From the Seven Samaruai and Godzilla to the Ring. this is an outstanding collection of twenty-four articles on key films of Japanese cinema, from the silent era to the present day, that presents a full introduction to Japanese cinema history, culture and society.

List of figures List of contributors Acknowledgements Introduction ALASTAIR PHILLIPS AND JULIAN STRINGER 1. The Salary Man's Panic Time: Ozu Yasujiro's I Was Born, But... (1932) ALASTAIR PHILLIPS 2. All For Money: Mizoguchi Kenji's Osaka Elegy (1936) MORI TOSHIE 3. Turning Serious: Yamanaka Sadao's Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) FREDA FREIBERG 4. Country Retreat: Shimizu Hiroshi's Ornamental Hairpin (1941) ALEXANDER JACOBY 5. The Riddle of the Vase: Ozu Yasujiro's Late Spring (1949) ABE MARK NORNES 6. History Through Cinema: Mizoguchi Kenji's The Life of Oharu (1952) JOAN MELLEN 7. The Menace from the South Seas: Honda Ishiro's Godzilla (1954) YOMOTA INUHIKO 8. Seven Samurai and Six Women: Kurosawa Akira's Seven Samurai (1954) D. P. MARTINEZ 9. Women's Stories in Post-War Japan: Naruse Mikio's Late Chrysanthemums (1954) CATHERINE RUSSELL 10. A Cinematic Creation: Ichikawa Kon's Conflagration (1958) KEIKO I. MCDONALD 11. Modernization without Modernity: Masumura Yasuzo's Giants and Toys (1958) MICHAEL RAINE 12. Questions of the New: Oshima Nagisa's Cruel Story of Youth (1960) MITSUHIRO YOSHIMOTO 13. Ethnicizing the Body and Film: Teshigahara Hiroshi's Woman in the Dunes (1964) MITSUYO WADA-MARCIANO 14. Dark Visions of Japanese Film Noir: Suzuki Seijun's Branded to Kill (1967) DAISUKE MIYAO 15. Eroticism in Two Dimensions: Shinoda Masahiro's Double Suicide (1969) CAROLE CAVANAUGH 16. Transgression and the Politics of Porn: Oshima Nagisa's In the Realm of the Senses (1976) ISOLDE STANDISH 17. Unsettled Visions: Imamura Shohei's Vengeance is Mine (1979) ALASTAIR PHILLIPS 18. Playing with Postmodernism: Morita Yoshimitsu's Family Game (1983) AARON GEROW 19. Transgression and Retribution: Yanagimachi Mitsuo's Fire Festival (1985)DONALD RICHIE 20. Community and Connection: Itami Juzo's Tampopo (1985)LINDA EHRLICH 21. The Imagination of the Transcendent: Kore-eda Hirokazu's Maborosi (1995) DAVID DESSER 22. Therapy for Him and Her: Kitano Takeshi's Hana-Bi (1997) DARRELL WILLIAM DAVIS 23. The Original and the Copy: Nakata Hideo's Ring (1998) JULIAN STRINGER 24. The Global Markets for Anime: Miyazaki Hayao's Spirited Away (2001) RAYNA DENISON Film Availability Glossary Bibliography of Works on Japanese Cinema Electronic Resources