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Newsreels of War (Part 2)

Akira Yamamoto (1932 – 1999), a sociologist, recalls his experience during his kindergarten days in 1937. In the playground of elementary school in my neighborhood, I saw many newsreels in the screenings sponsored by a newspaper agency. Up on the screen, I saw the train packed with soldiers were sent off with cheers of ‘Banzai, Banzai’. Cargo vessels traveling through China Sea, soldiers holding guns advancing over a river, those soldiers charging to castle wall … and they took the castle, put up our flag and yelling ‘Banzai’… I saw these newsreels among the crowd packed in the playground. Sometimes …

 
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Newsreels of War (Part 1)

On July 8, 1937, the hostile confrontation at the Marco Polo Bridge ignited the full-scale war between China and Japan. It was the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 – 1945), which eventually developed into the World War II in the eastern hemisphere. Japanese Imperial Army and Navy fought fierce battles in Beijin, Shanghai, Nanking and other major areas in China, expanding the Empire’s territory. ‘Our Soldiers Attack Enemy’s Front !’, ‘Our Imperial Soldiers Fire Back At Hostile Enemies !’, “A White Flag on the Enemy’s Hill !”, these audacious headlines were splashed across the newspapers almost every morning. …

 
JAPANESE FILMS

Literary Genealogy of Rashomon (Part 2)

Robert Browning composed The Ring and the Book, a long dramatic poem, based on a real-life murder trial in 17th century Rome. In 1698, Count Guido Franceschini was accused of a murder of his wife and of her parents and sentenced to death. He protested and even appealed his innocence to the Pope, who denied his plea eventually. The Ring and the Book is comprised of twelve separate books, the first and the last being the narration by a third person, presumably Browning himself. The remaining ten books are testimonies and discussions by witnesses, the accused, the lawyers and the …