More than a post just a quick note today. On September 16th Ichikawa Kon‘s Tokyo Olympiad (東京オリンピック, 1965) was rereleased on DVD here in Japan. As far as I know it’s not a new transfer neither a better edition than the last one published in 2004, but according to the description I found on the net, this DVD is actually the disc 2 of that edition released 11 years ago, that is the 170 minutes director-cut version (the Olympic commitee forced Ichikawa to re-edit and change the film to 93 minutes).
A new transfer and a new DVD/Blu-ray with both versions, rich in supplements and extras will probably be released in the next 4 or 5 years, when the hype for the 2020 games in Tokyo will start to spread around Japan and the globe. The much-wanted Criterion edition will hopefully follow the same path, or a surprise release next year on the occasion of Rio de Janeiro Olympics will be a much appreciated gift. The out-of-print DVD from the New York-based home video company is almost a piece of collection, priced as much as 200$.
The DVD is published by Tōhō on its Tōhō meisaku selection line, an interesting selection of titles by the way, and, as happens too often with Japanese DVDs, it’s a bare-bone release, no extras seem to be included here besides the film script. The only positive side of it is the price: now you can get it on Amazon Japan and other resellers for less than 2000 yen.
If you’re interested in non-fiction films about the Olympic Games, take a look at Kuroki Kazuo’s Record of a Marathon Runner (あるマラソンランナーの記録) here.
Asian Docs 