EAJS screening 2: Japanese Margins: Documentaries on Contemporary Japanese Society

Shelly Silver & Sonja Blaschke - Japan - 1996 & 2022 - 52 min. & 29 min.

This screening takes place as part of the 17th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS). In 2023 it will be hosted by the Institute of Japanese Studies at Ghent University on 17-20 August 2023.
Single screening on Saturday 19/08 at 5 P.M.
Tickets: Free access (first come, first served, full=full)

Other Screenings:
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Part 1: 37 Stories about Leaving Home (by Shelly Silver) - 52 min.

In this award winning documentary, Shelly Silver presents an intimate portrait of a group of Japanese women ranging in age from 15 to 82, talking about their lives, families and society.

Synopsis

In this award winning documentary, Shelly Silver presents an intimate portrait of a group of Japanese women ranging in age from 15 to 82, talking about their lives, families and society. In these stories one can begin to see, from very personal and individual perspectives, the societal changes that have occurred over the last three generations for women in Japan, bringing an exciting and often conflicting array of choices and positions. Many of the stories revolve around the relationships these grandmothers, mothers and daughters have with each other, filled with respect, rebellion, loss and love. Mixing childhood memories, frank statements, epic events and quotidian details; the film bears witness to the strength of these women and the difficulty of their choices, as they navigate between personal needs and familial and societal pressures. The interviews are framed by a traditional Japanese folktale; a magical and somewhat shocking narrative of a mother’s search for her abducted daughter, kidnapped by a monster on the eve of her wedding.

Part 2: Rice field instead of Tokyo: The life of young women in the Japanese countryside (By Sonja Blaschke) - 29 min.

Nature instead of mega city – a film about young Tokyo women who courageously turned their lives around and gave a remote mountain village a new lease on life.

Synopsis

Tamami Shigitani never thought she would become a farmer in a remote mountain village. The 38-year-old lived in Tokyo, a city of 38 million people, and was stuck in Tokyo’s white-collar corset. She was not happy. Nine years ago, chance led her to the rice chamber of Japan in Niigata prefecture. There she met people who do not consume, but produce, and who organize their own day. In wellies and work gloves, Tamami fell in love with nature, the smiles of the elderly in the village – and a young man. Soon afterwards, the people of Ishidani got to celebrate the first wedding in over forty years. And only a few years later, got to hear the laughter of young children in the village for the first time in decades. Fascinated by the knowledge of the mostly elderly residents, Tamami has been absorbing everything like a sponge. She enjoys learning all about rice cultivation and the wild vegetable plants on the mountain slopes. Time is precious: Almost everyone in the village is well over seventy years old. Recently, there has been another newcomer to the village: Kanako Miwa, who continues to work remotely for a consulting firm in Tokyo, and her husband Yoshikazu, who participates in a government program to support rural areas. The couple in their early forties have just survived their first winter in Japan’s “snow country“ and are embracing the lessons of nature and the village’s elderly. A film from Japan about the courage of young women to turn their lives around – and roll their sleeves up -, and the consequences for an entire village.

Deel film