Table of Contents

Part I: Semiotics for Film Analysis
Chapter 1: Introduction: What is Semiotics?
Chapter 2: Reading Film: The Nature of Interpretation
Chapter 3: Mythology in Film: Why Study Mythology in Popular Film and Anime?
Chapter 4: Storytelling : What is in the Story?
Chapter 5: Visual Literacy: What do We Get from Watching Film?

Part II: Application: Case Studies of Japanese Film Analysis
Chapter 6: Taoism and Shinto Symbolism: Onmyōji (2001) and Onmyōji II (2003)
Chapter 7: Classic Literature Motifs in Spirited Away (2001) and Princess Mononoke (2000)
Chapter 8: Motifs of Buddhism and Folklore in Dororo (2007) and Departures (2008)
Chapter 9: Eclectic Myths in Mushi-shi (2006) and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
Chapter 10: Conclusion: Social Usage of Mythology

About the Author

Yoshiko Okuyama is associate professor of Japanese studies at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

Reviews

This good book harks back to pioneering studies of Japanese film.... Okuyama's book is valuable for clearly introducing semiotics as a method for film analysis and for her excellent case studies of contemporary classic Japanese films.... Japanese Mythology in Film is a well-researched and interesting tome that could be very useful in the classroom.
*The Journal of Japanese Studies*

Okuyama's work...will be more accessible to readers unfamiliar with Japanese culture.... This guide is intended to provide basic teaching material for undergraduates, but it is also helpful for scholars approaching film and anime from a social science or folkloristic perspective.
*Journal of American Folklore*

Yoshiko Okuyama’s Japanese Mythology in Film is a fascinating study of mythological motifs and metaphors embedded in contemporary Japanese live-action and animated movies.... The book could be used in its entirety as a textbook to supplement lectures for an undergraduate course on a similar topic; individual chapters could also be used to introduce specific methodological approaches, media works, or religious themes and practices in a variety of different teaching contexts. Finally, the book could be a useful a starting point for individual research projects by senior undergraduate, honours, or even postgraduate students in a variety of different areas, including film studies, semiotics, or Japanese religion and
*Journal of Religion in Japan*

A superb analysis of the relations between Japanese mythology, religion and folklore that will be of great value to anyone interested in Japanese culture and society. Using semiotic analysis, Okuyama offers readers a scholarly, yet accessibly written, study of Japanese films and anime such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Departures. Highly recommended.
*Arthur Asa Berger, San Francisco State University*

Popular all over the world, anime are too often viewed only as part of globalized popular culture. Japanese Mythology in Film offers a much-needed interpretive method foregrounding these films’ adaptation of culturally specific tropes from Japanese folktales, legends, and folk religious beliefs. Pedagogically suited to courses on fairy tales, myth, popular culture, and film as well as to Japanese language and culture courses, Okuyama’s book shows how film and anime make Japanese traditional values relevant to reimagining the relationship of humans and nature.
*Cristina Bacchilega, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa*

In Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime, Yoshiko Okuyama does a wonderful job of making theories of semiotics simple and easy to understand. Incorporating various current societal phenomena, Japanese Mythology in Film is an informative book for Japanese film and culture.
*Noriko Reider, Miami University*