Japan Society of Fairfield County
The Quiet Builders- John and Shige premiers
On
Sunday
March
27th, the
Japan Society of Fairfield County was privileged to have
Producer/Director Koji
Hayasaki of Cinemic Productions premier his latest documentary The
Quiet Builders-John and Shige. After the film was shown, Mr.
Hayasaki discussed the film and its genesis. He was intrigued by
President Bush's remark that Iraq would end up with a good democratic
government after the conflict just as Japan had after World War
II. Just how did Japan get from the devastation of the war to its
current enviable society? Hayasaki's research soon led to John D
Rockefeller III and his further studies at the Rockefeller archives led
to Shige Matsumoto.
Quoting The Quiet Builder's
website:
June 17, 1952: Only seven years after the end of World War II, the
flags of the 'Rising Sun' were flying high over Fifth Avenue in New
York. They marked the re-opening of Japan Society. In Tokyo, in the
same year, International House threw open its doors. The goal of both
organizations: to promote cultural and intellectual exchange between
the United States and Japan and to foster mutual respect and
understanding in an effort to avert the horror of future wars. Two
remarkable men guided this process, making it their life's work: John
D. Rockefeller the 3rd, scion of one of America's most prominent
families, and Shigeharu Matsumoto, journalist; their friendship lasted
over 50 years.
The Quiet Builders – John and Shige- depicts the friendship of the two
men and recreates their extraordinary times through their diaries,
notes and letters and studies how their behind-the-scenes diplomacy
during the complicated post-war period helped to shape the present
US/Japan relationship. Both men found that their experiences during the
war left them with a shared sense of how to rebuild the relationship
between their nations; they both believed that learning and
understanding the other country's culture was of vital importance, that
diplomacy must be a two-way street. Based on this common recognition,
JDR and Matsumoto took on numerous grass-roots projects to move both
countries closer together.
This 60 minute documentary is the story of a friendship, but also the
story of two nation once separated by war and the unexpected
connections their people achieved in the post war period.
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