@Cross-cultural communication i34j@
34j The US Marine Corps is a lifetime career
This was in 2007. At the time, I was commuting every day between my clinic in Osaka and my home in Kobe by JR train. After finishing my evening consultations, I would get on a local train at JR Suita Station and change to a rapid or limited express train at Shin-Osaka Station. That day, as I was waiting for the connecting train at Shin-Osaka, I came across a group of about a dozen elderly white men. They were all wearing baseball caps with the word MARINES on them. MARINES, that's right, they were American Marines. I had just watched Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima two-part film, gFlags of Our Fathersh and gLetters from Iwo Jimah in 2006, so if they were actually ex-Marines, I had lots of questions I wanted to ask them.
When I asked one of the men, who seemed like a good person, 'Are you an ex-marine?', he answered with a slightly stiff expression, 'No, I'm not an ex-marine. I'm a marine. he replied, his expression becoming a little more serious. When I asked him to explain a little more, he said that US Marines have the strongest sense of duty and loyalty of any branch of the US military, and that even after they retire, their feelings remain those of active duty Marines.
When I asked him what he thought of Eastwood's gFlags of Our Fathersh, he also looked uninterested, and said something like, gI've heard that there were circumstances like those depicted in the film, but we fought hard and won the war at the cost of our livesh. They got off at Osaka Station, so the conversation only lasted about 5 or 6 minutes, so there was nothing more to talk about.
There was a reason why he was a little miffed. The theme of gFlags of Our Fathersh is the back story of the news photos of the Marines raising the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima's Suribachi Mountain, which is the statue that is still the symbol of the Marines today. They are heroes to Americans, but after returning home, they are made to play the role of going around the country to campaign for the purchase of American war bonds.
The film depicts the machinations of the military brass at the time to manipulate public opinion, and the struggles of the Marines in the photographs who questioned their role. Certainly, it's not a very interesting film for Marines.
gFlags of Our Fathersh depicted the Battle of Iwo Jima from the American perspective, while eLetters from Iwo Jimaf was from the Japanese perspective, and Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya gave very good performances. This two-part film is a depiction of the Pacific War that does not take sides, and has no political agenda, but instead focuses on the human element. It is also very interesting that the director is Eastwood, who is known as a hawk. Personally, I think he should be awarded a medal by the Japanese government.
I hope you will all watch it on DVD.
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