Hollywood inspired by Tokyo

Over the years, Hollywood has remade many Japanese movies and also made original movies that were inspired by Japan.

Here’s a list of some of them that I thought of. Tell me if you can think of others that I may have forgotten.

First, HOLLYWOOD REMAKES OF JAPANESE MOVIES:

• U.S. remake: “Gatchaman”
  

  Gatchaman (scheduled for release in 2011)

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ガッチャマン」 (Gacchaman)

  Original Japanese movie: 「科学忍者隊ガッチャマン」 (Science Ninjas: Gacchaman)

  

  科学忍者隊ガッチャマン

  (Click here to see my “Gatchaman” stamps.)

• U.S. remake: “Astro Boy”
  

  Astro Boy

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「アトム」 (ATOM)

  Original Japanese movie: 「鉄腕アトム」 (Powerful Atom)

  

  鉄腕アトム

• U.S. remake: “HACHI: A Dog’s Story”
  

  HACHI: A Dog's Story (release date 2009 Aug 8)

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「HACHI: 約束の犬」 (Hachi: A Faithful Dog)

  Original Japanese movie: 「ハチ公物語」 (Hachiko’s Story)

  

  ハチ公物語

  (Click here to read another post I wrote about this movie).

• U.S. remake: “Shall We Dance?”
  

  Another US remake of a Japanese movie starring Richard Gere.

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「Shall We ダンス？」 (Shall We Dance?)

  Original Japanese movie: 「Shall We ダンス？」 (Shall We Dance?)

  

• U.S. Remake: “The Ring“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ザ・リング」 (The Ring)
  Original Japanese movie: 「リング」 (Ring)
• U.S. remake: “The Grudge“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「The Juon」
  Original Japanese movie: 「呪怨」 (Juon (Grudge))

  

• U.S. remake: “Dark Water“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ダーク・ウォーター」 (Dark Water)
  Original Japanese movie: 「仄暗い水の底から」 (Dark Water From Below)
• U.S. remake: “Last Man Standing“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ラスト・マン・スタンディング」 (Last Man Standing)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)

• U.S. remake: “A Fistful Of Dollars“Japanese Translation Of US Title:　「荒野の用心棒」 (The Bodyguard Of The Wilderness)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)
• U.S. remake: “The Bodyguard“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ボディガード」 (Bodyguard)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)
• “Eight Below“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「南極物語」 (South Pole Story)
  Original Japanese movie: 「南極物語」 (South Pole Story)

  

• “Magnificent Seven“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「荒野の七人」 (Seven Men Of The Wilderness)
  Original Japanese movie: 「七人の侍」 (Seven Samurai)
• “Dragonball“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ドラゴンボール」 (Dragonball)
  Original Japanese movie: 「ドラゴンボール」 (Dragonball)

  

  (Click here to see an earlier post I wrote about this movie).

• “Speed Racer“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「マッハＧＯＧＯＧＯ！」(Mach GoGoGo!)
  Original Japanese movie: 「マッハＧＯＧＯＧＯ！」(Mach GoGoGo!)

  

• “Godzilla“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ゴジラ」 (Godzilla)
  Original Japanese movie: 「ゴジラ」 (Godzilla)

  

  (Click here to see an earlier post I wrote about this movie).

—-

And, HOLLYWOOD MOVIES THAT WERE INSPIRED BY JAPAN:

• Gung-Ho!


Gung-Ho!

• The Karate Kid
  

  「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid)

  (Click here for my post about this movie).

• Lost In Translation
  

  Lost In Translation

• Ramen Girl
  

  Ramen Girl

  (Click here for my post about this movie).

• Mr. Baseball
  

  Mr. Baseball

• Toxic Avenger II
  

  Toxic Avenger Part II

• Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D.
  

  Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D.

• Star Wars
  

  Star Wars

• Memoirs Of A Geisha
  

  「SAYURI」 (Memoirs Of A Geisha)

• Last Samurai
  

  Last Samurai

• Ronin
  

  Ronin

• Fast And Furious 3: Tokyo Drift
  

  「ワイルド・スピード」 (Fast & Furious) 3: Tokyo Drift

  Also, I just found this “Pixar ‘Cars’ X ‘Tokyo Drift’“:

• Black Rain
  

  Black Rain

• Blade Runner
  

  Blade Runner

• Austin Powers: Goldmember
  

  Austin Powers 3: Goldmember

• The Simpsons: 30 Minutes Over Tokyo
  (It’s not a movie…just one episode of a weekly U.S. TV show. But I wanted to include it since the characters go to Japan. And it’s funny.)

  

  The Simspons "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo"

• American Yakuza
  

  American Yakuza

• The Hunted
  

  The Hunted

• Rising Sun
  

  Rising Sun

King Kong vs Godzilla

In 1933, the American movie King Kong was released. It’s about a movie director in Depression-era America who takes a crew to a place called “Skull Island” to film a movie.

They quickly realize that “Skull Island” is no ordinary island. It’s full of giant pre-historic predators.
One night, the native people kidnap the American actress and offer her as a sacrifice to “Kong“, the giant ape.

The rest of the American film crew rescue the actress and the director decides to take Kong back to New York City because a huge ape will make him more money than his movie could.

The movie’s most famous scene is when the misunderstood King Kong is forced to climb the Empire State Building and fight for his life.

The original King Kong

King Kong was remade twice. The first remake was in 1976. In this version, it’s an oil company that discover Kong, and instead of climbing the Empire State Building, King Kong climbs to the top of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Then in 2005, a remake of the original 1933 King Kong story was done.

King Kong is an American pop-culture legend.

The Japanese equivalent is ゴジラ (Godzilla).

The first ゴジラ (Godzilla) movie was released in 1954.
ゴジラ (Godzilla) was supposed to be the result of radioactive nuclear testing. The creature was originally a threat to society…but to expand the audience to include families and children, some ゴジラ (Godzilla) films portray him as the hero.

Promo poster from the first 「ゴジラ」 (Godzilla) movie, 1954.

ゴジラ (Godzilla)’s name should technically be spelled as “Gojira” in English because that’s the correct pronunciation of his name.
The name ゴジラ (Gojira (Godzilla)) is a mix of the words 「ゴリラ」 (gorilla) and 「クジラ」 (Kujira (whale)).

There have been many ゴジラ (Godzilla) movies released in Japan. The most recent was on the 50th anniversary of the first ゴジラ (Godzilla) movie…in 2004, 「ゴジラ　ファイナル・ウォーズ」 (Godzilla: Final Wars) was released. (It won’t be the “final” ゴジラ (Godzilla) movie though…there is a plan to make a new ゴジラ (Godzilla) movie on the 60th anniversary of the original—in 2014).

「ゴジラ　ファイナル・ウォーズ」 (Godzilla: Final Wars) movie poster, 2004.

ゴジラ (Godzilla) is a pop-culture icon even in America. I used to enjoy watching ゴジラ (Godzilla) movies dubbed in English when I was a kid.
In fact, a survey was done in the 1980’s of the general American public to name “famous Japanese people”…ゴジラ (Godzilla) was one of the most common answers! (Another common one was “Bruce Lee”…whose not even Japanese)!

So, it was inevitable that America would release a Hollywood version of ゴジラ (Godzilla).
The trailers for the 1998 U.S. movie looked exciting! But the trailers are all you need to watch…the movie was generally a disappointment.

Poster for the US version of "Godzilla", 1998.

Here’s the trailer from the 1998 US movie “Godzilla” from YouTube:

So, it makes sense that these two iconic monsters met in battle.
In 1962, Japan released 「キングコング対ゴジラ」 (“King Kong vs Godzilla“).

Poster for 「キングコング対ゴジラ」 ("King Kong vs Godzilla"), 1962

There’s an urban legend that in the Japanese version of this movie Godzilla beats King Kong, and in the English-dubbed version King Kong wins. But it’s not true…the ending is the same in both versions: King Kong is the only monster to emerge from their underwater battle.

Here’s a trailer from the 1962 movie 「キングコング対ゴジラ」 (“King Kong vs Godzilla“):

Japanese Books, Snacks, CDs…

I just added a page on my main website called “Japanese Stuff”.

It has links to buy Japan-themed books, snacks and DVDs that I recommend.

On this blog, I’ve recommend books like Jerry Yellin’s book “The Blackened Canteen“, and CDs by Japanese bands like Monkey Majik, and Japanese movies like Quill.

Now, I’ve decided to make it easier for visitors to my site to buy the books, snacks, CDs and DVDs, etc that I recommend by providing a link to buy them from Amazon.com.

Click here to visit my new ““Japanese Stuff“ page.