Why ''Ninja Assassin'' and its lead actor, Rain, could just be the perfect movie model for tough times.
Dorothy Pomerantz, 11.19.09, 12:00 PM ET
The Movie Biz
LOS ANGELES - Chances are you've never heard of Jeong Ji-hoon, better known as Rain. But the 27-year-old South Korean pop star is one of the most famous people in Asia. His 2005 album, It's Raining, sold more than 1 million copies. In 2006 he topped a Time Magazine online poll of the most influential people in the world (beating out an angry Stephen Colbert.)
Now he has his first starring role in an American movie: Ninja Assassins. The Warner Bros film, which hits theaters Nov. 25, tells the story of a ninja who seeks revenge against his teacher and fellow ninjas after they kill the girl he loves.
Studios would do well to pay attention. The film could serve as a roadmap for the kind of mid-budget movies they'll need to be making in the coming years. Expensive movie stars no longer guarantee a film will be a hit. Just look at recent box office stinkers like Land of the Lost (staring Will Ferrell) and The Box (staring Cameron Diaz). DVD sales, which once protected studios against losses on mediocre films, continue to slide. And ticket sales are no longer just about how a film performs in the U.S.
Ninja Assassin is a global movie by design. Its violence has an almost universal appeal among young men, so the film, which cost a modest $30 million to produce, should perform well in the U.S. It is being strategically released against the female-leaning vampire flick New Moon.
Then there's the overseas market. Rain's millions of fans in Asia will no doubt shell out good money to see him fight on the big screen. Most of the movie takes place in Berlin (which offered the filmmakers excellent tax credits) and the other stars are British which gives the movie European appeal.
"It's critical for the studios to have a mixed cast and use foreign locations," says Ashok Amritraj of Hyde Park Entertainment, an independent production company that specializes in films with cross-border appeal. "The box office revenue overseas has suddenly eclipsed the domestic box office."
Rain came to the attention of producer Joel Silver when he was filming Speed Racer. The film turned out to be a disaster for Warner Bros but Silver and his directors, the Wachowski Brothers, saw potential in Rain, who had a small role in the film.
"We wanted to find a way to create a star like Bruce Lee or even Steven Segal," says Silver. "Rain is charismatic and because of his dance training he can fight as well as anyone. He fulfilled all our hopes and dreams."
Silver, who has a 15-picture guaranteed deal with Warner Bros through his genre production company, Dark Castle, quickly decided to create a martial arts film as a vehicle for Rain. He brought on director James McTeigue who directed V for Vendetta and had done second unit work on Speed Racer.
Rain has few lines in the movie. He's a mysterious character who mostly lets his weapons do the talking. That should also help the film overseas. And he worked cheap. He might be huge in Asia, but in the U.S. he's not even big enough to be featured in promotional material for the film. The poster for Ninja Assassin features Rain but half of his face is off the page.
If the movie is a hit, expect studios to focus even more development dollars on films aimed at an international audience. Rain might become the model for the modern movie star.
Says Silver: "As the business becomes more international and we're looking for international growth, it's nice to find someone like Rain who can travel."
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Beauty search stirs up anger
Created: 2009-12-4 0:29:15
Author:Wang Xiang
THE head of a provincial education department in southern China warned local universities to act quickly in order to avoid becoming "wife candidate pools" for bachelors from wealthy families.
The reprimand from Wang Yuxue, vice director of Guangdong Province's education department, came after a company started seeking beautiful female undergraduates at six universities who would be interested in marrying one of two bachelors. The bachelors claimed to be "second rich generation," a Chinese term referring to those born into extremely wealthy families.
"These people think money is everything and the idea should be stopped from spreading at once," Wang was quoted as saying yesterday by Guangzhou-based Information Times. He said the campaign was vulgar and a shame on the province's education system.
Six young women wearing red Christmas dresses have been distributing leaflets at Jinan University in Guangzhou. The leaflets say "post-80s entrepreneur looking for innocent young campus queen," the report said.
Jinan University, a prestigious institution in China and said to be the first stop of the beauty seekers, said it ordered campus security guards to expel anyone spreading such leaflets. An unnamed teacher at the university told the newspaper they did not know about the leaflets until hearing about them in the media.
Some students on campus were critical of the campaign.
One male student said he felt wealthy people were depriving him of a chance for true love.
Some female students also said they were not impressed. One student surnamed Qiu said her roommates all agreed that true love could not be traded for money.
The two young entrepreneurs apparently were not that sincere either. In the leaflets, 27-year-old "Jack" and 24-year-old "Xiao Hai" did not reveal their real names nor pictures. The only thing the leaflets provided were stunning descriptions of the two wealthy families.
The recruiter said they will start looking for potential beautiful brides for their clients at other universities as none of the 20 women who responded to the leaflets came for an interview.
Copyright © 2001-2009 Shanghai Daily Publishing House
Author:Wang Xiang
THE head of a provincial education department in southern China warned local universities to act quickly in order to avoid becoming "wife candidate pools" for bachelors from wealthy families.
The reprimand from Wang Yuxue, vice director of Guangdong Province's education department, came after a company started seeking beautiful female undergraduates at six universities who would be interested in marrying one of two bachelors. The bachelors claimed to be "second rich generation," a Chinese term referring to those born into extremely wealthy families.
"These people think money is everything and the idea should be stopped from spreading at once," Wang was quoted as saying yesterday by Guangzhou-based Information Times. He said the campaign was vulgar and a shame on the province's education system.
Six young women wearing red Christmas dresses have been distributing leaflets at Jinan University in Guangzhou. The leaflets say "post-80s entrepreneur looking for innocent young campus queen," the report said.
Jinan University, a prestigious institution in China and said to be the first stop of the beauty seekers, said it ordered campus security guards to expel anyone spreading such leaflets. An unnamed teacher at the university told the newspaper they did not know about the leaflets until hearing about them in the media.
Some students on campus were critical of the campaign.
One male student said he felt wealthy people were depriving him of a chance for true love.
Some female students also said they were not impressed. One student surnamed Qiu said her roommates all agreed that true love could not be traded for money.
The two young entrepreneurs apparently were not that sincere either. In the leaflets, 27-year-old "Jack" and 24-year-old "Xiao Hai" did not reveal their real names nor pictures. The only thing the leaflets provided were stunning descriptions of the two wealthy families.
The recruiter said they will start looking for potential beautiful brides for their clients at other universities as none of the 20 women who responded to the leaflets came for an interview.
Copyright © 2001-2009 Shanghai Daily Publishing House
Chinese Office Workers Under Pressure
Created: 2009-12-4 1:05:04
Author:Wang Xiang
FEWER than 3 percent of office workers in major Chinese cities are healthy and most blame their condition on stress because of soaring house prices, according to a recent survey.
The research, conducted by Health Maintenance Organization China and the People's Daily online, surveyed 3 million office workers in 31 provinces and municipalities. Forty-six percent said their home-owning dream had become a grueling nightmare.
Thirty-eight percent said the health of their parents concerned them most, especially for those whose parents lived in another city.
Young workers also said they felt under stress when parents tried to persuade them to marry when they couldn't find an ideal partner.
Researchers said the study was the first of its kind to look specifically at well-paid office workers in China's big cities.
Stress for office workers was significantly larger in large cities, according to the study, with Shanghai ranking third on the list of the most stressful cities in China after Beijing and Shenzhen.
The survey found that the top three potential killers of the office workers were cancer, heart attacks and strokes. All three are considered to be induced by stressful work and irregular lifestyles.
Among those polled, 76 percent of workers said their health was below par and nearly 60 percent complained they were frequently overworked.
Stress hit hardest on the middle-aged workers, those in the 35 to 50 age range.
They were found to have a biological age, an index to their health condition and the aging process, 10 years older than their chronological age.
Copyright © 2001-2009 Shanghai Daily Publishing House
Author:Wang Xiang
FEWER than 3 percent of office workers in major Chinese cities are healthy and most blame their condition on stress because of soaring house prices, according to a recent survey.
The research, conducted by Health Maintenance Organization China and the People's Daily online, surveyed 3 million office workers in 31 provinces and municipalities. Forty-six percent said their home-owning dream had become a grueling nightmare.
Thirty-eight percent said the health of their parents concerned them most, especially for those whose parents lived in another city.
Young workers also said they felt under stress when parents tried to persuade them to marry when they couldn't find an ideal partner.
Researchers said the study was the first of its kind to look specifically at well-paid office workers in China's big cities.
Stress for office workers was significantly larger in large cities, according to the study, with Shanghai ranking third on the list of the most stressful cities in China after Beijing and Shenzhen.
The survey found that the top three potential killers of the office workers were cancer, heart attacks and strokes. All three are considered to be induced by stressful work and irregular lifestyles.
Among those polled, 76 percent of workers said their health was below par and nearly 60 percent complained they were frequently overworked.
Stress hit hardest on the middle-aged workers, those in the 35 to 50 age range.
They were found to have a biological age, an index to their health condition and the aging process, 10 years older than their chronological age.
Copyright © 2001-2009 Shanghai Daily Publishing House
Land of the Rising Yen
August 7, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
Land of the Rising Yen
By AKIO MIKUNI
Tokyo
IN the 17th century, after a long series of conflicts that ended in a unified Japan, peace finally came to this country. Commerce flourished. Wealthy women spent money on exquisite kimonos and modeled their original designs at fashion shows. Imports surged of Chinese “white” silk yarn, which Japan paid for in precious metals. A prominent scholar of the time, Miyazaki Yasusada, justified such trade by arguing that you cannot eat or wear gold or silver.
Japanese consumers can be lavish spenders — when they are given an opportunity. I see one coming.
Many would find this hard to believe. For much of the 20th century Japan’s growth was driven by exports, and consumption relative to gross domestic product has been around 55 percent since 1980. This goes back to the 19th century, when Japan set out to catch up with the West by modernizing production and exporting products to advanced nations. It’s become a kind of national obsession to have a weak yen, which helps keep exports cheap and competitive.
But this fixation comes at a high domestic price: We lose much-needed capital — and purchasing power abroad.
Japan is finally ripe for change. Exports have plunged since the financial collapse last autumn. American consumers could not borrow so easily anymore, and were less inclined to spend. While Japanese exports finally seem to be bottoming out, we can’t just wait around for American consumers to become as spendthrift as before. The United States is still burdened with excessive debt, and that seems likely to depress American imports of manufactured goods for years to come.
This is all part of a larger shift in Asia’s role in the world economy. Japan exports some of its goods to the United States indirectly through Asian supply chains. Finished products are assembled in China before they are shipped to the final destination. While we profited from this state of affairs, our long-term priority should be to supply goods to the Japanese market, not to the rest of the world.
So what’s the problem with relying on exports? Let me give a simple example. We manufacture automobiles. When we sell them domestically, this is a boon to Japanese car dealers, insurance salesmen and repairmen. But when we ship them abroad, they are not making a meaningful contribution to the domestic economy. Income earned by the export sector is offset by the amount of capital that we invest in the United States to encourage a dollar strong enough to allow American consumers to buy our products. Sure, we get foreign reserves — like United States government bonds — in return for that capital. But as our 17th-century scholar would remind us, we cannot eat or wear American dollars.
We need to replace external demands with domestic ones. We could do this by exchanging our dollar investments for yen. This would cause the yen to appreciate, reducing the costs of imports and enhancing real purchasing power. Already, some Japanese retailers are slashing prices because the strengthening yen is lowering the cost of their imports. They could do it again if the yen appreciated further.
In the short term, moving away from our long-cherished export model will be painful. We should brace ourselves for factory closings, bankruptcies and mergers. The remaining manufacturing companies will have to shift their orientation. While many have been intent on selling competitively priced goods abroad, now they will need to come up with unique products that can command premium prices.
Japanese companies can rise to the challenge. I have rated corporate bonds for the past quarter-century. In 1983, we had only two AAA-rated companies, excluding financial companies. Today, we have nine. Those companies earned their ratings in part by demonstrating strong price-setting power.
A few decades ago, some Japanese companies would make a point of pricing their own goods 20 percent less than competing products in the United States. Now, many products are being priced independently by Japanese manufacturers. These companies will find plenty of pent-up demand, as Japanese consumers have shown a preference for good quality over low prices.
Japan has been hit hard by the global financial crisis, and this time exports are not going to save us. Instead, we must scrap some of our long-held traditions and start from scratch. Many in government will be reluctant to make this change, but they may soon find that they have no other option. Japanese policy makers cannot keep the yen weakened forever because doing so is costly to the domestic economy, and thus to voters. It’s time for us to learn from the free-spending ladies of the 17th century and enjoy a strong yen.
Akio Mikuni is the president of a credit rating agency.
Op-Ed Contributor
Land of the Rising Yen
By AKIO MIKUNI
Tokyo
IN the 17th century, after a long series of conflicts that ended in a unified Japan, peace finally came to this country. Commerce flourished. Wealthy women spent money on exquisite kimonos and modeled their original designs at fashion shows. Imports surged of Chinese “white” silk yarn, which Japan paid for in precious metals. A prominent scholar of the time, Miyazaki Yasusada, justified such trade by arguing that you cannot eat or wear gold or silver.
Japanese consumers can be lavish spenders — when they are given an opportunity. I see one coming.
Many would find this hard to believe. For much of the 20th century Japan’s growth was driven by exports, and consumption relative to gross domestic product has been around 55 percent since 1980. This goes back to the 19th century, when Japan set out to catch up with the West by modernizing production and exporting products to advanced nations. It’s become a kind of national obsession to have a weak yen, which helps keep exports cheap and competitive.
But this fixation comes at a high domestic price: We lose much-needed capital — and purchasing power abroad.
Japan is finally ripe for change. Exports have plunged since the financial collapse last autumn. American consumers could not borrow so easily anymore, and were less inclined to spend. While Japanese exports finally seem to be bottoming out, we can’t just wait around for American consumers to become as spendthrift as before. The United States is still burdened with excessive debt, and that seems likely to depress American imports of manufactured goods for years to come.
This is all part of a larger shift in Asia’s role in the world economy. Japan exports some of its goods to the United States indirectly through Asian supply chains. Finished products are assembled in China before they are shipped to the final destination. While we profited from this state of affairs, our long-term priority should be to supply goods to the Japanese market, not to the rest of the world.
So what’s the problem with relying on exports? Let me give a simple example. We manufacture automobiles. When we sell them domestically, this is a boon to Japanese car dealers, insurance salesmen and repairmen. But when we ship them abroad, they are not making a meaningful contribution to the domestic economy. Income earned by the export sector is offset by the amount of capital that we invest in the United States to encourage a dollar strong enough to allow American consumers to buy our products. Sure, we get foreign reserves — like United States government bonds — in return for that capital. But as our 17th-century scholar would remind us, we cannot eat or wear American dollars.
We need to replace external demands with domestic ones. We could do this by exchanging our dollar investments for yen. This would cause the yen to appreciate, reducing the costs of imports and enhancing real purchasing power. Already, some Japanese retailers are slashing prices because the strengthening yen is lowering the cost of their imports. They could do it again if the yen appreciated further.
In the short term, moving away from our long-cherished export model will be painful. We should brace ourselves for factory closings, bankruptcies and mergers. The remaining manufacturing companies will have to shift their orientation. While many have been intent on selling competitively priced goods abroad, now they will need to come up with unique products that can command premium prices.
Japanese companies can rise to the challenge. I have rated corporate bonds for the past quarter-century. In 1983, we had only two AAA-rated companies, excluding financial companies. Today, we have nine. Those companies earned their ratings in part by demonstrating strong price-setting power.
A few decades ago, some Japanese companies would make a point of pricing their own goods 20 percent less than competing products in the United States. Now, many products are being priced independently by Japanese manufacturers. These companies will find plenty of pent-up demand, as Japanese consumers have shown a preference for good quality over low prices.
Japan has been hit hard by the global financial crisis, and this time exports are not going to save us. Instead, we must scrap some of our long-held traditions and start from scratch. Many in government will be reluctant to make this change, but they may soon find that they have no other option. Japanese policy makers cannot keep the yen weakened forever because doing so is costly to the domestic economy, and thus to voters. It’s time for us to learn from the free-spending ladies of the 17th century and enjoy a strong yen.
Akio Mikuni is the president of a credit rating agency.
As Japan’s Mediums Die, Ancient Tradition Fades
August 21, 2009
By MARTIN FACKLER
MOUNT OSORE, Japan — Its name means the Mountain of Horror, which seems an apt description for this sacred Buddhist site inside the crater of a dormant volcano. The weather-beaten temple here is surrounded by a lifeless lake and a wasteland of naked rock reeking of sulfur that conjures images of Buddhist hell.
But during the mountain’s twice annual religious festivals, visitors come by the busload to line up before a row of small tents in a corner of the temple. Within are the “itako” — elderly, often blind women who hold séance-like ceremonies that customers hope will allow them to commune with spirits of the dead.
These spiritual mediums seem out of place in a hyper-modern nation better known for bullet trains and hybrid cars. Found only in peripheral areas like this volcano on the far northern tip of Japan’s main island, and only dimly known to most Japanese, the itako are among the last remaining adherents to ancient shamanistic beliefs that predate Buddhism and modern forms of Shintoism, Japan’s two main religions, historians say.
They have survived government efforts to stamp them out, as well as the continuing disdain of many Japanese, who look down on them as charlatans who trade in superstition. Even the deputy abbot at Bodai-ji, Mount Osore’s temple, said the itako were not connected to the temple, which he said only tolerates their presence.
Now, however, even these last remaining itako are vanishing. Only four graying itako appeared at Mt. Osore’s weeklong summer festival this year, three having died of old age in the last year. Worse, the only practicing medium younger than retirement age — 40-year-old Keiko Himukai, known among believers as the last itako — stopped coming this year for health reasons.
“We can see a very ancient flame dying out before our eyes,” Ms. Himukai said in a separate interview. “But traditions have to change with the times.”
Junichi Tonosaki, a historian in the prefectural museum in Aomori, where Mount Osore is located, said the number of itako had fallen from about 20 a decade ago. He said they began gathering at Mount Osore in the last century as their numbers began to dwindle, to make it easier for customers to find them. The volcano’s 1,200-year-old temple is believed by many here to be a gathering point for souls of the dead before Buddhist reincarnation.
Mr. Tonosaki and other historians say itako and other shamanistic mediums were common across Japan in medieval times, when this was often the only occupation available for the blind. But they were suppressed in the late 19th century, as Japan built a modern nation. In recent times, they have survived only on the geographic margins, in rural northern Japan and on the southern island of Okinawa.
Shojiro Kurokawa, 82, can remember as a child in the 1930s when residents of his and other nearby villages would trek to the temple to hold weeklong festivals of all-night dancing, singing and séances. In those days, he said, there were more than 100 itako.
“This is an era when children ignore their parents and forget about the dead,” said Mr. Kurokawa, who runs an inn near the temple that caters to visitors of the spiritual mediums.
Now, there are so few itako that visitors routinely wait in line for several hours to see one. Itako charge 3,000 yen, or about $30, for each spirit called in a roughly 10-minute ceremony.
One family of three came from Tokyo, a day’s drive away. Masako Toyama, 68, said she came to speak with her husband, who died suddenly last summer of cancer. She, her son and his wife said it was their first visit to Mount Osore. She said she knew of the itako from growing up in northern Japan.
“They were a scary but also soothing presence,” Ms. Toyama said. “Japanese still need this sort of emotional support.”
“I wanted to give the itako a try, to see if this is real,” said the son, Shinji Toyama, a 41-year-old salaryman at a medical testing firm.
When the Toyamas’ turn finally came after six and a half hours of waiting, they seemed almost taken aback by the itako’s modern appearance, in pink-tinted glasses and a flower-patterned shirt.
The itako, Setsu Aoyama, began by lifting a long strand of dark beads and began a short chant: “I call the spirit who died on July 11,” the date Ms. Toyama’s husband, Shigeto, died.
In the same rhythmic cadence, swaying her head with eyes shut, she assumed the voice of Shigeto. “I didn’t go to a doctor soon enough,” she intoned. “Men don’t listen to things like that.”
Ms. Himukai, the 40-year-old itako, says she enters a trance in which she feels the presence of the spirit and its mood, which she expresses in her own words. She said she decided to begin the three-year period of study to become a spiritual medium as a teenager, after an itako near her rural village cured her of an ailment that doctors could not fix.
She said she felt guilty about not going to Mount Osore. However, she said she may no longer be able to attend because of health problems, including a chronic stomach ailment. Instead, she said she wanted to write a book or make a movie about the itako.
“The end can also be the beginning of something new,” said Ms. Himukai, who wore a plain gray suit with pants and spoke in a whisper.
After the ceremony, the Toyamas had mixed reactions. The widow said her heart had been put at ease. But the younger generation was less convinced.
“I didn’t feel like it was really my father in front of me,” said Shinji, the son. But he said he wanted to come again next year, to try a different itako. “Maybe we just had beginner’s bad luck by choosing the wrong one.”
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By MARTIN FACKLER
MOUNT OSORE, Japan — Its name means the Mountain of Horror, which seems an apt description for this sacred Buddhist site inside the crater of a dormant volcano. The weather-beaten temple here is surrounded by a lifeless lake and a wasteland of naked rock reeking of sulfur that conjures images of Buddhist hell.
But during the mountain’s twice annual religious festivals, visitors come by the busload to line up before a row of small tents in a corner of the temple. Within are the “itako” — elderly, often blind women who hold séance-like ceremonies that customers hope will allow them to commune with spirits of the dead.
These spiritual mediums seem out of place in a hyper-modern nation better known for bullet trains and hybrid cars. Found only in peripheral areas like this volcano on the far northern tip of Japan’s main island, and only dimly known to most Japanese, the itako are among the last remaining adherents to ancient shamanistic beliefs that predate Buddhism and modern forms of Shintoism, Japan’s two main religions, historians say.
They have survived government efforts to stamp them out, as well as the continuing disdain of many Japanese, who look down on them as charlatans who trade in superstition. Even the deputy abbot at Bodai-ji, Mount Osore’s temple, said the itako were not connected to the temple, which he said only tolerates their presence.
Now, however, even these last remaining itako are vanishing. Only four graying itako appeared at Mt. Osore’s weeklong summer festival this year, three having died of old age in the last year. Worse, the only practicing medium younger than retirement age — 40-year-old Keiko Himukai, known among believers as the last itako — stopped coming this year for health reasons.
“We can see a very ancient flame dying out before our eyes,” Ms. Himukai said in a separate interview. “But traditions have to change with the times.”
Junichi Tonosaki, a historian in the prefectural museum in Aomori, where Mount Osore is located, said the number of itako had fallen from about 20 a decade ago. He said they began gathering at Mount Osore in the last century as their numbers began to dwindle, to make it easier for customers to find them. The volcano’s 1,200-year-old temple is believed by many here to be a gathering point for souls of the dead before Buddhist reincarnation.
Mr. Tonosaki and other historians say itako and other shamanistic mediums were common across Japan in medieval times, when this was often the only occupation available for the blind. But they were suppressed in the late 19th century, as Japan built a modern nation. In recent times, they have survived only on the geographic margins, in rural northern Japan and on the southern island of Okinawa.
Shojiro Kurokawa, 82, can remember as a child in the 1930s when residents of his and other nearby villages would trek to the temple to hold weeklong festivals of all-night dancing, singing and séances. In those days, he said, there were more than 100 itako.
“This is an era when children ignore their parents and forget about the dead,” said Mr. Kurokawa, who runs an inn near the temple that caters to visitors of the spiritual mediums.
Now, there are so few itako that visitors routinely wait in line for several hours to see one. Itako charge 3,000 yen, or about $30, for each spirit called in a roughly 10-minute ceremony.
One family of three came from Tokyo, a day’s drive away. Masako Toyama, 68, said she came to speak with her husband, who died suddenly last summer of cancer. She, her son and his wife said it was their first visit to Mount Osore. She said she knew of the itako from growing up in northern Japan.
“They were a scary but also soothing presence,” Ms. Toyama said. “Japanese still need this sort of emotional support.”
“I wanted to give the itako a try, to see if this is real,” said the son, Shinji Toyama, a 41-year-old salaryman at a medical testing firm.
When the Toyamas’ turn finally came after six and a half hours of waiting, they seemed almost taken aback by the itako’s modern appearance, in pink-tinted glasses and a flower-patterned shirt.
The itako, Setsu Aoyama, began by lifting a long strand of dark beads and began a short chant: “I call the spirit who died on July 11,” the date Ms. Toyama’s husband, Shigeto, died.
In the same rhythmic cadence, swaying her head with eyes shut, she assumed the voice of Shigeto. “I didn’t go to a doctor soon enough,” she intoned. “Men don’t listen to things like that.”
Ms. Himukai, the 40-year-old itako, says she enters a trance in which she feels the presence of the spirit and its mood, which she expresses in her own words. She said she decided to begin the three-year period of study to become a spiritual medium as a teenager, after an itako near her rural village cured her of an ailment that doctors could not fix.
She said she felt guilty about not going to Mount Osore. However, she said she may no longer be able to attend because of health problems, including a chronic stomach ailment. Instead, she said she wanted to write a book or make a movie about the itako.
“The end can also be the beginning of something new,” said Ms. Himukai, who wore a plain gray suit with pants and spoke in a whisper.
After the ceremony, the Toyamas had mixed reactions. The widow said her heart had been put at ease. But the younger generation was less convinced.
“I didn’t feel like it was really my father in front of me,” said Shinji, the son. But he said he wanted to come again next year, to try a different itako. “Maybe we just had beginner’s bad luck by choosing the wrong one.”
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Russia's Putin Considering Presidential Bid In 2012
by The Associated Press
December 3, 2009
In an electric four-hour solo performance on live television, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he will think about whether to reclaim the presidency — one of the strongest signals yet that he may run again for Russia's top office in 2012.
Putin, who also vowed that Russia would step up its efforts against terrorism, spoke during a question-and-answer show on television and radio that highlighted his dominance of Russia's political scene.
"I will think about it, there is still enough time," Putin said when asked whether he will run in the next election.
"Don't hold your breath," Putin told another person who asked whether he was planning to leave politics.
Putin added he wants to focus now on his job as premier and make sometimes unpopular decisions without having to take electoral considerations into account. He had to shift into the premier's seat in 2008 following two consecutive terms in office, but since then the presidential term has been extended to six years and Putin is eligible to run again in 2012.
Some 2 million questions were submitted by telephone or on the Internet to Putin's marathon television show, which was similar to previous call-ins he did when he was president. It clearly demonstrated that he continued to call the shots, overshadowing his designated successor, President Dmitry Medvedev.
Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who studies the Russian political elite, said Putin had decided to reclaim the presidency even before he stepped down.
"I think it was decided in 2007, when strategy was being planned," she told The Associated Press. "I think it was decided that Putin should not seek a third consecutive term, but that after four years he could return to the presidency — this is the most likely scenario."
The bookish Medvedev was in Italy on Thursday to meet with the Italian leaders and the pope. Medvedev has never made a similar appearance on television since his March 2008 election.
"If Putin doesn't rule out running, neither do I rule myself out" for 2012 election, Medvedev told journalists in Rome when asked about Putin's remarks.
Putin has said previously that instead of competing against each other in 2012, he and Medvedev will "sit down and decide" who will run as the elections get closer.
Asked about his relationship with Medvedev, Putin said their common educational background and views allowed them to "efficiently work together."
Putin, who has cast himself as a paternal figure protecting people from terrorism and economic upheavals, said Thursday that the threat of terrorism remains "very high" following a deadly train bombing that killed 26 people last week. He promised that authorities would act "very harshly" to root out militants.
"We have enough resolve and firmness for that," he said.
The bombing last Friday of the Moscow-to-St. Petersburg express train fueled fears that Russia could face another wave of terror attacks. It was the first deadly terrorist strike outside the North Caucasus since the bombings of two airliners and a Moscow subway station attack in 2004.
Putin also focused heavily on economy during Thursday's show, which featured televised links with workers from several industrial towns. He said Russia has "overcome the peak of the crisis" and claimed credit for softening its impact. He added the government will have to spend more money to support the economy in the meantime.
Russia is weathering its worst economic downturn in a decade as commodities prices — the backbone of its economy — collapsed late last year. But it emerged from the recession in the third quarter, its GDP rising by a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent.
Putin used the show to further burnish his common-man appeal, chastising the Russian rich for arrogantly showing off their wealth, saying their fancy imported cars looked as grotesque as golden teeth.
He congratulated a 55-year-old caller on her birthday and promised to send computers to a provincial school in reply to a student's plea. He also promised more compensation to a widow whose husband was among 75 people killed in a disastrous accident at Russia's largest hydroelectric plant, and offered wage hikes and more social benefits to others.
"If the situation demands it, I will come to you or to any other place in the Russian Federation, it's my duty," Putin said.
In a careful balancing act in response to a question about Josef Stalin, Putin credited the Soviet dictator for his industrialization drive and World War II victory but denounced the massive repressions under Stalin's regime.
Delving into foreign policy issues, Putin sharply admonishing the United States for keeping "anachronistic" Cold War-era trade restrictions imposed to penalize the Soviet Union for its refusal to allow free emigration of the Jews. "The Soviet Union is gone, but they [restrictions] have remained," he said.
Putin also accused the United States of hampering Russia's accession into the World Trade Organization.
"Accession into the WTO remains our strategic goal, but some nations, including the United States, are impeding Russia's WTO bid," he said.
December 3, 2009
In an electric four-hour solo performance on live television, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he will think about whether to reclaim the presidency — one of the strongest signals yet that he may run again for Russia's top office in 2012.
Putin, who also vowed that Russia would step up its efforts against terrorism, spoke during a question-and-answer show on television and radio that highlighted his dominance of Russia's political scene.
"I will think about it, there is still enough time," Putin said when asked whether he will run in the next election.
"Don't hold your breath," Putin told another person who asked whether he was planning to leave politics.
Putin added he wants to focus now on his job as premier and make sometimes unpopular decisions without having to take electoral considerations into account. He had to shift into the premier's seat in 2008 following two consecutive terms in office, but since then the presidential term has been extended to six years and Putin is eligible to run again in 2012.
Some 2 million questions were submitted by telephone or on the Internet to Putin's marathon television show, which was similar to previous call-ins he did when he was president. It clearly demonstrated that he continued to call the shots, overshadowing his designated successor, President Dmitry Medvedev.
Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who studies the Russian political elite, said Putin had decided to reclaim the presidency even before he stepped down.
"I think it was decided in 2007, when strategy was being planned," she told The Associated Press. "I think it was decided that Putin should not seek a third consecutive term, but that after four years he could return to the presidency — this is the most likely scenario."
The bookish Medvedev was in Italy on Thursday to meet with the Italian leaders and the pope. Medvedev has never made a similar appearance on television since his March 2008 election.
"If Putin doesn't rule out running, neither do I rule myself out" for 2012 election, Medvedev told journalists in Rome when asked about Putin's remarks.
Putin has said previously that instead of competing against each other in 2012, he and Medvedev will "sit down and decide" who will run as the elections get closer.
Asked about his relationship with Medvedev, Putin said their common educational background and views allowed them to "efficiently work together."
Putin, who has cast himself as a paternal figure protecting people from terrorism and economic upheavals, said Thursday that the threat of terrorism remains "very high" following a deadly train bombing that killed 26 people last week. He promised that authorities would act "very harshly" to root out militants.
"We have enough resolve and firmness for that," he said.
The bombing last Friday of the Moscow-to-St. Petersburg express train fueled fears that Russia could face another wave of terror attacks. It was the first deadly terrorist strike outside the North Caucasus since the bombings of two airliners and a Moscow subway station attack in 2004.
Putin also focused heavily on economy during Thursday's show, which featured televised links with workers from several industrial towns. He said Russia has "overcome the peak of the crisis" and claimed credit for softening its impact. He added the government will have to spend more money to support the economy in the meantime.
Russia is weathering its worst economic downturn in a decade as commodities prices — the backbone of its economy — collapsed late last year. But it emerged from the recession in the third quarter, its GDP rising by a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent.
Putin used the show to further burnish his common-man appeal, chastising the Russian rich for arrogantly showing off their wealth, saying their fancy imported cars looked as grotesque as golden teeth.
He congratulated a 55-year-old caller on her birthday and promised to send computers to a provincial school in reply to a student's plea. He also promised more compensation to a widow whose husband was among 75 people killed in a disastrous accident at Russia's largest hydroelectric plant, and offered wage hikes and more social benefits to others.
"If the situation demands it, I will come to you or to any other place in the Russian Federation, it's my duty," Putin said.
In a careful balancing act in response to a question about Josef Stalin, Putin credited the Soviet dictator for his industrialization drive and World War II victory but denounced the massive repressions under Stalin's regime.
Delving into foreign policy issues, Putin sharply admonishing the United States for keeping "anachronistic" Cold War-era trade restrictions imposed to penalize the Soviet Union for its refusal to allow free emigration of the Jews. "The Soviet Union is gone, but they [restrictions] have remained," he said.
Putin also accused the United States of hampering Russia's accession into the World Trade Organization.
"Accession into the WTO remains our strategic goal, but some nations, including the United States, are impeding Russia's WTO bid," he said.
China vs. Disney: The Battle for Mulan
Thursday, Dec. 03, 2009
China vs. Disney: The Battle for Mulan
By Ling Woo Liu / Hong Kong
China is moving to take back one of its own — even if it is legend. Mulan is the Middle Kingdom's gender-bending heroine, its Joan of Arc. The character from folktale is a daughter who disguises herself as a male soldier to take her father's place in the conscription army. The problem for the Chinese is that, since 1998, the definitive version of the story has been Disney's.
Indeed, because of the animated Disney film, the character Mulan has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Chinese culture worldwide. Baby girls adopted from China have been named Mulan by their American parents. Disney has staged musical versions of the movie Mulan from Mexico to the Philippines. And posing for a photo with Mulan is a must for hordes of tourists at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Although it was too American for audiences in China (where it performed abysmally), Disney's Mulan was a smash hit in the rest of the world, where it reeled in $300 million. That didn't sit well with some Chinese, including Guo Shu, executive president of Starlight International Media Group, an entertainment company based in Beijing. "We commit ourselves to be a media with a sense of national responsibility," she told the state-run People's Daily. "Now that foreigners can produce a popular movie out of the story Hua Mulan, why can't we Chinese present its own to the world?"
In 2006, she announced the production of a Chinese Mulan, and now that version has opened to reclaim the global Mulan-mania. On Nov. 27, the $12 million, mainland-funded live-action war epic premiered in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia. It will hit screens in Hong Kong this week, and negotiations are on the table for release dates in the U.S. and Europe.
The film's Hong Kong director, Jingle Ma, says the new 115-minute Mulan is a sweeping melodrama that depicts the central character as an action hero, dutiful daughter and wistful romantic. The film stars Vicki Zhao Wei, who shot to fame in the late 1990s playing the wide-eyed lead role in the television series Princess Pearl. Zhao may have gotten the role because of her tomboy image in action films such as Red Cliff and So Close, but in Mulan, she appears with full makeup and long, glossy fingernails — even as a soldier.
While the Disney film wove comedy into a Disney-esque plot about a young girl breaking out of the confines of tradition to pursue her own destiny, the new Mulan focuses on patriotism, filial piety, romance and the difficulties of war. The formula is part of an evolving mainland genre that has seen filmmakers incorporating more nuanced, entertaining storytelling into patriotic plots. "China is anxious to be part of the global community. There's a lot of concern over soft power right now," says Poshek Fu, professor of cinema studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Movies are a strong projection of that desire."
The new Mulan is at least the 10th film version of the Hua Mulan tale ("Hua" is the heroine's surname). Many of the previous films — like Mulan Joins the Army, released in 1939 in Japanese-occupied Shanghai — carried political messages during turbulent periods in the country's history. In 1956, after the Communist Party had banned American films and nationalized the country's film studios, a state-sponsored Hua Mulan was released, touting the party's egalitarian gender policy. After many Chinese filmmakers fled communist-controlled China, the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong gave overseas Chinese audiences a vision of a unified China in its 1963 film The Lady General Hua Mulan.
The latest Mulan is not the only post-Disney attempt to remake the folktale. In 2003, there was talk of a version starring Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat. In 2006, the Weinstein Co. announced a big-budget Mulan film that would star Zhang Ziyi. Director Ma says his version comes at just the right time. "Eleven years ago, just because someone else made this film didn't mean that we had to come back and make our version right away," he says. "It was better to wait for things to cool down before we made our own Mulan. Back then, the Chinese market wasn't mature yet, but now it's ready."
But there's a foreign presence even in this Chinese attempt to take back its own. The Russian entertainer Vitas plays the role of a singer from a distant land held hostage by the nomadic and militant Rouran tribe, which is set on invading Chinese territory. The casting choice, Ma explained, was a simple marketing decision. Starlight International represents Vitas in China. And, who knows, the Russian actor could be key to the new Mulan's conquest of foreign audiences. Take that, Disney.
China vs. Disney: The Battle for Mulan
By Ling Woo Liu / Hong Kong
China is moving to take back one of its own — even if it is legend. Mulan is the Middle Kingdom's gender-bending heroine, its Joan of Arc. The character from folktale is a daughter who disguises herself as a male soldier to take her father's place in the conscription army. The problem for the Chinese is that, since 1998, the definitive version of the story has been Disney's.
Indeed, because of the animated Disney film, the character Mulan has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Chinese culture worldwide. Baby girls adopted from China have been named Mulan by their American parents. Disney has staged musical versions of the movie Mulan from Mexico to the Philippines. And posing for a photo with Mulan is a must for hordes of tourists at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Although it was too American for audiences in China (where it performed abysmally), Disney's Mulan was a smash hit in the rest of the world, where it reeled in $300 million. That didn't sit well with some Chinese, including Guo Shu, executive president of Starlight International Media Group, an entertainment company based in Beijing. "We commit ourselves to be a media with a sense of national responsibility," she told the state-run People's Daily. "Now that foreigners can produce a popular movie out of the story Hua Mulan, why can't we Chinese present its own to the world?"
In 2006, she announced the production of a Chinese Mulan, and now that version has opened to reclaim the global Mulan-mania. On Nov. 27, the $12 million, mainland-funded live-action war epic premiered in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia. It will hit screens in Hong Kong this week, and negotiations are on the table for release dates in the U.S. and Europe.
The film's Hong Kong director, Jingle Ma, says the new 115-minute Mulan is a sweeping melodrama that depicts the central character as an action hero, dutiful daughter and wistful romantic. The film stars Vicki Zhao Wei, who shot to fame in the late 1990s playing the wide-eyed lead role in the television series Princess Pearl. Zhao may have gotten the role because of her tomboy image in action films such as Red Cliff and So Close, but in Mulan, she appears with full makeup and long, glossy fingernails — even as a soldier.
While the Disney film wove comedy into a Disney-esque plot about a young girl breaking out of the confines of tradition to pursue her own destiny, the new Mulan focuses on patriotism, filial piety, romance and the difficulties of war. The formula is part of an evolving mainland genre that has seen filmmakers incorporating more nuanced, entertaining storytelling into patriotic plots. "China is anxious to be part of the global community. There's a lot of concern over soft power right now," says Poshek Fu, professor of cinema studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Movies are a strong projection of that desire."
The new Mulan is at least the 10th film version of the Hua Mulan tale ("Hua" is the heroine's surname). Many of the previous films — like Mulan Joins the Army, released in 1939 in Japanese-occupied Shanghai — carried political messages during turbulent periods in the country's history. In 1956, after the Communist Party had banned American films and nationalized the country's film studios, a state-sponsored Hua Mulan was released, touting the party's egalitarian gender policy. After many Chinese filmmakers fled communist-controlled China, the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong gave overseas Chinese audiences a vision of a unified China in its 1963 film The Lady General Hua Mulan.
The latest Mulan is not the only post-Disney attempt to remake the folktale. In 2003, there was talk of a version starring Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat. In 2006, the Weinstein Co. announced a big-budget Mulan film that would star Zhang Ziyi. Director Ma says his version comes at just the right time. "Eleven years ago, just because someone else made this film didn't mean that we had to come back and make our version right away," he says. "It was better to wait for things to cool down before we made our own Mulan. Back then, the Chinese market wasn't mature yet, but now it's ready."
But there's a foreign presence even in this Chinese attempt to take back its own. The Russian entertainer Vitas plays the role of a singer from a distant land held hostage by the nomadic and militant Rouran tribe, which is set on invading Chinese territory. The casting choice, Ma explained, was a simple marketing decision. Starlight International represents Vitas in China. And, who knows, the Russian actor could be key to the new Mulan's conquest of foreign audiences. Take that, Disney.
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