Upcoming movies in 2011

あけましておめでとうございます！ (“Happy New Year!)
2011 is　「うさぎ年」 (“the Year of the Rabbit”).

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Foreign movies (usually “Hollywood” releases) usually premiere in Japan long after they’ve been shown in their home country (usually America).

This is because, I’ve heard, first the movie must be either subtitled or dubbed into the Japanese language…but sometimes the distributors wait to see how the movie does in it’s home country to help determine if it would be worth the cost to show it here.

Here are a few of the many Hollywood movies that are scheduled to be shown in theaters here in Japan in 2011:

– 「アンストッパブル」 (“Unstoppable”)

Stars Denzel Washington in a true story about a runaway train.
It was released in America in November 2010…and is scheduled it show in theaters in Tokyo on 2011 January 7th.

– 「ソーシャル・ネットワーク」 (“The Social Network”)

The story of how Mark Zuckerberg started the internet phenomenom called “Facebook“.
The U.S. release was in October 2010. It will show in Japan on 2011 January 15th.

– 「グリーン・ホーネット」 (“The Green Hornet”)

The story of a masked crimefighter called The Green Hornet and his partner Kato (who was played by Bruce Lee in the 1960’s TV series).

Bruce Lee as "Kato" in the 1960's U.S. TV series "The Green Hornet"

Sometimes American movies are released at the same time (or close to it) in both the U.S. and Japan.
“The Green Hornet” is one such movie. It is scheduled to be shown in the U.S. on 2011 January 14th and in Tokyo on 2011 January 22nd.

– 「トゥルー・グリット」 (“True Grit”)

Stars Jeff Bridges in the role made famous by John Wayne in the 1969 original movie adaptation of this story of a drunken U.S. Marshal in the 19th century “Wild West” who is hired by a fourteen year old girl to track the killer of her father.

The U.S. release of this film was in late December 2010 but won’t hit theaters in Tokyo until March 2011.

Have you seen any of these films? Do you recommend them?
I think “True Grit” looks the best. I’m looking forward to it.

ショコラブルワリー

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got Valentines chocolate from a few people, as is common in Japan…but the best ones were the chocolates that my daughters made me.
And also, the gift from my wife.

This year’s Valentine’s Day, my wife bought 「サッポロ ショコラブルワリー」 (“Sapporo Chocolat Brewery”) chocolate beer for me.

I love beer and I don’t have much of a sweet tooth…so this was perfect for me. It was a slightly dark beer with a hint of bitter chocolate.

A Canadian who’s living in Tokyo also wrote a post about this beer on is blog…click here to see his post.

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Also, Japan got it’s first two medals in the 2010 Olympics yesterday.
Both were in the Men’s 500 meter Speed Skating competition.

Keiichiro Nagashima won the silver and Joji Kato got bronze.

Oscars for Japan

At last week’s Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, USA, two Japanese movies won “Oscar” awards.

「おくりびと」 (“Departures“) won the Best Foreign Language Film award.

「おくりびと」 movie flyer

「おくりびと」 (“Departures“) is the story of a musician who loses his job when the orchestra closes and reluctantly takes a job as a mortician.

Director Yojiro Takita accepted the Oscar with a short speech in English:

“I am here because of films. This is a new ‘departure’ for me. And I will, we will, be back. I hope.”

In addition to the Oscar award from Hollywood, the film also won the “Best Film” award at Japan’s Academy Awards ceremony this year, as well as an award at the Montreal Film Festival in Canada.

The other Japanese film to win an Oscar last week was 「つみきの家」 (“The House Of Blocks“).

「つきみの家」

This is a twelve-minute hand-drawn animation about an old man who fights to save his home from the rising sea caused by global-warming.

The film won an Oscar for “Best Animated Short Film“.

Director Kunio Kato, who works for “Robot Communications“, accepted his award by saying:

“…Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!”