THE MAKING OF A JAPANESE

Acclaimed Documentary Delves into “One-Size-Fits-All” Schooling

Venue(s): Cine Switch Ginza
From December 13 (Fri), 2024
Language: Japanese with English subtitles (via UDC tablet)
Official website: shogakko-film.com/
Theater website: cineswitch.com/
Theater website: cineswitch.com/about
Trailer: https://bit.ly/3ZNfX1K

Advance tickets: https://bit.ly/3VB6o3p
Talk event: The director will appear on Dec. 13 and 14. Check details on the theater site.

Title: 小学校　〜それは小さな社会〜 (Shogakko Sore wa Chiisana Shakai)
Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki (山崎エマ)
Duration: 99 mins

The long-awaited Japanese release of Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s award-winning documentary The Making of a Japanese has finally arrived, and viewers at Cine Switch Ginza are able to watch with English subtitles via UDC tablet. The Japan/Finland/USA/France coproduction has been internationally praised, enjoying an unprecedented four-month theatrical run in Finland and positive reactions from audiences and educators in tens of other nations, where the film has been an attraction of many festivals.

Yamazaki shot the revelatory documentary for nearly a year (during Covid, no less) at suburban Tokyo’s Tsukado Elementary School, one of the largest public elementary schools in Japan with nearly 1,000 students. Rarely leaving the school, it intimately captures the experiences of 1st and 6th graders from their own perspective, focusing on the daily events that demonstrate how the children are taught to share communal values and play important roles within the group: aligning shoes and bookbags properly, cleaning the school, ranking each other’s tidiness, serving lunch, prepping for earthquakes and other disasters, rehearsing and perfecting skills, supporting and comforting each other when challenges seem insurmountable.

While this glimpse into how Japanese education shapes young lives emphasizes that elementary schooling forms the children into the type of adults who will help the country run enviably smoothly, there are hints that the rigid structures can also suppress individuality, leading to bullying and other problems, as well as to youth suicides.

The Making of a Japanese provides valuable insights into Japanese school life, and offers the perfect opportunity to consider the education systems in our own countries, at a time when societal convulsions have helped create opportunities for change.

Cine Switch Ginza