Filming industrial Japan: Kitakyushu, rise and decline of the iron town
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: This paper investigates how cinema has represented the two sides of the industrial expansion and contraction process in the context of a peripheral shrinking region. It explores how the cinematic vision of regions helps one to understand the processes of spatial development that resulted from socio-economic changes. Classic and contemporary filmmakers have shown the social problems associated with industrialization as well as deindustrialization. The paper focuses on the Northern Kyushu Region in Japan, which due to its own history epitomizes the problematic that affects Japan’s peripheral territories – those outside the Pacific Industrial Belt. Through this analysis, it is argued that films can reveal aspects that other kinds of data cannot convey and, therefore, the cinematic analysis of regions has the potential to identify and reveal problems that otherwise would have remained unnoticed.
Authors: Fernando Ortiz-Moya, Nieves Moreno
Institutions: The University of Tokyo, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Language: English
Topic: Cinema History and Criticism
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,165
OpenAlex ID: W1833470286