triplets
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32.9k
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stringlengths 4
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⌀ | label_id
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1k
⌀ | synonyms
sequence | __index_level_1__
int64 312
64.1k
⌀ | __index_level_0__
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2.4k
⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
[
"Dangers of the Canadian Mounted",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"End of the Line (2007 film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"End of the Line (2007 film)",
"main subject",
"supernatural"
] | null | null | null | null | 4 |
|
[
"End of the Line (2007 film)",
"main subject",
"demon"
] | null | null | null | null | 6 |
|
[
"Fathers and Crows",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Fathers and Crows",
"follows",
"The Ice-Shirt"
] | null | null | null | null | 7 |
|
[
"Fathers and Crows",
"followed by",
"The Rifles"
] | null | null | null | null | 8 |
|
[
"Gone Fishin' (video game)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Gone Fishin' is a fishing video game for DOS released in 1994 by Amtex. The player takes part of a fishing tournament in the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario. This includes buying fishing equipment at a store and getting advice from both the storekeeper and an older man at a nearby fishing lodge. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Gunfighters of the Northwest",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Plot
White Horse Rebels, under the command of a mystery villain known only as The Leader, attempt to create an independent White Horse Republic in Canada's northwest. Funded by gold from the Marrow Mine, they attack Canadian settlements in the area. The North-West Mounted Police, represented primarily by hero Sgt. Ward and his sidekick Constable Nevin, discover The Leader's real identity. An added complication comes in the form of First Nations, Blackfeet driven into Canada from the United States, who attack both sides and whom the rebels attempt to use as scapegoats for their own attacks. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Comandamenti per un gangster",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Hitler Meets Christ",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"Iron Road (film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Iron Road is a 2009 Canada/China television miniseries written by Barry Pearson and Raymond Storey and directed by David Wu. Starring Sun Li, Luke Macfarlane, Peter O'Toole, Sam Neill, and Charlotte Sullivan, Iron Road chronicles the untold story of Chinese workers who helped to build the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. The mini-series was filmed in the Kamloops, B.C. area with many local actors.Iron Road is only the second joint venture to be created under a Canada/China co-production treaty established in the 1960s. The first was 1989's Bethune: The Making of a Hero.Production
Principal photography was shot in Hengdian World Studios (China) and in British Columbia, Canada. The Canadian shoot locations were filmed in the Kamloops area of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and Kelowna.
Authentic wood trestle bridges built by the Canadian Pacific Railway during the Gold Rush of the early 1900s were used for film locations.
Kamloops Heritage Railway's 2141 locomotive was brought in, and a section of actual railway was used, which was discontinued from service during the shoot.
The background performers cast as immigrant labourers in the Canadian shoot were mostly Asians from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. An additional performer's fee was offered to those who were willing to shave their heads for an authentic period look. Professional hairstylists were employed to hand costume the traditional Chinese long hair braid. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Mason of the Mounted",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"New Waterford Girl",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | New Waterford Girl is a 1999 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Allan Moyle, and written by Tricia Fish. It stars Liane Balaban as Agnes-Marie "Mooney" Pottie, a teenager in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, who dreams of life beyond her small-town home. She is inspired and fascinated when Lou Benzoa (Tara Spencer-Nairn), an idiosyncratic girl from New York City, moves into the house next door. Agnes learns Lou has a talent for boxing, leading to her taking Lou in as "muscle" in an attempt to make some changes around town.
The film's cast also includes Mary Walsh, Nicholas Campbell, Cathy Moriarty, Andrew McCarthy, Mark McKinney, Bette MacDonald, Ashley MacIsaac, Krista MacDonald, Cassie MacDonald, Darren Keay and Patrick Joyce.Plot
Agnes-Marie "Mooney" Pottie is a 15-year-old girl and black sheep of her family who is sick of her life in the isolated coastal community of New Waterford. She is considered an exceptional student by her depressive, semi-alcoholic English teacher, Cecil Sweeney, who also nurtures an inappropriate crush towards Mooney that is not reciprocated. Based on her talent, Cecil suggests she should attend an arts school in New York City. Mooney manages to get a scholarship at one school, but her religious parents, Francis and Cookie, refuse to let her go.
When a family from New York City moves in next door, Mooney quickly becomes friends with the eldest daughter, Lou. Lou is the daughter of a jailed boxer, and though she is of modest stature, she is able to knock men out when they are lying, something the devoutly Catholic townspeople consider as something of a religious miracle. Lou develops a side hustle, knocking out the unfaithful men of the town in exchange for money from their wronged girlfriends. Meanwhile, Mooney concocts a plan to leave town. She begins to openly kiss different boys in town in order to gain a reputation for promiscuity, though she never actually has sex with any of them.
Not wanting to be left out, many boys claim they have slept with Mooney. Mooney then tells her parents she is pregnant, which she knows will cause them to send her away where she can then escape and run away to Manhattan. However, the plan backfires as the boys of the town, having wised up to Moonie’s plan, threaten to reveal the truth about never having slept with Mooney. Though Mooney orders Lou to punch them out to show they are liars, they do not fall down when she hits them which shows they are telling the truth. Joey, one of the boys, gives the girls an ultimatum—Lou must face off with New Waterford’s reigning boxing champion in a match, or Mooney’s secret will be made public.
Lou ends up winning the match, but Mooney sees Joey outing her to her father anyway. Her father now believes she lied about being promiscuous primarily to cover up the fact that the father of her baby is Cecil. Francis goes to confront Cecil at his trailer, which sits on the edge of a cliff. Cecil, grasping what is going on, claims he is the father and kisses Mooney. Mooney's mother, arriving in time to see the kiss, gets in her car and rams it several times into Cecil's trailer, causing it to topple over the cliff and land on the beach below.
Later, Mooney boards a train to Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where she is to spend the rest of her supposed pregnancy. After exchanging goodbyes with her family, Mooney is given a letter by her mother just before leaving. Seeing her tearful family, she announces she wants to stay. Her mother orders her to get back on the train. On the train, Mooney reads the letter which reveals that her mother knows what her plans are and wishes her luck. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Northwest Trail",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Passage (2008 film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"Perils of the Royal Mounted",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Susannah of the Mounties (film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Susannah of the Mounties is a 1939 American Western film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Shirley Temple, Randolph Scott, and Margaret Lockwood. Based on the 1936 novel Susannah of the Mounties by Muriel Denison, the film is about an orphaned survivor of an Indian attack in the Canadian West who is taken in by a Mountie and his girlfriend. Following additional Indian attacks, the Mountie is saved from the stake by the young girl's intervention with the Indian chief.
The plot differs significantly from the book in that it is set twenty years earlier at a much smaller Mounted Police fort and Susannah's parents are dead rather than in India.Plot
As the Canadian Pacific Railway makes its way through the western frontier of Canada in the early 1880s, railroad workers and settlers come under frequent attack by Indians who resent the white man's encroachment on their land. One such attack on a wagon train leaves only one survivor, a young girl named Susannah Sheldon who is found by a mounted patrol in the command of Inspector Angus "Monty" Montague. Susannah is taken to the post where she is cared for by Monty and his friend, Pat O'Hannegan. They do their best to help her overcome her ordeal.
Some time later, Vicky Standing arrives from Toronto to visit her father, the Superintendent. Monty is immediately enchanted by the beautiful woman. The blossoming romance sparks a rivalry in Susannah and Harlan Chambers, the head of the railroad camp. The Indian attacks resume when renegades steal horses from the railroad camp. One of the friendly Indians, Chief Big Eagle, promises to track down the renegades and deliver them to the camp. As a show of good faith, the Chief leaves his son, Little Chief, at the post.
Little Chief teaches Susannah Indian ways. While the two are out riding, they run into a renegade, Wolf Pelt, attempting to sell his stolen horses to Chambers. The two argue and Chambers threatens the Indians with extinction. Wolf Pelt returns to his tribe and uses Chambers' threats to demand that the tribe go to war against the Europeans. That night, Wolf Pelt raids the post to retrieve Little Chief and kidnaps Monty. Soon after, Big Eagle sends a message demanding that the railroad abandon the area or they will kill Monty.
Susannah searches for Monty; she approaches the Indian camp, she is taken prisoner. As the tribe prepares to burn Monty at the stake, Susannah escapes the teepee and appeals to Big Chief, accusing Wolf Pelt of inciting Chambers by stealing his horses. Wolf Pelt denies the charges. To determine who is telling the truth, Big Chief uses the stick of truth that will point to the liar. When the stick drops towards Wolf Pelt, Big Chief frees Monty and offers him and Susannah his peace pipe. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Susannah of the Mounties (film)",
"based on",
"Susannah of the Mounties"
] | Susannah of the Mounties is a 1939 American Western film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Shirley Temple, Randolph Scott, and Margaret Lockwood. Based on the 1936 novel Susannah of the Mounties by Muriel Denison, the film is about an orphaned survivor of an Indian attack in the Canadian West who is taken in by a Mountie and his girlfriend. Following additional Indian attacks, the Mountie is saved from the stake by the young girl's intervention with the Indian chief.
The plot differs significantly from the book in that it is set twenty years earlier at a much smaller Mounted Police fort and Susannah's parents are dead rather than in India. | null | null | null | null | 16 |
[
"The Ex (1997 film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"The Flaming Forest",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Red Blood of Courage",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Plot
Sgt. Sullivan of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police goes undercover as a wanted criminal. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"The Romance of the Far Fur Country",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | History
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1920, founded in 1670 and then an undisputed leader of the international fur trade, the company decided to bookmark and document its 250 years of journey as part of written history, gramophone recording, and as a feature film. To make the promotional feature film, advertising the company's working history and commercial land holdings in Canada's North, HBC hired two cameramen from New York City and sent them on board HBC's ice-breaker. This 'silent' film later became known as The Romance of the Far Fur Country.The film crew sailed from Montreal to Arctic circle. As reported in a BBC article, in the next course of nine months, they captured extraordinary footage never done before. They captured more than 75,000 feet of film equivalent to 8 hours of viewing time. It is reported that the crew filmed the documentary by walking laboriously on land, across the ice, and traveling by dogsled over a frozen river. The crew filmed from canoes on the Abitibi river and had to portage canoes over their shoulders.
The film was premiered in Allen theatre at Winnipeg on May 23, 1920. It was later released across western Canada and in London. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Trail of the Mounties",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Tum Bin",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Production
Filming
The principal photography started from November 2000, and the film is mostly shot in Calgary, Canada, while the songs were picturised in Mumbai. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Tum Bin",
"followed by",
"Tum Bin 2"
] | null | null | null | null | 10 |
|
[
"Nanette of the Wilds",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Nanette of the Wilds",
"significant event",
"lost film"
] | null | null | null | null | 8 |
|
[
"Indian Summer (1993 film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Indian Summer is a 1993 American comedy drama film written and directed by Mike Binder. The movie was filmed at Camp Tamakwa (a summer camp in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada), which Binder had attended for ten summers as a child camper. Indian Summer features an ensemble cast, including Binder's childhood friend, film director Sam Raimi, who has a supporting role in it. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Indian Summer (1993 film)",
"different from",
"Indian Summer"
] | null | null | null | null | 4 |
|
[
"Indian Summer (1993 film)",
"main subject",
"summer camp"
] | Indian Summer is a 1993 American comedy drama film written and directed by Mike Binder. The movie was filmed at Camp Tamakwa (a summer camp in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada), which Binder had attended for ten summers as a child camper. Indian Summer features an ensemble cast, including Binder's childhood friend, film director Sam Raimi, who has a supporting role in it. | null | null | null | null | 19 |
[
"Toilet (film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Legend No. 17",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Legend No. 17 (Russian: Легенда №17) is a 2013 Russian biographical sports film directed by Nikolai Lebedev and produced by Trite Studio. The film is based on real events and tells of the rise to fame of the Soviet hockey player Valeri Kharlamov and about the first match of the Summit Series USSR — Canada 1972.The film was awarded with six Golden Eagle awards, including the best Russian film of the year.
The filmmakers received the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the year 2013.Plot
The picture begins set in 1956 with children's experiences during the Running of the Bulls in Spain where Kharlamov's mother originally was from. Then the action is transferred to Moscow in 1967, where the young hockey player gets acquainted with the famous trainer Anatoly Tarasov, who sends Valeri along with his friend Alexander Gusev to the city of Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk Oblast, where they will play for the local "Zvezda" team. Having overcome the difficulties of adaptation in the lower league team, Valeri displays effective hockey skills and returns to Moscow at the end of the season where Tarasov invites him to join HC CSKA Moscow, but at first Anatoli tests Kharlamov's character and his ability to dedicate his life to hockey.
Kharlamov passes all of Tarasov's trials and gradually becomes one of the leading attackers of CSKA, and then the USSR national team. The trainer constructs an attack trio of Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov. At the same time intrigues are waged around Tarasov by the curator of hockey from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Eduard Balashov, whose son the coach once expelled from the team. Balashov tries to drag Kharlamov to his side, stressing Tarasov's excessive rigidity, but the hockey player refuses to sign any papers against his coach (Kharlamov later tells Tarasov everything but Anatoli responds that he already knew everything).
Against the background of the development of Kharlamov's hockey career, the story of his acquaintance and love with Irina Smirnova is shown, who tries to support the hockey player in difficult moments.
After the scandalous match between the USSR national team and HC Spartak Moscow, when Tarasov led the team away from the ice in a protest against refereeing, the upset Kharlamov gets into a car accident and seriously injures his leg (in the film this biographical episode of the hockey player was shifted to be four years earlier). After the operation Valeri begins to exercise his leg in order to return to the ice as soon as possible since the first Summit Series in history between the USSR national team and the Canadian professionals is scheduled for 1972. Overcoming his injuries Kharlamov begins to train, and the new coach of the national team Vsevolod Bobrov, appointed instead of Tarasov, includes Valeri in the team that flies to play in Canada. Tarasov comes to escort the team to the airport and says parting words to Kharlamov.
The Soviet hockey players arrive in Montreal. The Canadians are confident in the victory of their team and are trying in every possible way to prove this to the USSR: at a press conference a Canadian journalist says that he will eat the evening edition of his newspaper if the Soviet team wins, and on a television show two leaders of the Canadian national team, Phil Esposito and Bobby Clarke, hint that the Soviet team has no chance of victory. In conclusion, before the match a newspaper is slid under the door of Bobrov's room with a caricature depicting the Soviet hockey players as "snotty" pupils who learn to play hockey with the Canadian "teacher".
The match begins. The Canadians win the first face-off and in half a minute open the score. At the sixth minute the score is 2:0. But soon the USSR team makes the score even, and in the second period, Kharlamov leads the team ahead 2:3. Valeri stickhandles through several opponents and scores his second goal. After this goal all spectators give a standing ovation to Kharlamov. During the intermission, the Canadian coach tells his players that this is not a match, but a war, and instructed Bobby Clarke to deal with the "Number Seventeen". During the game Bobby Clarke slashes Kharlamov's previously injured knee with a stick. However, Valeri refuses to leave the game despite danger of aggravating his injury and ending his hockey career, and returns to the ice. At the end of the match, Valeri rushes with the puck towards the Canadians' goal, aggravates his injury and falls down, but while sliding in prone position, passes the puck to one of this teammates who scores the seventh goal for the Soviet team. After the match Phil Esposito tells Kharlamov that he is impressed by his game, speed, and the two goals.
The USSR squad scores several more goals with Kharlamov's active participation and wins with a crushing score 7:3. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Legend No. 17",
"main subject",
"Valeri Kharlamov"
] | Legend No. 17 (Russian: Легенда №17) is a 2013 Russian biographical sports film directed by Nikolai Lebedev and produced by Trite Studio. The film is based on real events and tells of the rise to fame of the Soviet hockey player Valeri Kharlamov and about the first match of the Summit Series USSR — Canada 1972.The film was awarded with six Golden Eagle awards, including the best Russian film of the year.
The filmmakers received the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the year 2013. | null | null | null | null | 7 |
[
"Legend No. 17",
"main subject",
"Summit Series"
] | null | null | null | null | 12 |
|
[
"Dus",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Dus",
"main subject",
"terrorism"
] | Dus (transl. Ten) is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Anubhav Sinha, based on the lives of seven fictional SIT (Indian Special Investigation) Team officers. It stars Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Zayed Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Esha Deol, Dia Mirza and Raima Sen.
Dus is a tribute to late celebrated director Mukul S. Anand, who had died while filming the incomplete 1997 film of the same title, which starred Dutt and Shetty with Salman Khan. It was a critical and commercial success. | null | null | null | null | 3 |
[
"Mrs. Mike (film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Plot
A young Boston woman, Kathy O'Fallon, travels north to visit her Uncle John at his cabin near the Canada–US border. While there she meets Mike Flannigan, a sergeant with the Canadian Royal North-West Mounted Police, and before long they're in love. Kathy marries Mike, who takes her by dogsled to his outpost in the cold, remote north.
Life is harsh there, particularly during the winters. A tightly knit community counts on Mike in ways that go far beyond normal police business. But he is away when a pregnant Kathy begins to worry about giving birth in such a primitive environment. Neighbors help deliver Mary, a baby girl, but surviving in the wilderness is extremely difficult, and the child dies during a diphtheria epidemic. Kathy makes up her mind to return to Boston, but realizes that she still loves and can't leave Mike. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Blue Canadian Rockies",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Eye of the Beast",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"Cas and Dylan",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Plot
Dr. Cas Pepper is a 61-year-old doctor, a self-proclaimed loner, and terminally ill. Dylan Morgan is a 22-year-old woman, somewhat of a social misfit, and an aspiring writer. She is currently living with her boyfriend Bobby, who is an unstable individual. Cas reluctantly agrees to give Dylan a short lift to her home. Cas accidentally strikes Bobby with his car when he jumps in front of them and points a rifle at them, and, fearing that he may now be a fugitive from the law, drives away with Dylan's encouragement.
Cas and Dylan take off on a drive across Canada, he heading to his vacation home on Canada's west coast (where he plans to bury his recently deceased dog and to commit suicide), and she towards an ostensible interview with a major publishing company she has been communicating with. Initially Cas is not thrilled with the prospect of spending the ride with this young talkative kid, but as the adventure progresses, they grow sweetly fond of each other, helping one another resolve the issues they encounter along the way.
The epilogue shows a successful, fulfilled Dylan some time after the cross-country trip, with her voice-over telling us about her tremendous respect for him, and that her current happiness is largely a result of following his advice—a happiness not hindered by the fact that he left her his entire estate after his death (as well as his "secret" pasta sauce recipe). | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Offensive Fouls",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Offensive Fouls is a Canadian play about racism written for young adults, for use in secondary schools. It was written by Jason Long.History and plot
The play premiered in 1999 and was initially produced by All Nations Theatre, the organization that commissioned Long to write the play. Hustle n' Bustle Theatre made its debut with the play in 2011. There are only two characters in the play: Joey, a 17-year-old Irish-Canadian basketball player; and Christine, his Chinese-Canadian girlfriend. The plot follows Joey as he is benched from his basketball team after Christine suspects that he was involved in a racially motivated corner-store vandalism incident. Offensive Fouls is intended for an adolescent audience.Reception
The play was written for performances in secondary schools, and has been performed throughout Alberta. Performances have also been held in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as well as in Winnipeg. It was performed in Edmonton, Alberta as recently as 2011.The dialogue has been praised for presenting "teenagers who really sound like teenagers.”The play was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award.One reviewer remarked, "It’s not often the public gets a chance to see “what they’re teaching the kids these days,” so when you do, it behooves us to pay attention because the target audience will be calling the shots before too long."Offensive Fouls was published in a collection of Canadian plays for young adults titled Things That Go Bump in 2009. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Jordan Is a Hard Road",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Jordan Is a Hard Road is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Dorothy Gish, Frank Campeau and Sarah Truax. The production was under the overall supervision of D. W. Griffith, and was the first film made by Dwan for Griffith's company Fine Arts. The evangelist Billy Sunday acted as a consultant. The film is set in Canada, with location shooting taking place for two weeks around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. No prints are known to exist, and is therefore believed to be a lost film. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Lovers Courageous",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"October Gale (film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | October Gale is a Canadian thriller film written and directed by Ruba Nadda. The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival in the Special Presentations section of the festival. It was acquired by IFC Films and received a release in March 2015. The film stars Patricia Clarkson, Scott Speedman, and Tim Roth. Clarkson had previously worked with Nadda on Cairo Time. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"In Line of Duty",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"In Line of Duty",
"significant event",
"lost film"
] | null | null | null | null | 6 |
|
[
"The Purple Lily",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"The Purple Lily",
"significant event",
"lost film"
] | null | null | null | null | 6 |
|
[
"Steele of the Royal Mounted",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Steele of the Royal Mounted is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by David Smith and starring Bert Lytell, Stuart Holmes and Charlotte Merriam. It is based on a novel by James Oliver Curwood about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and was shot on location in the San Bernardino National Forest.Plot
As described in a film magazine review, Isobel, an Eastern young woman, introduces Philip Steele to her father Colonel Becker, but as a trick implies that her father is her husband. Philip becomes disillusioned and goes to Canada and joins the North-West Mounted Police. Here he pursues a bad man. In the meantime, the young woman seeks him out so she can explain the mistake she made. When she finds him, he has bagged his man, and there is a reconciliation. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Ardaas Karaan (film)",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | Ardaas Karaan is a 2019 Indian Punjabi-language social drama film directed by Gippy Grewal from a screenplay co-written with Rana Ranbir. It is sequel to Ardaas and the second installment in Ardaas series. Produced by Humble Motion Pictures; it stars Gurpreet Ghuggi, Gippy Grewal, Japji Khaira, Meher Vij, and Yograj Singh. The story of the film explores the generation gap and different conflicting opinion about life.
The principal photography of the film began on 12 January 2019 in Surrey, British Columbia, and it was theatrically released on 19 July 2019. As of 6 September 2019, it has grossed ₹31.25 crore globally. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"Ardaas Karaan (film)",
"based on",
"Ardaas"
] | Ardaas Karaan is a 2019 Indian Punjabi-language social drama film directed by Gippy Grewal from a screenplay co-written with Rana Ranbir. It is sequel to Ardaas and the second installment in Ardaas series. Produced by Humble Motion Pictures; it stars Gurpreet Ghuggi, Gippy Grewal, Japji Khaira, Meher Vij, and Yograj Singh. The story of the film explores the generation gap and different conflicting opinion about life.
The principal photography of the film began on 12 January 2019 in Surrey, British Columbia, and it was theatrically released on 19 July 2019. As of 6 September 2019, it has grossed ₹31.25 crore globally. | null | null | null | null | 16 |
[
"MLB The Show 20",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"The Heart of Doreon",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"NASCAR Heat 5",
"narrative location",
"Canada"
] | null | null | null | null | 2 |
|
[
"Zatōichi (2003 film)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Zatoichi (座頭市, Zatōichi) (released in the US as The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi) is a 2003 Japanese Jidaigeki action film, directed, written, co-edited by and starring Takeshi Kitano ("Beat" Takeshi) in his 11th directorial venture. Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman.
The film is a revival of the classic Zatoichi series of samurai film and television dramas. It premiered on 2 September 2003 at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Silver Lion for Best Director award, and went on to numerous other awards both at home and abroad. It also stars Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Okusu, Yui Natsukawa, Guadalcanal Taka, Daigoro Tachibana, Yuko Daike, Ittoku Kishibe, Saburo Ishikura and Akira Emoto. | null | null | null | null | 0 |
[
"The Karate Kid (video game)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Level 2
Daniel then starts the second level which is set in Okinawa (the primary setting for The Karate Kid Part II). There, he must dispatch random thugs who die in one hit while progressing to Chozen at the end of the stage. For every few enemies dispatched, Daniel can collect large "C" and "D" symbols that allow him to use Crane Kicks and Drum Punches, respectively. They also replenish a low amount of Daniel's energy meter. There are also a few obvious and not-so-obvious entrances where Daniel can earn Drum Punches and Crane Kicks by either breaking ice-blocks, catching flies with chopsticks, or dodging a swinging hammer. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Buttoners",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Buttoners",
"narrative location",
"Prague"
] | null | null | null | null | 13 |
|
[
"Buttoners",
"main subject",
"causality"
] | null | null | null | null | 30 |
|
[
"Buttoners",
"participant of",
"11th European Film Awards"
] | null | null | null | null | 46 |
|
[
"The House of the Sleeping Beauties",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Plot
The titular house is an establishment where old men pay to sleep besides young girls that had been narcotized and happen to be naked, the sleeping beauties. The old men are expected to take sleeping pills and share the bed for a whole night with a girl without attempting anything of "bad taste" like "putting a finger inside their mouths". Eguchi is presented with a different girl each time he visits the house because of the short notice of his visits. He discovers that all girls are virgins which somehow compels him to comply with the house rules. Each girl is different and the descriptions of his actions are mixed with the dreams that he has sleeping besides the girls. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Nobody Knows (2004 film)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 0 |
|
[
"Ninja Assassin",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"Ninja Assassin",
"narrative location",
"Berlin"
] | null | null | null | null | 10 |
|
[
"Ninja Assassin",
"main subject",
"ninja"
] | null | null | null | null | 21 |
|
[
"Crossfire (novel)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Crossfire (クロスファイア, Kurosufaia) is a novel by Miyuki Miyabe. The novel, published in Japan in 1998, and was published in English by Kodansha America in 2006. The English version was translated by Deborah Stuhr Iwabuchi and Anna Husson Isozaki.Plot introduction
The novel is about a girl named Junko Aoki (青木淳子 Aoki Junko), who has the psychokinetic power of pyrokinesis. She decides to kill criminals in order to make her world better. When Junko sets off to rescue a woman kidnapped by juvenile delinquents, the arson division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and a secretive vigilante group that wants to recruit her, pursue her. Chikako Ishizu (石津ちか子 Ishizu Chikako), a policewoman, is astounded by Junko Aoki's case as she digs deeper into it. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Sputnik Sweetheart",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Sputnik Sweetheart (スプートニクの恋人, Supūtoniku no Koibito) is a novel by Haruki Murakami, published in Japan, by Kodansha, in 1999. An English translation by Philip Gabriel was then published in 2001.Plot summary
Sumire is an aspiring writer who survives on a family stipend and the creative input of her only friend, the novel's male narrator and protagonist, known in the text only as 'K'. K is an elementary school teacher, 25 years old, and in love with Sumire, though she does not quite share his feelings. At a wedding, Sumire meets an ethnic Korean woman, Miu, who is 17 years her senior. The two strike up a conversation and Sumire finds herself attracted to the older woman. This is the first time she has ever been sexually drawn to anybody. Miu soon asks Sumire to come work for her. This meeting and the ensuing relationship between the women leads to Sumire changing: she starts wearing nicer clothes, gets a better apartment, and quits smoking; however, she also develops a writer's block.
K suddenly begins to receive letters from Europe written by Sumire. With them, he is able to track Sumire's and Miu's business travels across the continent. In her last letter, Sumire mentions that instead of coming home as originally planned, she and Miu are to spend some extra time on a Greek island vacationing.
After a short while, K begins to call Sumire's house wondering when she will return. The only answer he gets, however, is from her answering machine. He soon gets a surprising call from Miu, who asks him to fly to Greece and mentions that something has happened to Sumire. Miu doesn't explain much, but it's clear the matter is urgent. The connection is shabby, and their phone connection is soon lost.
K's new school year is starting the week after Miu's call, but finding Sumire's well-being more important, he leaves for Greece the next day. He meets Miu for the first time, and she tells him that Sumire has vanished without a trace. She tells him about the string of events that led to the point of Sumire's disappearance, in which Miu was unable to reciprocate physically when Sumire initiated a sexual encounter. Miu is very pleased to have K around, but worries that Sumire may have committed suicide; K reassures her that Sumire would not do that.
Miu leaves the island for Athens in order to get help from the Japanese embassy and to call Sumire's parents. K spends a day on the island thinking about Sumire and her fate, coming to a realization that there might be some clue in Sumire's writing that Miu mentioned. He finds Sumire's computer and a floppy disk that contains two documents, named simply "Document 1" and "Document 2". One contains Sumire's writing about a dream of hers in which she tries and fails to reach a version of her mother, who died when Sumire was young. The other is a story that Miu told her about an event that transformed her 14 years ago. She was trapped in a Ferris wheel overnight and, using her binoculars to see inside her nearby apartment, witnessed another version of herself having a disturbing sexual encounter with a man. The event caused her hair to turn completely white and divested her of sexual urges. Miu says that she feels that she was split in two on that night, and has lost that other part of herself forever. Trying hard to connect the dots, K concludes that both the stories suggest the existence of multiple worlds, and Sumire has left this world and entered a parallel one, perhaps to be with the other version of Miu. He then has a mystical experience during the night.
Miu returns after a couple of days. K feels his time there is up, even though he feels a connection to Miu. Going back to Japan, he returns to his everyday life. In Sumire's absence, however, he feels he has lost the only precious thing in his life. He receives another distressed call, this time from his girlfriend who is also a married mother of one of his students. She tells him that her son – a boy nicknamed "Carrot" – had been caught stealing in a supermarket a few times, and she needs his help in order to convince the security guard to let him go without contacting the police. The security guard is unhappy with both Carrot's lack of regret for his crime and K's outward appearance and manner, which he perceives to be one of an easy lifestyle. After a tedious conversation wherein the guard chastises K for his attitude toward him, he lets Carrot go. K sends the mother home and takes Carrot to a coffee shop. Carrot doesn't say anything the whole time. Even so, feeling a sort of connection to him, K tells him the story about Sumire. After dropping Carrot at his mother's house, K tells her that he cannot see her anymore.
He continues with his solitary life. Despite their promises to the contrary, he never sees Miu again except for one chance encounter: Miu drives past him in her Jaguar but doesn't seem to acknowledge he is there. She has stopped dyeing her hair, and it is now pure white. K senses she is now an "empty shell," lacking what both Sumire and K were once drawn to about her.
Without warning, K receives a phone call from Sumire, who tells him that she is in the same phone booth near her apartment that she had always called him from. She asks him to come to get her from the phone booth. As with other Murakami works, Sputnik Sweetheart lacks a clear, concise ending. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Sputnik Sweetheart",
"narrative location",
"Greece"
] | null | null | null | null | 2 |
|
[
"Sputnik Sweetheart",
"followed by",
"Kafka on the Shore"
] | null | null | null | null | 10 |
|
[
"Sputnik Sweetheart",
"follows",
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle"
] | null | null | null | null | 12 |
|
[
"Tumblepop",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Tumblepop is a 1991 platform arcade video game developed by Data East first published in Japan by Namco, then in North America by Leprechaun Inc. and later in Europe by Mitchell Corporation. Starring two ghosthunters, players are tasked with travelling across different countries, capturing enemies and throwing them as bouncing ball, jumping on and off platforms to navigate level obstacles while dodging and defeating monsters in order to save the world.
Designed by Makoto Kikuchi, Tumblepop was developed by most of the same team that worked on several projects at Data East. Although first launched in arcades, the game was later ported across multiple platforms, each one featuring several changes or additions compared with the original version. The title was met with mostly positive reception from critics and players alike, gaining a cult following since its initial release. However, other versions were met with a more mixed response from reviewers. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Toru Okada: The narrator and protagonist, Toru is a passive and often apathetic young man living in suburban Japan. He is Kumiko's husband and continually follows the orders or wishes of others. Toru is portrayed as an average man and the embodiment of passivity. He is a legal aid who is considering a law degree but has chosen to leave his job at a legal firm. He spends his days doing house chores, cooking pasta, listening to the radio, and searching for their missing cat. At the beginning of the novel, his life is mundane. Toru spends a lot of time alone and the reader can see that he is not in control of many aspects of his life. His search for their missing cat that leads him into interesting adventures.
Kumiko Okada: Kumiko is Toru's wife and, as the breadwinner of the couple, is the more autonomous of the two. She works in the publishing business. Following the disappearance of their cat, she disappears as well. Kumiko's childhood was stifling because her parents wanted her to take the place of an older sister who had committed suicide at a very young age, an event that became an obsession of their older brother, Noboru Wataya.
Noboru Wataya: Noboru is Kumiko's older brother. He is presented as a mediagenic figure; the public loves him, but Toru cannot stand him. Noboru first appears as an academic, becomes a politician during the course of the story, and has no apparent personal life. He is said to be hidden behind a façade — all style, and no substance. He is the antagonist. Noboru is constantly changing his image to defeat his opponents, but nobody seems to notice his inconsistencies except Toru. The relationship between Toru and Noboru can be compared to that of good versus evil. ("Noboru Wataya" is also the name Toru and Kumiko gave to their pet cat, whom Toru later renames Mackerel; the character name also appeared in "The Elephant Vanishes" and "Family Affair", both translated by Jay Rubin, in The Elephant Vanishes collection.)
May Kasahara: May is a teenage girl who should be in school, but, by choice, is not. Toru and May carry on a fairly constant exchange throughout a good deal of the novel; when May is not present, she writes letters to him. Their conversations in person are often bizarre and revolve around death and the deterioration of human life. Even more bizarre is the cheerful and decidedly non-serious air with which these conversations take place.
Lieutenant Mamiya: Lieutenant Tokutaro Mamiya was an officer in the Kwantung Army during the Japanese occupation of Manchukuo. He meets Toru while carrying out the particulars of Mr. Honda's will. (Honda had been a Corporal, therefore Mamiya had been his superior.) He has been emotionally scarred by witnessing the flaying of a superior officer and several nights spent in a dried-up well. He tells Toru his story both in person and in letters.
Malta Kano: Malta Kano is a medium of sorts who changed her name to "Malta" after performing some kind of "austerities" on the island of Malta. She is enlisted by Kumiko to help the Okadas find their missing cat.
Creta Kano: Malta's younger sister and apprentice of sorts, she describes herself as a "prostitute of the mind." Her real given name is Setsuko. She had been an actual prostitute during her college years but quit after a session with a young Noboru Wataya, who effectively raped her with a foreign object. Disturbingly for Toru, Creta's body bears a near-identical resemblance to Kumiko's from the neck down.
Nutmeg Akasaka: Nutmeg first meets Toru as he sits on a bench watching people's faces every day in Shinjuku. The second time they meet she is attracted to the blue-black mark on his right cheek. She and Toru share a few strange coincidences: the wind-up bird in Toru's yard and the blue-black cheek mark appear in Nutmeg's World War II-related stories, and also Nutmeg's father and Lieutenant Mamiya (an acquaintance of Toru's) are linked by their experiences with violence and death in Manchukuo and the rise and dissolution of the Kwantung Army during World War II. "Nutmeg Akasaka" is a pseudonym she chose for herself after insisting to Toru that her "real" name is irrelevant.
Cinnamon Akasaka: Cinnamon is Nutmeg's adult son who has not spoken since the age of 6, owing to some events involving the cry of a wind-up bird and shock of finding a live heart buried under their garden tree. He communicates through a system of hand movements and mouthed words. Somehow, people who've just met him (who presumably have never lipread or used sign language) find him perfectly comprehensible. "Cinnamon," too, is a pseudonym created by Nutmeg. He is described as a perfect reflection of his well groomed mother.The Cat: Named Noboru Wataya after Kumiko's older brother, the cat symbolizes marital happiness between Kumiko and Toru. The cat leaving signifies the leaving of happiness in Kumiko and Toru's marriage. Once the cat leaves, Kumiko and Toru suffer many difficulties but when the cat returns, though a little changed and renamed Mackerel, it signifies that Toru is now ready to communicate with Kumiko and save her from the trap she has been placed in by her brother. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle",
"main subject",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 2 |
|
[
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle",
"main subject",
"Asia"
] | null | null | null | null | 4 |
|
[
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle",
"main subject",
"dream"
] | null | null | null | null | 8 |
|
[
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle",
"main subject",
"absurdism"
] | null | null | null | null | 12 |
|
[
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle",
"follows",
"South of the Border, West of the Sun"
] | null | null | null | null | 13 |
|
[
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle",
"followed by",
"Sputnik Sweetheart"
] | null | null | null | null | 17 |
|
[
"G.I. Samurai",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"G.I. Samurai",
"main subject",
"time travel"
] | null | null | null | null | 7 |
|
[
"House (1977 film)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"House (1977 film)",
"main subject",
"haunted house"
] | House (Japanese: ハウス, Hepburn: Hausu) is a 1977 Japanese experimental comedy horror film directed and produced by Nobuhiko Obayashi. It is about a schoolgirl traveling with her six friends to her ailing aunt's country home, where they come face to face with supernatural events as the girls are, one by one, devoured by the home. It stars mostly amateur actors, with only Kimiko Ikegami and Yōko Minamida having any notable previous acting experience. The musical score was performed by the rock band Godiego.
Toho Studios approached Obayashi with the suggestion to make a film like Jaws. Influenced by ideas from his daughter Chigumi, he developed ideas for a script by Chiho Katsura. After the project was green-lit, it was put on hold for two years as no one at Toho wanted to direct it. However, Obayashi kept promoting the film until the studio allowed him to direct it himself. House was filmed on one of Toho’s largest sets, where Obayashi shot the film without a storyboard over a period of about two months.
It received generally negative reviews, but was a box office hit in Japan. It received a wide release in 2009 and 2010 in North America where it received more favorable reviews and has since received a cult following. | null | null | null | null | 12 |
[
"House (1977 film)",
"performer",
"Godiego"
] | null | null | null | null | 18 |
|
[
"House (1977 film)",
"followed by",
"DEAD END (ゴダイゴのアルバム)"
] | null | null | null | null | 25 |
|
[
"Yae's Sakura",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Yae's Sakura (Japanese: 八重の桜, Hepburn: Yae no Sakura) is a 2013 Japanese historical drama television series and the 52nd NHK taiga drama. Written by Mutsumi Yamamoto, the drama focuses on Niijima Yae, who is portrayed by Haruka Ayase. Yae is a strong believer in women's rights and the story follows her journey in Japan, during the time it is opened up to Western ideas.
Yae, who came from the Aizu Domain (now within Fukushima Prefecture), was chosen for the taiga drama as her story of loss and hope was felt to be timely in the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The drama was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series, losing to Utopia.Production
On June 22, 2011, NHK announced that its 52nd taiga drama is titled Yae's Sakura and will be about the life of Niijima Yae, the "Jeanne d'Arc of Bakumatsu", with Mutsumi Yamamoto as writer and Katu Takō as director. The historical figure of Niijima was chosen for her story of loss and hope, along with her coming from the Aizu domain (now within the Fukushima Prefecture), to help inspire Japan after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which seriously affected Fukushima more than the other prefectures. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Yae's Sakura",
"follows",
"Taira no Kiyomori"
] | null | null | null | null | 4 |
|
[
"Onibaba (film)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Onibaba (鬼婆, lit. "Demon hag"), also titled The Hole, is a 1964 Japanese historical drama and horror film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō. The film is set during a civil war in medieval Japan. Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura play two women who kill infighting soldiers to steal their armor and possessions for survival, while Kei Satō plays the man who ultimately comes between them.Plot
The film is set somewhere in Japan near Kyoto, in the mid-fifteenth century during the violent outbreak of the Onin War and the beginnings of the civilly turbulent Sengoku Jidai. Two fleeing soldiers are ambushed in a large field of tall, thick reeds and murdered by an older woman and her young daughter-in-law. The two women loot the dead soldiers, strip them of their armour and weapons, and drop the bodies in a deep pit hidden in the field. The next day, they take the armor and weapons to a merchant named Ushi and trade them for food. The merchant tells them news of the war, which is driving people across the country to desperation. As they leave, Ushi makes a sexual proposition to the older woman, who rebuffs him. A neighbor named Hachi, who has been at war, returns. The two women ask about Kishi, who was both the older woman's son and younger woman's husband, and was drafted along with Hachi. Hachi tells them that they deserted the war and that Kishi was later killed when they were caught stealing food from farmers. The older woman warns the younger woman to stay away from Hachi, whom she blames for her son's death.
Hachi begins to show interest in the younger woman and, despite being warned to stay away from Hachi, she is seduced by him. She begins to sneak out every night to run to his hut and have sex. The older woman learns of the relationship and is both angry and jealous. She tries to seduce Hachi herself, but is coldly rebuffed. She then pleads with him to not take her daughter-in-law away, since she cannot kill and rob passing soldiers without her help.
One night, while Hachi and the younger woman are together, a lost samurai wearing a Hannya mask forces the older woman to guide him out of the field. He claims to wear the mask to protect his incredibly handsome face from harm. She tricks him into plunging to his death in the pit where the women dispose of their victims. She climbs down and steals the samurai's possessions and, with great difficulty, his mask, revealing the samurai's horribly disfigured face.
At night, as the younger woman goes to see Hachi, the older woman blocks her path, wearing the samurai's robes and hannya mask, frightening the girl into running home. During the day, the older woman further convinces the younger woman that the "demon" was real, as punishment for her affair with Hachi. The younger woman avoids Hachi during the day, but continues to try and see him at night. During a storm, the older woman again terrifies the younger woman with the mask, but Hachi, tired of being ignored, finds the younger woman and has sex with her in the grass as her mother-in-law watches. The older woman realizes that despite all her warnings, her daughter-in-law wants to be with Hachi. Hachi returns to his hut, where he discovers another deserter stealing his food; the deserter abruptly grabs his spear and stabs Hachi, killing him.
The older woman discovers that, after getting wet in the rain, the mask is impossible to remove. She reveals her scheme to her daughter-in-law and pleads for her to help take off the mask. The younger woman agrees to remove the mask after the older woman promises not to interfere with her relationship with Hachi. After failing to pull it off, the young woman breaks off the mask with a mallet. Under the mask, the older woman's face is now disfigured, as the deceased Samurai had been. It is implied that the previously removable mask was accursed by supernatural means, binding itself permanently to its wearer’s face by the power of rain (a metaphysical symbol of Buddhist punishment), but the truth behind the implied origin is never fully revealed. The younger woman, now believing her mother—in—law has turned into an actual demon, flees; the older woman runs after her, crying out that she is a human being, not a demon. The young woman leaps over the pit, and as the older woman leaps after her, the film ends. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Onibaba (film)",
"main subject",
"supernatural"
] | null | null | null | null | 8 |
|
[
"Devilman (film)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"Devilman (film)",
"different from",
"Devilman"
] | null | null | null | null | 12 |
|
[
"Godzilla Raids Again",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
|
[
"Godzilla Raids Again",
"main subject",
"dinosaur"
] | null | null | null | null | 6 |
|
[
"Godzilla Raids Again",
"follows",
"Godzilla"
] | null | null | null | null | 14 |
|
[
"Godzilla Raids Again",
"followed by",
"King Kong vs. Godzilla"
] | Legacy
The film was followed by King Kong vs. Godzilla, released on August 11, 1962. Godzilla Raids Again introduced the monster vs. monster formula that would be become prominent and synonymous with the franchise. After the release of the film, Toho featured Anguirus in various multimedia (see Appearances). | null | null | null | null | 27 |
[
"Shōgun (novel)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Shōgun is a 1975 novel by James Clavell. It is the first novel (by internal chronology) of the author's Asian Saga. A major best-seller, by 1990 the book had sold 15 million copies worldwide.Premise
Beginning in feudal Japan some months before the critical Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Shōgun gives an account of the rise of the daimyō "Toranaga" (based upon the actual Tokugawa Ieyasu). Toranaga's rise to the shogunate is seen through the eyes of the English sailor John Blackthorne, called Anjin ("Pilot") by the Japanese, whose fictional heroics are loosely based on the historical exploits of William Adams. The book is divided into six sections, preceded by a prologue in which Blackthorne is shipwrecked near Izu, then alternating between locations in Anjiro, Mishima, Osaka, Yedo, and Yokohama.Plot
John Blackthorne, an English pilot serving on the Dutch warship Erasmus, is the first Englishman to reach Japan. England (and Holland) seek to disrupt Portuguese-Catholic relations with Japan and establish ties of their own through trade and military alliances.
After Erasmus is blown ashore on the Japanese coast, Blackthorne and ten other survivors are taken captive by local samurai, Kasigi Omi, until his daimyō and uncle, Kasigi Yabu, arrives. Yabu puts Blackthorne and his crew on trial as pirates, using a Jesuit priest to interpret for Blackthorne. Having lost the trial, Blackthorne attacks the Jesuit. His breaking of the priest's
crucifix shows that the priest is his enemy. The Japanese, who know only the Catholic version of Christianity, are shocked. Yabu sentences them all to death.
Omi, a clever adviser, convinces Yabu to spare them to learn more about European ways. After a failed rebellion by the Europeans, Blackthorne agrees to submit to Japanese authority. He is placed in a household, while his crew remain hostages. On Omi's advice, Yabu plans to confiscate the rutters, muskets, cannons, and silver coins recovered from Erasmus. Word reaches Toranaga, Lord of the Kwanto and president of the Council of Regents. Toranaga sends his commander in chief, General Toda "Iron Fist" Hiro-matsu, to take the spoils and crew in order to gain an advantage against Toranaga's main rival on the council, Ishido.
Blackthorne is now called Anjin (navigator or pilot) as the Japanese can't pronounce his real name. Hiro-matsu takes Blackthorne and Yabu back to Osaka. A meeting of the council is taking place at Ishido's castle stronghold. They travel by one of Toranaga's galleys, captained by the Portuguese pilot Rodrigues. Blackthorne and Rodrigues find themselves in a grudging friendship. Rodrigues tries to kill Blackthorne during a storm, but is himself swept overboard. Blackthorne not only saves Rodrigues but safely navigates the ship.
At Osaka, Blackthorne is interviewed by Toranaga, via senior Jesuit priest Martin Alvito, who realizes the threat that Blackthorne presents. A Protestant, Blackthorne tries to turn Toranaga against the Jesuits. Toranaga learns that the Christian faith is divided. Alvito is honor-bound to translate as Blackthorne tells Toranaga his story. The interview ends when Ishido enters, curious about the barbarian Blackthorne.
Toranaga has Blackthorne thrown into prison to keep him from Ishido. Blackthorne is befriended by a Franciscan friar, who reveals further details about the Jesuit conquests and the Portuguese Black Ship, which take the vast profits from the silk trade between China and Japan back to Europe. He is taught some basic Japanese and a little of their culture. Blackthorne is then taken from prison by Ishido's men. Toranaga intervenes and captures Blackthorne from his rival. Ishido loses face.
At their next interview, Toranaga has the Lady Toda Mariko translate. She is a Catholic, torn between her new faith and her loyalty, as a samurai, to Toranaga. Toranaga learns from Blackthorne that Portugal has been granted the right to claim Japan as territory by the Pope, and of the exploitation of both South America and Asia in the name of spreading Catholicism.
At Osaka Castle, Blackthorne is attacked by an assassin from the secretive Amida Tong, a group of operatives who train all their lives to be the perfect weapon for one kill. Toranaga summons Yabu the next day for questioning, since Hiro-matsu says Yabu would be one who would know how to hire them. Yabu's evasive answers adds to Toranaga's distrust of him. The Jesuits may have hired the assassin to kill Blackthorne, to prevent him from revealing any more of what he knows.
The Council of Regents' negotiations go badly and Toranaga is threatened with forced seppuku. To escape the verdict, and to paralyze the council (for procedural reasons), Toranaga resigns. He departs in the guise of his consort, leaving with a train of travelers. Blackthorne spots the exchange and, when Ishido shows up at the gate of the castle and nearly discovers Toranaga, Blackthorne saves him by creating a diversion. In this way, he gradually gains the trust of Toranaga and enters into his service. Toranaga's party reaches the coast but their ship is blockaded by Ishido's boats. At Blackthorne's suggestion, a Portuguese ship is asked to lend cannon to blast the boats clear. In return, the Jesuits will offer aid in exchange for Blackthorne. Toranaga agrees and the ship clears the coast. The Portuguese pilot, Rodrigues, repays his debt to Blackthorne by having him thrown overboard to swim back to Toranaga's ship. Toranaga's ship escapes by staying alongside the Portuguese ship as both pass through the gap left between the opposing boats. Toranaga and his party return to his ship, which then goes back to Anjiro.
Blackthorne slowly builds up his Japanese-language skills and gains an understanding of the Japanese and their culture, eventually learning to respect it. The Japanese, in turn, are torn over Blackthorne's presence (as he is an outsider and a leader of a disgracefully filthy and uncouth rabble), but also a formidable sailor and navigator with extensive knowledge of the world. As such, he is both beneath contempt and incalculably valuable. A turning point is Blackthorne's attempt at seppuku. The Japanese prevent this attempt (as Blackthorne is worth more alive), but they also come to respect him for his knowledge and attempts to assimilate to their culture. When he also rescues Toranaga in an earthquake, he is granted the status of samurai and hatamoto – a high-status vassal similar to a retainer, with the right of direct audience. As they spend more time together, Blackthorne comes to deeply admire both Toranaga and (specifically) Mariko, and they secretly become lovers.
Eventually, he visits the survivors of his original crew in Yedo, and is astonished at how far he has ventured from the standard 'European' way of life (which he now sees to be filthy, vulgar, and ignorant), and he is actually disgusted by them. Blackthorne's plans to attack the 'Black Ship' are also complicated by his respect and friendship for his Portuguese colleague, Rodrigues, who is now to pilot the vessel. He returns to Osaka by sea with his crew and with 200 samurai (granted to him by Toranaga). Parallel with this plot, the novel also details the intense power struggle between the various war-lords, Toranaga and Ishido, and also – as a subtext – the political manoeuvring of the Protestant and Catholic powers in the Far East. There is also an internal conflict between Christian daimyōs (who are motivated in part by a desire to preserve and expand their (new) religion) and the daimyōs who oppose the Christians, as followers of foreign beliefs and representatives of the 'barbarian' cultural and fiscal influence on their society.
In the novel, Ishido is holding many family members of the other daimyōs as hostages in Osaka, referring to them as "guests". As long as he has these hostages, the other daimyōs, including Toranaga, do not dare attack him. Unforeseen by Toranaga, a replacement regent has also been chosen. Ishido hopes to lure or force Toranaga into the castle and, when all the regents are present, obtain from them an order for Toranaga to commit seppuku. To extricate Toranaga from this situation, Mariko goes to what will be her likely death at Osaka Castle – to face down Ishido and to obtain the hostages' release.
At the castle, Mariko defies Ishido and forces him to either dishonor himself (by admitting to holding the Samurai families as hostages) or to back down and let them leave. When Mariko tries to fulfill Toranaga's orders and to leave the castle, a battle ensues between Ishido's samurai and her escort, until she is forced to return. However, she states that she is disgraced and will commit suicide. As she is about to do so, Ishido gives her the papers to leave the castle on the next day. But that night, a group of ninja that Ishido has hired, aided by Yabu, slips into Toranaga's section of the castle to kidnap Mariko. However, she and Blackthorne and the other ladies of Toranaga's "court", escape into a locked room. As the ninja prepare to blow the door open Mariko stands against the door and is killed by the explosion.
After her cremation, Ishido lets the hostages leave the castle, seriously reducing his control over them. Blackthorne then discovers that his ship has been burned, ruining his chances of attacking the Black Ship and gaining riches and also sailing home to England. However, Mariko has left him some money and Toranaga provides him with men to start building a new ship. Toranaga orders Yabu – who he learns had helped the attack in Osaka with the aim of being on the winning side – to commit seppuku for his treachery. Yabu complies, giving his prized katana to Blackthorne.
The last chapter involves Toranaga as he reveals his inner monologue: that he himself had ordered Blackthorne's ship to be burned, as a way to placate the Christian daimyōs, and to save Blackthorne's life from them, as well as to bring them to his side against Ishido. He then encourages Blackthorne to build another ship. It is Blackthorne's karma to never leave Japan; and Mariko's karma to die for her lord, and for Toranaga to become eventually shogun, with absolute power. In a brief epilogue after the final Battle of Sekigahara, Ishido is captured alive and Toranaga has him buried up to his neck. The novel states that "Ishido lingered three days and died very old". | null | null | null | null | 2 |
[
"Shōgun (novel)",
"followed by",
"Tai-Pan"
] | null | null | null | null | 6 |
|
[
"Sonatine (1993 film)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | Sonatine (Japanese: ソナチネ, Hepburn: Sonachine) is a 1993 Japanese yakuza film directed, written and edited by Takeshi Kitano, who also stars in the film. It won numerous awards and became one of Kitano's most successful and praised films, garnering him a sizable international fan base. | null | null | null | null | 1 |
[
"Sonatine (1993 film)",
"performer",
"Joe Hisaishi"
] | null | null | null | null | 15 |
|
[
"Confessions (2010 film)",
"narrative location",
"Japan"
] | null | null | null | null | 1 |
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