Japan, Portrait in Sound

Japan, Portrait in Sound
16mm, 1980s?, color/sound, about 20 mins.

Film made to promote tourism in Japan. Despite the title, overall there isn’t very much music in the film. The film shows various aspects of everyday Japanese culture, but these are not necessarily directly related to sound. The film has a voice-over narration that comments on the culture, traditions and modern life.

The film begins with a montage of crafts - wood working, fiber, painting. Fireworks, drums, an airport. Title. A waterfall, small gongs play music. A contemporary percussion set, a woman plays marimba. Cityscape. Crowds, celebrations, outdoor images, golf, street scenes of Tokyo. “History is never far away.” The Imperial Palace. People walking, jogging and biking in a park. A very commercial rock band performs on a stage at night. A panorama of tourist images - sailboats, etc. A serene bamboo forest is shown while a flute plays. Palaces, a buddhist ceremony. Fireworks. Sumo wrestling. A drum procession. Modern train. Rice fields, villages. Hot springs. Snow. A tea ceremony. More crafts - carving of wood beams, fabric making, kimono hand painting. Noodle making. Wood carving. Outdoor festivals with floats, costumes and crowds are shown. Modern automobile factory, automatically assembling cars. A TV assembly line. A circuit board assembly line. A big gong. The sea. A snow covered village with outdoor food market. On a beach, a small theatrical group wearing traditional masks and playing drums performs, intercut with shots of a contemporary percussion solo. Temples.