New-York tribune., 1921-05-08
Studio of the Nippon Toxic The
hand filming a th Japanese bed matted

hitherto housed the exhibitions Quite ra.
Gently company was organized in Toxic for
the sole purpose of building a fitting home for
movie shows. The capitalization of the com
pany is 3,000,0 600 yen. 1t purposes to build
steel structure, four stories high. The ground
floor will be given over to stores and refresh.
ment stalls, the second to a dining hall and
the third to the theater. 1t will be crowned
with roof garden. AS you see, it is no modest
enterprise, especially for Japan. Last year
the Department of Education Of Japan estab.
lished bureaus Of investigation. The chief
idea was to look carefully into what the on.
cials called the "social education" of the mass
In connection with the bureau committee
composed of movie enthusiasts was established
Professor Sugawara, of the Women's Higher
Normal College in Toxic; Professor Condo
Of the economics department of the Imperial
University; Mr.. Tachibana, chief of the cen.
sor board, and Mr.. Norisugi, of the Depart
ment OF Education, are some of the leading
lights IN 1t. This committee is devoting its
chief attention to the study Of the DEVELOPMENT
of the movie fever in Japan centering round
about Asakusa-for, after all is said and done
Asakusa is the center of popular amusements
in the capital city of Nippon The personnel
of the committee speaks more pointedly than
any other thing with regard to the emphasis
the present government-more especially the
Department of Education-is putting on the
influence of the movie on the popular mind Of
Japan.
The City of Kobe made a pretty thorough
examination of the movie situation there, and
recently published the figures for 1919 They
are interesting in many ways. Kobe attained
IN that year the proud position of being the
greatest port Of the Pacific, outranking for the
first time in its history such great ports as
Yokohama, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Shang-
hal and Seattle. Being a great commercial
port Tor over half century, it is natural that
her population is familiar with all Occidental
customs and institutions and innovations She
should naturally be one of the first cities in
Japan to respond to the lure of the movies.
In 1919, according to official figures, 4,61l
reels of film were shown at various theatsrs
OF the port. Of that number 1,774 were home
products Therefore, there were 1887 in-
ported reels exhibited-and those had come al
most altogether from the United States. The
censor cut out 10000 feet of films in that
year, mostly from the <impassioned portions Of
imported films-just 10000 feet of Joy edited
out of the life of the good people of Kobe By
the mirthless scissors of censorship The total
footage of films shown in that city in the year
amounted to quite a respectable total, being
4,135,S01. The people who paid their way into
ten of the leading motion picture places Of the
city In that year totaled 4,969,S81. OF this
number 708,38S were children.
Another interesting thing brought out in the
official report of Kobe is the tremendous num-
Der of animated and talking captions" that
hourlsh IN the city. They call them Kat
suben" down there. A katsuben is a man or q
woman who stands in the dark, down by the
ever-unfolding drama on the screen, and gives
voice to the characters. He also tells the story
of the film, for in Japan they do not have cap
tlons thrown on the screen In Kobe, in the
year covered by the report, there were no fewer
than 311 katsuben
Now, the katsuben have quite good deal TO
do with the moral atmosphere and the moral
influence of the pictures, because they are its
interpreters. It comes TO pass, naturally, that
the censor is particularly interested in the kat
NeSSAt SioiiAilss fiiSutaA dtSlIuNS3 sAN~--
rectitude and the purity Of his ideals. These
katsuben cannot get jobs unless they are prop
erly armed with licenses from the censor.
That, precisely, is where the censor is czar.
And the good people of Kobe, they say, are
about to take up subscription for free hos
pital for victims suffering from an overdose Of
conscience! They are too polite to come right
out in open criticism of the censor. But every
one knows their sentiments.
Meanwhile, the imperial japanese movie
censors do not seem to be planning to take
month or two off this summer and invite then
weary souls forth to the lyric quiet Of theif
ancient hills. According to Mr.. Moriyana, -
charge of the censor bureau, a TREMENDOUS
flood of sex films is pouring into Japan IRON
Germany and Italy just now. In fact, he az
clares that the kissing and clinching cycOn'
of American films will soon be crowded my
the nursery by these Italian and German pfv
ductions Censor Moriyama thinks, also, tns.
the American monopoly in movie films is sOoss
TO be broken by these Italian snd German Is
postations--not only in sex dramas. hus a's'
I'm almost every other line 50 weH