views of japan through western films - the japan times

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Views of Japan through Western films

UNDER FOREIGN EYES: Western Cinematic Adaptations of Postwar Japan,

by James King. Zero Books, 2012, 350 pp., $26.95 (paperback)

Most readers encountering a book called Under Foreign Eyes: Western Cin-

ematic Adaptations of Postwar Japan will expect it to contain an interesting

claim or claims about these Western representations of Japan, and that the

claim or claims will be buttressed by sophisticated analysis of the films.

What we get instead in James Kings book is one plot summary after another

for each of the 60-plus films he writes about.King warns us in his first chapter (though his logic is hard to follow) that

because so many films are treated I have felt it crucial to provide the reader

with a synopsis of the plot trajectory of each because, to do otherwise, might

make it difficult for the reader to follow my arguments.

One has to take King at his word that the arguments are there: They are ob-

scured rather than illuminated by the summary after summary aftersummary.

This wouldnt matter if Under Foreign Eyes were presented as an encyclo-

pedia of film, with discrete entries for summaries of each of the movies

covered, but because the book is not called An Encyclopedia of Western

Cinematic Adaptations of Japan, unwary readers, expecting something oth-

er than a reference book, are likely to be disappointed. If they can get pastthat disappointment, though, they will find that, as with most compendiums

of books or films, many of which will be unfamiliar, theres much in Under

Foreign Eyes that is of interest.

King discusses films ranging from Tokyo Joe (1949), starring Humphrey

Bogart, to The Cove (2009), starring the dolphins of Taiji, with stops along

the way at several obscure, forgotten and little-seen movies.


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Good encyclopedist that he is, King imposes order on his catalog by dividing

the films into categories: films dealing with the war, films dealing with the

atomic bombing of Japan, films about the Occupation, films about geisha,

films about yakuza and so on. He includes Japanese films, too, so readers

can compare the approaches of Japanese filmmakers with those of their non-Japanese counterparts, and tells us enough about the films he considers that

readers will have a good idea whether they are worth seeking out or best

avoided.

Most readers will have already seen, and formed their own opinions about,

Clint Eastwoods Letters from Iwo Jima, for example, and Alejandro Gon-

zalez Inarritus Babel. Thus it is when writing about films like Josef vonSternbergs Anatahan or Samuel Fullers House of Bamboo, neglected

films by major directors, that King is most interesting.

Even if, for example, in Kings estimation, von Sternbergs film about

Japanese castaways on a remote island, an investigation of what happens to

mankind when it returns to the level of the cave man, offers only trite

observations, still, it is helpful to be reminded of this piece of the puzzlethat is von Sternbergs career. Fullers House of Bamboo, of course, is not

just interesting, but good. King quotes film critic Keith Uhlich who writes:

Quite simply, House of Bamboo has some of the most stunning examples

of widescreen photography in the history of cinema.

As useful as it is to be reminded of these sorts of films, so poorly is this book

edited that one is often tempted to throw it against a wall. On Page 189alone, for example, we find the name Muraoka rendered correctly three

times, and as Muraoko five times. Elsewhere, Kaori Shoji, a contributor to

The Japan Times, is identified as Kaori Shoki, and the paper for which she

writes as the Tokyo Times.

Kings subject, foreign films about Japan, is fascinating; his book will have to

do until a better one comes along.


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David Cozy is a writer and critic, and an assistant professor at Showa Womens

University in Tokyo.

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