The 2004 UCSD Japanese Film Symposium: Japan After the Bubble - Japanese Cinema, Today and Tomorrow, was a two-day event featuring seven distinctive films, highlighting the mood and thought of Japanese society after the post economic boom ("Bubble") of the 1980s, and beyond. The symposium was free and open to the public.

In contrast to the optimism and exuberance of the 1980s Bubble period, (during which Japan enjoyed an elevated global economic position), the tone of popular Japanese culture during the post-"Bubble" period (1990 - 2003), engendered a reflective edge to the films of this later period.

Eric Cazdyn, Associate Professor at the Centre for Comparative Literature, Cinema Studies Program and Department of East Asian Studies, at the University of Toronto says of the event: "By envisioning eerie futures that feel like the present and uncanny presents that feel like the future, the (seven) films to be screened in this symposium present profound arguments about contemporary Japan and beyond. These post-contemporary interventions (by (six) different directors, all working during and after the Japanese Economic Bubble) chew their way into the black-hole that is neither present nor future, but a confusion of both forcing us to re-think where we are and where we are going. "

This event featured seminars led by UCSD faculty and special guest speakers, including Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, New York University, author of Kurosawa: film studies and Japanese cinema. These participants led discussions on the emblematic themes represented in the symposium's film line-up ranging from live action to anime, high-adrenaline genres, including mystery, suspense and horror, as well as high drama.

These films not rated. Viewer discretion advised. Some films not appropriate for all audiences.

Program / List of Films / JFS-UCSD Resources / Gallery / Viewing Japanese