JAPANESE FILMS

Bicycles

This is part three of “Films of 1949” series. (Part 1 and 2) On July 1, 1949, Japan Industrial Standard was enacted. It became the foundation of Japanese Industrial Revolution of late 20th century, defining standard of quality in all industrial products. The production of bicycles saw triple-digit growth in late 40’s. This statistics is a fine example of economic resurrection from the ashes. First of all, the capacity for any industrial production in 1945 was decimal. There was a large room to grow. Also, demand for bicycles was paramount, being relatively (though marginally) affordable for many Japanese. In Ozu’s …

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JAPANESE FILMS

Botanical Puzzle

This is part two of “Films of 1949” series. (Part 1 is here) “Crape Myrtle always brings bad luck.” Until I saw Kurosawa’s “Stray Dog”, I had never heard of Crape Myrtle being the omen of bad luck. This line occurs as a part of the audio montage during the pivotal scene in the film. A woman was brutally murdered in a quiet house in upper-class neighborhood. Her husband, a well-to-do businessman, Nakamura, had been away on a business trip, The Police was working on fingerprints and other clues in the murder scene, ransacked by the murderer. They knew instinctively …

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JAPANESE FILMS

Echoes

This is the first part of “Films of 1949” series. My father was only seven or eight years old when this incident took place. It was the year 1946, several months after the surrender of Japan. The nation was in shambles, people were scared of “invaders”, brutal enemies they had learned to hate. They didn’t know what to expect, or rather what to fear, but, little by little, they started to see the reality of unconditional surrender. Almost everyday, military planes flew over the town to somewhere north. They were not B-29s anymore. They were cargo planes. Over the strangely …