Japan Focus: Fantasies of War and Nation in Recent Japanese Cinema
It comes as no surprise that the recent resurgence of neo-nationalist thought in Japan would find expression in cinema. With the issue of the nation and its ability to fight war...being vigorously challenged by the ruling party and the right...it is significant that the year 2005 saw the release of four big budget spectaculars offering particular visions of Japanese fighting wars...and all four performed well at the box office...There are certainly factors other than Japan’s recent turn to the right for the emergence of such films. The largest is probably the film industry’s effort to revive its fortunes...The Agency for Cultural Affairs has also offered policy suggestions to bolster film culture in Japan. The Japanese industry has not been blind to the success of such Korean blockbusters as Shiri, Joint Security Area and Tae Guk Gi...all war-related action films that were also hits in Japan. It has thus latched onto war spectaculars as one means of competing in the film market. Its own war films may have been one factor in the rise in market share, from 37.5% to 41.3%, captured by Japanese films in 2005 compared to the year before, even as the overall market has shrunk...more...
