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絵を描く子どもたち [E o kaku kodomotachi: jidōga o rikai suru tame ni / Children Who Draw] (Susumu Hani, 1956)
Mar
13
Youth Art Month
A little girl painting. DP: Shizuo Komura.
Small children work with clay, paint, and other materials. Under the camera's watchful eye, we see their work come to life.
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聖母観音大菩薩 [Seibo Kannon daibosatsu / Eros Eterna] (Kōji Wakamatsu, 1977)
Mar
7
immortality
The yao bikuni (Eiko Matsuda) rises from the ocean. DP: Hideo Itō.
An immortal character on the date Highlander (1986) was released.
– Dont raise your voice! I'll kill you if you make a sound.
– Would you please?
When a woman eats the flesh of a 人魚 (ningyo, litt. “human fish” but in Western context commenly translated as “mermaid”), she may become a 八百比丘尼 [yao bikuni], an 800 year* old Buddhist nun granted youth and longevity.
*The number 8 symbolises growth and prosperity. Larger numbers starting with 8 indicate that the amount is endless, comparable to saying “hundreds/thousands/millions of […]” in English. Therefore, 800 years can be understood as immortal.
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憂國 [Yūkoku / Patriotism or the Rite of Love and Death] (Yukio Mishima, 1966)
Feb
26
1936
Reiko (Yoshiko Tsuruoka) walking through her lover's blood, her kimono drenched. DP: Kimio Watanabe.
Covers February 26–28, 1936.
”'I know how you feel,' Reiko says quietly. 'And I will follow you wherever you go.'”
– intertitles
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猫と庄造と二人のをんな [Neko to Shōzō to futari no onna / A Cat, Shozo, and Two Women] (Shirō Toyoda, 1956)
Feb
20
Love Your Pet Day
Shōzō (Hisaya Morishige) on the beach with his beloved cat Lily. DP: Mitsuo Miura.
Someone owns a pet on Love Your Pet Day.
“I'm sharing my husband with a cat. This is humiliating!”
– Nakajima
Shōzō is torn between his ex-wife and his current spouse, but really just wants to spend time with Lily, his cat.
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野獣死すべし [Yajū shisubeshi / The Beast Shall Die] (Eizō Sugawa, 1959)
Feb
17
airline food
Kunihiko Date (Tatsuya Nakadai) enjoys an in-flight meal. DP: Fukuzō Koizumi.
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暗黒街の美女 [Ankokugai no bijo / Underworld Beauty] (Seijun Suzuki, 1958)
Feb
8
A man, all in #bandages besides one half of his face, is interviewed by a policeman. Captions read: February 8th. DP: Wataro Nakao.
Policeman: What's today's date?
Injured man: February 8th.
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暗黒街の美女 [Ankokugai no bijo / Underworld Beauty] (Seijun Suzuki, 1958)
Feb
3
oden
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燃えつきた地図 [Moetsukita chizu / The Man Without a Map / The Ruined Map] (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1968)
Feb
2
Shintarō Katsu and Etsuko Ichihara as the detective and the missing man's wife, their faces and gestures warped by a paned window. DP: Akira Uehara.
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他人の顔 [Tanin no kao / The Face of Another] (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1966)
Jan
3
Tutankhamun's tomb
Mr. Okuyama (Tatsuya Nakadai). DP: Hiroshi Segawa.
Bandages for that day in 1924 when Howard Carter came across Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.
“You'll feel better soon. Once you're used to the mask, you'll be a new man — one with no records, no past. A mind invisible to the world.”
– psychiatrist
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儀式 [Gishiki / The Ceremony] (Nagisa Ōshima, 1971)
Jan
1