Grave of the Fireflies Cultural Assignment

The movie Grave of the Fireflies or in Japanese, Hotaru no Haka, is definitely a movie I recommend to absolutely everyone. I saw a lot of cultural differences in the movie compared to the culture here in America. The movie was about two children living during World War II. Seita is a fourteen year old boy and Setsuko is his four year old sister. Their mother dies early in the show due to a bombing while she was on her way to a shelter. So the two children have to live with their aunt who starts treating them badly because they can’t work. So they leave to try to fend for themselves. Later in the movie, Setsuko dies of malnourishment and Seita gives up on survival and dies as well.

I noticed that the very little humor in this movie was quite similar to that of America’s. Seita constantly played with Setsuko to keep her happy and smiling, and it was cute to watch him play with his little sister during a time of war. It was good relief in a dramatic movie such as this. The architecture is definitely what you’d expect from a Japanese film. The buildings were made of wood and had tatami. The genkan was featured multiple times throughout the film and there were also shooji within the house. They also sat on the ground with their legs crossed to eat around a squat, round table.

A major custom in Japan is manners. Before every meal you’re supposed to say, “Ittadakimasu” with your hands in a praying position as a way of saying “Thank you for the food.” After you finish your meal you say, “Gochisousama” which is also a sort of way of saying thank you. These are everyday customs the Japanese do, and in the movie you see Setsuko scold Seita for not doing this.

Kimonos, which are dresses for special occasions, are mentioned a few times. For instance, you can see Seita and Setsuko’s mother wearing one in a family portrait. And the children’s aunt also says that their mother won’t need her kimonos anymore (after their mother had died while on her way to a shelter) and sells them for rice. Setsuko also wears traditional Geta sandals through most of the film. Geta sandals are basically flip flops, but are usually made out of wood.

A few large cities are mentioned throughout the film, like Kobe, Japan which is where the film is set for the most part. Kobe is now Japan’s sixth largest city. Tokyo is also mentioned, which we all know is the capital of Japan.

A lot of the food eaten in this movie was rice based. There was also a moment when we got to see some of the Japanese currency. It was just a quick glimpse though. There was also one moment where we saw Japanese flags waving while setting off a Navy fleet.

#japanese #Fall2015