PBS Documentaries: Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire

Also available from the PBS website is a three part documentary series on Meiji era Japan, already somewhat suspect from it's title--secrets, memoirs--the incense images of the Orientalized experienced. The previews of the episodes including extra information from the program may be found here.

So far I have only watched two minutes of the first episode's opening, and I am worried, because the first piece of narration is (paraphrased) "The Japanese have rituals found in not other country around the globe. The things they do are unimaginable, and it may be said that Japan is the reverse of the world of Europe," as the heavy ring of a Buddhist bell rings out against a foreground of sharply dressed men marching down a street lined with bowed heads, followed by the evocative shot of a geisha applying her makeup.

In the first three minutes.

Supposedly, one of the main contributers to this series is a former Fulbright scholar, working (at the time of airing, 2004) an anticipated book about cultural exchange between Japan and America. I need to track down the rest of the episodes, but I am wary of the discourse within this one.

edit//

Links obtained! Youtube is a great resource for somewhat public domain film.





It's mis-labeled, but this is the referred-to documentary on Tokugawa Japan.