Samurai in the Rain, Attack of the Giant Lizard!, and other classics －雨の中のサムライ、巨大トカゲの襲撃！、そしてその他の名作－

I wrote last week about one of my favourite movies, Groundhog Day.  There is a big problem, however, when talking to a Japanese audience about movies.  The titles of foreign movies in Japan bear little relation to the original title.

Groundhog Day became “Love is déjà vu in Japan (恋はデジャ・ブ).  Umm, what?

It seems to me that the Japanese distributors have a very low opinion of Japanese audiences.  They think that the original title is confusing, so everyone will just give up on it.  It also fails to treat the movie as a work of art worth preserving in as close to its original form as possible.  It’s just a source of money.  Throw the word “love” into the title and more people will watch it.

And English teachers like me have to learn never to talk about movies with their students.  It simply sparks confusion all around.  Don’t believe me?  Take a look at some more examples below.  I’ll list the title in Japan first, followed by the original title.

If we were to encounter (めぐり逢えたら)　

Sleepless in Seattle

There is no tomorrow for us (俺たちに明日はない)　

Bonnie and Clyde 

Those days with Penny Lane (あの頃ペニー・レインと)

Almost famous 

A 17 year-old’s medical charts (17 歳のカルテ)
Girl, interrupted 

In the English language world, we have tended just to keep the original titles of Japanese films and books.  Audiences are just expected to deal with it.  But maybe we have missed a trick.  If someone were to re-release classic Japanese films and books with a catchy new title, they could make millions!

So I have come up with my own new, catchier titles for classic Japanese books and movies.  I’ll put my titles below.  See if you can guess what original work they represent.  I’ll then put the answers further down the page, after the vocabulary. 

1 – Attack of the Giant Lizard!

2 – Should I kill my baby?

3 - Sensei with the guilty heart

4 - The man in the well

5 - Samurai in the Rain

6 – Kids and parents these days

7 – The ghost girl in the tv

 

Vocabulary:

ｔo spark something – to create or cause something

ｔo miss a trick – to fail to use some helpful tactic or clever solution

 

Answers:

1 - Godzilla

2 - A personal matter (個人的な体験)

3 - Kokoro　

4 - The wind-up bird chronicles (ねじまき鳥クロニクル)

5 - Rashomon

6 – Tokyo story (東京物語)

7 – Ring