Tokyo Japan Travelogue Movie "Symphonical Sketch" 10374 (1937)

Synopsis

Presented by The Board of Tourist Industry Japan, Tokyo Symphonical Sketch is a short 1937 film that gives viewers a look at pre-WWII Tokyo as it blends traditional Japanese culture with modernization and some western influence. The film opens with a shot of a large building. Planes fly over a torii gate. There are scenes of canals and rivers, train stations, and modern buildings. Viewers see a train as it arrives at Tokyo Station (01:16). Men and women walk to work in western clothes. At a market, vendors prepare their goods for display (presumably the market near Tokyo Station). Men and women work at desks in a large office (01:58); women operate a switch board. Men call out at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (02:30). At a school, young children perform exercises (02:55). The film shows a large modern building with a clock tower that looks somewhat like the expressionist architecture in northern European countries (03:18). A man uses a type of printing press to print Japanese (03:42). Women arrange cherry boughs. Women work on embroidering designs (04:40). Two westerners talk with a store clerk about an item at what looks like a department store. A woman shops for sandals. Two women browse the kitchen section of a department store. There is a tracking shot of storefronts along a street. Women look at Japanese mannequins displaying kimonos in a store window (06:02). There is a shot of a main thoroughfare in Tokyo (06:25). A view from a tall building overlooks what appears to be…

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time

23 minutes

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage