japanese
Dramatic Science! Yamagata Science Theater
  • Science as an Art: The Amusing World of Jean Painlevé
  • Palpable Stirrings of Science: A Selection of “Culture Films” from the German UFA
  • Cosmologist of Life: 100 Years of Higuchi Genichiro
  • Japanese Masterpiece Selection 1: Watch! Learn! Understand!
  • Japanese Masterpiece Selection 2: The Beauty of Nature
  • Japanese Masterpiece Selection 3: Recording Creatures
  • Japanese Masterpiece Selection 4: Space Mission!
  • Japanese Masterpiece Selection 5: Science in Our Daily Lives
  • H program   Japanese Masterpiece Selection 5: Science in Our Daily Lives



    Scientific bombshells are also in our daily lives! Constant drama in the modern world and in our bodies! These four works will surprise us that there are still so many things we didn’t know . . .


    - Lubricating Oil

    (“Junkatsuyu”)

    JAPAN / 1960 / Japanese / Color / 35mm / 25 min

    Director: Takeuchi Shinji
    Script: Yoshimi Yutaka
    Director of Photography: Kobayashi Yonesaku
    Photography: Kato Wazo, Hasegawa Hiromi, Toyooka Sadao
    Music: Ikeno Sei
    Commentary: Sugiyama Shintaro
    Producer: Okada Sozo
    Planning: Maruzen Oil (now Cosmo Oil Company, Ltd.)
    Production Company: Tokyo Cinema Co., Inc.
    Source: TokyoCinema Inc., National Film Center

    A scientific spectacle film which powerfully describes how lubricating oil “fights against friction” in metal rolling at steelworks and in airplane jet engines. The sight of oil covering the massive machines is almost sensual—this is a charming cult work with a clean-cut screen design and magnificent music.



    - Destruction

    (“Kowasu”)

    JAPAN / 1973 / Japanese / Color / 16mm / 27 min

    Director, Script: Sadamura Takeshi
    Photography: Hirano Mitsunori, Akiyama Yasuhiro
    Music: Yanagisawa Tsuyoshi
    Commentary: Wada Atsushi
    Producers: Hara Masaji, Ishikawa Shigeki
    Production Company: Gakken Co., Ltd.
    Planning: Science and Technology Agency (now part of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology)
    Planning, Source: Japan Science Foundation

    Going on the notion that human history is a constant cycle of creation and destruction, we investigate various phenomena of destruction, from micro to macro. Characterized by its witty commentary, this is one film in a scientific series the Science and Technology Agency made annually.



    - Things and Their Weight

    (“Mono to sono omosa”)

    JAPAN / 1969 / Japanese / Color / Video (Original: 16mm) / 21 min
    Scientific Educational Film Collection, Physics Library, Mechanics Series

    Director: Goto Ichiro
    Script, Producer: Maki Chu
    Photography: Seki Haruo
    Experiments: Fukada Saburo
    Narrator: Yamada Sachiko
    Production Company: Iwanami Productions
    Source: Iwanami Audio-visual Media

    Everything has a weight that never changes, even if its shape is altered. This is an audience-participation film, making its basic proposition understood through quizzes and experiments. The structure of the Scientific Educational Film Collection films, calling for the classroom operator to actually stop the projector in the middle of the film, is also of interest.



    - The Stomach: The Elaborate Mechanism of Digestion

    (“I: Komyo na shoka no shikumi”)

    JAPAN / 2006 / Japanese / Color / Video / 14 min

    Director: Tamai Jun
    Narrative Structure: Takeda Junichiro
    Script: Kawamura Tomoko, Tamai Jun
    Photography: Hayashi Masahiro, Ishii Shigehisa, Kitahara Yukio
    Research: Tomita Tsutomu, Ishizaki Michiko
    CG: Nagata Masami Commentary: Ito Soichi
    Producers: Takeda Junichiro, Nishi Hiroshi
    Planning: Asuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
    Production Company, Source: Icam Co., Ltd.

    Since the stomach is always producing such strong enzymes and acids, why doesn’t it digest itself? Here is a unique work that will enlighten you on the mechanism of the stomach, surprisingly unknown to us even though we rely on it everyday. After you watch it, you’ll definitely be hungry.