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Then And Now, Again

In Ozu’s “There Was A Father”, the pivotal moment early in the film was the school trip to Hakone. Below is the Ashinoko, the Lake in Hakone area. Hakone has been one of the most popular resorts in Japan, being close to Tokyo metropolis. This is 1942, almost 70 years ago. Ashinoko and Mt. Fuji, “There Was A Father (1942)” This is Ashinoko now. A Pirate Ship ans Mt.Fuji (via hakone-kankosen.co.jp) No, they are not shooting “Pirates of Caribbean : Final Chapter -There Was A Captain”. There are three pirates ships in operation as tourist attractions. I don’t know what …

 
JAPANESE FILMS

What are they eating ?

In “Tokyo no korasu (1931)”, the little daughter gets sick from eating “Mizumanju”. This is Mizumanju/Kuzumanju. Recipe is here. As you can see, its soothing appearance and chilled preparation are very inviting in a hot summer day. And the girl must have begged for it. In “Late Autumn (1960)”, Mamiya (Shin Saburi) takes Akiko (Setsuko Hara) and, later Ayako (Yoko Tsukasa), to lunch. They go to the place with the sign “う”. What are they eating ? This is what they are eating. This is Unagi (Japanese eel). This was one of the Ozu’s favorite Japanese cuisine. Here is the …

 
JAPANESE FILMS

Then and Now, and In Between (Part 4)

This is the conclusion of 4-part series. How to Delete the Past The war devastation made people realize that Japan had not been as modernized as they had thought. It became embarrassingly clear that Japan had had no chance of winning the war. Compared to their sorry state of material shortage, food shortage and poor industrialization, United States had everything they wanted and more (at least they thought so). Japan had a lot to catch up. Accelerate industrialization and modernization. Forget about anything old. In July 1945, most of Japanese seriously believed they should fight against incoming Americans with bamboo …