2017/12/25

time traveler - old photos around Japan

Here is a collection of early color photos taken in postwar by GHQ staffers,

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/12/25/national/ghq-photographers-color-shots-offer-rare-insights-postwar-japan/


excerpt:

The National Diet Library in Tokyo caught attention this autumn when it published color photos taken immediately after the end of World War II by a staffer at the General Headquarters (GHQ).


For even older visual history, browse these photos copied from Library of Congress in Washington, DC at the Prints and Photograph room, http://old-japanphotos.wikispaces.com/ (and the companion project for comparison, http://old-koreaphotos.wikispaces.com/ )

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2017/10/13

info-mercial about Smartphone distraction in public (walking)

subtitles in English, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fm0Zirt8wI



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2017/09/06

annual whale hunt - contrasting documentary viewpoints

Japan Times (7 Sept 2017) gives a good overview of "Whale of a Tale," the newly released story with builds in local villagers point of view for the annual killing in the Taiji cove that was forcefully presented by the lenses of "The Cove." Excerpt of online news article follows, with URL to full article and movie URL.

    The anthropological foundational ideas of point of view and context are well illustrated by both documentaries.

EXCERPT
..."Quite simply, I was fascinated by the controversy," Sasaki tells The Japan Times, "but I was also pained by what I felt was a very one-sided way of viewing things.
     "'The Cove' showed us what the Taiji fishermen were doing to dolphins in a way that made any counter-arguments difficult if not impossible. As a filmmaker based in the United States, I knew that using hidden cameras and bypassing authority is a very effective way to make a documentary, but I wouldn't call that journalism. And there were a lot of misleading passages and untruthful depictions in that film.
     "And as a Japanese I could understand how the people of Taiji felt betrayed and outraged. Their response was to try and cover things up, or put up a wall of silence and hope the foreigners would go away. Well, the foreigners were never going away. Unless the Taiji locals spoke up about their side of the story, things were going to get worse."
     Sasaki dedicated six years to meticulous research and interview and says she now feels like something of an expert on cetaceans, the scientific classification for sea mammals.
     Taiji has gotten a little wiser, too. It has gradually opened itself up to overseas media and protesters that routinely visit the town. In fact, all the attention has given the local economy a bit of a boost — what could be more appropriate for the digital age than "outrage tourism"? Also, last month Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen visited the town of Klaksvik in the Faroe Islands with hopes of forging a sister city relationship. Fishermen there share the same practices and methods of hunting.

google map link
flickr, photos search
movie page, www.okujirasama.com 

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2017/07/17

福島 stories, Screening of Threshold: Whispers of Fukushima

Michigan based documentary film and photographer [excerpt from July  26, 2017 screening announcement in Ypsilanti, Michigan]

Trailer for the film: https://vimeo.com/103453868

"The issues of Fukushima are very complicated and delicate, and there is no easy way to explain what the problem actually is. The mass media especially tends to create TV programs which are unnecessarily sensational, and they consciously edit those programs to make viewers emotional. So, now, I refuse the offer to do interviews for those programs. Also, Fukushima has changed much since the disastrous events occurred. Locals hesitate to speak about it. It's because of resignation to the unchanging conditions, or fear of exacerbating the situation within the community by speaking to outsiders. It seems better not to talk about anything. 

In such conditions, I think 'Threshold: Whispers of Fukushima' became a very unique work. Toko omitted explanations, as much as possible, and connected people's calm honest talk (like they're speaking to themselves) and live music performances by the interviewees, to allow them to tell their life stories. Perhaps this is not even really a movie about "Fukushima". Even if she shot it in Fukushima, the theme of the film is not "the accident" nor "lost home", rather, it is a fundamental human theme: "what is 'living one's own life?'". Each individual has their own purpose in life, joy, and goal. Everyone is different from each other. Therefore, no one can truly say "my way of living is right or yours is wrong." After experiencing the confusion created by the accidents in Fukushima, I deeply feel this. How interesting that everyone in this movie, including me, said this same thing, although by coincidence.

Please watch this film once, just putting aside all preconceptions or background knowledge of Fukushima. And, if you can reconsider your own way of living life and your own sense of value by experiencing our stories, if you can perhaps reconsider the meaning of living on this planet Earth, and how we may to continue to live…… if this movie allows you to feel this… I can say this project succeeded." – Yoshimitsu Takuki

--------- And recently one of the groups who got featured in the movie Yamakiya Taiko ensemble played at Blissfest in MI! If you are interested, check out these clips! They are amazing! 

(Actually they played at Power Center last year, and so, you may have seen them in person! The fantastic residency was actually supported by CJS, CFWPS, and U of M SMTD!)
And lastly, here is the message clip from the leader of the clip about the movie: https://www.facebook.com/octoberbabiestoko/videos/10212324297756439/

-- Toko Shiiki: http://tokoshiiki.com

Current documentary project: "Threshold: Whispers of Fukushima"
http://thresholdfukushima.com

October Babies: http://octoberbabies.net
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2017/07/13

recent blogs - visual and language materials for Japan; Japanese language

--cross-posting from H-Japan of July 12, 2017,


<>1<> Member Blog: New Online Digital Resource (Everyday Japanese Culture and Society)
https://abritishprofinjapan.blogspot.jp/ 
abritishprofinjapan.blogspot.jp
A blog about life in everyday Japan written by a British professor
Responsible person(s):      Chris Burgess 
Synopsis:  Regular snapshots of everyday life in Japan with a nature and language focus plus musings on Japanese culture and society for Japan language learners and Japan lovers in general.          
Content type:  Short posts on life in everyday Japan with images and reading recommendations. Also a "Resources" section with links and information on Japanese Studies tools and sites

<>2<> Re-Envisioning Japan: Japan as Destination in 20th Century Visual and Material Culture
https://rej.lib.rochester.edu/ 
rej.lib.rochester.edu
Re-Envisioning Japan is an open-ended recuperative project based on an original collection of tourism, travel and educational ephemera in a wide range of media.
Responsible person(s):      Joanne Bernardi  
Synopsis:     Creative digital curation of an original physical collection of travel and educational ephemera about Japan       
Content type:     High resolution images, moving images, audio materials, interactive timeline     
Intended audience:   Academic community and general public    
Host institution:         University of Rochester
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2017/06/22

film - So Long Asleep: bringing some of the 1940s forced laborers' mortal remains back to Korea

---[Pr. David Plath writes, 6/2017] 

So Long Asleep (60 minutes) follows an international team of East Asian volunteers as they excavate, preserve and repatriate the remains of Korean men who died doing slave labor in Hokkaido during the Asia-Pacific War. On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war we travel with them as they carry 115 sets of remains on a pilgrimage across Japan and over to Korea for reinterment in the Seoul Municipal Cemetery. Using a dark past to shape a brighter shared future the project offers an upbeat model for remembrance and reconciliation that could be adapted widely.
     The film and the repatriation project are featured in a 4-page special segment of the Spring 2017 issue of Education About Asia.
     See the DER website to view a trailer. Dialogue is in English, Korean and Japanese; in the DER edition the dialogue carries English subtitles. Separately, project participants have prepared editions with subtitles in Korean and in Japanese. For the Korean version, contact Professor Byung-Ho Chung (bhc0606at gmail) and for Japanese contact Professor Song Ki-Chan (kichans at hotmail).


An extended essay by Pr. Chung about the project appears in Asia-Pacific Journal; Japan Focus online magazine, as well, http://apjjf.org/2017/12/Chung.html



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2017/05/27

early days - Okayama Field Station (early 1950s) social science hub

Soon after WWII and during the time of occupation governance the Center for Japanese Studies from the University of Michigan (one of the war-time language centers to train personnel headed to Japan) got permission and assistance to establish a 3-part research location in rural Okayama prefecture. One team focused on agricultural livelihoods, another coastal resource base, and the third centered on mountain economic patterns of life. With a selection of social scientists using various approaches and projects, a lot of good fieldwork was conducted from which several books, many articles and conference presentations were produced. In recent months the U-M CJS has been uploading selected photos from the collection via their Facebook account. This screenshot gives a sampling of the 57 images as of May 27, 2017.
LINK to Facebook album, https://www.facebook.com/pg/umcjs/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1278945605481806
screenshot 5/2017 from U-Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, Facebook

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2017/05/26

Japan projections, low-income living, economic base of young people


This (Japanese language, well illustrated) PDF from METI presents the familiar elements converging in Japan (and elsewhere) for a slow-motion disaster of social fragmentation, isolation, and ever increasing numbers of cracks one can fall through, http://www.meti.go.jp/committee/summary/eic0009/pdf/020_02_00.pdf
www.meti.go.jp
The graph showing rates of single-parent household poverty puts Japan at one extreme; something many people do not know about or understand.

English language article based on much of the same data is online at http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-fertility-crisis-2017-4
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2017/05/19

Japanese lessons online, anybody? Duolingo tries on Japanese

There are limitations on language learning online, but here is one way to gain more Japanese exposure and experience, newly launched and likely to have updates as users chime in, http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/duolingo-helps-you-learn-japanese/
www.makeuseof.com
Duolingo has been helping people learn languages since 2011. However, it doesn't yet offer courses in every language, including Japanese. Until now...


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2017/04/02

documentary forthcoming about two Ainu families in Nibutani

Story from March 12, 2017 at Japan Times


It may interest students of Japanese life and language; or those interested in photography and video documentary.
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2017/02/22

peformance art - New Sumie, dancing brush with live music


Part of the February special exhibit at the Kokaido Hall in downtown Echizen city (Fukui-ken) has been a few demonstrations of the visual artist at work; in this case at the gallery, but with related events this time at Shokaku-ji, about 150m to the west, or so.

The artist, Ueda Miyuki (site requires Flash support, so IE browser), uses traditional materials (ink, brush, washi Japanese paper)  for today's themes with her dancing sumi-e brush performance event - meaning very large pieces of Japanese paper and live music to motivate the artist - note that she paints with left hand but later was writing address information with right! Among the collected video clips, below, the last one with Tibetan singing bowls is particularly riveting.

*Performance 2017-02-19, preparing the way - https://vimeo.com/204826192 
vimeo.com

*Performance 2017-02-19, first ink - https://vimeo.com/204826215 
*Performance 2017-02-19, autobiography installation, https://www.flickr.com/photos/gpwitteveen/32159822604 
*Performance 2017-02-19, completing the details - https://youtu.be/OU_klPZ4PF4 
*Performance 2017-02-19, adding red details - https://youtu.be/-PRRiTj0g94 
*Performance 2017-02-19, after the performance, https://www.flickr.com/photos/gpwitteveen/32849421332 

*Performance 2017-02-19, Temple (Shokaku-ji) sutra and Singing Bowls - https://youtu.be/XtDW1UdUUhs 
-->
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2017/02/17

Sonic Japan - audio recordings around the society

Sound recordings bring listeners up close to the immediacy of the context and events at hand. The Sonic Japan project has collected a variety of settings to let you explore the many cultural places around the society and language of the Japanese islands. Thanks to the initiative of colleagues in Australia, Japan, and the USA, this project has taken full form. Details of method, funding, contributors and links to follow via Twitter, Facebook, or the collection itself at Soundcloud can be found at http://sonicjapan.clab.org.au/about and this website also groups the recordings to browse by map, by places list, and by cultural theme. The soundcloud address is https://soundcloud.com/sonicjapan/
soundcloud.com
Sonic Japan is a collection of sound recordings made in Japan that enables listeners to traverse an array of themes pertaining to everyday life through a ...

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2017/02/08

documentaries in Japan, Kazuhiro Soda's filmography

The current scholar-in-residence this year at U-Michigan is Kazuhiro Soda. His Feb. 9, 2017 lecture will probably be video recorded (in English mostly).

Commonly these days the events are recorded and can be viewed online in 2-3 weeks.

=-=-=-=-= Excerpt from announcement link, https://www.ii.umich.edu/cjs/news-events/events.detail.html/38037-6859806.html
The Power of Observation: How and Why I Make "Observational" Documentaries
Kazuhiro Soda, Toyota Professor in Residence
[guiding principles]

1 No research.
2 No meetings with subjects.
3 No scripts.
4 Roll the camera yourself.
5 Shoot as long as possible.
6 Cover small areas deeply.
7 Do not set up a theme or goal before editing.
8 No narration, title, or music.
9 Use long takes.
10 Pay for the production yourself.

His filmography includes "Campaign" (2007), "Mental" (2008), "Peace" (2010), "Theatre 1" (2012), "Theatre 2" (2012), "Campaign 2" (2013), and "Oyster Factory" (2015).
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