Japan Foundation 16mm prints

[Mark D. Roberts]

On Sep 4, 2008, at 1:56 AM, Mark Nornes wrote:

> They won't show you a list—neither will any archive out there—but  
> they're happy to tell you know if they've got prints of the films  
> you are interested in.

The situation in Japan strikes me as the exception, not the norm.  
Every archive and film library that I've visited in America and Europe  
has a catalog, most are on-line, and they didn't vet each inquiry that  
I made. Have I just been lucky?

While I greatly appreciate the Japan Foundation, it seems that they  
are not being adequately supported by forward-looking government  
policies on film culture. I don't know where the disconnect lies  
exactly, so I'd be interested in hearing what others think about this.  
Does the Japanese government have a policy on film heritage?

M