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Title: JAPANESE JOURNEY

Reference number: 4118

Date: 1963c

Director: filmed by Nat and Nettie McGavin

Sound: sound

Original format: 16mm

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 20.41 mins

Description: Records a holiday journey through Japan in April: cherry blossom time. Shows peasants working in the fields cultivating tea and young girls diving for pearl oysters. Visits are paid to ancient Shinto shrines and Buddist temples, some of which are surrounded by typical Japanese gardens, as well as recording Tokyo city, shipbuilding and a brief glimpse of Hiroshima.

Entered in Scottish Amateur Film Festival of 1963, documentary category. Non-winner.

Paper records held relating to this film at the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive 2/3/50

Credits: [nar. Alex. Allan
titles James A. Montgomery
sd. Park Film Studios]

Shotlist: shot of Japanese flag against the sky (0.15) aerial shots Tokyo, busy cityscape and heavy traffic (0.36) bustling street scenes, showing women and children shopping and businessmen (1.09) banner for 'Film Festival In Asia' (1.14) shot of Kabuki Theatre, c/u of decorative paintings (1.49) actors (male?) dressed in kimonos, pose for photographs, shot of female brides in black kimonos greet men, dressed in western suits for wedding (2.12) people walk in park amongst cherry blossom (2.51) c/u of huge statue of Budda at Kamakura, schoolchildren in uniform posing in front of it, general viewing shots architectural detail (5.21) Temples at Nara and Nagoya, largest wooden building in the world, c/u of original 'See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear no Evil' monkeys carved on building (6.17) 'Welcome to Iseshima Mr & Mrs McGavin', sign on chauffeur driven car (6.24) gvs Fuji-Hakone-Izun National Park, includes shot of snow-capped Mount Fuji, boats on Lake Hakone and people enjoying leisure pursuits such as reading and hillwalking (7.58) gvs Ago Bay, young girls dive for oysters, shot of nets out in shallow bay cultivating pearls (9.14) women repair fishing creels (9.27) shot of box on board boat with beautiful pearl jewellery (9.34) planting seeds corn in summer, rice in autumn (10.02) a woman and little boy tend harsh soil (10.19) [overexposed, too light] tea bushes (10.44) sorting and packing product to make green tea 'Ishido' (11.16) quayside at Osaka, gvs various ports along river showing loading at docks, cranes and shipbuilding at Kawasaki Dockyard (11.50) gvs on board boat, ints restaurant (12.27) exts Japan Travel Bureau (12.44) fruit shop on shore (12.55) tourists being entertained at Bepu, admiring flowers, wearing kimonos, being served tea, shots of hot geyser (includes shot where basket of eggs is lifted from geyser in which they have been cooked) (13.53) gvs Hiroshima and shell of large building left as monument to nuclear bombing, shots of Peace Park (14.43) large family singing and picnicking in park (15.05) gvs Shrine Island, one of the most holy buildings in Japan. Shows boat trip on 'dragon' boat and jetty on lake (16.01) aerial view over city of Kyoto (16.37) gvs courtyard with stepping stones and pagodas, weeping cherry blossom trees and female gardeners (19.16) gvs Tokyo and royal palace, fountains etc. (19.42) [very dark] neon-lit advertising billboards for 'Olympic Games, Tokyo 1964', 'Sony' etc. and busy city streets (20.41)