Tora-san Forever: A Summit Meet Slated in November
Most of you may not know who Tora-san is and why "forever". You have little idea why people have to assemble in a summit meet a month away from Christmas. Well, it all makes sense to those of us Japanese - and surprisingly quite a few foreigners too - who have hard time forgetting Tora-san after his departure in 1996.
Tora-san, or just Tora to feel him closer, is a film character, non-existent, on whom a total of 48 movie-films were made virtually by a single producer through a single film company. That's a legend, isn't it? On top of it, the undertone of his stories is practically identical - him helplessly attracted to "sweethearts" and each and every time miserably heartbroken. The same old story for 48 times! It's like John Ford making 48 films featuring Doc. Holiday from nowhere else but Warner Brothers over the period 1969 - 1995.
The 48 films have an identical title "It's Tough to be Born a Man (Otoko wa tsurai yo)". Though symmetrical in outline, his life in film is rich with episodes not only in his never-to-realize love affairs but the way he makes living by street stalls salesman traveling from one local festival to another. The Tora-san films stand out with his eloquent sales talks that flow in chains of comforting rhymes - a charm only native Japanese can enjoy, Donald Keene excepted.
Altogether 200 or so local municipalities where the films were taken have agreed to come to Shibamata, Tora-san's hometown, in November. The 41st film "Tora-san and his Random Harvest" was filmed in Vienna and representatives of the City of Vienna will attend the summit meet.
Director Yoji Yamada who produced the entire Tora-san series commented:
"On behalf of Tora-san I wish to thank everyone of you for having made my series of film a bridge to link people and local communities. I'm sure Tora-san feels very much honored".
