Neighborhood Tokyo: The Video

Distributed by: Documentary Educational Resources

Miyamoto-chō is a community of mom-and-pop stores and family businesses located near the center of Tokyo. Competition from supermarkets and shopping centers threatens the livelihoods of long-term residents. High land prices tempt owners to tear down old homes and replace them with apartment buildings; this in turn is changing the composition of the population. Against this backdrop, residents strive to maintain the close social ties, symbols of local identity, and community rituals that make Miyamoto-chō more than just another mailing address. Ted Bestor, who began his research here in 1979 and has continued to do research in the neighborhood to the present, narrates the film and interviews residents of Miyamoto-chō in their homes, at community events, and during the New Year’s celebrations. The video was shot by a camera crew from NHK during the fall and winter of 1991-92. Bestor’s prize winning ethnography of the same name was published by Stanford University Press (1989) (link to book). This documentary is one of a series created by the Media Production Group (MPG) depicting the variety of life in today's Japan in the context of human problems common to all industrial nations. A comprehensive study guide is available.

Series Title: Japan: Resources for Understanding

Producer: David W. Plath

Director: Ikeda Hajime

Author: Theodore C. Bestor

Released by Media Production Group (MPG) in collaboration with Hōsō Daigaku (University of the Air), and the Asian Educational Media Service of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Release date: 1992

Audience: Secondary Education, Higher Education

Running Time: 30 minutes

Format: VHS cassette, 30 min, color

Language: English

Price: video purchase $145, rental $45

Distributed by: Documentary Educational Resources

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