Toshiko Hashima

  • Nobuo Aoyagi – Ai no sekai: Yamaneko Tomi no hanashi AKA World of Love (1943)

    1941-1950AsianClassicsJapanNobuo Aoyagi

    16 year old orphan Tomi (played by Hideko Takamine) was a wild and unsettled girl. The juvenile court punishes her to be sent into the mountains of Aoyama for reeducation. Here she is taken care of by the teacher Miss Yamada, which is kind but has troubles getting along with the girls that are sent to her…
    The director Aoyagi, wo directed a number of entertainment films during the war, deals with the topic of punishment and problematic youngsters. The film is very different and much more dramatic from films by Hiroshi Shimizu or Hiroshi Inagaki dealing with similar topic. The film depicts the roughness of the young girls and the brutality amongst them in a more realistic way. He takes a rare approach by not having Tomi say anything at all during the first half of the film. The film is also interesting from a historical point of view in putting the focus on the attitude of the Japanese state towards problematic young people during the war.Read More »

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