(by 5 people)
So, What Was Your First Japanese Movie? You Might Be Surprised!
My first glimpse of a Japanese movie? When I was a kid, my sister and I would watch the Saturday matinee "Creepy Creature Feature" on our local TV station (we only had 3 in those days). The set was B&W, the sound was scratchy, but we saw our first Godzilla movie and I was hooked!
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We later enjoyed watching "Godzilla and Mothra" and other variations of the Godzilla theme. The dubbing was always a bit off, but the movies were fun (and you'd have to try not to visualize the guy in the rubber Godzilla suit).
A few years later, and my family and I were flying our way across the Pacific, through Hawaii and on to the Western Pacific island of Guam. As we became more familiar with the Japanese culture, language, and television, this new location gave our family more chances to see Japanese movies and shows with a whole different perspective.
Contents at a Glance
- Godzilla on the Bay! .... eBay, that is...
- Okay, I admit it, I LIKE BIG LIZARDS!
- Get that Big Lizard Off Your Back.... Put Him On Your Shirt!
Godzilla on the Bay! .... eBay, that is...
They have re-runs in Japan just like they do elsewhere... and yes, Godzilla still comes back to visit!
When I was a kid, I thought about how cool it would be to turn on the TV and see a Godzilla movie any time I wanted to. Now, with the benefit of DVDs and DVD players, you can see a Godzilla movie any time you have the urge to see one.
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Okay, I admit it, I LIKE BIG LIZARDS!
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Get that Big Lizard Off Your Back.... Put Him On Your Shirt!
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Hey.... His and Hers Godzilla Shirts! (In Japanese, it's pronounced "Go-Jee-Ra")
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Pics from Japan! The Setting for Many of the Movies
Looks familiar? It is similar to the view as was shown on the popular samurai t...
I was surprised of actually being able to shoot another one like this with absol...
An approach to the well-known Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto (also known as &...
Himeji Castle (%u59EB%u8DEF%u57CE) is a Japanese castle complex located in Himeji in Hy%u014D...
Surrounded on all sides by the Japanese Alps and situated near the centre of Jap...
Korakuen %u5F8C%u697D%u5712 GardenKorakuen Garden was the garden for Okayama castle's m...
www.flickr.com/grou...
Akira Kurosawa - Innovator and Visionary with Movies (and Inspiration for American Movies!)
Akira Kurosawa's creativity and films have influenced cinema world-wide.
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For instance, his movie, Seven Samurai has reappeared as inspiration for many Western, Science Fiction, and Chinese Martial Arts movies such as
- The Magnificent Seven
- Beach of the War Gods
- Battle Beyond the Stars
- World Gone Wild
Seven Samurai has also inspired Indian films with similar plots:
- Andha Naal
- Khotay Sikkay
- Rajkumar Santoshi's China Gate
- Kamal Hassan's Virumaandi
- Sholay
Kurosawa also used western influences for his films--his movie Ran is loosely based on William Shakespear's story, King Lear.
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Novelists have also used Seven Samurai as inspiration for their novels: Stephen King's 5th Dark Tower novel, Wolves of the Calla had a similar plot line.
Kurosawa's Rashomon was remade by Martin Ritt in 1964--The Outrage. The Tamil films Andha Naal and Virumaandi, starring Kamal Hassan, tell the story in a way similar to the one Kurosawa used in Rashomon. More recently, the film Hero starring Jet Li, Ziyi Zhang, Tony Leung, and Maggie Cheung also features a Rashomon style story. The 2005 animated film Hoodwinked applies the narrative structure of Rashomon to the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
Rashomon not only helped to open Japanese cinema to the world, but also entered the English language as a term for fractured, inconsistent narratives--aka the "Rashomon Effect".
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Yojimbo was another Kurosawa film that inspired some Western films. The one most famous was the one starring Clint Eastwood--A Fistfull of Dollars.
47 Ronin, 7 Samurai, Ran -- Akira Kurosawa's legacy
47 Ronin - Trailer
Criterion Trailer 2: Seven Samurai
Trailer: Akira Kurosawa's Ran
Anime to Decorate with or to Wear!
Samurai Drama at the Movies - The Japanese version of America's "Westerns"
Here in America, we've liked to watch our "Westerns"--those starring John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Jack Palance to name a few. These movies depict an earlier time in the U.S. -- when the West was really wild.
The Japanese like their "old-country" type movies as well. Except, instead of toting Colt 6-shooters and Winchester rifles, the characters in the Japanese "old-time" movies carry their katana (swords). Instead of wearing chaps, boots, and 10-gallon hats, the samurai or ronin wear their robes, the bamboo hats, and their geta or zori. In fact, Akira Kurosawa's film, Seven Samurai was later made into an American Western called The Magnificent Seven, starring Yul Brynner.
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Zatoichi is another fine series of "old-style" samurai/ronin movies that detail the culture and lifestyle of old Japan. Zatoichi is a blind masseuse who also happens to be an accomplished swordsman--so good, that he is an extremely deadly foe if anyone crosses him.
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Zatoichi is fun-loving and gentle when around kids and women, but when set upon or picked on (or when he sees the poor and weak set upon by goons), he unsheaths his cane-sword and does the slicing and dicing routine on the bad guys. Zatoichi movies always have a mix of sword-action, humor, traditional music, and sensitivity. Even if you get a movie without subtitles, you can still get a lot from the movie!
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Zatoichi
Zatoichi - Movie Trailer
Zatoichi does "100 Ducks"
Zatoichi Duels Samurai
Monjiro
木枯し紋次郎のテーマ COLDWIND MONJIRO Theme song
木枯らし紋次郎 ファ－ストシ－ン
木枯し紋次郎 無縁仏に明日をみた 5/5
Kibakichi - A Movie about Samurai, Werewolves, Ghosts, Demons, Good vs Evil, and, oh, did I mention Samurai?
Kibakichi combines samurai and monster action in a wild mix. Ronin samurai Kibakichi himself is part-man part-werewolf, and strives to discover the goodness he believes exists at the heart of every human being. But deadly obstacles stand in his way, including skeleton armies, giant spiders, more werewolves, and a whole lot more! This movie brings a lot of old Japanese legend, samurai culture, monsters, and myths together for a romp in the 16th century Japanese country-side.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byContemporary Soap Operas, Detective Movies, and Documentaries
Directed by Kaizo Hayashi, The Most Terrible Time In My Life is a Japanese film shot in black and white to give it an old film noir look. Released in 1993 in Japan, the film mixes tame violence with comedy. In the movie, Maiku Hama (Japanese pronunciation of "Mike Hammer!" -- the character played by Masatoshi Nagase) is an unorthodox private eye. whose office is above a movie theater. If you want to visit his office you have to pay the admission fee.
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The Japanese Detective Version of "Columbo" -- Furuhata Ninzaburo
Furuhata-san's method of crime-solving involves outwitting the criminals and letting them trap themselves through the evidence they leave behind.
Furuhata Ninzaburo is an unorthodox Japanese detective. He doesn't like wearing a suit and tie (like most Japanese detectives), but he wears a turtle-neck and a sport coat. He uses questioning and deduction in much the way Columbo or even Sherlock Holmes figures out crimes. Criminals leave evidence... it might not be obvious, but the criminals leave evidence. And, their own guilt and carelessness will usually set them up for being caught. Furuhata Ninzaburo always gets his man (or woman--if she did the crime!). Although subtitles are helpful, you can enjoy the drama even without the subtitles.
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Bayside Shakedown
Yuji Oda 織田裕二 - Love Somebody (Theme from Bayside Shakedown)
bayside shakedown the movie2
bayside shakedown the movie(6/12)
Shomuni - The Power of the "Office Ladies"
Based on Gumi Yasuda's manga comic book of the same name, Shomuni is a TV comedy-drama serial in which the stories revolve around the Office Ladies of General Affairs Department 2 (Shomu ni, or GA-2) in a large multinational company called "Manpan Corporation".
GA-2 is called "the graveyard for female office ladies", because it is where female employees are dumped if they mess up elsewhere. Their jobs include replacing used toilet rolls, changing light-bulbs, organizing company outings, and other menial stuff. Their department is located in the basement in an unused store room. The company does this in the hope that these employees will quit due to the monotonous and meaningless nature of the job tasks, just so that the company will save on the costs of firing them.
As the drama serial progresses, these employees demonstrate that they have their own pride despite their being the most despised of female employees. In every episode, they end up saving the company from a potential catastrophe.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byBayside Shakedown - The Detectives of the Wangan Precinct and Aoshima Shusaku
Aoshima-san is another unconventional Japanese detective--He's young, but he's got instincts that help him solve the cases!
This drama series focuses on Aoshima Shusaku (played by Oda Yuji) a young detective dedicated to the police force. He has an unconventional way of doing things (and he even likes to wear a fusty old raincoat in much the way the American detective Columbo does) but he is respected by his fellow police officers. His police office routine is similar to that of other Japanese salary men where they usually take on mostly trivial cases. The serious and high-visibility ones are taken over by detectives from headquarters--which doesn't set well with Aoshima, who wants to take on the major cases and who doesn't want to sit idly by while the other detectives handle the meatier cases.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byLinks for the Cool Japanese Movies and Shows!
- Abarenbo Shogun
- Abarenbo Shogun (or "Roughneck Shogun") was a very popular TV series broadcast on TV Asahi from 1978 through 2003, a total of 26 years--a total of 831 episodes!
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Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune traveled around the nation incognito, disguised as a samurai named Tokuda Shinnosuke. Using this alter-ego, he solved problems and punished corruption and injustice from his home base in the capital city of Edo. - Kurotokagi - Asian Films
- This website has DVDs of a huge variety of Japanese films and shows.
Kabuki, Noh, Bunraku and other Japanese art forms on the Tube!
Tokyo - Teatro kabuki
Noh Theatre: Tamura (Dance of the Ghost)
予告篇／シネマ歌舞伎「坂東玉三郎-鷺娘」 Trailer: Cinema Kabuki "Sagi Musume"
Japanese Bunraku puppets
House of Flame : by Kihachiro Kawamoto : PART 1/2
Japanese dance
Memoirs of a Geisha- Snow Dance
Tamasaburo: Kagamijishi part 7 of 7
Seki No Komachi
Okay, Get These Movies... Then Vote for Your Favorites!
Bayside Shakedown 2 (The Movie 2) Region 2
Bayside Shakedown 2 - International Version - Japa more...1 point
Rashomon - Criterion Collection
Brimming with action while incisively examining th more...1 point
Zatoichi - The Blind Swordsman DVD Collector's Edition Box
Katsu Shintaro stars as Zatoichi, the Blind Swords more...0 points
Kimba The White Lion Ultra DVD Box Set (Limited Edition)
Now Kimba's enchanting adventures of friendship, j more...0 points
Speed Racer - Episodes 12-23
In this second set of adventures, Speed and his fr more...0 points
When Mach Go Go Go debuted in syndication in the U.S. as Speed Racer in 1967, the series had been extensively re-edited...
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Yojimbo & Sanjuro - Two Films By Akira Kurosawa - Criterion Collection
Thanks to perhaps the most indelible character in more...0 points
The Most Terrible Time in My Life
If you want to visit Maiku Hama, you have to pay t more...0 points
Memoirs of a Geisha (Full Screen 2-Disc Special Edition)
... a visually stunning adaptation of Arthur Golde more...0 points
Naruto the Movie - Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (Deluxe Edition)
3-disc set in collector's tin packaging! Contains more...0 points
Stop Your Screening (or is that Screaming?) and Drop a Note!
Margaret_Schaut wrote...
I never cared how hokey, Godzilla was always one of my favorites!
Posted November 12, 2008
EelKat wrote...
I love Godzilla. That's what got me started liking Japanese stuff. I started watching Godzilla and everything else just followed along in his footsteps.
RE: about boarder boxes:
I don't have a lens that tells how to do the boarder coding, but Glen's got one that tells how to get started: http://www.squidoo.com/advancedhtml
You can change the colors by using different hex codes (http://www.immigration-usa.com/html_colors.html) and you can change the dots by changing the word dotted to: dashed, ridge, multi, solid, or double; and you can change the size by changing 2px to any other number (5px, 8px, etc)
Posted September 27, 2008
Roy-Scribner wrote...
Wow, lots of great stuff here - I love those posters!
Posted September 20, 2008
aquariann wrote...
Neat lens! I'll have to check out some of those movies. I've seen Godzilla, and watched Ran in school years ago ... but that's about it!
Posted September 01, 2008
