SPECIAL THEME: JAPANESE CINEMA AND YOUTH CULTURE Issue 31 News and Re views Winter 2009 A PUBLICATION OF THE ASIAN EDUCATIONAL MEDIA SERVICE I CENTER FOR EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC STUDIES I UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN multi-dimensional, human actors living in com - plex time s—in this case Japan during the end of World War I I—a central purpose of teaching social studies. On a more personal level, the film shows not just the process of breaking down sim - plified, perhaps glorified views of adult relatives (something teenagers often do with incredible skill), but shows how replacing this image with a more complex and even flawed understanding can . lead to respect rather than cynicism. C N I Morimoto anchors the film around interviews , S E that are, at times, painfully honest with R U four surviving kamikaze pilots as well as T C I P with survivors from the USS Drexler , sunk D O by a kamikaze attack. These interviews are O W combined with historical footage from E G World War II, as well as additional interviews D E with historians and Morimoto’s family mem - bers in Osaka, with voiceover narration by Wings of Defeat Morimoto. These aspects of the film introduce I Wings of Defeat. Directed by Risa Morimoto. 2007. 90 minutes the larger historical narrative without resorting (full-length) or 56 minutes (abbreviated, educator version). In English to the preachy tone of an educational documen - and Japanese with English subtitles. tary that often causes half the students in a class I Wings of Defeat: Another Journey. Directed by Risa Morimoto. 2008. to tune out while also implying a single, authoritative master 39 minutes. In English and Japanese with English subtitles. “All Planes Now Kamikaze,” reads a Japanese poster narrative that cannot be contra - or teenagers, film can humanize history in a ing images: kamikaze pilots sink from the last months of dicted. Morimoto’s family’s World War II. Fmanner difficult to emulate in other mediums. an American ship; six American contrasting interpretations It can also help students (or adults, for that mat - survivors of kamikaze attacks remi - continued on page 7 ter) move beyond the visceral reactions they have nisce; US propaganda posters depict Japanese as to certain famous historical animals; a Japanese man poses with a teddy bear REVIEW figures and events based on for a snapshot. Risa Morimoto, the film’s director preconceived notions. Few and narrator, sets out to reconcile the conflicting people or events in Japanese history come packed images she hold s— those of the kamikaze as fanat- Contents with more emotional baggage and less humanity ical terrorists she internalized as a child in Long From the Editor . 2 for Americans than the famous (or even infamous) Island with those of her late Uncle Toshio, the How to Contact AEMS . 2 kamikaze pilots of World War II. A pair of docu - teddy-bear-clinging, middle-aged man in the mentary films, Wings of Defeat and Wings of photo who, she has learned, once trained to be a Anime and Manga 101: A Primer for Defeat: Another Journey , put a human face on both kamikaze pilot. the Confused or Curious . 5 these pilots and the men in the ships they attacked Aside from the obvious historical lessons about Reviews: in a sophisticated and accessible manner with World War II, the premise of the film provides Wings of Defeat . 1 many potential uses in the classroom. Other than two lessons about imagery that are central to the Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish . 3 Ivan Morris’ classic depiction of kamikaze pilots in larger education we all wish to provide our stu - The Taste of Tea . 4 Nobility of Failure , no source in English has been dents. On the intellectual level, the film illustrates Train Man . 6 produced that portrays the kamikaze pilots as real the importance of questioning and moving beyond Distributors in this Issue . 8 people more effectively than Wings of Defeat. the stock images we have of historical events and Wings of Defeat opens with a series of contrast - of understanding the individuals in those events as FROM THE EDITOR The Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS) is a pro - e open 2009 with a look at Japan through the prism of youth, with reviews of three recent gram of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies WJapanese feature films exploring what it means to be young in Japan today, one documentary at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Our mission is to help educators at all levels, film on Japanese youth of a very different era, and an essay on anime and manga, one of the best known from elementary through college, find multimedia products of Japanese youth culture. resources for learning and teaching about Asia to This focus emerges from our sixth annual Asian Film Festival. On October 3– 5, 2008, AEMS, promote understanding of Asian peoples and cultures. together with the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies here at the University of Illinois, hosted a Our free services include: three-day film festival in downtown Champaign, Illinois, centered on the theme “Young in Japan.” I News and Reviews, published three times a year; I An online database of audiovisual materials; A diverse Illinois audience of over 1,000 attended the nine screenings and 16 teachers participated in a I Reference service; workshop on Wings of Defeat with Gary Mukai (SPICE, Stanford University) and Roger Purdy (John I Educator workshops on teaching with film; Carroll University). For more information, including a downloadable program book, visit the AEMS I Lesson plans, streaming video, film website : www.aems.uiuc.ed u/event s/filmfestival/filmfest_2008.html. recommendations and other web resources; I A lending library for local educators This issue of our newsletter is an opportunity to share the success of our Asian Film Festival 2008 with a much broader audience. The films we screened were selected from a pool of dozens in a process Please contact us to be added to the mailing list, or for back issues and extra copies of this newsletter. that took many months by a faculty Asian Educational Media Service committee, together with AEMS staff: 805 W. Pennsylvania Avenue Robert Cagle (Cinema Studies, University Urbana, Illinois 61801 USA of Illinois), David Goodman (East Asian www.aems.uiuc.edu Languages and Cultures, University of aem [email protected] Illinois) and Jinhee Lee (History, Eastern 1-888-828-AEMS (1-888-828-2367) Fax: 217-265-0641 Illinois University). To their expertise and good judgment, we add that of our AEMS is funded with generous support from the reviewers. Freeman Foundation. Robert Fish leads us off with a review of Advisory Board the extraordinary documentary on World Lucien Ellington, Editor, Education About Asia; War II kamikaze pilots and their legacy, UC Foundation Professor, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Wings of Defeat. We were privileged to host Karl G. Heider, Professor of Anthropology, University the filmmakers, Risa Morimoto and Linda of South Carolina Hoaglund, in May to lead sessions at our Ellen C.K. Johnson, Professor, College of DuPage Digital Asia Workshop and were deeply Laurel Kendall, Curator, Asian Ethnographic Collections, impressed by both their filmmaking and American Museum of Natural History; Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University their teaching. Karen Nakamura brings her Gary Mukai, Director, Stanford Program on expertise on the disabled in Japan to bear International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) on the unusual love story, Josee, the Tiger David W. Plath, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and and the Fish. Critically acclaimed in its East Asian Languages and Cultures, UIUC limited U.S. release, The Taste of Tea is Alwyn Spies, Assistant Professor of Japanese, University of British Columbia-Okanagan reviewed by Tim Engles, with special atten - tion to its appeal to middle and high school University Committee students. Rachel Lenz, with her review Nancy Abelmann, Professor of Anthropology Reviews from our 2007 and East Asian Languages and Cultures, UIUC of Train Man and its place in the “Densha Southeast Asian film festival Ramona Curry, Associate Professor, English, Cinema phenomenon,” and Paul Dunscomb, with his overview are now online. Pictured here Studies, and Women’s Studies, UIUC of the origins and history of anime and manga, orient us are scenes from the Thai comedy Citizen Dog, directed Clark E. Cunningham, Professor Emeritus of to the world of Japanese popular culture, so familiar by Wisit Sasanatieng. Anthropology, UIUC to so many of our students. Poshek Fu, Director, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, and Professor of History, Cinema Studies On the AEMS website , we have recently published… and East Asian Languages and Culture, UIUC Kimiko Gunji, Director, Japan House, UIUC Under the Publications tab: Jacquetta Hill, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology • New reviews of films from our Asian Film Festival 2007 , which focused on Southeast Asia: and Educational Psychology, UIUC Jin-hee Lee, Assistant Professor of History, Eastern Illinois —Out of Poison Tree , a documentary about Cambodia’s recovery from the Khmer Rouge University genocide, reviewed by Judy Ledgerwood, and Robert S. Petersen, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, —Citizen Dog , a surreal Thai comedy poking fun at urban life, reviewed by Ellen Boccuzzi. Eastern Illinois University Ronald Toby, Professor of History and East Asian • A review by Stacey Gross of Learning from Asian Art: Korea, an online curriculum kit from the Languages and Cultures, UIUC Philadelphia Museum of Art. Staff Under the Other Resources tab: Program Directo r/ Editor: Tanya S. Lee Assistant Program Director: Susan Norris • New current events pages on The Mumbai Terrorist Attacks, Asian Reactions to the U.S.