release year of non-Japanese films in Japan

[Mark Nornes]

Frako,

You are very much in luck. There is one-stop shopping for this kind of  
info. It's drawn from a number of sources, so it's something like a  
clearing house of release information. There are separate volumes for  
Japanese and foreign films, as well as great filmographies for actors,  
staff members and directors. Here's the one you need.

舶来キネマ作品辞典. 戦後篇. I : 日本で戦後(19145-1988) 
に上映された外国映画一覧(I) = Complete dictionary of  
[imported movies] from August 1945 to December 1988 /
Hakurai kinema sakuhin jiten. Sengo hen. I : Nihon de sengo  
(1945-1988) ni jōei sareta gaikoku eiga ichiran (I) = Complete  
dictionary of [imported movies] from August 1945 to December 1988

Author:	世界映画史硏究会編. ; ; Sekai Eigashi Kenkyūkai.
Publisher:	科学書院 : 発売元霞ヶ関出版, Tōkyō : Kagaku  
Shoin : Hatsubaimoto Kasumigaseki Shuppan, 2004.
Series:	Sekai, Nihon eiga sakuhin jiten shirīzu, dai 4-shū
Edition/Format:	Book : Japanese : Shohan
Unfortunately, not many libraries can afford this very important  
reference work....or even recognize how important it is; Berkeley  
seems to be one of these, but I see that UCLA has it.

Markus

PS:  This is precisely the kind of research question we wrote our  
Research Guide to Japanese Cinema for. To give you a sense for why you  
need to buy this book (I know, so shameless), here is our entry for  
this dictionary:


Nihon eiga sakuhin jiten/Complete Dictionary of Japanese Movies from
1896 to 1945 August, edited by Nihon Eigashi Kenkyûkai.
Tokyo: Kagaku Shoin, 1996.
日本映画史研究会編
『日本映画作品辞典  戦前篇 = Complete dictionary of
Japanese movies from 1896 to 1945 August』 科学書院: 発売元 霞 
ケ関出版
株式会社, 1996.
Nihon eiga sakuhin jiten/Complete Dictionary of Japanese Movies from
1945 August to 1988 December, edited by Nihon Eigashi Kenkyûkai.
Tokyo: Kagaku Shoin, 1998.
日本映画史研究会編
『日本映画作品辞典　戦後篇 = Complete dictionary of
Japanese movies from 1945 August to 1988 December』 科学書院: 発 
売元 霞
ケ関出版株式会社, 1998.
This massive dictionary of films and filmmakers takes up an entire book-
shelf and is an indispensable tool for Japanese cinema studies. A  
project
run by the Nihon Eigashi Kenkyûkai, it is an attempt to list every  
film and
filmmaker in Japan (other related Kagaku Shoin projects cover staff  
and ac-
tors as well foreign films shown in Japan [see pp. 99 and 104-105]).  
Much
of the information is culled from only three sources—Kinema junpô,  
Kura-
shikku eiga nyûsu, and government censorship records—but this is by  
far
the most reliable resource for identifying release dates and  
filmographies
on this scale. It is composed of two six-volume sections on prewar and
postwar Japanese films (the other publications on prewar and postwar  
for-
eign films, Japanese actors and staff, and foreign actors are cross- 
referenced
when possible). For some sense of the coverage, shikku eiga nyûsu, and
government censorship records—but this is by far
the most reliable resource for identifying release dates and  
filmographies
on this scale. It is composed of two six-volume sections on prewar and
postwar Japanese films (the other publications on prewar and postwar  
for-
eign films, Japanese actors and staff, and foreign actors are cross- 
referenced
when possible). For some sense of the coverage, the Japanese section on
staff members lists 16,441 people, eight times that of the Kinema  
junpô refer-
ence dictionary. (For our entry on the biographical dictionary  
volumes, see
pp. 104-105.) This series also represents an important first step for  
entering
the archive. Because Japanese film periodicals are so poorly indexed,  
one
must often browse through volumes page-by-page. Entries here give exact
release dates, which makes trolling for articles much more  
expeditious, as
you can begin by pulling journals around that date. Prewar listings  
also in-
dicate first-run theaters, which allows one to navigate collections of  
theater
programs. Finally, all titles and personal names are thankfully  
rendered in
hiragana, although one should always cross-check readings when possible.
Do note, however, that given the size of the project, each  
filmographic entry
is rather short, only listing some personnel and a limited number of  
cast
members without character names. Given the selectiveness of the  
filmogra-
phy, one cannot assume that the filmographies given for actors and other
individuals are complete. These works are thus most helpful for core  
infor-
mation, not for full filmographies.
























On Jun 5, 2009, at 12:41 PM, Frako Loden wrote:

>
> Is there a handy online source in either Japanese or English giving  
> the year of release in Japan of non-Japanese films?
>
> I'm especially interested in the month and year Richard Lester's  
> 1967 film How I Won the War was released in Japan.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Frako Loden
> Berkeley, CA

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