Japanese movie titles

As I had written before, it used to be that Japanese movie titles were completely different from the original movie titles. Japanese movie distribution companies renamed movies to be more relatable for Japanese audiences.

“The Notebook” is “きみに読む物語: A story is read for you,” “Sister Act” is “天使にラブ・ソングを: A love song for an angel,” “The Mummy” is “ハムナプトラ: Hamunaptra,” “Billy Elliot” is “リトル・ダンサー: Little Dancer,” and “Bonnie and Clyde” is “俺たちに明日はない: We don’t have tomorrow” etc… Recently, the number of movies getting title changes has been decreasing. It still happens from time to time.

There is a Hollywood star known as the MAN OF SILENCE in Japan. Actually, he isn’t well known as a man of silence, but as a strong old man, OYAJI (オヤジ) in Japanese. He has played a starring role in many Hollywood films. Do you know who he is, and why?

He is a major action star, Steven Seagal!

 

Many Seagal movies were renamed to “Something of Silence.” Even though, the original titles and stories aren’t related with the silence. He is famous as an OYAJI in the “Silence” series in Japan.

Take a look at the list below, and compare Japanese titles and the original ones. These are movies starring Seagal.

I lined up only the titles that changed into “something of silence” in Japan. If you look at only those Japanese titles, you may think they are the part of same series, but basically each movie is independent of one another. Why they continue to use the word, “silence”? A movie company believes if they rename his films to “something of silence,” the movie will become a hit easier than not using it. Well… maybe it’s true. When many people hear the symbolic title, “Steven Seagal” and “action movie” will pop up in their minds. Last year, one movie company publicly held a contest to find the Japanese title of the movie, “Driven to Kill.” And more, according to a web site, Steven Seagal chose the title from lots of applications personally.

If you are interested in it and want to know the result, you can watch his interview on the URL below. He speaks English, but the web site is written only in Japanese.

Seagal interview is here!

There was a case where from the second movie, the Japanese title was used. It is a very famous series, starring Sylvester Stallone. The original movie title is “First Blood.” The movie is about a man whose name is John Rambo, played by Sly Stallone. When the movie released in Japan, the title was changed into “RAMBO.” Then, the American movie company used the title, “RAMBO” for the sequels.

Maybe you will find many movies that have undergone the same conditions as the “silence” or “RAMBO” series. When you have lots of free time, comparing movie titles could be a good time killer. Not just comparing, you should enjoy imaging the stories of it from the 2 completely different titles. If there is a big difference between them, you can enjoy the movie several different ways: compare the titles, image a story from the difference, watch the movie, and figure out why the movie companies chose those titles… then select which has a better fit.

By the way, the MTV reality show, “Jersey Shore” is called “New Jersey life of Macaroni Dude (マカロニ野郎のニュージャージー・ライフ)” in Japan. The Japanese call spaghetti westerns, “macaroni westerns,” that’s why MTV Japan used the word, “Macaroni” for their TV show.


Naming, it’s very deep.

Looking at the world from movies

One of my English teachers recommended the movie, “Away We Go.” She told me “It’s a light indie flick and one of my favorite movies.” So, I checked the Japanese title of it, because it often happens that the Japanese titles are completely different from the original titles. For example, the Pixer film “Up” changed into “カールじいさんの空飛ぶ家: Old man Carl’s flying house.”

“Away We Go” is an American movie, directed by Sam Mendes. The Japanese title hasn’t been decided yet, and it’ll be shown next March in Japan. Unfortunately, I can’t watch it until next year, even though it came out in June 2009 in the States. Oh… there is a big delay in the release date between Japan and America. I’m sure if the casts of the movie are famous and popular among the Japanese, such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Johnny Depp, or Tom Cruise, there wouldn’t be such a big delay. Maybe if the movie was directed by a very famous director among Japanese, like Clint Eastwood, James Cameron, Jerry Bruckheimer, Luc Besson, or Steven Spielberg, it would also come out much earlier.

I think Sam Mendes is already famous in the world. Even though his movie “American Beauty” won 5 Oscars, including the Best Picture and Best Director, he is not so familiar among Japanese. Why?

I think it must be the culture differences. His films are based on American social problems which exist in ordinary people’s daily lives, not showy issues. Drugs, homosexuals, foster families, returning soldiers, respectability issues and more…

Maybe those are common problems for Americans, but the issues are not easy for Japanese to understand, with the exception of the theme of respectability. Each country has their own social problems. A country’s social issues may be difficult for outsiders to understand.

Also we have stereotypes of other countries. Even though it is only a stereotype and not true, we tend to think Americans must be like this or Italians must be like that. The stereotype sometimes thwarts us to accept something that we don’t know well, when we’re looking at something that’s different from our preconception. And, I think many Japanese unconsciously expect American movies to be about joyful stories or happy endings with impressive casts. For European movies, we look for something artistic, dark, literary, and mystic. For Korean movies, unique and interesting stories, or popular Korean actors. Just to be clear, this is just my opinion. I’m not sure of the truth, but I believe many Japanese think like that. Considering all of this, it makes sense that Sam Mendes is not so familiar among Japanese.

His movies are based the every-day issues of the every-day American, and his style is not flashy like other Hollywood movies, such as “Pirates of the Caribbean,” or “The Rock”, which are very popular in Japan. He tends to depict an ordinary issue with a matter-of-fact tone, rather than an entertaining or dramatic tone. Also there is no happy ending. That’s why many Japanese say his movies are somber or make them feel down. I can understand others’ reactions to his films. But I like his works, even though he is not so popular in Japan. Even though I feel down after I watched his movies, it gives me a chance to know or think about something from different angles. Until I watched the movie “American Beauty” I had never thought that many Americans cared about their reputations as much as the Japanese do. Because, I believed Americans valued individualism and didn’t worry about having the respect of people around them. Those were definitely my misconceptions.

According to the web site, “Away We Go,” the recommendation from my teacher, seems to be a romantic comedy. I’m looking forward to seeing Mendes’s new side next March.

Japanese box lunch

Some Japanese mothers are very busy in the early morning, because they have to cook an Obento (お弁当), a box lunch in Japanese, for their children. Maybe it is more fitting to use a word “create” than “cook.”

Since several years ago, box lunches called Chara Ben (キャラ弁) have become popular among young mothers and their children. The Chara Ben is a box lunch which is decorated by using colorful materials. The name of Chara Ben comes from Characters Bento. They are very cute and look like famous characters are in the lunch boxes.

From early morning they make pretty Obentos, like the pictures above. I think making them goes beyond the bounds of an ordinary mom’s job. It’s a kind of craftsmanship. Even if I were a young mom, I couldn’t make the Chara Ben everyday. I would also run out of characters to make them about.

Why do they need to do that? Of course, for their children. The children love such lunches and enjoy eating them up. But not only for their children, there is kind of a mom’s battle of who is making the most beautiful and cutest lunch. That’s why they can’t stop. They try to find a new pretty character and create it faithfully before anyone else does it. It seems Nori (海苔), dried laver seaweed in Japanese, is necessary material for making a high-quality Chara Ben.

Even if you have a lot of great ideas, you can’t make awesome Obentos without skill. So in Japan, there are many utensils that help making Chara Ben easier. Take a look at the pictures below. These are the cutting dies for thin materials, such as Nori, cheese, ham, and more. When you use them you can decorate the lunch much easier and prettier than before.

If you don’t have enough time to stamp them out, you should use Nori which is already cut into the shape of several characters — such as Stitch or Thomas and Friends. There is an amazing cooker, too.

I’ve never thought people could change the shape of an egg’s yolk. But Japanese moms are doing it! They put a boiled egg with heart-shaped or star-shaped yellow in these lunch boxes. Can you believe this? For them, Obento is not just a meal. And the lunch box is not only a container. Obento is a small world where they can show their ideas, skills, and talents.

Even though I’m not a child, these colorful pretty lunches make me happy, and I wish I could eat such artistic lunches when I was a child.

Some are very elaborate and impressive. See the pictures from “Spirited Away.”

Well… it’s not cute but it’s very high-quality, artistic and beautiful work. Maybe if I were a child, I would be afraid and cry when I opened my lunch box. I also couldn’t eat it for fear of her spell. Even if I don’t cry when I look at it, I’m not sure I can eat it up because it’s too awesome. I want to make a great Chara Ben someday, and hope to have talent to create an awesome one like this. Maybe you can too!