"I Am Nipponjin," "Ren-ai shashin," and "Hazard"

Mon Jun 25 15:33:03 EDT 2007

Dear Jonathan Hall,

Okazaki's films are excellent, and everyone in Tokyo should absolutely follow your recommendation and go see this one. I'm advising a student doing an M.A. Thesis on "Hiroshima in Film," and "White Light, Black Rain" is an outstanding film in the series she's analyzing. It's just very recently become available in the US via Netflix, and Netflix also has the earlier Okazaki film "Unfinished Business," about Japanese-Americans resisting being sent to camps in the US in WWII, but unfortunately not the excellent 1990 one you listed.

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown Univ.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan M. Hall" <jmhall at uci.edu>
Date: Monday, June 25, 2007 2:48 pm
Subject: Re: "I Am Nipponjin," "Ren-ai shashin," and "Hazard"

> I don't think anyone has suggested the work of Steven Okazaki,  
> especially Living on Tokyo Time, a film from 1990, I believe.   
> Okazaki's newest film, White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of  
> Hiroshima and Nagasaki will play at Iwanami Hall (Jinbocho, Tokyo) 
> 
> next month.
> 
> Yours,
> Jonathan
> 
> 
> -----
> Jonathan M. Hall
> Japanese Film, Media, and Modern Literature
> Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature / Film & Media Studies
> 
> 320 Humanities Instructional Building
> UC Irvine, Irvine CA 92697-2651 USA
> office: 1-949-824-9778
> fax: 1-949-824-1992
> 
> Co-Chair, Queer Caucus, Society for Cinema and Media Studies
> 
> 
> 
> On Jun 26, 2007, at 3:25 AM, Michael McCaskey wrote:
> 
> > While looking for other titles you all have very helpfully  
> > suggested, I also found "I Am Nipponjin," about a Japanese-
> American  
> > who goes to Japan for the first time. It looks pretty good. Also 
> 
> > more likely to please both Japanese and Americans. It doesn't 
> seem  
> > to be available in US format so far. The Japanese title is "I Am 
> 
> > &#26085;&#26412;&#20154;," so it wasn't easy to find at first, 
> but  
> > it's available at Amazon Japan.
> >
> > I also ordered "Ren-ai shashin," which several of you suggested.
> >
> > I watched the first half of "Hazard" today. It's just been 
> released  
> > on DVD, but I think Sion Sono made it back in 2002, so it's  
> > actually an "early Odagiri film." I may be wrong, but I think 
> some  
> > Americans (not including me) may be troubled by this film--
> perhaps  
> > in the same way some Japanese are troubled by "Fear and 
> Trembling,"  
> > but maybe much more so. One scene I'm always going to remember 
> is  
> > where Odagiri's two Japanese-speaking companions hold up a 
> crowded  
> > NYC convenience store, while Odagiri looks in his English phrase 
> 
> > notebook and then says, "We want your money." There's also a 
> scene  
> > where they're in a sort of landfill across the water, looking at 
> 
> > Manhattan, reciting Walt Whitman. (There are no subtitles--
> except  
> > some in Japanese when English is spoken.)
> >
> > Michael McCaskey
> > Georgetown Univ.
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Jim Harper <jimharper666 at yahoo.co.uk>
> > Date: Monday, June 25, 2007 7:16 am
> > Subject: Re: Thanks To All + Explanation
> >
> >> I've seen Tokyo Pop, on the one occasion it was shown
> >> on UK televsion, Channel 4, if I recall correctly. I
> >> would have been 16, so it would have been maybe 1991.
> >>
> >> It's not as good as Lost In Translation, to be honest,
> >> but it struck a chord with me. It was shown pretty
> >> much the same time as BBC2 showed Nobuhiko Obayashi's
> >> Ijintachi Tono Natsu, the very first Japanese film I
> >> ever saw. Seeing both that and Tokyo Pop in the same
> >> short space of time created an interest in Japan and
> >> Japanese cinema that has lasted ever since.
> >>
> >> I don't think UK television has shown either of them
> >> again since, although Tokyo Pop did get a US video
> >> release at some point. I've been waiting for DVD
> >> releases of both films for years, and while there was
> >> a HK release of Ijintachi, I doubt there'll be a DVD
> >> of Tokyo Pop any time soon. The only people who seem
> >> to know about it are those who (like me) caught it on
> >> TV by accident, or Buffy fans (Kaz & Fran Rubel Kuzui
> >> created both Tokyo Pop and Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
> >>
> >> Jim.
> >>
> >> --- "J.sharp" <j.sharp at hpo.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>>> By the way, have you seen or heard of an older
> >> film
> >>> called Tokyo Pop from
> >>> 1988, about an American  girl who goes to be a pop
> >>> star in Japan - I think
> >>> there was a lot of discussion on this list when Lost
> >>> in Translation came
> >>> out, about how similar (and how much better) it was.
> >>> I remember seeing it on
> >>> TV in the UK years ago, and would love to see it
> >>> again, but I dont think its
> >>> on video anywhere.
> >>>
> >>> Best
> >>>
> >>> Jasper
> >>>
> >>> www.midnighteye.com
> >>>
> >>> ________________________________________________
> >>> Message sent using Hunter Point Online WebMail
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> http://www.flipsidemovies.com
> >> http://jimharper.blogspot.com
> >>
> >>
> >>      ___________________________________________________________
> >> Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the
> >> answer. Try it
> >> now.
> >> http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/
> >>
> >
> 
> 