ChiChiMo Outline A8

	They Took My Father Too a documentary-narrative adaptation of the story by Fujiwo Tanisaki Work-in-progress outline	characters: Father: Issei male, 40s. May wear glasses, have moustache. Scholarly. Mother: Issei female, 40s. Practical. Kenji (their son): Kibei Nisei, 18. Dutiful but struggling to grasp ever-weightier ideas and responsibilities. Sachiko (their daughter): Nisei, 16. Questioning, sometimes resentful. Benshi: Issei, 40s. Vigorously intellectual with theatrical presence.
AUDIO	VISUAL	REFERENCE
English dialogue Japanese dialogue interview subjects: AZ: Eiichiro Azuma DK: Denise Kohr INT: interview subject to be determined	Footage we’re producing Archival footage & stills Graphic or composite that may include produced footage or need to be integrated with produced footage	[reference images & video]

music: Moroi, Symphony No. 3 Op. 25	Rocky shoreline with waves coming in, black & white, looking like 1930s archival footage
Father VO: A great nation/race [minzoku] has a [proper] historical background;	INT. FATHER’S STUDY (DESKTOP) - DAY A book’s spine: 日米関係在米国日本人“Chronological History of U.S.-Japan Relations and of the Japanese in America” A man’s hand with a wedding ring opens the book to a map of the U.S. written in Japanese. Overhead view of book as Father leafs through it.
Father VO (cont.): a nation/race disrespectful of history is doomed to self-destruction.	INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY We see the Japanese text on the page. Father's eyes reading. Wears reading glasses. His eyes strained, lined with middle age, he rubs them.
Father VO: It has been already 70 years since we, the Japanese, marked the first step on American soil. . .	INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY Medium shot of Father at his desk, surrounded by books. EXT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE FATHER’S STUDY - DAY Mother approaches the door of his study. Shot of door. Mother's face, looking at the door. INT. FATHER’S STUDY (DESKTOP) - DAY We see the text again. The English translation fades in.
AZ/DK: Up through the 1930s, The Issei, first generation, had built a tremendous culture…	Father’s words going from his written page onto mimeographed page of newspaper. crossfade to: newspapers being printed
…of literature, newspapers…film.	Flipping through pages of Father’s Japanese-language history book by and about Nikkei in US: pictures showing progression from humble farming to city communities, to Little Tokyo posters of Little Tokyo movie screenings
BENSHI: [Through the marvel of moving pictures we can experience the beauty and conflict in the world and visit our beloved Japan.]	EVENT SPACE INT. - NIGHT Sachiko, Father, Kenji, Mother sitting watching in theatre Benshi speaking, standing next to screen We pull back to reveal Benshi next to screen showing above, continuing his speech Onscreen: Yamato Graph film re-creation: arrest of Nikkei migrants at sea
BENSHI: [And more importantly we can recover our pride after the cruel adversities of exclusion. Our common voice is unstoppable.]	EVENT SPACE INT. - NIGHT Father: idealistic agreement, nodding Mother: assent, with just a hint of concern, doubt? Kenji: dutiful attention, some questions forming Sachiko: somewhere between disquiet and rolling her eyes
FATHER (VO): [text from book] The 1924 exclusion law shattered the hopes of our generation. We Issei were excluded from citizenship. Our race was unfairly attacked as inferior.	CUs of 1924 exclusion law signing: Pres. Coolidge stern face, individual faces of other people in pic looking down Text of law: 1924 Immigration Act INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY Father writing	WITH AN ACTUAL ARTICLE FROM JAPANESE-LANGUAGE PRESS
AZ: In Issei eyes, there was a “Nisei problem,” that the next generation was losing identification with Japan AND/OR FATHER: [passages from histories or newspapers and/or his own words speaking to his children]	Text of newspaper editorials: the “Nisei problem” 題二世問題 INT. FAMILY DINING ROOM - NIGHT Father reading paper to Kenji, Sachiko, Mother at dinner table
DK: Across the country, traveling benshi delivered the message of “racial uplift” in hundreds of film screenings in community spaces like churches INT: Little Tokyo, LA was the most visible urban Nikkei community (?) BENSHI: Here in Little Tokyo we equip our next generation with the character and knowledge to succeed	Screening ephemera, montage of some of the films shown pictures & footage of Little Tokyo: street traffic, cultural activities, Nisei Week footage
AZ/DRW: family life was tied to Japan through prefectural associations and churches BENSHI: I appeal especially to the second generation youth to recognize the important mission that is lying before your path. As young Nikkei U.S. citizens you young people must make an extensive study of Japanese culture.	INT. FAMILY LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Mother (& Sachiko) using, caring for household cultural items: Buddhist materials, altar, incense; Hinamatsuri dolls EVENT SPACE INT. - NIGHT Benshi at podium with film of schooling, youth education, Japanese history
BENSHI: It is vital necessity for the second generation to recognize the superiority [?] of Japanese blood compared to any Occidental race; discard your inferiority complex about being born yellow, and also I would absolutely refuse to admit the ideas that the American citizens of Japanese ancestry in this land are much inferior to the youth of Japan today	EVENT SPACE INT. - NIGHT Benshi giving lecture
BENSHI: Now Issei [Japanese immigrants] are advancing in years, and the Nisei era is coming. . . . I believe that it is worthy of having [the second generation] inherit the record of our [immigrant] struggle against oppression and hardships...	INT. KENDO DOJO - DAY Kendo match that could be Kibei Nisei INT. FATHER’S STUDY - NIGHT Father at his desk talking to Kenji, referring to book on desk INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Mother looking over Sachiko’s shoulder at piano guiding her practice
BENSHI/AZ: The Kibei Nisei were sent to Japan to fulfill this aspiration of being Japanese and American. They were called back in 1930s to take the role of a “bridge of understanding” between Japanese and U.S. as conflict heated up	INT. KENDO DOJO - DAY Kenji takes off kendo mask. Pictures of Kibei in Japan, wearing Japanese school caps etc,
BENSHI/DK: the female Nisei were often kept in U.S., trained to become virtuous wives	footage: teenaged girls doing traditional Japanese dance (in parade) INT. FAMILY LIVING ROOM - DAY Sachiko playing piano Sachiko ritualistically playing with Hinamatsuri dolls on shelf INT. EVENT SPACE - NIGHT Sachiko listening to lecture with disquiet
Benshi: Watch these proud Japanese diplomats walking out of the League of Nations. Having pride in yourself as a Japanese means having pride in Japan as a unifier of Asia. Father: [reportage from Kashu Mainichi and/or Tokyo press about Japanese ideals about “Co-Asia Prosperity Sphere”]	footage: Japanese propaganda films: Japanese walking out of League of Nations, Asia travelogue beauty footage INT. FAMILY DINING ROOM - NIGHT Father reading from newspaper at dinner table, to Kenji, Sachiko, Mother
AZ or ?: Just as there was U.S.-Japan conflict, there was a mixed message, and conflict in the Kibei psyche.	footage: Japanese militarism: military drills footage: The Emperor U.S. - anti-Japan media, headlines? INT. EVENT SPACE - NIGHT CU Kenji watching screen different angle, shading, mood: confusion, imbalance, conflict INT. KENDO DOJO - DAY Kenji in fierce kendo match
Father/BENSHI: On this shoreline we ponder Manchuria's wealth, and the true reasons for this conflict. The hysteria and rumors of war between U.S.-Japan are propaganda spread by the Chinese communists. You must be a “bridge of understanding.” You must convince Americans that Japan's cause is just. Kenji VO: [pro-Japan essay written as assignment for Japanese school]	INT. EVENT SPACE - NIGHT Father standing next to screen, showing Japanese propaganda newsreel of Manchuria. footage: U.S. pre-war newsreels, Doto newspaper? PROJECTION BACKDROP WITH KENJI Kenji studying, writing essay; speaking to class
Father: Because of your hard work all will be well and U.S. and Japan will be in harmony.	INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY Sachiko playing piano Kenji studying, writing? INT. KENJI’S BEDROOM - DAY Kendo uniform is taken from rack? folded up INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY Mother watching Sachiko Sachiko takes hinamatsuri doll(s) off shelf INT. KENJI’S BEDROOM - DAY Kendo uniform folding Kendo uniform placed in crate, carried
[music]	footage: violent transition to Pearl Harbor: ships burning
	EXT. BACKYARD - DAY Hinamatsuri doll being burnt up Lit from behind, we see frame from Manchuria film shown earlier. Scissors cut film frame. Page from book Father was reading from. Father's words burn up. Kenji watches his essay and kendo uniform burn
VO/INT: [instructions to all Japanese about exclusion zones, contraband items]	title: March 1942 Issei standing looking at notices in Japanese Proclamations about exclusion zones footage: Japanese Americans turning in contraband items to police
	INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY Father and Mother going through things to get rid of INT. BATHROOM - DAY Pieces of cut-up Manchuria film dropped into toilet, flushed down
	footage (?) arrests of Issei EXT. BACKYARD - DAY Mother toils to burn things in the backyard. She looks up at the window of Father's study.
Father VO: We strongly affirm our loyalty to the U.S. and abide by U.S. laws…all will be well. Mother VO: We Issei have been thrown into the most fearful time we have faced. Around the clock, my heart feels we are shrunk back into corners, unable to breathe. I had wished for a fulfilling life but that was a peacetime thought. I am saddened that my pitiful hopes have been shattered.	INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY Father feverishly writes text, stops in mid-sentence. INT. PARENTS’ BEDROOM - DAY Mother writes in diary. footage and/or archival stills: FBI agents ransack family home (CUs of white male hands pulling out drawers, etc.)
RE: Tuna Canyon was the final brain drain of the Issei of Little Tokyo, the intelligentsia. Journalists, priests, historians, were taken.	INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY Father answers the phone, reacts to serious news INT. FRONT DOOR ENTRANCE - DAY Father’s suitcase packed by door Father answers door archival stills of Tuna Canyon
INT (AZ/AL): Much was lost in that holocaust. Families destroyed anything written in Japanese that could tie them to Japan. That’s one reason why for decades, scholarship has mostly been based only on an English-speaking perspective	long line of Japanese history book spines, titles EXT. BACKYARD - DAY burning pile of books from previous shot of line of Japanese books, more being tossed in
Father (at fence, to Kenji and Sachiko): Remember you are American.	mug shots of Issei INT. BOOKING ROOM WALL - DAY father standing for mug shot EXT. DETENTION CENTER FENCE - DAY Mother, Kenji, Sachiko on other side of metal fence from Father Father behind fence, receding into distance
	CAMP BARRACK - DAY In camp barrack: a framed picture of Father Censored letters from Father
INT: Many Kibei were sent to one segregated camp, Tule Lake. In Tule Lake, literature continued, written by the next generation of Kibei Nisei	CAMP BARRACK - DAY Kenji writing (for Japanese school?) in Tule Lake DIFFERENT CAMP BARRACK - DAY Another Kibei hand starts to write words from Tessaku in next section
VO: this is the last flowering of Japanese American literature (preface to Tessaku) INT/EVENT SOUNDBITE: We’re now reframing the story of Nikkei history with literature from this segregated camp. INT TCAB: They Took My Father Too brings us back to the moment the Issei were silenced and the Kibei took over the Japanese-language Nikkei culture.	Shots of Tule Lake landscape Father behind fence, camera pulling back so he recedes into the distance Literary journal cover: 鉄柵 Iron Fence
INT TCAB: Tessaku is just now being translated, full of untold stories from a perspective that has been locked away for eight decades. The stories will give us deeper understanding of the thoughts and feelings of Nikkei	Title in Japanese, English Fades in below: 父も引っ張られた They Took My Father Too

They Took My Father Too

a documentary-narrative adaptation of the story by Fujiwo Tanisaki

Work-in-progress outline

characters:

Father: Issei male, 40s. May wear glasses, have moustache. Scholarly.

Mother: Issei female, 40s. Practical.

Kenji (their son): Kibei Nisei, 18. Dutiful but struggling to grasp ever-weightier ideas and responsibilities.

Sachiko (their daughter): Nisei, 16. Questioning, sometimes resentful.

Benshi: Issei, 40s. Vigorously intellectual with theatrical presence.

AUDIO

VISUAL

REFERENCE

English dialogue

Japanese dialogue

interview subjects:

AZ: Eiichiro Azuma

DK: Denise Kohr

INT: interview subject to be determined

Footage we’re producing

Archival footage & stills

Graphic or composite that may include produced footage or need to be integrated with produced footage

[reference images & video]

music: Moroi, Symphony No. 3 Op. 25

Rocky shoreline with waves coming in, black & white, looking like 1930s archival footage

Father VO: A great nation/race [minzoku] has a [proper] historical background;

INT. FATHER’S STUDY (DESKTOP) - DAY

A book’s spine:

日米関係在米国日本人“Chronological History of U.S.-Japan Relations and of the Japanese in America”

A man’s hand with a wedding ring opens the book to a map of the U.S. written in Japanese.

Overhead view of book as Father leafs through it.

Father VO (cont.): a nation/race disrespectful of history is doomed to self-destruction.

INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY

We see the Japanese text on the page.

Father's eyes reading. Wears reading glasses. His eyes strained, lined with middle age, he rubs them.

Father VO: It has been already 70 years since we, the Japanese, marked the first step on American soil. . .

INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY

Medium shot of Father at his desk, surrounded by books.

EXT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE FATHER’S STUDY - DAY

Mother approaches the door of his study. Shot of door. Mother's face, looking at the door.

INT. FATHER’S STUDY (DESKTOP) - DAY

We see the text again. The English translation fades in.

AZ/DK: Up through the 1930s, The Issei, first generation, had built a tremendous culture…

Father’s words going from his written page onto mimeographed page of newspaper.

crossfade to:

newspapers being printed

…of literature, newspapers…film.

Flipping through pages of Father’s Japanese-language history book by and about Nikkei in US:

pictures showing progression from humble farming to city communities, to Little Tokyo

posters of Little Tokyo movie screenings

BENSHI: [Through the marvel of moving pictures we can experience the beauty and conflict in the world and visit our beloved Japan.]

EVENT SPACE INT. - NIGHT

Sachiko, Father, Kenji, Mother sitting watching in theatre

Benshi speaking, standing next to screen

We pull back to reveal Benshi next to screen showing above, continuing his speech

Onscreen: Yamato Graph film re-creation: arrest of Nikkei migrants at sea

BENSHI: [And more importantly we can recover our pride after the cruel adversities of exclusion. Our common voice is unstoppable.]

EVENT SPACE INT. - NIGHT

Father: idealistic agreement, nodding

Mother: assent, with just a hint of concern, doubt?

Kenji: dutiful attention, some questions forming

Sachiko: somewhere between disquiet and rolling her eyes

FATHER (VO): [text from book] The 1924 exclusion law shattered the hopes of our generation. We Issei were excluded from citizenship. Our race was unfairly attacked as inferior.

CUs of 1924 exclusion law signing: Pres. Coolidge stern face, individual faces of other people in pic looking down

Text of law: 1924 Immigration Act

INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY

Father writing

WITH AN ACTUAL ARTICLE FROM JAPANESE-LANGUAGE PRESS

AZ: In Issei eyes, there was a “Nisei problem,” that the next generation was losing identification with Japan

AND/OR

FATHER: [passages from histories or newspapers and/or his own words speaking to his children]

Text of newspaper editorials: the “Nisei problem” 題二世問題

INT. FAMILY DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Father reading paper to Kenji, Sachiko, Mother at dinner table

DK: Across the country, traveling benshi delivered the message of “racial uplift” in hundreds of film screenings in community spaces like churches

INT: Little Tokyo, LA was the most visible urban Nikkei community (?)

BENSHI: Here in Little Tokyo we equip our next generation with the character and knowledge to succeed

Screening ephemera, montage of some of the films shown

pictures & footage of Little Tokyo: street traffic, cultural activities, Nisei Week footage

AZ/DRW: family life was tied to Japan through prefectural associations and churches

BENSHI: I appeal especially to the second generation youth to recognize the important mission that is lying before your path. As young Nikkei U.S. citizens you young people must make an extensive study of Japanese culture.

INT. FAMILY LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Mother (& Sachiko) using, caring for household cultural items: Buddhist materials, altar, incense; Hinamatsuri dolls

EVENT SPACE INT. - NIGHT

Benshi at podium with film of schooling, youth education, Japanese history

BENSHI: It is vital necessity for the second generation to recognize the superiority [?] of Japanese blood compared to any Occidental race; discard your inferiority complex about being born yellow, and also I would absolutely refuse to admit the ideas that the American citizens of Japanese ancestry in this land are much inferior to the youth of Japan today

EVENT SPACE INT. - NIGHT

Benshi giving lecture

BENSHI: Now Issei [Japanese immigrants] are advancing in years, and the Nisei era is coming. . . . I believe that it is worthy of having [the second generation] inherit the record of our [immigrant] struggle against oppression and hardships...

INT. KENDO DOJO - DAY

Kendo match that could be Kibei Nisei

INT. FATHER’S STUDY - NIGHT

Father at his desk talking to Kenji, referring to book on desk

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Mother looking over Sachiko’s shoulder at piano guiding her practice

BENSHI/AZ: The Kibei Nisei were sent to Japan to fulfill this aspiration of being Japanese and American. They were called back in 1930s to take the role of a “bridge of understanding” between Japanese and U.S. as conflict heated up

INT. KENDO DOJO - DAY

Kenji takes off kendo mask.

Pictures of Kibei in Japan, wearing Japanese school caps etc,

BENSHI/DK: the female Nisei were often kept in U.S., trained to become virtuous wives

footage: teenaged girls doing traditional Japanese dance (in parade)

INT. FAMILY LIVING ROOM - DAY

Sachiko playing piano

Sachiko ritualistically playing with Hinamatsuri dolls on shelf

INT. EVENT SPACE - NIGHT

Sachiko listening to lecture with disquiet

Benshi: Watch these proud Japanese diplomats walking out of the League of Nations. Having pride in yourself as a Japanese means having pride in Japan as a unifier of Asia.

Father: [reportage from Kashu Mainichi and/or Tokyo press about Japanese ideals about “Co-Asia Prosperity Sphere”]

footage: Japanese propaganda films: Japanese walking out of League of Nations, Asia travelogue beauty footage

INT. FAMILY DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Father reading from newspaper at dinner table, to Kenji, Sachiko, Mother

AZ or ?: Just as there was U.S.-Japan conflict, there was a mixed message, and conflict in the Kibei psyche.

footage: Japanese militarism: military drills

footage: The Emperor

U.S. - anti-Japan media, headlines?

INT. EVENT SPACE - NIGHT

CU Kenji watching screen different angle, shading, mood: confusion, imbalance, conflict

INT. KENDO DOJO - DAY

Kenji in fierce kendo match

Father/BENSHI: On this shoreline we ponder Manchuria's wealth, and the true reasons for this conflict.

The hysteria and rumors of war between U.S.-Japan are propaganda spread by the Chinese communists. You must be a “bridge of understanding.” You must convince Americans that Japan's cause is just.

Kenji VO: [pro-Japan essay written as assignment for Japanese school]

INT. EVENT SPACE - NIGHT

Father standing next to screen, showing Japanese propaganda newsreel of Manchuria.

footage: U.S. pre-war newsreels, Doto newspaper?

PROJECTION BACKDROP WITH KENJI

Kenji studying, writing essay; speaking to class

Father: Because of your hard work all will be well and U.S. and Japan will be in harmony.

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

Sachiko playing piano

Kenji studying, writing?

INT. KENJI’S BEDROOM - DAY

Kendo uniform is taken from rack? folded up

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

Mother watching Sachiko

Sachiko takes hinamatsuri doll(s) off shelf

INT. KENJI’S BEDROOM - DAY

Kendo uniform folding

Kendo uniform placed in crate, carried

[music]

footage: violent transition to Pearl Harbor: ships burning

EXT. BACKYARD - DAY

Hinamatsuri doll being burnt up

Lit from behind, we see frame from Manchuria film shown earlier. Scissors cut film frame.

Page from book Father was reading from. Father's words burn up.

Kenji watches his essay and kendo uniform burn

VO/INT: [instructions to all Japanese about exclusion zones, contraband items]

title: March 1942

Issei standing looking at notices in Japanese

Proclamations about exclusion zones

footage: Japanese Americans turning in contraband items to police

INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY

Father and Mother going through things to get rid of

INT. BATHROOM - DAY

Pieces of cut-up Manchuria film dropped into toilet, flushed down

footage (?) arrests of Issei

EXT. BACKYARD - DAY

Mother toils to burn things in the backyard. She looks up at the window of Father's study.

Father VO: We strongly affirm our loyalty to the U.S. and abide by U.S. laws…all will be well.

Mother VO: We Issei have been thrown into the most fearful time we have faced. Around the clock, my heart feels we are shrunk back into corners, unable to breathe.

I had wished for a fulfilling life but that was a peacetime thought.

I am saddened that my pitiful hopes have been shattered.

INT. FATHER’S STUDY - DAY

Father feverishly writes text, stops in mid-sentence.

INT. PARENTS’ BEDROOM - DAY

Mother writes in diary.

footage and/or archival stills:

FBI agents ransack family home (CUs of white male hands pulling out drawers, etc.)

RE: Tuna Canyon was the final brain drain of the Issei of Little Tokyo, the intelligentsia. Journalists, priests, historians, were taken.

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

Father answers the phone, reacts to serious news

INT. FRONT DOOR ENTRANCE - DAY

Father’s suitcase packed by door

Father answers door

archival stills of Tuna Canyon

INT (AZ/AL): Much was lost in that holocaust. Families destroyed anything written in Japanese that could tie them to Japan. That’s one reason why for decades, scholarship has mostly been based only on an English-speaking perspective

long line of Japanese history book spines, titles

EXT. BACKYARD - DAY

burning pile of books from previous shot of line of Japanese books, more being tossed in

Father (at fence, to Kenji and Sachiko): Remember you are American.

mug shots of Issei

INT. BOOKING ROOM WALL - DAY

father standing for mug shot

EXT. DETENTION CENTER FENCE - DAY

Mother, Kenji, Sachiko on other side of metal fence from Father

Father behind fence, receding into distance

CAMP BARRACK - DAY

In camp barrack: a framed picture of Father

Censored letters from Father

INT: Many Kibei were sent to one segregated camp, Tule Lake. In Tule Lake, literature continued, written by the next generation of Kibei Nisei

CAMP BARRACK - DAY

Kenji writing (for Japanese school?) in Tule Lake

DIFFERENT CAMP BARRACK - DAY

Another Kibei hand starts to write words from Tessaku in next section

VO: this is the last flowering of Japanese American literature (preface to Tessaku)

INT/EVENT SOUNDBITE: We’re now reframing the story of Nikkei history with literature from this segregated camp.

INT TCAB: They Took My Father Too brings us back to the moment the Issei were silenced and the Kibei took over the Japanese-language Nikkei culture.

Shots of Tule Lake landscape

Father behind fence, camera pulling back so he recedes into the distance

Literary journal cover:

鉄柵

Iron Fence

INT TCAB: Tessaku is just now being translated, full of untold stories from a perspective that has been locked away for eight decades. The stories will give us deeper understanding of the thoughts and feelings of Nikkei

Title in Japanese, English Fades in below:

父も引っ張られた

They Took My Father Too