Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso visits Tokyo International Film Festival
Tadashi Sudo [Anime! Anime!]
October 21, 2008
Prime Minister Aso walked on the red carpet along with Director John Woo (RED CLIFF,) and Tony Leon. RED CLIFF Part 1 is a big title produced by multi East Asian nations that is specially invited to the event as the opening film.
Mr. Aso gave a speech at the opening ceremony, “In Japan, I’m not known as the Prime Minister Taro Aso, but more famous as a Manga “Otaku,” and his comment made the audience laughed. Starting off with the comment about how much he loves manga, he also talked about the significance of the role of the visual industry in Japan, such as Japanese animation and films, and the future of its progress.
Mr. Aso pointed out that lots of the current TV dramas are based on original manga works as he showed his deep knowledge in the manga field. He also mentioned about the Osamu Tezuka exhibition at TIFF, and the fact that LION KING was born based on Osamu Tezuka’s
“Manga reflects the chronological realism. On the other hand, it also laughs the dark perspective of the real world away, and pictures future dreams. The future that Osamu Tezuka drew 50 years ago has been realized now,” said Aso. He finished his speech with the comment that he looked forward to the progress in the film festival and visual industry.
Even though Prime Minister Aso has been well known as a big fan of Manga, it was the first time that he talked about the manga culture and its power in public. However, the meaning of this speech is probably much larger than just an “opening speech.”
TIFF celebrates its 21st anniversary this year. The festival has welcomed a minister of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry before, but the prime minister came to the event this year.
Tokyo International Film Festival is one of the core events of Japan International Content Festival, a project for promoting the domestic content industry managed by the government. Prime Minister Aso’s opening ceremony showed how significantly he regards the domestic content industry.
-Related site
The 21st Tokyo International Film Festival http://www.tiff-jp.net/ja/
October 21, 2008
Prime Minister Aso walked on the red carpet along with Director John Woo (RED CLIFF,) and Tony Leon. RED CLIFF Part 1 is a big title produced by multi East Asian nations that is specially invited to the event as the opening film.
Mr. Aso gave a speech at the opening ceremony, “In Japan, I’m not known as the Prime Minister Taro Aso, but more famous as a Manga “Otaku,” and his comment made the audience laughed. Starting off with the comment about how much he loves manga, he also talked about the significance of the role of the visual industry in Japan, such as Japanese animation and films, and the future of its progress.Mr. Aso pointed out that lots of the current TV dramas are based on original manga works as he showed his deep knowledge in the manga field. He also mentioned about the Osamu Tezuka exhibition at TIFF, and the fact that LION KING was born based on Osamu Tezuka’s
“Manga reflects the chronological realism. On the other hand, it also laughs the dark perspective of the real world away, and pictures future dreams. The future that Osamu Tezuka drew 50 years ago has been realized now,” said Aso. He finished his speech with the comment that he looked forward to the progress in the film festival and visual industry.
Even though Prime Minister Aso has been well known as a big fan of Manga, it was the first time that he talked about the manga culture and its power in public. However, the meaning of this speech is probably much larger than just an “opening speech.”
TIFF celebrates its 21st anniversary this year. The festival has welcomed a minister of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry before, but the prime minister came to the event this year.
Tokyo International Film Festival is one of the core events of Japan International Content Festival, a project for promoting the domestic content industry managed by the government. Prime Minister Aso’s opening ceremony showed how significantly he regards the domestic content industry.
-Related site
The 21st Tokyo International Film Festival http://www.tiff-jp.net/ja/
