No wonder Westerners have weird ideas about Japan

1967: Summer of love -- and Bond in Japan
It's been 35 years since the Japan-based 'You Only Live Twice' hit movie screens

By GEOFF BOTTING

The summer of 1967 was not only the summer of love, but the summer of James Bond in Japan. "You Only Live Twice," the fifth James Bond movie, debuted in cinemas throughout the world 35 summers ago.
It was the most ambitious Bond production to date, with much of the shooting taking place in Japan. Among the locations were Tokyo, Kobe and the tiny fishing village of Akime, in Kagoshima. The scenes included helicopter dogfighting over Kyushu.

And anyone who has spent time in Japan will to be sure to find the movie's portrayal of this country and its people to be not just humorous but bordering on the bizarre.

"You Only Live Twice" has all the usual Japan cliches -- women in kimono, sumo wrestling and shoji screens, which exist for no other reason than to throw bad guys through.

At the start of the movie, the first thing that James must do is get to Japan. But arriving on a 707 at Haneda Airport isn't good enough for this secret agent. Instead, for some reason, he puts on scuba gear and is shot out of a torpedo tube of a Royal Navy submarine off Japan's mist-shrouded coast.

James swims ashore at night, with all the stealth of a North Korean agent bent on abducting a few Japanese nationals.

A brief few seconds later, he is in neon-lit Tokyo, tailed by a Japanese woman who wears, naturally, an elaborate kimono. She turns out to be Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi), who works for "Henderson," a fellow Englishman and an old Japan hand who is James' first contact in the country.

After a drive to meet the "nearby" Henderson, lasting no more than a minute out of downtown Tokyo, the couple are deep in the Japanese countryside, complete with the chirping of cicadas.

Later, while being pursued by henchmen from the Osato Company, James and Aki zoom down the hill past the Olympic hall in Harajuku toward Shibuya, but immediately find themselves, rather disconcertingly, in a mountainous, seaside area.

When the pair pull up to a luxurious ryokan where Henderson lives, the place is traditionally Japanese, complete with old farm implements on the walls. Henderson himself is dressed in a kimono, as old Japan hands are wont to do, of course. Yet one of his rooms is furnished with -- gasp -- Western antiques!

"You must excuse this rather odd mixture of styles," he tells Bond, "but I refuse to go entirely Japanese."

Henderson is also an expert procurer of sorts. When James is impressed that his host serves him "real Russian vodka," Henderson brags, "I get it from the doorman of the Russian Embassy."

And to think that I have to get my Russian vodka from a boring convenience store.

Later, James makes contact with the head of the Japanese secret service, "Tiger" Tanaka, played by Tetsuro Tamba.

In short order, it's time for the predictable Japanese bath scene. As the pair plunge themselves in the hot water, they are surrounded by a bevy of fawning young women dressed in bikinis.

"In Japan, men always come first. Women come second," Tiger tells James.

When I watched this movie about 10 years ago with my then Japanese girlfriend, she exploded in indignation on hearing this line and remained in a foul mood for the rest of the evening. And she wasn't even a feminist.

Bond also claims proficiency in the Japanese language, reminding Miss Moneypenny that he "took a first in Oriental languages in Cambridge."

But what those venerable Cambridge dons evidentially failed to teach James are some basic pronunciation rules. When offered sake by Tiger, Bond calls it "saki."

Well, he may not be able to pronounce it but he happens to be a connoisseur of the rice liquor. He takes one sip and pronounces it to be the perfect temperature -- 98.4 degrees.

This summer, one of the biggest box office hits is expected to be the Bondian spoof "GoldMember." However, "You Only Live Twice," with its flimsy plot and bizarre interpretations of things Japanese, may prove just as entertaining.

The Japan Times: Aug. 15, 2002
(C) All rights reserved



(Just a foot note:
Saki is an Okinawan pron. of the Japanese word Sake. I doubt if the Bond people knew that though)

[David T Anderson]

Gosh...a big budget '60's action movie that wasn't culturally accurate or sensitive. Who'da thunk it??

Is it possible that things were a little different in Japan in 1967? And when did Ian Fleming actually write the novel? Was that even in the '60's?

For the record, I saw this movie when it first came out, and it may have been the initial reason I ever thought that Japan was a really interesting place. But I doubt if even then people thought James Bond movies were accurate travelogues.

Hmmm...so does this mean that all Japanese movies give accurate representation of Japanese history and culture? Wow...what a relief. I didn't think I should take them seriously at all....

:rolleyes:

[Dave Lowry]

Not much of a "007" fan, but I thought it was a bit of a glitch in the continuity department that in "You Only Live Twice" Bond "took a first in Oriental languages at Cambridge," while in "Tomorrow Never Dies" he is helpless in reading a simple keyboard in Chinese.

Cordially,

[larsen_huw]

We'd better be careful or we'll end up with a list of every dis-continuity in every film and series of films! :D

[Jake Tarbox]

"You only live Twice" may be bad, but at least it has the excuse of being a James Bond flick (when have they ever been realistic about ANYTHING?). Let's not forget about Michael Douglas in "Black Rain." Now that movie REALLY SUCKED!!!:redhot:

Ohhohohohohoohohoho I got one for ya..........Rising Sun with Sean Connery and his I am very "Okuta".

Rising Sun, Black Rain, & Mr. Baseball (Jap. title) with Tom Selleck as a Gaijin Helper ball player in Japan.

Why is it that all those movies have to portray Japanese guys as camera toting lackeys and Japanese woman as half slave half geisha girl.:rolleyes:
If you made similar stereo types about certain ethnic groups in the US you would be up to your eyeballs in law suits.

One good movie I did think was funny was Gung-Ho by Ron Howard........some really classic stuff in it.

Amer:"After the game we get drunk and piss for distance"
Jap.:"We do too but we piss for accuracy"

[Mike Williams]

What was that film with Michael Keaton in it where the Japanese take over his all-American factory and introduce mandatory calisthenics, overalls for managers and other such trappings of faceless Japanese conglomerates. Eventually, "plucky union member" Keaton shows the new bosses that what really drives manufacturing industry forward is American grit, individuality and a maverick spirit. :rolleyes:

That one stunk pretty bad.

Cheers,

Mike

That's the one.

For as dumb as it was it had some very real situations about Japanese culture in it.

The calisthenics in it are very real in some Japanese companies even to this day..........weird.

And when Keaton asks the Japanese guy what his wife thought when she found out they were moving to America and the Japanese guy says " I don't know I didn't ask". Maybe it wouldn't happen in a real situation but it is very typical for Japanese families to be dysfunctional like that.

[Mike Williams]

Oh yeah, it was 'Gung Ho' - it's been a while (thankfully).

I like the pissing quote though!

FWIW, I wouldn't mind workplace calisthenics at all. Along with a free, fully equipped gym, sauna, swimming pool, bar and masseuse, natch!

Cheers,

Mike

[Sean T. Fourkiller]

I have only one question. Are Japanese martial artists that psycotic about their martial arts as depicted in those YOLT training scenes?

[Kolschey]

What always cracks me up is 1980s and early 90s cyberpunk fiction.
While I enjoy William Gibson's fiction...(his writing was actually rather poetic in his last book) I still laugh when I look at all of the stories from the "near future" that featured huge Japanese corporations relentlessly assimilating American and European businesses. One classic example is the attrocious "Robocop 3" that involved an android super-ninja as it's primary villain. X-Men in the mid nineties had an amusing story about Yakuza "Cyburai"- Cyborg enhanced samurai with particle weapons and conspicuous tattoos next to their implants. One of these Cyburai even uses his "auto-destruct" to take out the other cyburai when he realises that kidnapping Iceman's Japanese-American girlfriend violates his personal ethics. Classic! :laugh:

[Senjojutsu]

I know he was a Red Chinese Agent, but who could ever forget the Oriental villian in the Hawaii Five-O television series:

WO FAT


As far as this summer's movie Goldmember:

When the Japanese twinsisters, (Diane Mizota & Carrie Ann Inaba) dressed in skimpy skirts and midriff-revealing tops, introduce themselves as "Fook Mi and Fook Yu," Austin takes out his list of things to do and crosses off "have a threesome with Japanese twins."

Hubba, Hubba, Hubba

That's sort of a rip off of "Orgasmo" with the 2 Japanese sister known as "A*****k Twins".

Actually the 2 chicks in "GoldMember" are kinda butt ugly....he can have them.

[Laotse]

How can anyone make fun of You Only Live Twice without mentioning the ninja? Or that Bond underwent surgery to "become Japanese" -- by making his eyes look a little slanted (even though they didn't)? He looked as Japanese as David Carradine looked Chinese (NOT!).

I seem to recall that Steve Hayes once wrote that he first learned of ninja from this movie, made when he was a teenager.

[Gene Gabel]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by David T Anderson
[B]Gosh...a Is it possible that things were a little different in Japan in 1967? And when did Ian Fleming actually write the novel? Was that even in the '60's?
...............................................

The film wasn't just one book. It was kind of a mish-mash of a couple of them.. The plot on "You only live twice" concerned SMRESH or SPECTRE or one of those nefarious organizations having a place where one could go to commit suicide.

The scene where they added pieces to make James eyes more asian was somewhat unsetteling to me even then.. What was the girls name? Kissi Suzuki.. Something like that


Gene Gabel

[Gene Gabel]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Senjojutsu
[B]I know he was a Red Chinese Agent, but who could ever forget the Oriental villian in the Hawaii Five-O television series:

[b][SIZE=3]WO FAT
.....................................

I think I remember that guy was a real-life martial artist in some Chinese internal style..His name was/is Keigh Deigh (phonetic)

Gene Gabel

book-em-Danno....murder one
:D

[stoker]

Years ago when 'Top Gun' was realeased, I was in a movie theatre in San Diego where most of the action was filmed. A scene were Tom Cruise pulls out of the old Naval Training Center (about a mile from the movie theatre) and is suddenly twenty miles away had the audience sputtering. Many in the audience were laughing and many were saying "How the heck did he get there from here?" Everyone was looking for realism but films are not real.

A friend of mine and his wife work in 'Hollywood' and he says movies are made as a bad compromise: You set out to make a cake and end up with a Twinke that someone filled with toothpaste.

[Mike Williams]

Originally posted by stoker
...scene were Tom Cruise pulls out of the old Naval Training Center (about a mile from the movie theatre) and is suddenly twenty miles away

Well, he was riding a Kawasaki Ninja, the then "fastest production bike" on the planet...

...except that he was riding the lowly 750 version.

Why the studio couln't shell out for a full monty GPz900R is a mystery. Insurance premiums maybe?

No matter, Kawasaki sold shedloads of 'em off the back of that movie.

Cheers,

Mike
London, UK

Speaking of "twinkies" let's not forget Ralph Maccio as the ever whining wuss of the karate Kid series. Now there are some movies that "blew dog" they were so inaccurate.

The Obon scene in one of them looked more like a Voodoo ritual than an Obon Fesitval.

Originally posted by Mike Williams


Well, he was riding a Kawasaki Ninja, the then "fastest production bike" on the planet...

...except that he was riding the lowly 750 version.

Why the studio couln't shell out for a full monty GPz900R is a mystery. Insurance premiums maybe?

No matter, Kawasaki sold shedloads of 'em off the back of that movie.

Cheers,

Mike
London, UK

That Kawasaki is a piece of crap by today's standards but amazingly they still make and sell quite a few of that same version Kawasaki here in Japan. Hell, they still sell the old Honda 750 Four from the 1970's........a real junker.

[Mike Williams]

Aaah, but they also still make the Suzuki GSX1100 Katana (from 1982) - hopelessly outdated, but one of the most beautiful bikes ever built - I still want one (preferably in a Spondon repro chromoly frame with GSX-R running gear. And nitrous.)

Cheers,

Mike

(PS: I used to have quite a thing about classic jap bikes. I remember pulling up at a pedestrian crossing a while back on my (then) GS1000S, only to overhear a mother say to her 10-year-oldish son "look! Daddy used to have a bike just like that". Oh the humiliation!)

[Kimpatsu]

Don't diss James Bond Movies; they are way cool. Looking forward to "Die Another Day".
Lack of reality in movies is nothing new. Here's a few discontinuity scenes off the top of my head:
1. "In the Line of Fire", starring Clint Eastwood and John Malkovitch. Try recreating the rooftop chase scene. Not possible.
2. Educating Rita, starring Julie Walters and Michael Caine. How do you take a bus to Liverpool via Northern Ireland?
3. X-Men. Follow Logan and Rogue through the Rockies. If you succeed in retracing their journey, I'll eat my dogi.
Movies are not life. The Japan Times article was written by someone trying to impress Japan newbies with his in-depth understanding of Japan.
But some of us have been here longer.

One of the best parts about the Bond flicks is "Q".......the guy always cracks me up.

[Daruma]

Poor " Q " is dead, so they passed the role on to his Successor the imaginatively named " R " (played by John Cleese, which is a great piece of casting)

By the way, is there any particular reason why your Karma keep jumping up and down Robert?

[Soulend]

"Q" was the sh*t. Speaking of bizarre movies, anyone who is familiar with Virginia Beach see "Navy Seals"? Darn, try as I might, just never could see the beach from the road on the strip on Atlantic Avenue (except by the Roulette by the lighthouse), or the shipyard from any bridge on Little Creek. Portsmouth, maybe..though not near that close to shore. That movie was a riot for my wife, who grew up there.

Originally posted by Daruma
Poor " Q " is dead, so they passed the role on to his Successor the imaginatively named " R " (played by John Cleese, which is a great piece of casting)

Cleese is perfect for the role.

Originally posted by Daruma
By the way, is there any particular reason why your Karma keep jumping up and down Robert?

Yes there is actually. Seems some little s**t stain likes to play with my Karma points. I had over 700 points at one time and he went through and delted them all. Now that is what I call having a lot of time on your hands.


BTW, where are you working these days?

[Daruma]

Cleese is perfect for the role, he was in the last movie with some smart A$$ comments, I hope to see more of him.


I see, just noticed because everytime i read one of your posts your Karma was up then down, and this is in the last three days I'm talking about.

Well my Work Visa Expired on the 15th of this month and I am waiting for a new Visa before i take another Job, I Resigned from the place in Roppongi and now am just bumming around, gives me a bit more time for training and studying, but a lot less money :( anyway, soon as I get this visa I'll line something up either in Ebisu or Ginza.

Let me know if your are going to be a Chef.........I haven't had any good "Bangers & Mash" since I ate at the last place you worked.

[Kimpatsu]

Originally posted by Daruma
Poor " Q " is dead, so they passed the role on to his Successor the imaginatively named " R " (played by John Cleese, which is a great piece of casting)
To set the record straight, Cleese's character wasn't really called R; it's just what Bond called him as a joke. From Die Another Day, Cleese will be called Q.
*Thread drift alert*
BTW, does anyone know where "007" came from? ;)

[Daruma]

Robert, I 'll probably be a Chef again at least for a short period, and I think possibly in Kichijoji, had a guy talking to me about a new Irish Pub he's opening there.

Tony, all I know about the 007 thing is that it means he was licenced to Kill as a member of the "00" section, as to its origin no idea, but I am sure you'll enlighten me.

[Kimpatsu]

Acording to the legend, "007" was the number on the door of the ladies' toilets at the old Ministry of Defence building where Ian Fleming worked during WW2.

[Charlie Kondek]

Hang on a minute. I read 007 was the number of a train in a Rudyard Kipling story...

http://www.007forever.com/literary_intrigues_007/author_biographies/ian_fleming.htm

It is generally believed the name James Bond comes from the author of a book entitled "The Birds of The West Indies", written by a Mr. James Bond. Fleming chose the name because it is "common", and not something that stood out (then). He found the name bland. Bond`s number, 007 comes from Rudyard Kipling`s stories about the American Railway, in which a train has the identical number.

Personally, I'd rather believe the ladies' toilet story, but I've read this in a few places.

[Kimpatsu]

The origin of the name is gospel. As for the number, pick your favourite and...
Looking forward to Die Another Day.

[Jeff Hamacher]

Originally posted by Kolschey
What always cracks me up is 1980s and early 90s cyberpunk fiction.
While I enjoy William Gibson's fiction ...

the reference to Gibson is a good one; check out Idoru for some really neat and surprisingly on-the-mark "japan of the near-future" moments.

as for reality in film, well ... some experiences, to be fully enjoyed, require a suspension of disbelief. and aren't at least some movies meant to be a welcome escape from reality? hell, i only needed to hear Ving Rhames say, "I can't accept responsibility for that ... that exceptional piece of work" before i knew Mission Impossible had been worth the time!

[red_fists]

Originally posted by Daruma
Robert, I 'll probably be a Chef again at least for a short period, and I think possibly in Kichijoji, had a guy talking to me about a new Irish Pub he's opening there.

Let me know if you work in Kichijoji and I will pop over to say hi and sample the fare.

I assume you are talking about the announced opening of the "Shamrock Pub" in Kichijoji

Cheers.

[saviolo]

Oddly enough, I once had to dial Moscow and guess what the area code was? Yup, 007. Now, I don't think the international phone system was complete when Fleming started writing the Bond books, so it's got to be a joke on behalf of BT. Thats - well that's just plain scarey... BT making jokes...

Yep, the actor who played Q died in a car accident in Sussex a couple of years ago. As has been observed, he shouldn't have given Bond all the good stuff, he should have kept one of those armoured cars for himself, then he would have walked away from it.

Also on the subject of Q, I read a story ages ago which suggested that he was actually part of a UK plan to develop people with psychic abilities, like the X-men but with no budget. Q couldn't make your head explode, but somehow, he always knew EXACTLY what piece of kit to give Bond at the start of a mission....

John Cleese as Q? No, no, never. Maybe when Roger Moore was playing Bond, when it was a campy pantomime, but dear God, no more humour in the films. Does anyone remember Rowan Atkinson turning up as a foreign office type in 'Never Say Never Again?' I've had funier experiences, like planning my own funeral.

And no, the locations in Bond films never make much sense. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond has this chase along the Thames. I used to work right by where they filmed it, and I was trying to work out how they got from one side of the river to the other, how he jumped from one dead end inlet to a pub 1,000 yards down, etc. I have this theory though - the more attractive the Bond Girl, the less you care about faults in the plot or location. So don't talk to me about The World Is Not Enough, OK, I didn't see anything except Sophie Marceau, and when I left the cinema, my popcorn box was full of drool.

One final point - in the UK, we call Star Trek freaks 'Anoraks', because most of them dress like train spotters. So what do you call James Bond fans? "Dinner Jackets?"

Maybe we should start a new thread - what's your favourite James Bond moment?