On Tuesday evening, I went over to Innis College’s town hall to check out the inaugural showing of a series of Japanese documentaries and movies. There are 3 more dates this month featuring free films as part of Light Up Japan which is presented by the Japan Foundation. Light Up Japan was organized in gratitude for the support of the international community and the films feature various towns in northern Japan that were hit by the earthquake and tsunami in March last year.
The films that are part Light Up Japan are listed below. All are shown at Innis Town Hall, starting at 7 pm.
- Tuesday March 13 – Fukushima Hula Girls, Setting Sail from the Ruins
- Sunday March 18 – Rock: A Dog’s Island
- Tuesday March 20 – Éclair
- Sunday March 25 – Can You See Our Lights, Light Up Nippon
The two documentaries I saw were Fukushima Hula Girls and Setting Sail from the Ruins.
Fukushima Hula Girls
The hula girls of the Spa Resort Hawaiians were the main stars of this documentary. The resort is a Hawaiian theme park that was built 45 years ago in Iwaki, a rural town in northern Japan. Iwaki was initially a mining town and the resort was built to save the local economy as coal production was declining. Once again with the earthquake and damage to the resort’s facilities, the resort and the hula girls commit themselves to helping the local economy and reforming the image of their small town.
I thought the documentary was interesting. It gave some history of the town as the coal industry declined with the building of the resort to help the economy, and finally the restoration of the facilities after the earthquake. It showcased not only the town but other parts of Japan as the hula girls toured across the country. The documentary also focused on some of the families, hula girls, and others who were affected by the earthquake.
Setting Sail from the Ruins
This short documentary follows Kenichiro Yagi, who sells fish online, and fellow fishermen in Ofunato. Ofunato suffered major damage and the documentary shows how quickly Kenichiro and his fishermen takes steps toward recovery as they resume fishing and online sales. The program documents the fishermen’s journey three months after the earthquake.
Barfin Flounder
I thought it was an okay documentary. Some parts were interesting such as selling fish online as soon as it’s caught. It’s not just sales to locals but across Japan. I tried to remember some of the fish that were caught and sold online. The most popular fish was the slime flounder. This type of flounder seemed to be boiled in soy sauce and served with rice. Another type of flounder that was caught was the barfin flounder. According to the documentary, it is rare to catch a barfin flounder which makes it very expensive.
