AIM FOR THE BEST: SPORTS IN JAPANESE CINEMA Launches At New York City’s Japan Society In April
The Tokyo Summer Games aren’t until July. For the good folks over at Japan Society, this week was still a perfect occasion to announce their Spring program, Aim for the Best: Sports in Japanese Cinema, enlisting a hearty round of more than a dozen titles. Like cinema, sports have been integral to the development of modern Japan since the late 19th century when the country opened its borders to the West. Intersecting these two major cultural forces is the multifaceted and ubiquitous sports film, a fluid genre that offers fascinating insight into issues related to Japanese national identity, gender roles and the clash between tradition and modernity. Organized in anticipation of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, Aim for the Best: Sports in Japanese Cinema celebrates the Japanese sports film in its myriad iterations—covering a wide range of athletic disciplines and filmmaking styles, from wartime Japan to the present—including classics, documentaries, […]