Pippin,

If you liked that "Last Samurai" movie and are interested in Japanese culture......... go to your local video store and have them get you a copy of the ORIGINAL TV mini-series production of James Clavelle's "Shogun".

Do NOT get the single cassette 2 hour-ish version..... that is absolutely TERRIBLE  .  Awful!  Pathetic!!  You want the original WHOLE program....... which will be about 4 cassettes long.

It is incredibly well done, the attention to detail is supurb, and is a pretty good "snapshot" of Japanese culture, architecture, fashion, decorative arts, warfare, political intrigue, and so on from that time period.

You'll likely pick up a few words of Nihongo (Japanese) by watching too  .  The first part of the movie is almost all in Japanese with NO subtitles...... you are "thrust" into the position of the protagonist, Major John Blackthorne.  As he learns Japanese from context and some translations....... you tend to also.

best,

...............john

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Hhhmmmmm....... ???
You see, the thing is that he does not play an asian.

well now that i know that i might just wanna see it

Pippin,

Yeah... all of Kurosawa's films I have seen are great. 

There is a book that you might like.  It is called "Learning to Bow".  It is by an American school teacher who spends a year on an international exchange program teaching in Japan.  Great insight into Japanese culture.

The "Shogun" story was based on a historical event.....but they of course took a lot of licence with it.  One of the best aspects of the mini-series is it's adherence to Clavelle's book.  It is one of the few times that the movie and the book bear much resemblence to each other.    

I am not sure..... but I think I heard that the "Last Samurai" is also based on a historical event?


Ninja were paid professional assassins.  If they were contracted to kill someone..... they did.  Or killed themselves if they were caught.  But you are basically right about the dates for the "heyday" for the most part.  However there are still martial arts schools both in Japan and the USA that trace the lineage of the masters back to fuedal Japan.  So in that sense.... there still ARE Ninja.


As to the Japanese "accepting" a Westerner in that time period.... that is a tough one to evaluate.  There is a saying amongst foreigners living in Japan...... "Forever gaijin."  No matter how long you live there as an expatriot...... you will never "be" Japanese.  On the other hand, when I have been there I have found them to be the most friendly, polite, open, warm and giving people I have ever met.  They literally would give you the shirt off their back.

Nihonjin (Japanese) do seem to like to "test" you to see "what you are made of" though.  If you "measure up" you earn great respect.  But the "measureing up" yardstick is often different than a Westerner would expect.  It is interesting to understand their culture to look at one of the worst "insults" that you can "call" a Japanese person (bakayaro) translates roughly to "uncultured brute". 

In my professional life (potter) my work has been very warmly recieved and they seem genuinely interested in what Americans are doing with clay.  Potter to potter there is a great two way respect and basis for commonality.  So in the Tom Cruise character....... one wonders if "warrior to warrior" there might not have been the basis for eventual acceptance from that factor.  Particulary as he "became more Japanese".  Ditto for how Blackthorne was "accepted" in "Shogun".


BTW...... I get NHK on my satelite system in order to try to keep my Japanese language skills (totemo heta desu) going a bit.  You can get it through Dish Network if you are interested.  It is $25 a month.


de wa mata,

................john

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Actually, several of Kurosawa's films were remade as American films.  "Yojimbo" has been remade as "A Fist Full of Dollars", "Rashomon" has been done almost as many times as "Seven Samurai", and "The Hidden Fortress" is admitted by Lucas to have inspired "Star Wars."  I have several of Kurosawa's films and would rate my favorite as "Ikiru", which has absolutley nothing to do with Samurai...

Here's a pretty good page on Kurosawa...

http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~adk/kurosawa/AKpage.html

John, I will definitely look that book up.  Do you know anything about the Japanese Tea Ceremony?  I tried to get my family to learn it with me once, but the were, ahem, not receptive...