FirstLoveMovies

Sully23 wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 3:13 amin that country it is normal to see content on equipment that seems obsolete or outdated such as the Beta VHS and DVD-Player

Actually, for home media technology the Japanese are innovators and early adopters compared to the rest of the world. I could certainly be wrong, but because of that I would expect that they would abandon the old formats earlier than everyone else. (It is a small country with a large population, so there is only so much room available to store old junk. Besides, the young people need to keep space available for their enormous plastic-sleeved manga collections. ) There is a good chance that even if many VHS tapes for this were bought in Japan, most of them have been thrown out. And most people would not have the equipment to play them anymore.

(Meanwhile, there are crackpots like me who appreciate the newer home media tech like 4kUHD, but still have two VCRs and hundreds of videotapes. But I am not in Japan.)

I also know that the standard cost of home media itself in Japan is MUCH higher than in Europe and the Americas, typically 2 to 3 times as much! It was painful for me to buy Japanese-only product from Amazon.jp. (A few years ago, CD: $54/€50; Blu-ray: $80/€74.) This VHS seems very expensive, but it is basically at the price it would have been as new product in the early days of videotape, even in other countries. Maybe it has even gone DOWN in price! Certainly inflation makes it comparatively less now.

HOWEVER, I have to wonder: maybe this movie is routinely broadcast on television in Japan, so there would be no reason for anyone to rip an old videotape even if they had it? I do not have access to Japanese broadcast information so I am only guessing.

Surely there are some FLM members who are Japanese and in Japan: If this movie is still shown on TV, is there any chance you can record it and share it? Pretty please?

I am a Japanese living in Japan. According to my research, this movie was aired on TV in 1984. Such old Japanese movies are rarely aired on modern Japanese TV stations. It is extremely difficult to obtain. It is difficult to make DVDs if they show nudity of children. Not sure why the famous "Shura Yukihime" is in general circulation but not this film. I wish I had a contact.

Thank you VERY much for looking into this, yokose! It was only a hope on my part that it would show up on TV. Oh, well.

yokose wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:35 amSuch old Japanese movies are rarely aired on modern Japanese TV stations.

I am sure that is true of many countries around the world. I guess I am old because I still consider 1981 fairly recent! A movie has to be something my parents saw in the theaters as children for me to consider it "old".

Not sure why the famous "Shura Yukihime" is in general circulation but not this film.

Maybe because in that one the nudity is very brief, and the movie itself TOO FAMOUS to ignore. There are plenty of Chanbara fans around the world that will make money for the rights-holders of (AKA) "Lady Snowblood". I thought that Meiko Kaji also being in this one would help it get a more modern release, but I guess it is just the wrong type of film. There just are not rabid fans of dramas like there are for the action genre films.

Night457 wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:17 pm Thank you VERY much for looking into this, yokose! It was only a hope on my part that it would show up on TV. Oh, well.

yokose wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:35 amSuch old Japanese movies are rarely aired on modern Japanese TV stations.

I am sure that is true of many countries around the world. I guess I am old because I still consider 1981 fairly recent! A movie has to be something my parents saw in the theaters as children for me to consider it "old".

Not sure why the famous "Shura Yukihime" is in general circulation but not this film.

Maybe because in that one the nudity is very brief, and the movie itself TOO FAMOUS to ignore. There are plenty of of Chanbara fans around the world that will make money for the rights-holders of (AKA) "Lady Snowblood". I thought that Meiko Kaji also being in this one would help it get a more modern release, but I guess it is just the wrong type of film. There just are not rabid fans of dramas like there are for the action genre films.

Certainly, if you have seen the classic films of the 1940s and 1950s, or the historical silent films of earlier periods, the films of the 1980s seem rather recent. The only contemporary Japanese TV movie that looks back on the war is "Grave of the Fireflies. Watching the feedback on Twitter from people who have seen 「子どものころ戦争があった」, I'm sad that it's not out there because I hear it can be very moving.

By the way, here is the site I referred to. If you search for the Japanese title, you will find a record of a TV broadcast on 1984/08/25.
https://fukikaemaniax.web.fc2.com/speci ... youga.html

yokose wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 3:08 pm Watching the feedback on Twitter from people who have seen 「子どものころ戦争があった」, I'm sad that it's not out there because I hear it can be very moving.

But if they are talking about that "old" movie on TWITTER, surely there is real interest in it still, right? That gives me hope.

(Twitter gives me hope, I should bite my tongue and hit my typing fingers with a hammer. )

By the way, here is the site I referred to.

It looks like that only goes up to 2007. Maybe it has been broadcast since? Or was there some other site you checked for later dates?

Yokose, and you haven't investigated a bit the sites where they supposedly market the film, I've seen when writing the title in Japanese I get many sites of that type, I must assume there are still video stores in your country.

yokose wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:35 am It is difficult to make DVDs if they show nudity of children. Not sure why the famous "Shura Yukihime" is in general circulation but not this film.

Japan and Europe had that similarity in their movies, at least that's what we Westerners believed.

Possible Topdog's clip (poor quality):
[File]

ArtasKo wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 7:02 pm [...]

Thank you ArtasKo for sharing some of the only footage we may ever see of this movie!

I remain hopeful that someday we may get the whole thing.

It is very similar to a clip from a Moroccan RFF user who said that Warg did not follow that lead, I must assume that the rest of the movie has children without shirts and the odd bathscene.

Since it takes place in Japan at the end of WWII, I am sure that it is not ALL fun and games. Longer synopsis:

Spoiler: Synopsis by Eleanor Mannikka Taro (Yuichi Saito) and his mother Kazue (Fumie Kashiyama) are afraid of remaining in the city of Tokyo at the end of World War II, and so the mother decides that they should go to stay with grandmother Masae (Hiromi Nakahara) until things settle down. Two of her sisters, Miyo (Aiko Mimasu) and Futae (Meiko Kaji) decide on the same option. When Taro arrives at the grandmother's house, she forbids him to go near a particular barn because it is haunted, she says. In fact, the barn is the hideaway for little Emi (Kyasarin/ Catherine), the racially mixed daughter of Aunt Fusae and an American. Emi's existence is suspected by the locals and the police, but they cannot get past the militant grandmother to investigate any further. Then one day Taro comes upon his aunt and Emi bathing, and is taken aback at first, though he cannot help but make friends with his newfound cousin. He is her only chance to get out of the barn and play for awhile, but that innocent activity is certainly dangerous as the war -- and the villagers -- are never far away. https://www.allmovie.com/movie/kodomo-n ... ta-v157364