Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Japan
•
1h 30m
Directed by Jessica Oreck • Documentary • With Takeshi Yoro • 2010 • 90 minutes
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo delves into the mystery of Japan's age-old love affair with insects. From the first fabled emperor who dubbed Japan the "Isle of the Dragonflies," to the cricket-selling businesses of the 1800s, and finally to modern-day Tokyo where a beetle recently sold for $90,000, insects inspire an enthusiasm in Japan seen nowhere else in the world.
Interspersed with the philosophies of Dr. Takeshi Yoro, one of Japan's best-selling authors and anatomists, and laced with poetry, literature, and art inspired by insects, the film is a quiet rhythmic observation of traditional Japanese values, particularly the intense appreciation of something so seemingly mundane. It challenges filmgoers to observe the world from an uncommon perspective that might not only change the way we think about bugs, but about life.
Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and Winner of Cinema Eye Spotlight Award.
Up Next in Japan
-
Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams
Directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki • Documentary • 2019 • 94 minutes
Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in the 100th annual Koshien, Japan's wildly popular national high school baseball championship, whose alumni include U.S. baseball star Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. But...
-
Outlaw-Matsu Comes Home
Directed by Shohei Imamura • Documentary • 2012 • 48 minutes
Shohei Imamura rejoins Fujita, one of the subjects of IN SEARCH OF THE UNRETURNED SOLDIERS IN THAILAND, for the former soldier's first trip home to Japan following his post-war exile.
Fujita's reunion with Japan is not a happy one. He...
-
The Unreturned Soldiers In Malaysia
Directed by Shohei Imamura • Documentary • 1971 • 45 minutes
In Malaysia, Imamura follows one false lead after another as he tries to locate unreturned Japanese who had given up the culture of their birth to integrate with Malaysian society. These wrong turns take the filmmaker on a tour through...
