Sakae Oba: The Fox of Saipan
If you’ve been watching a lot of Japanese TV lately, you’ve probably noticed that there are many commercials for a new war movie, Taiheiyō no kiseki –fokksu to yobareta otoko ( 太平洋の奇跡−フォックスと呼ばれた男−, or, Miracle of the Pacific: The Man Called Fox). It’s based on the story of Sakae Oba, a Japanese officer who refused to surrender when American forces captured Saipan in 1944:
On 7 July, Captain Ōba and his men participated in the largest banzai charge of the war in the Pacific. After 15 hours of intense and unrelenting hand to hand combat, almost 4,300 Japanese soldiers were dead. Allied forces declared the island secured on 9 July 1944. By 30 September 1944, the Japanese Army made an official presumption of death for all personnel of unknown status and they were declared killed in action. That included Captain Ōba, and he was awarded a “posthumous” promotion to Major.
In reality, Captain Ōba survived the battle and took command of 46 other soldiers. Ōba then led over 200 Japanese civilians deeper into the jungles to evade capture. He and his men organized the civilians and placed them in mountain caves and hidden jungle villages. When the soldiers were not assisting the civilians with survival tasks, Captain Ōba and his men continued their battle against the garrison of U.S. Marines. Ōba used Mount Tapochau as their primary base; at 473 meters (1,552 ft), the peak offered an unobstructed 360-degree view of the island. From their base camp on the western slope of the mountain, Ōba and his men occasionally conducted guerilla-style raids on American positions. Due to the speed and stealth of these operations, and the frustrated attempts to find him, the Marines on Saipan eventually referred to Ōba as “The Fox”.
Captain Ōba and his men held out on the island for 512 days, or about 16 months. On 27 November 1945, former Major General Umahachi Amō, commander of the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade during the Battle of Saipan, was able to draw out some of the Japanese in hiding by singing the anthem of the Japanese infantry branch. Amō was then able present documents from the defunct Imperial General Headquarters to Captain Ōba ordering him and his men to surrender themselves to the Americans. On 1 December 1945, three months after the official surrender of Japan, the Japanese soldiers gathered once more on Mt. Tapochau and sang a song of departure to the spirits of the war dead. Ōba then led his people out of the jungle and they presented themselves to the Marines of the 18th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Company. With great formality and commensurate dignity, Captain Ōba surrendered his sword to Lieutenant Colonel Howard G. Kurgis, and his men surrendered their arms and colors. They were the last organized resistance of Japanese forces on Saipan.
The movie seems to place emphasis on how Oba saved the lives of civilians by helping them hide in the jungles. Considering the fact that many other Japanese civilians died in the battle and thousands committed suicide rather than face capture, Oba’s actions probably did save some from such a fate.
Here’s a couple trailers for the film (which demonstrate how the f-word is perfectly okay in Japanese movie previews):
From the trailers, we can see that Oba gets major hero treatment in the movie. In addition to saving babies and convincing his fellow Japanese keep living, he also seems to earn the respect of his American foes.
There are also a few seconds of footage that show Toshiaki Karasawa’s character:
Karasawa plays an ex-Yakuza who fights alongside Oba. He shaved his head and bulked-up for the role, making him look very different from his typical appearance.
According to the Saipan Tribune, the film is expected to help the island’s tourism industry:
The movie has also sparked interest from tour agency Kinki Nippon Tourist (KNT), which is developing a special tour package to Saipan, with Japanese tourists expected to visit the major sites shown in the movie. KNT’s tour also offers a 300 Yen Discount coupon to view the movie.
“Despite our limited resources, we agree this tour program is a worthwhile promotion and are allocating a portion of the Japan office’s baseline budget to support its development,” said Bateman.
The film hits theaters across Japan on February 11th. I haven’t seen any information about an international release date, but its IMDB page shows that the film has been given the English title of “Oba: The Last Samurai” (based on a book of the same title).
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Categories: Films
Neko Nabe – Cats in Pots
Prepare for an overload of kitty cuteness. Here’s a Japanese TV show laying out a bunch of pots and cats on the ground so they can watch the cats snuggle into the containers and take naps:
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Categories: Animal Videos
Project X Documentaries
If you want to learn more about the birth of Japan’s high tech industries, head on over to YouTube and check out some of the English language versions of N-H-K Project X documentaries that are available for viewing.
As an example, here’s their documentary about Toyota:
See more videos here.
[via Reddit]
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Categories: Japanese TV, Technology
Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara Wants More Immigrants
The Japan Times reports on how Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara is actually in favor of more immigration to Japan:
Japanese are not a homogeneous people, because their ancestors can be traced back to Korea, Mongolia, China, Melanesia and even what is now Bangladesh, Ishihara said.
“Since we are a mixed people, whether the number of foreigners increases or not in Japan is irrelevant. (The increase) is a very good thing,” he said in a recent interview, in which he also repeated his various hawkish positions, including that Japan should develop a nuclear arsenal.
“Japanese must enact a new immigration law so it will allow us to bring in many immigrants,” said Ishihara, 78, referring to forecasts of labor shortages as society rapidly ages.
But he said he “absolutely” opposes giving long-term foreign residents the right to vote in local elections. “Such a thing is impossible, must not happen and is dangerous because regional issues influence the state,” he said.
If foreign residents want to participate in local politics, they should become naturalized Japanese citizens, he said.
In the past, Ishihara has received negative attention for saying more offensive things. For example, he has ridiculed the French language, bashed homosexualty, and implied that Africans in Tokyo are criminals.
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Categories: Foreigners in Japan, Politics
BBC Cancels Japan Filming of Stephen Fry Documentary
It would seem that the BBC doesn’t want to stir up any trouble by having Stephen Fry visit Japan. Fry was the host of the BBC program in which comedians made jokes while discussing the case of a victim of the atomic bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
During the programme Stephen Fry and two fellow comedians discussed Mr Yamaguchi’s survival.
Alan Davies suggested an A-bomb had landed on Mr Yamaguchi and “bounced off”.
And Stephen Fry expressed amazement that the Japanese trains were still running after the blast.
The episode prompted a complaint to the BBC from the Japanese Embassy who accused the broadcaster of making light of the attacks.
The BBC responded by apologising, acknowledging the sensitivity of the subject for Japanese viewers.
The broadcaster has cancelled some of its plans to film a programme featuring Mr Fry in Japan, after recognising the “strength of feeling” that had been caused by the show.
A BBC spokeswoman said the filming schedule of the documentary about language – “Planet Word” was now being altered.
In other insensitive TV news, Japan’s FTV network has apologized to Mexico for the very negative portrayal that country received during a recent episode of “Diplomat Kosaku Kuroda”:
After receiving a letter of complaint from the embassy Wednesday, the network apologized to the embassy Thursday for “some misleading depictions” in episodes of the series, which began airing Jan. 13.
The major Tokyo-based broadcaster has also posted the apology on its website and inserted a similar message in the series’ fourth episode aired Thursday.
The drama, starring Yuji Oda as Kuroda, included scenes showing an official of the Mexican Embassy in Tokyo asking Japan’s Foreign Ministry to settle a road accident and Kuroda monitoring people going in and out of the embassy in its second and third episodes. The weekly series will run through March.
The same program also apparently showed the Mexican Embassy actively sheltering illegal immigrants.
The BBC also recently apologized for depicting Mexicans as lazy on a recent episode of “Top Gear.”
[Hat tips to Aceface & Nagoya Yom]
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Categories: General Japan
Chihuahua Dog Sled
Up north in Yamagata prefecture, there is a sled chihuahua:
Leo the chihuahua is so strong that he can pull two small children in a sled. However, sometimes he gets a bit excited and loses track of his passengers….
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Categories: Animal Videos