Japanese Language, Literature & Culture

2-disc Collector's Edition includes Gojira in Japanese with optional English subtitles; and Godzilla, King of the Monsters in English, along with special features. DVD.

Japanese anime film by famed director Hayao Miyazaki. Based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones. Winner of the prize for Animation of the Year at the 2005 Tokyo International Anime Fair. DVD.

The 85-year-old Jiro Ono is considered by many to be the world's greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of a 10-seat sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3-star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimages. DVD.

Japanese anime film by famed director Hayao Miyazaki. Deep inside a tree trunk, two children discover a fascinating new world inhabited by Totoros, amazing, charming creatures who become their friends. DVD.

An animated adaptation of Saeko Himuro's best-selling novel, Ocean Waves tells the story of a young man who returns home after his first year away at college and recalls his senior year of high school and the iron-willed, big city girl that turned his world upside down. From the same studio that created My Neighbor Totoro.

Japanese anime film by famed director Hayao Miyazaki. A young boy named Sosuke rescues a goldfish named Ponyo, and they embark on a fantastic journey of friendship before Ponyo's father forces her to return to the sea. Ponyo's desire to be human upsets the balance of nature and only her mother, a beautiful sea goddess, can restore nature's balance and make Ponyo's dreams come true. DVD.

Originally released as a Japanese motion picture in 1952, this classic film by Akira Kurosawa is about a young Japanese businessman dying of cancer who wants to give something back to society before his death, so he decides to build a playground for children. DVD.

Daigo Kobayashi, a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved, finds himself without a job. He decides to move back to his old hometown to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled 'Departures' thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency but soon discovers that the job is actually for a funeral professional who prepares bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between the departed and the family of the departed. 2009 Academy Awards winner for Best Foreign Language Film. DVD.

Includes three award-winning Imamura films: Pigs and Battleships; The Insect Woman; and Intentions of Murder. DVD.

Award-winning film by Akira Kurosawa, originally produced in 1985. In 16th century Japan, an aging ruler attempts to divide his kingdom among his three sons. They turn against each other and betray their father, triggering events that ultimately shatter the kingdom, destroy the family, and drive their father insane. Based on Shakespeare's King Lear. DVD.

This classic award-winning film by director Akira Kurosawa, originally released as a motion picture in 1950, tells the story of the murder of a man and the rape of his wife in a forest grove, seen from four different perspectives. DVD.

An award-winning animated film by director, Hayao Miyazaki. Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes. Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927 and becomes one of the world's most innovative and accomplished airplane designers. An animated historical drama about the life of aeronautical engineer, Jiro Horikoshi. Available in English or Japanese with subtitles.

Also in print: PN1995.9.H6 B26 2008

In Japanese popular cinema the 'tragic hero' narrative is an archetypal plot-structure upon which male genres, such as the war-retro and yakuza films are based. Examines the role of the 'tragic hero' narrative as a figurative structure through which the Japanese people could interpret the events of World War II and defeat, offering spectators an avenue of exculpation from a foreign-imposed sense of guilt.

Ethno-historical study of cinema-going and film viewership in Japan.

E-book