To this day, Japan retains a strong bias against foreigners. However, a small number of anime movies have been made about foreigners who loved Japan and helped rebuild it in the aftermath of the Second World War. Orphan has already translated and released the 2010 anime documentary Junod, which focused on Dr. Marcel Junod, the first foreign doctor to reach Hiroshima after the atomic bombing. Now, Orphan presents 2002's Yume Kakeru Kougen: Kiyosato no Chichi Paul Rusch (Dreams on the Plateau: Kiyosato's Father Paul Rusch). It tells the story of Paul Rusch, an Episcopalian (American Anglican) lay missionary who dedicated his life to improving life in rural Japan and fostering friendship between the two countries.
Rusch came to Japan in 1925, to help with rebuilding the Tokyo/Yokohama YMCA, which had burned down during the great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. He stayed on to become a professor of economics at Rikkyo University, a fundraiser for Dr. Rudolf Teusler's efforts to expand St. Luke's Hospital, and a lay evangelist for the Anglican Church in Japan. In 1938, he opened Seisen Ryo, a camp on the slopes of Mt. Yatsugatake in the village of Kiyosato. This was the start of a life-long association with the village and its people.
After Pearl Harbor, Rusch was interned and then deported in a prisoner exchange. He worked at the Military Intelligence Language School in the US and returned to Japan for the occupation as part of General MacArthur's staff. Eventually, he returned to Kiyosato and rededicated Seisen Ryo as the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP). He worked on improving farming practices, introducing innovations like cold-resistant crop strains and high-altitude dairy farming. KEEP expanded to include an experimental farm, a nursery, a library, and most importantly for the health of the community, a rural clinic. For his work, the Japanese government awarded Rusch the Third Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1956, a rare honor for a foreigner. He continued to work in Japan until his death in 1979. Among his numerous achievements, he introduced American football to Japan. To this day, the Paul Rusch Cup is given annually to the best American football player in the country.
While Paul Rusch's life is an uplifting story, it's not necessarily a dramatic one. The anime has little conflict and no villains. (The real villains, like the Japanese military, are kept offstage.) The most suspenseful event is whether the first Jersey cow in Kiyosato - brought in to seed the idea of dairy farming - will survive the harsh winter there. If some Japanese and some Americans act embittered by the war, many more reach out across the cultural divide to help one another. In particular, the Anglican (Episcopal) Church is shown in a uniformly positive light, which is uncommon in anime presentations of Christianity.
In his trailblazing book Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally wrote about how difficult it was to write a story of good. "When you chronicle the predictable and measurable success evil generally achieves, it is easy to be wise, wry, piercing, to avoid bathos... Fatal human malice is the staple of narrators, original sin the mother-fluid of historians. But it is a risky enterprise to have to write of virtue." The same applies to anime. Villains, bloodshed, and desperation make for vivid stories. Simple goodness does not. Yume Kakeru Kougen is the story of a good man who worked hard for others and left the world better than he found it. It's hard to imagine a story more out of step with current times. That's why we need it.
A few notes, some from Elizabeth Hemphill's book The Road to KEEP, and some from Wikipedia:
Iri found the DVD for this movie and did the translation. Yogicat did the detailed timing. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and VigorusJammer QCed. M74 encoded. The release includes the English dub track (and a songs/signs track to go with it), as well as Japanese closed captions, and thus is one of the very few multi-audio, multi-subtitle releases Orphan has ever done. The DVD is wide-screen the old-fashioned way, with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, instead of via an anamorphic presentation.
You can get Yume Kakeru Kougen from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net
Rusch came to Japan in 1925, to help with rebuilding the Tokyo/Yokohama YMCA, which had burned down during the great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. He stayed on to become a professor of economics at Rikkyo University, a fundraiser for Dr. Rudolf Teusler's efforts to expand St. Luke's Hospital, and a lay evangelist for the Anglican Church in Japan. In 1938, he opened Seisen Ryo, a camp on the slopes of Mt. Yatsugatake in the village of Kiyosato. This was the start of a life-long association with the village and its people.
After Pearl Harbor, Rusch was interned and then deported in a prisoner exchange. He worked at the Military Intelligence Language School in the US and returned to Japan for the occupation as part of General MacArthur's staff. Eventually, he returned to Kiyosato and rededicated Seisen Ryo as the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP). He worked on improving farming practices, introducing innovations like cold-resistant crop strains and high-altitude dairy farming. KEEP expanded to include an experimental farm, a nursery, a library, and most importantly for the health of the community, a rural clinic. For his work, the Japanese government awarded Rusch the Third Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1956, a rare honor for a foreigner. He continued to work in Japan until his death in 1979. Among his numerous achievements, he introduced American football to Japan. To this day, the Paul Rusch Cup is given annually to the best American football player in the country.
While Paul Rusch's life is an uplifting story, it's not necessarily a dramatic one. The anime has little conflict and no villains. (The real villains, like the Japanese military, are kept offstage.) The most suspenseful event is whether the first Jersey cow in Kiyosato - brought in to seed the idea of dairy farming - will survive the harsh winter there. If some Japanese and some Americans act embittered by the war, many more reach out across the cultural divide to help one another. In particular, the Anglican (Episcopal) Church is shown in a uniformly positive light, which is uncommon in anime presentations of Christianity.
In his trailblazing book Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally wrote about how difficult it was to write a story of good. "When you chronicle the predictable and measurable success evil generally achieves, it is easy to be wise, wry, piercing, to avoid bathos... Fatal human malice is the staple of narrators, original sin the mother-fluid of historians. But it is a risky enterprise to have to write of virtue." The same applies to anime. Villains, bloodshed, and desperation make for vivid stories. Simple goodness does not. Yume Kakeru Kougen is the story of a good man who worked hard for others and left the world better than he found it. It's hard to imagine a story more out of step with current times. That's why we need it.
A few notes, some from Elizabeth Hemphill's book The Road to KEEP, and some from Wikipedia:
- The movie deviates from the known facts of Paul Rusch's life significantly. Examples: Rusch never learned Japanese. He did not abandon a fiance to stay in Japan.
- Dr. Rudolf Teusler's motto was, in fact, "If you are going to do something in Japan, make it first class." The addition of "in God" seems to be an invention of the scriptwriter.
- Rusch's students sing him the opening verse of Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home," complete with its original racist language. The song is the official state song of Kentucky. When another Japanese choir sang it to the state legislature in 1967, it triggered a motion to officially amend the lyrics, replacing "darkies" with "people." Today, the song is generally regarded as nostalgia for the slave-holding, antebellum South. In fact, it was an anti-slavery song and was promoted by leading abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass.
- Lonely Bull is loosely based on a real incident. Rusch brought back a single Jersey bull to see if the breed could survive winter in Kiyosato. However, the bull never became sick, and its nickname was "Designed for St. Andrew."
- Psalm 121, which is quoted frequently throughout the movie, is probably more familiar to viewers in the King James version:
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.The voice cast includes:
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
- The deep-voiced Genda Tesshou (Paul Rusch) played Colonel Muto in Joker Game, Moloch in Yondemasu Azazel-san, Rei in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Moguro Fukuzou in New Laughing Salesman, "Oyaji" in Mitsuboshi Colors, as well as the loyal lieutenant Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, the dragonman Baguda in Greed, the narrator in Akai Hayate, and Dog McCoy in Dallos, all Orphan releases.
- Orikasa Ai (Koichi, the boy who narrates the story) made her debut in Shoukoushi Cedie. She played Seguchi Touma (the record company president) in Gravitation, Quatre in Gundam Wing, and Ryouko in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She also played Toryune in Al Caral no Isan, Sara in Eien no Filena, and Malet in Oruorane the Cat Player, all Orphan releases.
- Mizutani Yuuko (Dr. Uematsu Kikue, the Kiyasato clinic physician) has many credits, including Pinoko in all the Black Jack properties, as well as Rika in Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki and Lila in Eien no Filena, both Orphan projects.
- Toriumi Katsumi (Shigeru, a young man in Kiyosato) played the male lead, Wakamatsu Masato, in Miyuki, as well as numerous featured roles in other shows.
Iri found the DVD for this movie and did the translation. Yogicat did the detailed timing. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and VigorusJammer QCed. M74 encoded. The release includes the English dub track (and a songs/signs track to go with it), as well as Japanese closed captions, and thus is one of the very few multi-audio, multi-subtitle releases Orphan has ever done. The DVD is wide-screen the old-fashioned way, with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, instead of via an anamorphic presentation.
You can get Yume Kakeru Kougen from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net
Thank you for the subs!
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