It's common for local distributors to resort to some dubious tactics when promoting foreign films in Japan: Worthy arthouse flicks are routinely saddled with tawdry Japanese titles, or slushy trailers more befitting of a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. Yet there's something particularly unfortunate about the marketing for Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako's "Timbuktu," a sensitive drama that was nominated for best foreign-language film at this year's Academy Awards.