Harald Salomon Bücher

Harald Salomon’s study of wartime cinema offers fascinating insights into a period in Japanese history that is frequently described as a “dark valley” (kurai tanima). This book examines how the development of cinema interacted with government efforts to create a culture of nationalism. The first part traces how bureaucrats in the Ministry of Education and other institutions came to perceive cinema as crucial in their efforts to integrate a population divided by socioeconomic and ideological processes. It explores ensuing policies formulated to make use of film in the promotion of “national culture”, and reveals that various official and private actors engaged in the debate and implementation of these policies. The second part documents feature films that received governmental awards and analyzes the attitudes they promoted towards war, enemy, and personal sacrifice. Moreover, it sheds light on the reception of these films by historical audiences. In sum, the findings contribute to knowledge on state–society relations and the cultural milieu in which the population was mobilized in wartime Japan.

This bibliography presents Western-language materials on the Japanese medical doctor, writer, and translator Mori Rintarô (1862–1922), known as Ôgai. It seeks to document the state of research and to promote interest in the Meiji intellectual whose education and lifelong activity unified Eastern and Western traditions in an exemplary manner. In addition to Ôgai’s publications in German language, studies on his life and works as well as translations of his Japanese-language texts, including essays, letters, literary works, and poems, are accounted for in particular. Moreover, materials concerning members of the Mori family and studies on film adaptations of Ôgai’s literary texts are introduced. Bibliographic data of publications are complemented by tables of contents whenever possible. A comprehensive index to the names of authors, titles of Ôgai’s works, and thematic key words allows for convenient access to the recorded data.