Posts Tagged ‘Movies’

Visiting research vessel saved Japan from sinking

Until Thursday the 9th, the US scientific drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution (JR) is docked up at Yokohama daikoku warf (大黒埠頭). Via some nifty CG effects, this ship made a cameo appearance in the not particularly good, 2006 remake of Nippon Chinbotsu. In the original, Japan sank. However, In the remake, thanks to the wise spending decisions of Monka-sho, Japan is saved from a watery demise by the JR and her sister ship, the Chikyu.

Scene from Nippon Chinbotsu in which the JR has just completed a hole.

Actually, that is not quite correct; these ships simply drilled the holes into which a daring (and fully clothed) Kusanagi-kun detonated explosives while piloting the Wadatsumi 2000 submersible (another excellent national expenditure) well below its rated depth (due to top-notch engineering).

But in reality, this is the first time that these two ships have been in the same vicinity. The JR arrived on Friday after completing a climate change expedition to the Bearing Sea, hours before the Chikyu departed to continue earthquake research in the Nankai Trough off the coast of the Kii Peninsula.

These two ships are the primary platforms of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, which is headquartered in Sapporo and jointly lead by Japan and the US.

[Update: Thanks to John Beck of Texas AM University for this great photo of the ship!]

The JR is essentially a floating city at sea that operated continuously (24/7/365) in a scientific capacity, except for mandatory dry dock inspection every 5 years, from 1984 to 2003. She has just undergone a 3-year retrofit and recently returned to service. In total, the JR has traversed nearly 400 thousand nautical miles on scientific expeditions.

Unfortunately, it is too late to take a tour of the ship, but if you are in the area, it might be interesting to stop by and have a look. The Yokohama Bay Bridge Skywalk (Japanese only) offers great views of the ship and Yokohama harbor.

Access by bus to Skywalk (skywalk-mae bus stop):
From Yokohama station, take city bus 109.
From Tsurumi station, take city bus 17.
Entrance fee: ¥600

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Contributor Bio: Steve has been splitting time between the US and Japan for the past 10 years or so and is now a post doctorate fellow at a large, lumbering University in Tokyo, where he gets paid to play with dirt.

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Japanese cinema complexes fight back against the home theater trend

The Yomiuri reports that Japanese cinema complexes are attempting to win back movie fans who have been choosing to watch rented movies on wide-screen TVs instead of going watching films in theaters.

Some of the new things theaters are trying out:

• digital projectors to provide enhanced colors and images
• cutting-edge audio technology and devices, including large speakers that are normally used for music concerts.
• “platinum seats” that cost 5,000 yen (about $50)
• “platinum rooms” for couples that cost 30,000 yen per screening (about $300)
• a luxurious atmosphere with a night view and cafe bar outside of the screening rooms

The article does not mention Japan’s movie ticket prices, with some theaters charging the equivalent of $18 for a normal ticket – well over doubled the average price movie-goers in the U.S. pay for tickets.

New Movie: Kung Fu-kun

Chinese child martial artist Zhang Zhuang will be hitting Japanese theaters tomorrow with the release of Kung Fu-kun, a wacky action comedy that teams the kid up with al all-star cast of Japanese celebrities and comedians. Here’s the official film trailer and a plot summary from Eigapedia:

A young shaolin martial arts student defeats a series of foes and is told his final enemy is located in Japan. When he arrives he befriends a middle-aged woman who manages a Chinese restaraunt called Koraku. Together they get mixed up in various kung fu mayhem.

And a video of Zhang Zhuang showing off some cool moves on a morning news program:

If you’re interested in this movie, you might want to check out Mark Schilling’s review of it over at the Japan Times.

[props to Danny Choo for discovering these cool videos!]

Akira: The Hollywood Movie

A live action version of the popular anime movie Akira is coming, and it will be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio:

With its mature themes and cutting-edge animation, “Akira” was a milestone movie in anime and mainstream animation circles, leading the way for anime to make inroads into Western pop culture in the 1990s.

The new story, which DiCaprio will produce for Warner Bros., ideally would be a two-part epic, with the first movie coming out next summer. The action will move to “New Manhattan,” a city rebuilt by Japanese money.

Top 10 Giant Movie Monsters

The Angry Video Game Nerd recently posted this video countdown of the Top 10 Giant Movie Monsters. As one would expect, a few Japanese monsters made the list:

Review: Boy and Big Dreams Little Tokyo

Occasionally, we here at Japan Probe have dabbled into review territory. Hopefully we will be doing them often enough to expose the readers to gems. This time, the review is in video form. My apologies ahead of time for my hypnotically slow voice, but remember it’s a review of two media items, not how much I suck at video making

You can find out more about Beat Takeshi’s Boy here.
You can find out more about Big Dreams Little Tokyo here (also filled with the type of music I talked about).