Learning Bushidō from Abroad: Japanese Reactions to The Last Samurai

Abstract

Hollywood, struck by a case of Japan fever in the early 21st century, churned out a crop of Japan-oriented films such as Lost in Translation (Coppola 2003), Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Tarantino 2004), Memoirs of a Gei sha (Marshall 2005) and Letters from Iwo Jima (Eastwood 2006). But among al l these, The Last Samurai (Zwick 2003) received the most positive Japanese au dience reaction. This film, about an ex-Civil War American soldier who takes up arms to fight with the last of the samurai, played to mixed reviews in the U.S. but enjoyed a wildly popular reception in Japan. Judging from Japanese online d iscussion posts and media articles, many Japanese audiences read the film dif ferently from the American critics. Why and what do these reviews tell us abou t Japan in the beginning of the 21st century? By being a foreign film, The Last Sam urai allowed Japanese audiences to celebrate the nationalist messages tab oo in a domestically produced film.