and came back 
> wanting to incorporate Impressionism and Post-Impressionism into their 
> work.
> 5. Because Juho also travels throughout Japan to see Mount Fuji from 
> different parts of the country, I am very interested in the scenery of 
> the time, modes of transportation, places a traveler might have stayed 
> and things they might have done, any sorts of visual details that 
> might help me re-create the atmosphere of the early 1920s.
> 6. One of Juho's childhood friends spends a year as a miner in Kyushu. 
> I'd like to know more about the conditions there.
> 7. Juho's plans are interrupted by the Great Kanto Earthquake. In the 
> aftermath of the massacre of Koreans that took place after the 
> earthquake, he goes home. With this in mind, I was wondering whether 
> any films have tried to recreate the experience of the earthquake.
>
> As you can see, the areas I am researching are unfortunately quite 
> varied. All of my research has been literary thus far, and while books 
> are helpful I would like to try and see and hear the times via film, 
> even if only fictive. In case anyone had suggestions based on the 
> above I would be deeply grateful. Thank you very much for your time 
> and consideration--
>
> Sincerely,
> Irene Hahn
>
>