With apologies, I'm going to start yet- another -ongoing-blogging project. With a view to improving my knowledge about Japan and Japanese culture, in addition to watching Japanese movies, I've recently been working my way through several Japanese video series in my local rental shop. I'd like to put reviews up of them as I finish.With several ongoing projects already, there is of course the danger that this will be overkill. But since it takes me several weeks to work through all the DVDs in a series, at least it shouldn't take over my blog in quite the way the movie reviews have.
Anyway, onto the first video/ DVD series I've finished: The Asahi News Reels from the Showa Years.
Showa is the alternative name for emperor Hirohito, who reigned from 1926 to 1989. Due to the Japanese custom of numbering the years based on the emperor, that entire period is known as the Showa years, and even though from our perspective in the West those years actually makes up several different periods, each with their own zeitgeist.
I first rented a few of these DVDs about half a year ago, mainly just to watch the scenes with the student protests in them (continuing my interest in the Japanese student movement).
...And then later I thought to myself, "Just think how much recent Japanese history I could learn if I watched the whole series." It was of course, largely broccoli, making myself watch 8 DVDs of newsreels. And yet, although it may not have seemed like the most exciting thing to watch on a Friday night, once I popped the DVD in and settled down on the couch, more often than not I found it was really interesting to watch once it got started.
I've got to admit, my Japanese isn't nearly up to scruff to understand everything on these DVDs. In some of the more complicated political parts, I was just largely watching the images on the screen without a clue as to what the words meant. But although I understood some parts better than others, I like to think watching these DVDs at least gave me a feel for the atmosphere of the Showa era. And I'll have to go back and re-watch these DVDs some day when my Japanese is a little better (if that day ever comes).
I should admit there are also several things I don't understand about these newsreels, such as:
* Where were these shown? Were these shown in the movie theaters? If so, why does the series begin in 1955, right around the same time newsreels were going out of style in the US? (The series goes from 1955 to 1979. Except for the last 3 years, it's all black and white).
* Do these DVDs include the highlights, or are they all the news that was produced that year? If the latter is true, there must be an awful lot of stuff that never got covered. Each year only has about 5 or 6 news stories, and about half of those are soft human interest or sports news.
* Why does the audio track never sync with the people's lips moving? Was this a result of carelessness in making the DVD? Or is there some reason why in 30 years of newsreels they could never once get the audio track in sync with the visual?
I guess for the time being we'll have to leave those burning questions hanging. In the meantime, I'll try and jot down a few observations about what I did see.
Obviously it's difficult to summarize 30 years of newsreels in one blog post. Especially since, as I watched this over a 2 month period, I'm already beginning to forget what was in the first few DVDs.
*Much of the stuff that stuck with me was the stuff I already kind of knew about anyway. Stuff I had learned from "Tokyo UnderWorld" for example, like the Lockheed bribery scandal, or the Rikidozan pro-wrestler craze.
*Other clips reminded me of the Japanese movie "Always", such as clips from the 1950s about Japanese families acquiring refrigerators, washing machines, and televisions.
*The clips about the student movement were fascinating to watch. I've already written at length about the Japanese student movement elsewhere on this blog, so I won't go into this so much here. Other than to say that even though I knew the history, it's always a bit shocking to watch the newsfootage. It goes against everything I've grown to associate with Japan as a quiet, peaceful country with a politically apathetic youth. Seeing the scenes of violent guerrilla fighting on the streets of Tokyo and in Narita airport made me think it must be another country. But I guess a lot can change in 40 years. And Japan is hardly the only country which has calmed down a bit since the 60s.
*About once a year there was some sort of clip about a natural disaster or a winter blizzard. I'm sure this was important at the time, but in my opinion watching lots of clips of snow storms from 40 years ago gets old fast. But that's just me. I'm sure other people find politics from 40 years ago just as boring.
*Ditto with all the sports news. But then I was never a sports fan.
*I learned there was a plane crash in Oita airport (my prefecture) back in 1964.
* I learned Grand Rapid's own Gerald Ford was the first sitting US president to visit Japan.
* There were a number of clips in the late 60s/ early 70s about how crowded Tokyo was becoming, with images of people fighting for the train and being pushed in by men in white gloves. It looked even worse than I remembered. Maybe they've done something to ease the congestion since those days.
* In the late 50s and early 60s there is a lot of celebration about the industrial boom in Japan. By the 1970s, all of a sudden gloom and doom stories about pollution start appearing. I guess it's kind of ironic in retrospect.
* Speaking of ironic, the series ends with Prime Minister Fukuda visiting Iran in 1978 and getting his picture taken with the Shah. There's some bland commentary about what an impressive guy the Shah is, and how peaceful and pleasant Iran is.
Link of the Day
Vets Break Silence on War Crimes
Asahi News Reels, The Showa Years: DVD Series Review (Scripted)
Hello-----Just a few comments on the ASAHI newsreel compilations---From the silent days to 1940, the newspapers ASAHI and YOMIURI both produced newsreels. In June, 1940, the government took control, and produced something called "NIPPON NEWS" for the remainder of the war. In the more liberalized post-war era, competition was restored. (The pre-'40 films are very rare.) Theatrical Newsreels in many countries were produced for many years after the US stopped in 1967.In England the last BRITISH PATHE issue was 1981. These films must be very edited down with a mere six stories per year, and, as I understand the ASAHI is a very left-wing paper, so the clips have probably have chosen to produce a particular impression of Japan in these years. I'm sure it would have been much more fun to show complete issues, the silly mixed with the serious. H.L.Mencken called newsreels "a string of disasters concluding with a fashion show."-----Cole Johnson.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, that helps a bit to put these videos in perspective. I went into this project totally blind, but you obviously know a thing or two about your newsreels.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that these newsreels are probably edited down significantly. It would be interesting to see the whole thing. But then, I'm not sure who would sit through 30 years of it. I probably wouldn't have the patience.
That said, whoever was in charge of editing these down did a good job of mixing "the silly with the serious". Each year is only about half hard news, and the rest is human interest stories or sports stories. which is interesting, although in years when I was interested in the history I found it somewhat frustrating at the same time.
Thanks for the info.