Tag - kon-ichikawa

 
 

KON ICHIKAWA

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 14, 2015
Restored and rediscovered Kon Ichikawa films to screen at TIFF
With the centennial of his birth this year, Promethean director Kon Ichikawa (1915-2008) is due for a revival. The upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival is accordingly screening three of his films in its new Japanese Cinema Classics section.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 22, 2015
A second look at bloody WWII novel 'Fires on the Plain'
Japanese war films typically frame themselves as anti-war, even when they glorify the sacrifices made by brave Japanese boys in defense of the homeland, as in the 2013 hit "Eien no Zero" ("The Eternal Zero").
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jun 27, 2015
'Harp of Burma' is an adventure story concealing weighty themes
"Harp of Burma" was published in Japan in 1946, but it would be 20 years before Michio Takeyama's story of Japanese soldiers stranded in Burma after the close of World War II was translated into English. In fact, Kon Ichikawa got there first in 1956, with his stark cinematic adaptation, "Biruma no Tategoto" ("The Burmese Harp"), which was internationally praised upon its release. Anglophone cinephiles who bought the book expecting the same gravitas were surely disappointed. Although immediately popular with a wide cross-section of Japanese readers, "Harp of Burma" is unmistakably an adventure story for children. Its themes are weighty — the human cost of war, the healing power of song — but they are not explored in great depth; the cliffhanger-driven plot takes precedence.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2014
1964 Tokyo Games marathon winner Bikila 'acted' for film: cameraman
"Tokyo Olympiad," a documentary about the 1964 Summer Olympic Games, was partly fictitious — a gold medalist "acted" to re-create an iconic scene at the request of the film's legendary director, Kon Ichikawa.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on