Japan and Japanese

[MiTasol]

This Rakugo item reminds me of one of my favourite movies - The Seven Samurai.

For those who have never heard of this movie then you need to find a copy. The Americans did a second class ripoff version of it called The Magnificent Seven.

If you watch The Magnificent Seven with the sound off it is almost totally meaningless. If you cannot hear the dialog you cannot guess 90% of the story.

If you watch The Seven Samurai with the sound on or off you get probably 80% of the story even tho the dialog is in Japanese and you do not understand it. And that does not change much if you read the subtitles which often distract from the facial expressions and body language.

 

[Shinpachi]

Mika Mifune (39).
Toshiro Mifune's daughter when he was 62.

Source: 三船美佳、病院から生電話で女児出産報告「ベビイちゃん抱っこしてスヤスヤしております」

Toshiro Mifune in 7 samurai

Source: 【画像１６５枚】三船敏郎の映画をおすすめ順に紹介してみる。 - ひとみにカルチャーショックを。

 

[Wurger]

 

[special ed]

Shinpachi san
I have just received the book "Blossoms in the wind" by Sheftall and looking through it I found this quote, a very similar thought to an earlier post. I will try to paraphrase: page 305,
"An impromptu A/V center had been set up in the middle of the room with about five rows of chairs and a few older visitors watching a video of wartime Kamikaze crashes. The man narrating the footage poses the question, if today's Japanese young people understand the meaning of the sacrifices of their forefathers."

 

[Shinpachi]

Thanks for a good question, special ed.
Life style may look changed but I think that Japanese people's mind for their country is unchanged since the last war though some, or many?, old western people tend to see the superficial one. How Japanese young people see kamikaze is remarkably shown by the absolute popularity for 'Eternal Zero' - a recent kamikaze movie. There were pros and cons about suicide attack even in 1945 but, when people knew that they had no other choice, they would obey the decision as an implicit rule. This is what Japanese people understand over centuries and, in fact, they practice wearing masks in the ongoing pandemic now holding pros and cons in their minds like 76 years ago.

I must add that there were many young people who denied 'old Japan' in the 1970s when communism was still popular.
They have lost power as mere old men now.

 

[MiTasol]

Mika Mifune (39).
Toshiro Mifune's daughter when he was 62.
View attachment 652513
Source: 三船美佳、病院から生電話で女児出産報告「ベビイちゃん抱っこしてスヤスヤしております」

Toshiro Mifune in 7 samurai
View attachment 652514
Source: 【画像１６５枚】三船敏郎の映画をおすすめ順に紹介してみる。 - ひとみにカルチャーショックを。

I started to read the second link but the Google translation was appalling.

 

[Shinpachi]

I started to read the second link but the Google translation was appalling.

Text may be too casual to be translated properly.
It tells that Mifune and Kurosawa were unprecedented men whom the postwar Japan produced.

 

[ARTESH]

What Japanese people think of Iran ...



Interesting video, I wish they add English subtitles too!

 

[vikingBerserker]

"The Seven Samurai" is one of the truly classic movies!

 

[Shinpachi]

Iranian people in Japan then and now.
I remember there were many Iranian people who seeked better business in Japan soon after the Iran-Iraq War was over 30 years ago. Many gave up but some who had good patience.

In the 1990s

In 2019

Source: 公園を埋め、そして消えたイラン人 あの波は日本に何をもたらしたか：朝日新聞GLOBE＋

 

[Shinpachi]

Annual event in Tokyo "Support the poor and needy" with the free meal and consultation as we have a long New Year Holiday from December 28 to January 4. This kind of service is daily one under the covid though.

Source: ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX6RykFAQE8

 

[Shinpachi]

On the first day of 2022 in Japan.
No snow in Osaka but the heaviest snow in history seems to be hitting the northern area.

The emperor and his family exchange the new year greetings with the heads of the three powers and the foreign envoys in the palace.

Source: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=svfdlEvTU_w

 

[Shinpachi]

On the second Monday in January, Japanese people celebrate new adult people who become 20 till March 31 as the Coming of Age Day.

Full video

 

[Shinpachi]

COVID-19 in Japan
Looks like an ordinary flu now

 

[MiTasol]

I was only aware of the Japanese interment camp at Cowra and now find there was a bigger one in Loveday, SA

This Japanese banker was interned in Australia in WWII. His newly translated diary reveals crucial war history

Miyakatsu Koike spent four years in Australia's largest internment camp. His is a story from an untold perspective.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Shinpachi]

Victors often say "We don't forget but forgive" proudly but some historical facts seem to be arbitrary.
Thanks for sharing, MiTasol.

 

[MiTasol]

Mifune’s Transcendent Films, With and Without Kurosawa (Published 2022)

Yes, the Japanese team was one of cinema’s great collaborations. But Film Forum’s salute to Toshiro Mifune shows that he was a superb actor no matter who was in the director’s chair.

www.nytimes.com

Makes me almost want to be in New York. Hopefully this idea will travel

 

[Greyman]

I haven't seen this film and the description says this specifically never took place at this time -- but is there any information on what it is supposed to represent?

 

[Shinpachi]

I haven't seen this film and the description says this specifically never took place at this time -- but is there any information on what it is supposed to represent?

Looks like a Hollywood fantasy.
This is a mixture of festival and funeral

 

[Greyman]

Thanks. Hong Kong fantasy in this case but I get you.