"Well" and equal to a samurai in one winter are miles apart. Besides, they're very diffferent swords and techniques. Katan are 2 handed, and the art is one of a quick, snake like strike. Cavalry sabers were one handed slashing weapons.
sorry macbeth but you got this one wrong here. we've all heard the term kamikaze, divine wind literally. it is what saved the japanese from the mongols. the japanese didn't do most of the work....nature did with typhoons.
No, like the Persian Wars, a storm played a role, but only after the Samurai had held there own against superior numbers. It was the latter which precluded a second invasion; the mongols weren;t worried about another wind, but about further engagements with Japanese military might. Remember that Japan was a culture unlike any other; the tribal deliniations of Scotland, with similar terrain, or like Greece, but with much more sophistocated forces, training, societal structure, and an almost unlimited manforce. It all revolved around warfafe, and warfare was an almost constant practice. As such, their military training, devotion, discipline, tactics, strategies,logistics, readiness, and willingness to sacrifice were on a par with almost no one.
i will agree with you about basically all that, but i think that the mongols were still hurt very badly by the storms. granted i don't know if they could have overrun the japanese, but they would have stood a much much better chance if they had not happened i do agree with you that japanese is a culture like no other in the world, but lets not go overboard with the talk about how no one else compares to japan's military culture. take a look at england. they were a cultural group who for the most part was able to unite themselves much sooner than the japanese were and were much more successufl than the japanese were. they also had that sort of tradition that you speak of too.
Disagree. They united as a culture earlier...it's just that the English became a naval, exapansionist nation, whereas the Japanese were, for the most part, an isolationist, land based nation.
yes but they still had the same sort of militaristic tradition of honor and weaponry and training and such that the japanese had.
Nomar, it's kind of funny that you, with your parents being Korean (?), defend the Japanese "warrior tradition" so much...most Koreans would probably disagree... I haven't seen Lost in Translation, but my parents went to watch it and they said it was one of the worst and most boring movies they had seen in a long time...I guess it's a bit of a question of personal taste.
It is ironic, I agree. Actually only my mother is Korean, surprised you remember. However I feel as if the bigger issue at stake is the situation of it being okay to ridicule and mock Asians as a whole. In this overall scheme of things that is more important than the differences between Japanese and Koreans. Besides, I consider myself an American anyway.
I could care less about the racial overtones in the movies .... As far as entertainment goes, I thought 'Lost in Translation' was terrible. I think this was a movie made for people who like to make more a of a movie than it really is. All it was about was two people being friends. It was certainly tough for me to stay awake. But to each his own.
I was a little bit offended by some of the treatment of Japanese culture in Lost In Translation, and the Japanese invaded my country! Spike Lee's movies' treatment of Asians offends me just as much or more, haven't seen any of his movies in a long time. I didn't like The Last Samurai all that much, either, but that may have been because it was depressing, and there are a couple of Japanese movies I've seen that tell the same story.
Nomar, you ever shot and killed a white man? It'll make your hair stand on end. You'll be thinking about it for the next day or two. I highly recommend it.
Also ... D.W. Grimace (I think dat be his name) made a badazz movie in the 1960s (or something) about these kickass dudes on horses with ghost suits. Ch-ch-check it out!
I've held several different opinions on this movie since I initially saw it. At first, I found it entertaining and was mesmerized by the sights and sounds. But as time wore on, I started to wonder whether the criticisms claiming that there's a racist undertone had a hint of truth. In the end, I don't believe so. At least, I don't believe the film carries a racist message, nor do I feel the characters are inherently racist. The story is about two individuals who are in Japan during an introspective point in their lives. Their alienation already exists, but being in Japan enhances that condition. Bill Murray's character seems to see his trip as a job, nothing more. He'd rather be elsewhere, as evidenced by his attempts to leave. Scarlet Johansen, on the other hand, has come to Japan to be close to her husband (possibly to alleviate her perceived lack of direction), but ends up feeling more detached. There are token attempts to do stereotypical touristy things, but they seem like weak graspings at a deep culture. The monks and the bamboo arranging scene seemed hollow to me, and I believe this is a success of the film, not a failure.
The Last Samurai was pure HOLLYWOOD... Same as The Patriot, and Armageddon, Pearl Harbor...they romanticized war, death, Americans and everything else...complete with slow motion video for it's actors while dramatic music is playing in the background. I think the term some film critics are using is called: Histortainment
Coming in here real late... Yeah. Lost in Translation was a tad annoying with the racial jokes. But as someone pointed out, I think the jokes themselves were meant to suggest that the two were compensating for the inherent unease of being foreigners in a strange land. Many recent immigrants coming to America mock American culture too, if only as a way to comfort themselves. As for Japan. It is indeed a fine land fabulously rich in culture and tradition. (I dare say that NO other nation is more famous for its warriors than Japan). I thought the Last Samurai DID pay a fitting tribute to this. The cinematography was awesome, the direction and acting was excellent, and the touch of meiji history (albeit slightly distorted) was nice too, all of it compensating for what was otherwise a pretty weak script. Something of a military history lover myself. Let me just add that even though the Mongol Hordes were simply the most awesome war machine the world had ever seen up to that point, and its military systems inherently dominated all other armies of its time, they had two weaknesses: 1) they couldn't afford to lose men. because their manpower pool (as least for the Mongol horsemen) was awfully limited. 2) they fared poorly in rugged terrain and against fortified cities. Whenever the Mongols faced enemies it could not defeat swiftly and relatively painlessly, they often simply ignored them or retreated. That was the case with the Jurchen Jin Empire in north China and with the Sung Empire in Southern China. The Mongols, at the peak of their powers, still took 30 years to defeat the former, even though they were the Mongols' historical nemesis and sworn enemy. The Mongols took 70 years to bring down the Sung. After suffering any sort of significant losses, the Mongols would always retreat to recover their forces, and come back several years after. Against Japan, this was the case as well. True, the Japanese fought valiantly, but their armies in the field fared no better than the other Asian armies that the Mongols fought against. The Japanese armies were seriously outclassed during both invasions, despite vastly outnumbering the Mongols. And it was fundamentally the fortifications which they built which sustained them against the initial force (only 40,000 made landfall) and the storms which destroyed the Mongol's main force (over 100,000 men lost before ever setting foot on land!), and forced their withdraw. However MacBeth is right in that many Mongols were recorded to have been awed by the majestic displays of valor on the part of many fierce Japanese warriors, some of whom apparently wielded 15-feet long blades... The Western world has Japan to thank for preventing a second Mongol Horde from sweeping through Europe. If he had succeeded in taking Japan, with 150,000 men at his disposal, and nothing left to conquer, Kublai Khan could have easily avenged the Mongols' earlier defeat at Al Jalut and finished off Europe in one fell swoop. This army was EVEN STRONGER than the one that annihilated the Hungarians in 1241. The army in 1241 traversed 300 miles in 3 days, slaughtered multiple 60,000-men+ armies, the cream of Eastern Europe, while outnumbered and, what's even more stunning, suffering only a few hundred losses each time. The Mongols had mastered the Asiatic bow, a weapon that vastly outclassed in armor piercing power, range, rate of fire (15+ shots a minute!) EVERYTHING in the European arsenal. The typical Mongol trooper carried a light bow (for mounted skirmishing), a heavy long-range bow (for dismounted volleys), a lance for shock action, a scimitar for melee, and were trained wrestlers. Each also carried a complete tool kit for making bows, repairing saddles, and preparing food. The war machine in 1241, already had the legendary mobility, communication, organisation, recon, coordination, maneuverability, and durability unmatched until the 20th Century. By 1281, the Mongols were even stronger. They had vastly improved their siege weaponry (some of which were based on gunpowder!!! in 1281!!!) by drawing on Chinese, Persian and Jin technologies and enlisting Chinese and Persian engineers they had just conquered (which makes them probably the finest siege artists in the world...). These same places also provided them with true field artillery (horse-drawn): catapults, javelin-throwers, ballistae, etc. etc. They also had availed themselves to the inexhaustible pool of heavy infantry and supplies/navies these powerful conquered states now provided. Elite Mongol units were now equiped with heavy armor, making them equal to European knights in shock ability... Frightful... True the Japanese elite mounted samurai are excellent warriors (equipped with bow, katana, lance, light armor, and excellent training), and equals in many sense to the Mongol elite troopers one-on-one in the field. And to their credit, the Japanese (along with the Jin, the Sung, and the Turks/Egyptians) were the only ones in history to stand toe-to-toe against the Mongols and hold their ground for any amount of time. But by 1281, the Mongol war machine was quite simply irresistible on land. If there had been no storm and the 100,000 men landed, all those fortifications and all that valour on the part of Japanese samurai would have only delayed their inevitable defeat.
I grew a late problem with the term "racist". The other way round I would tell "try to laugh about yourself". Sorry if I don't see it in lost in translation, but for me theres no racism in it. If I would be japanese and would watch the movie I for myself would not be offended. Why are you looking for the racism in this movie when theres so much beauty? I can understand it when some people find this movie especially when their favourites included "gems" like Rush Hour, bla bla, etc.
