cuchulainn
Member
from the International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/89427.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/89427.html
Japan soaks up anti-gun message
Dawn Matus
TOKYO Celebrity-packed casts, fantastic plots and glossy Hollywood effects are usually what draw crowds to movie theaters in Japan. So it might come as something of a surprise that one of the most talked about movies in Tokyo these days is a documentary about the United States' social problems.
The movie is "Bowling for Columbine," Michael Moore's look at guns, racism and fear in contemporary America. As in Europe, critics in Japan have enthusiastically praised the film, and the public has been flocking to see it since it opened on Jan. 25. The documentary's success has transformed the little-known Moore into an overnight sensation here.
"Bowling for Columbine" has struck a chord in Japan for several reasons. The biggest, perhaps, is that the movie's fervent anti-gun message hits home in a country where gun-control laws are strict and gun-related crimes are scarce. The connection Moore draws between America's violence at home and its saber rattling abroad has also struck a nerve amid polls indicating strong opposition here to a U.S.-led war against Iraq.
While "Bowling for Columbine" has been criticized in the United States and elsewhere for distorting the facts to suit Moore's agenda, critics and audiences in Japan tend to regard the work as a largely truthful, and welcome, admission by one of America's own that all is not right with the world's most powerful nation.
"What makes this movie unusual is that it is a critical look by an American at parts of America that are hard for Americans to be self-critical about," said one film critic, Tadao Sato, adding that seeing a U.S. director tackle controversial domestic issues head-on is "refreshing" to Japanese audiences.
Another reason the movie resonates in Japan is one that would be hard to predict: By delving into modern America's ills, the film has prompted some Japanese viewers to take a closer look at their own country's myriad problems.
"Bowling for Columbine" won numerous international prizes before arriving in Japan and picked up an Academy Award nomination for best documentary. Even so, the fact that it has achieved minor hit status was a surprise to its local distributor, Gaga Communications. "It has exceeded our expectations considerably, that's for certain," said Tomoko Komaya, a Gaga executive and the movie's associate producer in Japan.
Reflecting Gaga's modest projections, "Bowling for Columbine" initially played at just one theater - the Ebisu Garden Cinema, known for showing art films. The movie drew sold-out crowds from opening day and set first-week and first-month box office records for the theater. Ticket sales for February came to 59.38 million yen - more than $500,000 - and the movie drew 31,161 viewers. That is peanuts compared with the estimated 1.9 billion yen earned by Japan's current No. 1, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," in its first week in theaters.
But in response to public demand, Gaga rushed to bring the movie to more outlets. In late February, it opened at nine more theaters in cities surrounding Tokyo.
.
When "Bowling for Columbine" opens nationwide in late March it will play at more theaters than originally planned. So far, Gaga has made arrangements with about 60 cinemas, but the number could be higher, Komaya said.
.
Japan has a big appetite for U.S. movies and imports more than 150 productions a year. But critics here said there has been no other film about the United States in recent memory that has had the kind of impact on popular consciousness that "Bowling for Columbine" has had.
.
That is partly due to timing. The movie opened as Japan anxiously monitored escalating tensions between the United States and Iraq, and as tensions escalated with North Korea over its nuclear program.
Against this backdrop, the leap Moore makes from questioning why gun violence is so rampant in America to suggesting that the answer is somehow linked to the United States' overseas military exploits does not seem to strike people in Japan as particularly suspect.
One explanation for this is that in Japan, innuendo and circular reasoning are sometimes preferred over point-blank assertion to avoid potentially uncomfortable situations. "In a way, I think it's because the movie doesn't focus directly on issues like Iraq that it sits well with Japanese people," said the critic Takashi Kitakoji.
Ask viewers what they think of "Bowling for Columbine," and many say that it confirms their worst fears about modern-day America. "It makes you think," said Naoko Hashimoto, 21. "America is a country admired by people around the world. But this movie showed me that it's also one of the most troubled countries in the world."
At two recent showings, audiences silently soaked up the film's graphic footage of the Columbine High School massacre, international statistics highlighting the staggering number of U.S. gun murders and a grim video montage of the carnage wrought by U.S. intervention in other countries' affairs.
Several people interviewed after the movie said that they found the contrast between Canada and the United States particularly riveting. Moore points out that Canada has a higher rate of gun ownership per household than the United States but a fraction of its gun murder rate.
Another reason the Japanese seem to respond to the movie, said Kitakoji, is that audiences can identify, to a degree, with its exploration of how fear can transform a nation.
There is an undercurrent of unease here following 12 years of economic deterioration and accompanying social upheaval.
Although it is next to impossible for the average person in Japan to legally own a handgun, the National Police Agency says illegal weapons are a growing problem. Burglaries have increased and violent crime, while rare, is not unheard of today. Unemployment is at a record high and wages are falling; with no immediate economic upside in sight, anxiety about the future is spreading.
"Up until about a decade ago, everyone thought of Japan as a truly secure country," Kitakoji said. "But that safety myth is now definitely starting to come into question. That's another reason why I think this is a timely movie for Japanese people."
Dawn Matus is a journalist in Tokyo.
Copyright © 2003 the International Herald Tribune
