Japanese films

In the 1988 film, Grave of the Fireflies, a boy named Seita and his younger sister Setsuko struggle to survive in Japan towards the end of the war. The animated film begins with Seita dying in what appears to be a subway station. The remainder of the film is a recollection of the end of his days. These flashbacks begin with him storing aways some essentials in the ground before an air raid. Setsuko says behind with her brother to be taken to the shelter while their mother gets a head start due to

The film Grave of the Fireflies expertly depicts World War II from the perspective of two young Japanese citizens of the city of Kobe. As viewers follow their story they learn several things such as the hardships of the people of Japan, the endangerment of the regular civilians, and the unnecessary brutality of the American military. But the film, like all else, has its limitations, these include prospective and lack of time. Hardship is emphasized everywhere in the film, it is constantly poking

The film gave great insight on what it was like living through the Japanese internment. Personal stories from Lise Yasui allowed me to envision how her family’s life was and I could only imagine how they felt. The film focused on her family’s struggle to become citizens of the United States. I’m sure every family had their own story, but based on the history I could say that they were not much different. What her grandfather Masuo went through defiantly helped personalize the Japanese internment

Hisaye Yamamoto, a Japanese American author, composed a collection of short stories titled, Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. These collection of short stories describes the experiences Japanese Americans undergo while residing in America. The Japanese American culture that Yamamoto introduces has three types of generations. The first one being, the Issei, the second one being, the Nisei and the third one being, the Sensei. All three Japanese generations are described in Yamamoto’s short story

anyone in the process of protesting and they continuously cooperate with the police and other government officials. For example, when Mandy-Rae Cruickshank and Kirk Krack visit the cove for the first time, they try to keep the encounter with the Japanese fisherman peaceful even though the fishermen are butting chests with them. Another example would be the numerous times Taiji officials interrogate Mr. Barry about the actions he takes against the reoccurring dolphin slaughter, and how he always complies

embodiment of the modern culture, while Godzilla represented the traditional culture.Furthermore, by observing key elements shown throughout the film, one will recognize the juxtaposition between each creature, the culture it represents, and the gradual shift from one culture to the other. Depicting Godzilla as a physical embodiment of the traditional Japanese culture, Honda displayed certain characteristics that were interchangeable between the two. When first introduced to Godzilla, the audience observed

reason that he is chosen to be the leader of the propaganda. “Momotaro is the embodiment of Japanese heroic courage and succeeds in overcoming a seemingly superior enemy, who, in an analogy to the fairy tale, is a devil.” Momotaro is a young boy who is born through supernatural means and yet is accepted into being a symbolic hero for the nation. He is untouched by outside forces, said to be a “pure Japanese hero”, who faces against “foreign demons” , which can easily represent foreign nations. His

Junichi Kajioka, an actor turned producer, turned director sheds light on a rather unknown aspect of Japanese and Jewish history, during WW2, concerning Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese acting consul in the then Lithuanian capital Kaunas and Tatsuo Osako, an official of Japan Tourist Bureau. Sugihara issued visas in defiance of the Japanese government to allow thousands of Jewish refugees to travel to Japan via the former Soviet Union, so they could escape from the Holocaust, and Osako repeatedly traveled

In the film “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”, the audience is taken on a journey around Jiro’s personal life and is introduced to everyone that makes him the successful man he is. When you first see these like-minded individuals, you believe that these men have a perfect life’s, but throughout the movie I found information that led me to understand that things are not always as they seem. In traditional Japanese culture, professional success is often valued over personal life. Jiro is treated much like a celebrity

anger. Many of Middle-Eastern descent have been experiencing great prejudice and discrimination and are being stereotyped as terrorists. These types of feelings are very prevalent in American society today. Similarly, though not widely as discussed, Japanese-Americans have felt these feelings directed toward them for several generations. Going from the extreme of being herded to internment camps after the surprise attack of Pearl Harbor, to the more commonplace, being stereotyped in the entertainment