Tokyo Phoenix: 100 years of Tokyo in color. I was so impressed with this NHK special, that now I actually feel bad for not paying the NHK guy when he comes to the door. The way they drew parallels between various points in modern Japanese history was simple yet effective, and demonstrated a surprising level of honesty and responsibility that is often lacking in these discussions. For NHK to show children participating in a military-themed shougakkou undoukai from 1938 and footage of a defeated Tojo in the prisoners box at his trial, and then to use these as poignant reminders that Japan might have possibly kinda sorta been in the wrong with the whole nationalist militarization thing... wow. I just didnt think that was possible for NHK to show an openly anti-war documentary with Abes guys running things at the network. And the colorization and film stabilization techniques were seriously top notch and beyond anything Ive ever seen before. Never watched anything quite like this on public television, in Japan or America. You owe it to yourself to try to catch a rebroadcast (of which Im sure there will be many) or find a copy online. Really cool companion website too, with lots of great footage and restoration comparisons to explore. Check it out!
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 13:34:00 +0000
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