Article: Film about Japan screened at UA

Film about Japan screened at UA
By Nathan Crowder, Staff Writer
Published: Monday, April 11, 2005

Ayumi Sato presented her documentary "Manjiro," the castaway who
trailblazed a relationship between the United States and Japan.

Sato, a documentary filmmaker who lives in Boston, was invited by
the Japan American Society of Arkansas to show "Majiro" on Friday in
Mullins Library.

Manjiro was the first Japanese person to land in the United States.
More specifically, he was the first to be rescued and brought to the
United States. This year marks the 150-year anniversary of Manjiro's
landing and the subsequent beginning of relations between Japan and
the United States.

The documentary examines Manjiro's life, as well as the political
and social background of the drama between the newly opened Japanese
state under the Tokugawa Shogunate and the United States under
Admiral Perry.

Manjiro was an instrumental translator in the treaty that opened
trade between Japan and the United States and the West.

One of his most significant accomplishments was the translation of
navigation texts, used by Americans in the nineteenth century, into
Japanese. The translation took four years to complete, and secured a
place in Japanese society for illiterate farmers-turned-fishermen.

The trailblazing of a relationship between Japan and the United
States gave Manjiro a place in the history that might have been
forgotten, were it not brought to life through Sato's documentary.

Manjiro earned a position of respect in the Japanese government,
translating and teaching English.

Sato captured the essence of Manjiro's life by explaining his story
through video, documents, experts and footage of locations Manjiro
visited.

"I really like being behind the camera, instead of in front of it,"
Sato said. Sato explained how she became a filmmaker after changing
her career from broadcast journalism.

Sato lives in the Boston area and expects to continue to produce
documentaries. Manjiro took two years and three months to complete
and cost approximately $15,000. This film is the Sato's second and
most widely distributed documentary, and was brought to the UA by
the Japan America Society of Arkansas.

The documentary was part of the Asian Studies week, "From Silk Roads
to Crossroads."