Japan Academy Awards

Over at informative Japanese film news site Hoga Central is an English list of the nominees for the 29th Japan Academy Awards (「第２９回日本アカデミー賞」see the official site). All of the nominees are actually considered prize winners in their respective categories, of which a "best winner" is announced on March 3rd. In general, the Japan Academy Awards are less fiercely competetive than their bigger American counterpart. As I suspected in my December 7th entry, Izutsu Kazuyuki's (井筒和幸監督) film Pacchigi! / 『パッチギ！』(aka We Shall Overcome Someday) did well, with 5 nominations/prizes.

The big winners, however, were the nostalgic Always - Sunset on the Third Street (『ALWAYS 三丁目の夕日』ALWAYS - Sanchome no yuhi) which I worked on the English press kit for, and Year One in the North (『北の零年』/ Kita no Zero-nen) . The posthumously given "Special Award from the Chairman" prizes are worth noting: Directors Ishii Teruo (故 石井 輝男), Okamoto Kihachi (故 岡本 喜八), Nomura Hotaro (故 野村 芳太郎), and actor Matsumura Tatsuo (故 松村 達雄).

If you want to go to see the award ceremony live at the New Takanawa Prince Hotel, a ticket will set you back 40,000 yen (US$340).

Happy Xmas (War is [not] Over)

Will there ever be a day when there isn't a war going on somewhere in the world? Not if Bush & Co. can help it.

On that note, a very Happy Christmas to all my friends and family members in different parts of the globe. Playing in the background at my house: "Fairytale of New York (Christmas in the Drunk Tank)" by The Pogues (but only the first third) and Bing Crosby and David Bowie's duet of "Peace on Earth - Little Drummer Boy."

A cracking new edition of Midnight Eye is under the Christmas tree, including a round-up of Nakagawa Nobuo reviews, some of which I wrote. Forgot to link to this previously, but here's a review by Tom Mes for Hiroki Ryuichi's Girlfriend: Someone Please Stop the World (廣木隆一監督の『ガールフレンド』), which I had a speaking role in (see here, there, and here).

English lessons with the director (see my December 8th entry) are going well. About his neighbour right across the street -- the house is one of the larger that I've seen in Tokyo (and that includes Ambassadorial residences), with electric eyes, high walls, and gated access. According to the director, this guy is one of the top bosses (if not the top boss) in Tokyo. Do I need to explain what type of boss?. Apparently he's quite neighbourly.

My Wife

I rarely talk about my private life on this blog, but anytime I've written "we" in reference to creating subtitles or doing other jobs, that means me and my wife, Eiko. Since 1997, she has consistently done great work for film festivals such as Toronto, Rotterdam, Tokyo, and FILMeX. She has also worked at Cannes and Berlin to help promote Japanese cinema abroad. She's done everything from being an interpreter on a Hollywood-produced short film shot in Japan (starring Koyuki) to working at the Swiss Embassy. Yesterday was her first day at her new job -- at a company known for the animated films of a certain Japanese director who's legendary around the world...

Good luck in your new job. I'm so proud of you!

Jason
xox

Fluximation

[Sharp 802SH Moblog]

At the Viacom Japan offices near Harajuku for a meeting.

Teaching the Director

今日かなり有名な映画監督に定期的な英会話の初回レッスンを教えました。監督（プライバシーを大事にするために名前が書くのを止めました）はいつか海外で映画を撮りたいと言って、世界中のファンもきっと待っているんだろうと思います。結局、その目的のために英語が必要ですね。

Today was the first of what will be regular English lessons with a quite famous Japanese director. I won't mention who out of respect for his privacy (more on his neighbour at a later date). He wants to shoot a film overseas one day, and I'm sure fans would like to see that happen -- speaking English will be part of that.

Memoirs of a Geisha / Sayuri

Marxy posts a lot of interesting threads on his Japan-based blog. The latest is about the (mock) outrage surrounding the film Sayuri (domestic title for Memoirs of a Geisha).

Pacchigi Prize!

In the first of what will probably be several end-of-year awards for Izutsu Kazuyuki's (井筒和幸監督) film Pacchigi! / 『パッチギ！』(aka We Shall Overcome Someday), Nikkan Sports (a daily sports-oriented newspaper) awarded Pacchigi! "Best Film" at their 18th Annual Nikkan Sports Film Awards (Japanese only). Unlike the west, Japanese entertainment news is diffused through sports newspapers more than any other printed media.

We created the subtitles for Pacchigi! back in September 2004 and the film played at the Tokyo Film Festival and Udine Far East Film in Italy, among others. At the time it was a fairly grueling translation job, with plenty of Kyoto-ben (Kyoto dialect) and a very high number of teroppu, or subtitles (teroppu being a loan word derived from the American "telop" machine - TELevision Opaque Projector). In retrospect, Pacchigi! is definitely one of the more notable films to come out of Japan in the past few years, and one that imparts an anti-war message relevant to our times.

I've Changed My Plea to Guilty

Classic Morrissey footage -- The Jonathan Ross Show, Dec. 10th, 1990: "I've Changed My Plea to Guilty" (QuickTime, 7Mb)