Video Library

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*Daichi no ko (pt. 1)

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*Daichi no ko (pt. 2)

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*Daichi no ko (pt. 3)

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*Daichi no ko (pt. 4)

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*Daichi no ko (pt. 5)

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*Daichi no ko (pt. 6)

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*Dai-Zen Mondo Hossen
(Eihei-ji)

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Dance of Darkness

Credits: Director: Edin Velez

Summary: An introduction to Butoh, a Japanese Avant-Garde dance that shatters the traditional framework of dance. Profoundly rooted in Japanese culture, Butoh distorts the body's traditional movements into new forms of a secret world of darkness and irrationality, as the performers demonstrate its range, from stark solo pieces to elaborately costumed ensemble performances.

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* Democracy with a Difference
(Program 12 of Japan: the Changing Tradition)

Credits: Please see entry for Japan: the Changing Tradition.

Summary: Discusses modern Japanese politics including personal support organizations (koenkai), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), decision-making in the National Diet, foreign policy, the Japanese response to crisis and scandal in the government.

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*Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State

Credits: Ethan Scheiner

Summary: Lecture by Ethan Scheiner on Japanese politics. Reviews.

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Dersu Uzala

Credits: Director: Akira Kurosawa; Screenplay: Vladimir Arseniev, Akira Kurosawa, Yuri Nagibin; Producers: Yoichi Matsue, Nikolai Sizov; Cinematography: Fyodor Dobronravov, Yuri Gantman, Asakazu Nakai. Cast Includes: Yuri Solomin, Maksim Munzuk, Suimenkul Chokmorov, Svetlana Danilchenko, Dima Kortitschew, Vladimir Kremena, Aleksandr Pyatkov.

Summary: An eccentric Mongolian frontiersman is taken on as a guide by a Soviet surveying crew. While the soldiers at first perceive Derzu as a naive and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery unmatched by any member of the inexperienced mapping team. Based on the novel by Vladimir Arsenyev.In Japanese, with English subtitles. Reviews.

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Diary of a Police Post
(Faces of Japan - Program 4)

Credits: Dick Briglia and Masanori Nakasone. Hosted by Dick Cavett.

Summary: A day in the life of a typical Japanese police officer. Notes the steady decline of crime in Japan, attributing it to the unique structure of the police force, centered around Koban, or precinct, and the beat officer's familiarity with everyone and every event in his district. Transcript available.

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*Dodes'ka-Den
(Clickety Clack)

Credits: Director: Akira Kurosawa; Screenplay: Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shugoro Yamamoto; Producers: Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi, Akira Kurosawa, Yoichi Matsue; Music: Toru Takemitsu; Cinematography: Yasumichi Fukuzawa, Takao Saitô. Cast Includes: Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, Kazuo Kato, Junzaburo Ban, Kiyoko Tange, Michiko Hino, Tatsuhei Shimokawa, Keiji Furuyama, Hisashi Igawa, Hideko Okiyama, Kunie Tanaka, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Koji Mitsui, Shinsuke Minami, Yûko Kusunoki, Toshiyuki Tonomura, Satoshi Hasegawa, Kumiko Ono, Tatsuhiko Yagashita, Miika Oshida, Tatsuo Matsumura, Tsuji Imura, Atsushi Watanabe, Jerry Fujio, Tomoko Yamazaki, Masahiko Kametani, Noboru Mitani, Hiroyuki Kawase, Hiroshi Akutagawa, Tomoko Naraoka, Sanji Kojima, Mashahiko Tanimura, Akemi Negishi, Michiko Araki, Shoichi Kuwayama, Kamatari Fujiwara.

Summary: Akira Kurosawa's first color film is a spellbinding tribute to humankind's ability to transcend adversity by holding on to hopes and dreams. In a clear departure from his usual theme - the glorification of heroic individuals - Kurosawa focuses on the courage of the desperately poor and downtrodden. Brilliant colors flood the screen as he explores the impact of modern life on the inhabitants of the dilapidated Tokyo slum. Sometimes humorous, often tragic, their stories have a common thread - to escape the pain of abject poverty, they take refuge in dreams of a better life. In Japanese with English subtitles. Reviews.

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Double Suicide
(Shinjo ten no amijima)

Credits: Director: Masahiro Shinoda; Screenplay: Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Masahiro Shinoda, Toru Takemitsu, Taeko Tomioka; Music: Toru Takemitsu; Cinematography: Toichiro Narushima. Cast Includes: Kamatari Fujiwara, Tokie Hidari, Shima Iwashita, Yoshi Kato, Shizue Kawarazaki, Hosei Komatsu, Kichiemon Nakamura, Yusuke Takita.

Summary: Based on the play by Chikamatsu, this Bunraku-style production tells the story of an ill-fated love affair between a prostitute and a merchant. Study guide available. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Reviews.

Do you know Shonan Island?

Credits: Directed by Taizo Hori and Hachiro Ikeda. Written by Tokio Shiina and Shun Kajii. Video couresy of Nagoya Television Broadcasting, Production Ike and Fujisankei Communications International. U.S.premiere.

Summary: Nagoya TV's controversial documentary explores the Japanese role and responsibility in Singapore during WWII. When the Japanese military occupied Singapore, a British scholar in charge of the Botanical Garden risked his own life by requesting that Japanese commanders protect precious cultural and natural heritages during the war. Japanese scholars also supported his efforts.

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Dream Window: Reflection on the Japanese Garden

Credits: Paul B. Johnson & Toshio Murayama.

Summary: A journey through contemporary and classical Japanese gardens, renowned for their beauty and their status as retreats where visitors can rediscover themselves and the natural world around them. Includes the legendary Moss Temple of Saiho-ji, Shugaku-in and Katsura Imperial Villas, and Sogetsu Hall. Japanese culture and religion as reflected in famous gardens (e.g., Moss Temple of Saihoji, Katsura Imperial Villa, Tenryuji, and Ken Domon Museum of Photography).

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(A) Dream Comes True : Honda

Credits: Japan Film Research Institute, Ltd.

Summary: A visit to the Honda Accord manufacturing plant near Marysville, Ohio, the first Japanese automotive plant to be built in the United States. Covers the plant's construction and opening, the manufacturing process, and Honda's impact on the Marysville community.

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Dream Girls

Credits: Directors: Kim Longinotto & Jano Williams. Cast Includes: Maya Miki, Anju Mira.

Summary: This fascinating documentary opens a door into the spectacular world of the Takarazuka Reveue, a highly successful musical theater company in Japan. Each year, thousands of girls apply to enter the male-run Takarazuka Music School. The few who are accepted endure years of a highly disciplined and reclusive existence before they can enter the Revue, choosing male or female roles. Dream Girls offers a compelling insight into gender and sexual identity and the contradictions experienced by Japanese women today. Review.

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*Early Japan: Part I
(Program 3 of Japan: The Living Tradition series)

Credits: See entry for Japan: The Living Tradition.

Summary: Begins with Japan's pre-Chinese culture with the Jomon Period (10,000 B.C to 250 B.C.), the Yayoi Period (250 B.C. to 300 A.D.), and the Kofun (Tomb) Period (300 A.D. to 600 A.D.). Later, discusses the beginnings of the first major borrowing from China emphasizing Buddhism as the greatest single influence of Chinese culture upon Japan. Chronicles the influence of Prince Shotoku, the ruling aristocratic Soga family, the Taika Reform, Nakatomi no Kamatari, and the beginnings of the Fujiwara family.

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*Early Japan: Part II
(Program 4 of Japan: The Living Tradition series)

Credits: See entry for Japan: The Living Tradition.

Summary: Presents Japan's growing cultural independence by the end of the eighth century. Includes the major developments of the Heian Period such as the method of political control within the imperial court described as "rule by the man behind the throne," the spread of Buddhism, the development of the Japanese writing system, early Japanese literature, and the beginnings of Japan's feudal era.

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Early summer
(Bakushu)

Credits: Director: Yasujiro Ozu; Screenplay: Kôgo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu. Cast Includes: Chikage Awashima, Setsuko Hara, Chieko Higashiyama, Kuniko Miyake, Zen Murase, Ryukan Nimoto, Chishu Ryu, Shuji Sano, Isao Shirosawa, Ichirô Sugai, Haruko Sugimura.

Summary: Set in postwar Japan, the story of the conflict between obligation and individualism a young woman faces when her family attempts to arrange her marriage. Study guide available. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Reviews.

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Earth
(Tsuchi)

Credits: Director: Tomu Uchida; Screenplay: Tsutomu Kitamura, Takashi Nagatsuka, Ryuichito Yagi; Music: Akihiro Norimatsu; Cinematography: Michio Midorikawa. Cast Includes: Akiko Kazami, Isamu Kosugi, Bontarô Miake, Chieko Murata.

Summary: A chronicle of life in an impoverished Japanese farming village. Captures the seasonal cycles and human hardships of existence in the countryside, employing documentary techniques and a neo-realist style. Tape made from only print extant, missing first and last scenes. . In Japanese, with German subtitles.

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East of Wall Street
(Faces of Japan - Program 22)

Credits: Dick Briglia and Masanori Nakasone. Hosted by Dick Cavett.

Summary: Looks at the Japanese financial world, and the influx of Americans since the Japanese stock market opened its doors to foreigners in 1985. The Tokyo Stock Exchange, largest in the world in the market value of its stocks, generates enormous wealth, and American businessmen like Bob Petty are learning the ins and outs of doing business on this Wall Street of the East. Transcript available. 

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Eat the Kimono

Credits: Director: Claire Hunt & Kim Longinotto

Summary: Hanayagi Genshu is no ordinary dancer. She has shocked the traditional elements of Japanese society with her radical politics and Avant-Garde performances. Eat the Kimono shows the strength of a woman who is prepared to flout the conventions of her culture; also defying right-wing threats and denouncing Emperor Hirohito during his lifetime.

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*Eihei-ji

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Summary: In Japanese, with no subtitles.

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Eijanaika
(Why Not?)

Credits: Director: Shohei Imamura; Screenplay: Shohei Imamura. Cast Includes: Shigeru Izumiya, Masao Kusakari, Kaori Momoi, Ken Ogata, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi.

Summary: Set at the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1866-67), a portrayal of a people's revolution, as the lower classes revolt against the samurai class in a frenzied storm that devastates their small village. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Reviews.

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Electronic Tribe, The
(Japan, Part 1)

Credits: Hosted by Jane Seymour. WTTW-TV, Chicago and Central Independent Television.

Summary: Examines the contrasts between the present-day life of Japanese factory workers and the inherited and rural customs still found in their homes. Shows the importance of loyalty to family and company, and the roles Buddhism and Shintoism play in every aspect of Japanese life.

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Emperor Meiji and the great Russo-Japanese War
(Meiji tenno to nichiro daisenso)

Credits: Directed by Watanabe Kunio.

Summary: The first feature film portrayal of the Meiji emperor, intercutting palace sequences with land and sea battle scenes in a nationalistic representation of the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905). A reverential depiction of a paternalistic emperor who submits to the same sacrifices as the common soldiers engaged in common battle. In Japanese, no subtitles.

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Enjo

Credits: Director: Kon Ichikawa; Screenplay: Keiji Hasebe, Kon Ichikawa, Yukio Mishima, Natto Wada; Music: Toshirô Mayuzumi; Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa. Cast Includes: Raizô Ichikawa, Ganjiro Nakamura, Tatsuya Nakadai, Tanie Kitabayashi, Tamao Nakamura, Michiyo Aratama, Yoichi Funaki, Kinzo Shin, Yoko Uraji.

Summary: This story of a young monk who deliberately set fire to a cherished national monument is based on a true story. Told through a series of masterful flashbacks, the film focuses on a tormented young man who flees a miserable childhood on Japan's remote northwestern coast to find spiritual purity as one of the monks at a famous temple. Instead of devotion to the shrine, he discovers a pervasive corruption that propels him towards his final act of desperation.

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*Enoken no Seishun Suiko-den

Credits: Director: Kajiro Yamamoto

Summary: In Japanese, no subtitles.

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Entertainer, The
(Faces of Japan - Program 13)

Credits: Directors: Dick Briglia and Masanori Nakasone; Hosted by Dick Cavett.

Summary: A look at the Japanese pop music scene, and the unique creation of teen idols, called "idol singers" or aidoru kashu. An emphasis on "cuteness" rather than talent means that teen idols like 15-year-old Moho Tsumiki will have careers lasting only two or three years before they are edged out by younger, cuter faces. Transcript available.

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*Equinox Flower
(Higanbana)

Credits: Director: Yasujiro Ozu; Screenplay: Kôgo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu, Ton Santoni; Music: Kojun Saitô; Cinematography: Yuharu Atsuta. Cast Includes: Ineko Arima, Ryuji Kita, Yoshiko Kuga, Miyuki Kuwano, Nobuo Nakamura, Chieko Naniwa, Chishu Ryu, Shin Saburi, Keiji Sada, Mutsuko Sakura, Teiji Takahashi, Toyoko Takahashi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Fumio Watanabe.

Summary: Hirayama, a successful Tokyo businessman, is sympathetic and encouraging when his friends' modern children choose not to follow the traditional Japanese marriage arrangement. When his own daughter gets engaged without consulting him, not only does he disapprove, he refuses to attend the wedding. Made with loving irony, "Equinox Flower" is a warm comedy of reconciliation. In Japanese with English subtitles. Reviews.

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Essence of Being Japanese, The
(Volume 5 of the Japan Past and Present series)

Credits: Director: Jean Antoine; Advisers: Iwao Seiichi, Sakamoto Mitsuru, Wada Mitsuru; Camera: Baudoin Saeremans, Philippe Theaudiere; Music: Hirose Ryohei, James Madelon; Editor: Annie Chevallay, Elvire Lerner. Narrator: Robert Lancaster.

Summary: The series ends with Japan in the modern age - a people existing between the protection of the Kami and the geological dangers of earthquake. The program covers the cataclysmic events of the 20th century - the devastating earthquake of 1923, the rise of militarism, the accesion of Emperor Hirohito, the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, the Pacific War, Hiroshima, and the American occupation of Japan. The primary focus is on what makes Japan Japanese: the Shinto rituals which are part of modern mercantile life; such societal traits as conformism, determination, attitude toward violence and brutality, business ethics, the role of the kami in modern Japan.

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Face of Another, The
(Tanin no Kao)

Credits: Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara; Screenplay: Kôbô Abe. Cast Includes: Tatsuya Nakadai, Miki Irie, Mikijiro Hira, Kyôko Kishida, Eiji Okada, Machiko Kyô, Minoru Chiaki, Robert Dunham, Etsuko Ichihara, Bibari Maeda, Eiko Muramatsu, Koreya Senda, Toru Takemitsu.

Summary: Based on the novel by Kobo Abe, examines the themes of alienation and loss of identity in contemporary Japanese society through the story of a man badly disfigured in an industrial accident. Study guide available. In Japanese, with English subtitles.

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Family Game, The
(Kazuko geimu)

Credits: Director: Yoshimitsu Morita; Screenplay: Yohei Honma, Yoshinori Kobayashi, Yoshimitsu Morita; Producers: Yutaka Okada, Shirô Sasaki; Cinematography: Yonezo Maeda. Cast Includes: Juzo Itami, Yusaku Matsuda, Ichirota Miyagawa, Junichi Tsujita, Saori Yuki.

Summary: Contemporary tale of a Japanese family caught up in the demands of the educational system. Pokes fun at modern Japanese ideas--educational achievement, high technology, urban gentility--while focusing on the universal problem of the unmotivated teen. Study guide available. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Reviews.

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Fanshii Dansu
(Fancy Dance)

Credits: Director: Masayuki Suo; Screenplay: Reiko Okano, Masayuki Suo. Cast Includes: Masahiro Motoki, Hiromasa Taguchi, Miyako Koda, Fuyuki Murakami, Ken Osawa, Honami Suzuki.

Summary: Yohei Shiono, a city boy and rock band singer, goes through an apprentice training at a Zen temple, leaving his girlfriend behind in the city. A look at the conflicts between the goals of Zen training and the demands of contemporary life. In Japanese, no subtitles.

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Fashion Model, The
(Faces of Japan - Program 14)

Credits: Dick Briglia and Masanori Nakasone. Hosted by Dick Cavett.

Summary: A look at the Japanese world of high fashion through Chiharu, a half-American, half-Japanese fashion model, whose heritage makes her prized in her profession, but creates profound problems in her personal life. Transcript available.

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*The Feudal Experience: Part I
(Program 5 of Japan: The Living Tradition series)

Credits: See entry for Japan: The Living Tradition.

Summary: Describes early feudalism (Kamakura Period, 1185-1333), high feudalism (Ashikaga Period, 1336-1573), and centralized feudalism (Tokugawa Period, 1603-1868). Details the political, cultural, social, and economic developments focusing on the first two stages of feudalism, the Kamakura and Ashikaga Periods. Discusses the Kamakura bakufu, Popular Faith Sects, the end of early feudalism, Emperor Go-Daigo, Ashikaga Takauji, sengoku jidai ("the age of the country at war"), and the rise of the merchant class.

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*The Feudal Experience: Part II
(Program 6 of Japan: The Living Tradition series)

Credits: See entry for Japan: The Living Tradition.

Summary: Describes the strategies Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu employed and the approach they took to the solution of the problems of military rivalries and political control. Also presents the four classes of society (samurai/warriors, farmers, artisans, and merchants), the adoption of Confucianism by the Tokugawa state, the intolerance of Christianity, Japan's isolationism, and the cultural growth of this time known as the Genroku Period.

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*Fighting Elegy
(Kenka erejii)

Credits: Director: Seijun Suzuki

Summary: Unable to express his passionate love for the virginal daughter of the Catholic family with which he boards, high school student Nanbu Kiroku (Hideki Takahashi) channels his libido into street brawls among rival young gangs that ultimately win him the reputation of a fierce and somewhat crazed fighter. The macho satire takes a somber turn when Kiroku has a fateful encounter with ultra-right wing militarist Kita Ikki, one of the leaders of a bloody attempt in 1936 to overthrow the Japanese government in the name of the emperor. Suzuki throws all his gusto, perverse humor and sympathy for society's outcasts and extremists into the perceptive script, contributed by left-wing director Shindo Kaneto (Onibaba), exploring the grandiose delusions that led many young men like Suzuki himself to war. In Japanese with English subtitles. Review.

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Fire Festival
(Himatsuri)

Credits: Director: Mitsuo Yanagimachi; Screenplay: Kenji Nakagami. Cast Includes: Kinya Kitaoji, Kiwako Taichi, Norihei Miki, Junko Miyashita, Ryota Nakamoto, Aiko Morishita, Rikiya Yasuoka, Kenzo Kaneko, Sachiko Matsushita, Aoi Nakajima, Kin Sugai, Masako Yagi.

Summary: Based on actual events, this film is set in an exemplary village of old Japan. Himatsuri (Fire Festival) is a mystical, erotic and violent look at a small Japanese village's battle against industrialization and one man's effort to halt construction of a tourist park by any means necessary. Reviews.

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Fires on the Plain
(Nobi)

Credits: Director: Kon Ichikawa; Screenplay: Shohei Ooka, Natto Wada. Cast Includes: Mickey Curtis, Eiji Funakoshi, Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Hikaru Hoshi, Asao Sano, Kyu Sazanaka, Yasushi Sugita, Osamu Takizawa, Masaya Tsukida, Mantarô Ushio.

Summary: During the final days of WWII, as the Japanese face defeat, soldiers hiding on a Philippine island commit unspeakable atrocities in a desperate attempt to survive - even for a few more days. Tamura, a tubercular soldier, is surrounded by murder, starvation, and cannibalism, but retains his humanity in the face of his comrades' savage behavior. In Japanese with English subtitles. Reviews.

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*Fireworks
(Hana-bi)

Credits: Director: Takeshi Kitano; Screenplay: Takeshi Kitano; Producers: Masayuki Mori, Yashushi Tsuge, Takio Yoshida; Music: Joe Hisaishi; Cinematography: Hideo Yamamoto. Cast Includes: Beat Takeshi, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi, Susumu Terajima.

Summary: International superstar Takeshi Kitano combines cool violence and powerful emotions to reinvent the gangster-film genre in his explosive and award-winning thriller, "Fireworks." A hard-boiled ex-cop, haunted by a troubled past and pushed to the edge by the shooting of his partner, confronts his demons in a ruthless quest for justice and redemption. Hailed by critics around the world as one of the best films of the year, "Fireworks" combines visual poetry and heart-stopping action, marking Kitano as one of the most accomplished and exciting filmmakers working today.
In Japanese with English subtitles. Reviews.

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Fisherman of Japan

Credits: Palmer Films

Summary: Depicts a day in the life of a typical Japanese fisherman, Kimura. Covers the family rising, breakfast, Kimura going off to fish, children going to school, women doing housework, Kimura returning with his catch, and a colorful festival day ending in thanksgiving.

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Forty-Seven Ronin
(Forty-Seven Samurai)
(Genroku Chushinura)

Credits: Director: Kenji Mizoguchi; Screenplay: Kenichiro Hara, Giken Ida, Seika Mayama, Yoshikata Yoda; Music: Shirô Fukai; Cinematography: Kôhei Sugiyama. Cast Includes: Yoshizaburo Arashi, Utaemon Ichikawa, Chojuro Kawarasaki, Kunitaro Kawarazaki, Seizaburô Kawazu, Mantoyo Mimasu, Mitsuko Miura, Kanemon Nakamura, Mieko Takamine.

Summary: A cinematic exploration of heroism and self-sacrifice, based on the true story of 47 masterless samurai who avenge a mortal insult to their late lord by plotting the downfall of his superior. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Reviews.

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Four Seasons in Kyoto, Festivals and Symbols: Autumn, Season of Flame

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Summary: This program savors the peaceful splendor of autumn in Kyoto. First, visits to Kozan-ji Temple, an example of early Kamakura architecture and repository of a painting by Toba Sojo; Sanzen-in Temple, immortalized by 18th-century poet Ueda Akinari; and many other temples offer views of the region's beautiful red-colored maples. Then, the video covers the autumn festival in Arashiyama, the Jidai Matsuri procession, the fire festival of Kurama, and the Kanikakuni festival, in honor of revered writer Isamu Yoshii. And last, a variety of persimmon-based delicacies are described, along with an introduction to Cha Kaiseki cuisine at the famous Shimogamo Saryo restraunt.

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Four Seasons in Kyoto, Festivals and Symbols: Spring, Season of Cherry Blossoms

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Summary: This program captures the essence of spring in Kyoto. First, the program presents the regions gorgeous displays of cherry blossoms and other flowers at Heian Jingu Shrine, built to commemorate Kyoto's 1,100 years as capital of Japan; in Maruyama Park; by Togetsu Bridge; and at a number of famous temples. Next, traditional seasonal events are profiled including the Miyako-odori and Kamogawa-odori dances, a Mibu Kyogen performance, a Kyokusui-no-Utage poetry reading, and the Shinko-sai, Aoi, and Mifune festivals. And finally, a sampling of seasonal cuisine--sushi, bean curd, and many other foods, served informally and in Kaiseki style--is highlighted.

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Four Seasons in Kyoto, Festivals and Symbols: Summer, Season of Cedar and Cypress

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Summary: This program explores the glories of summer in Kyoto. The video starts with a tour of the Kurama-dera Temple, spotlighting its history as a shrine to the Sonten trinity, its fire festival and bamboo-cutting ceremony, and the locale's natural beauty. It continues with visits to the gardens of the Tendai Buddhist Manshu-in Temple and Zen Buddhist Ryoanji Temple, as well as to the Gion festival, which dates back to the year 869, and some of the celebrations and ceremonies associated with the Bon festival. And it concludes with a number of eel-based dishes--a staple of summer cooking--and an introduction to Kawadoko cuisine at the renowned Hiroya restaurant.

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Four Seasons in Kyoto, Festivals and Symbols: Winter, Season of Snow and Bamboo

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Summary: This program reveals the pristine vistas of winter in Kyoto. Set against a backdrop of snow, New Year's festivities--the Okera-mairi ritual at Yasaka Shrine, the tolling of the bell at Kiyomizu Temple, pilgrimages to the temples of the seven gods of fortune, the calligraphy festival at Kitano Temmangu Shrine, the naked dance at Hokaiji Temple, and other events--as well as the Devil Dance festival and ceremonial performances of Kyogen theater at the Mibudera Temple are featured. A smorgasbord of seasonal specialties served at the popular Matsuba, Kitamura, and Okutan restaurants are also included.

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The Fourth Dimension

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*Fragile Economy, The
(Program 10 of Japan: the Changing Tradition)

Credits: Please see entry for Japan: the Changing Tradition.

Summary: Environmental problems stemming from mining for copper and other exports resulted in public protest and pollution controls in the 1960s. Japan's economy was effected by the devaluation of the dollar and the quadrupling of oil prices after the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. While little coud be done to solve the nation's greatest economic problem--its almost complete dependence on foreign sources for energy and raw materials, which must be paid for by Japanese export goods sold in foreign markets--Japan's economy is shifting away from heavy industry and towards "knowledge-intensive" industries.

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From Swords to Factories
(Faces of Japan - Program 8)

Credits: Dick Briglia and Masanori Nakasone. Hosted by Dick Cavett.

Summary: A look at Japanese craftsmanship, from Horii Tanetsugu, master swordmaker, to Funayama Yuji, steelmaker. Transcript available.

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Frontier Fisherman
(Faces of Japan - Program 16)

Credits: Dick Briglia and Masanori Nakasone. Hosted by Dick Cavett.

Summary: A look at the tradition of fishing in Japan's frigid northern waters, a tradition being threatened by the disputed midsea border between Japan and the Soviet Union. Fisherman Asao Hamamatsu braves cold wind, ice, Soviet patrols and the risk of imprisonment to carry on the tradition he has inherited from his father. Transcript available.

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Fuji : Thirty Seven Views

Credits: Director: Christopher McCullough; Australian Broadcasting Cooperation

Summary: Compares the rural Japan of 150 years ago, as captured by the artist Hokusai in a series of thirty-six woodblock prints, with the industrialized nation that has flowered in the shadow of Mt. Fuji.

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Funeral, The
(Ososhiki)

Credits: Director: Juzo Itami; Screenplay: Juzo Itami. Cast Includes: Nobuko Miyamoto, Kiminobu Okumura, Shuji Otaki, Chishu Ryu, Kin Sugai, Haruna Takaso, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ichirô Zaitsu.

Summary: An old man's unexpected death creates hilarious havoc for his family as they struggle with the complex rituals of the three-day Buddhist funeral ceremony. In Japanese, with English subtitles.

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*Furusato

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Summary: In Japanese, no subtitles.