View source for History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox film
| name                 = History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess
| image                =
| alt                  =
| caption              =
| native_name          =
| director             = [[Shōhei Imamura]]
| producer             = {{ubl|Nobuyo Horiba|Motoo Ogasawara}}
| screenplay           = Shōhei Imamura
| starring             = {{ubl|Emiko Akaza|Etsuko Akaza|Akemi Akaza|Shōhei Imamura}}
| narrator             =
| music                = Haruo Ibe
| cinematography       = Masao Tochikawa}
| editing              = {{ubl|Mutsuo Niwa|Noriaki Sugimoto}}
| production_companies = {{ubl|Nippon Eiga Shinsha|[[Toho]]}}
| distributor          = Toho
| released             = {{Film date|df=yes|1970|3|6|Japan}}<ref name="galbraith">{{cite book|last=Galbraith IV |first=Stuart |title=The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography |year=2008 |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |pages=267–268 |isbn=978-1461673743}}</ref><ref name="jmdb">{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1970/ct001420.htm |title=にっぽん戦後史 マダムおんぼろの生活 (Nippon sengoshi: Madamu onboro no seikatsu) |access-date=5 July 2021 |language=ja |publisher=[[Japanese Movie Database]]}}</ref>
| runtime              = 105 minutes<ref name="galbraith" /><ref name="jmdb" />
| country              = Japan
}}
{{nihongo|'''''History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess'''''|にっぽん戦後史 マダムおんぼろの生活|Nippon sengoshi – Madamu Onboro no seikatsu}} is a 1970 Japanese [[documentary film]] by director [[Shōhei Imamura]].<ref name="galbraith" /><ref name="jmdb" /><ref name="kinenote">{{cite web|url=http://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19286 |title=にっぽん戦後史 マダムおんぼろの生活 (Nippon sengoshi: Madamu onboro no seikatsu) |access-date=5 July 2021 |language=ja |publisher=Kinenote}}</ref>
==Synopsis==
Director Shōhei Imamura interviews Emiko Akaza, the bar hostess of the film's title, who reflects on her life as a prostitute and madam in [[post-war]] [[Yokosuka]] and comments on news reel footage of Japan's history from 1945 to the present.
==Production==
After the poor box-office performance of his ambitious 1968 film, ''[[The Profound Desire of the Gods]]'', Imamura decided to undertake a more modestly budgeted film. Characteristically, Imamura seeks to investigate an alternative interpretation of recent Japanese history through the eyes of a person living in the lower [[Social stratification|strata of that society]].<ref name="midnighteye">{{cite web|last=Sharp |first=Jasper |url=http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/hijabaho.shtml |website=[[Midnight Eye]] |title=History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060612194809/http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/hijabaho.shtml |archive-date=12 June 2006 |access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref>
Beginning with this film, Imamura was to spend the next decade working in the documentary format. He returned to purely fictional narrative with ''[[Vengeance is Mine (1979 film)|Vengeance is Mine]]'' (1979).<ref name="midnighteye" />
==Release==
''History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess'' was released in Japan 3 June 1970 where it was distributed by [[Toho]]. The film was shown in Los Angeles in 1998 with any earlier American release being undetermined.<ref name="galbraith" />
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|id=0066153}}
* {{Amg movie|141621|History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess}}
{{Shōhei Imamura}}
[[Category:1970 films]]
[[Category:1970 documentary films]]
[[Category:Japanese documentary films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Shohei Imamura]]
[[Category:1970s Japanese films]]
[[Category:Postwar Japan]]
[[Category:Documentary films about Japan]]
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