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Supamonta Supanan, Bangkok University, ThailandAbstract
Love is still a cornerstone of storytelling in films worldwide. Likewise, Japanese films contain their charismas and reflect the images of Japanese society from various perspectives, particularly about life, love, and delicate as well as meaningful relationships. A number of these films have been screened in Thailand, and have attracted Thai viewers. Thus, this study focuses on the analysis of 9 Japanese films that have been released in Thailand i.e., Tomorrow I Will Date With Yesterday’s You (Miki, 2016), I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (Tsukikawa, 2017), Last Letter (Iwai, 2020), The Last 10 Years (Fujii, 2022), Insomniacs After School (Mamoru, 2023), April Come, She Will (Yamada, 2024), 52-Hertz Whales (Narushima, 2024), Worlds Apart (Seta, 2024), and At the Bench (Okayama, 2024). The analysis is grounded in Semiotics, A Lover’s Discourse by Roland Barthes (Barthes, 1978), and Japanese philosophical perspectives on life. The findings revealed that Japanese films give the meanings of life and love through stepping over changes, love coming with pain, separation, loss, loneliness, and solitude. These refer to the storytelling of love and sadness with insights into the beauty of love. The stories are narrated through symbols, e.g., letters, flowers, stars, sea, whales, camera, parallel universe, etc. Love presented through Japanese films does not show pictures of fighting over love or hurting someone to possess their loved ones. In contrast, the films often depict characters facing uncontrollable external circumstances and inner emotional landscapes. The feeling of love mixed with loneliness, simplicity, tenderness, and broken hearts so as to grow further for living their valuable life again.
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Conference: KAMC2025Stream: Film Studies
This paper is part of the KAMC2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Supanan S. (2026) From Cherry Blossoms to Broken Hearts: Life and Love in Japanese Films Released in Thailand ISSN: 2436-0503 – The Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 425-438) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2436-0503.2025.34
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2436-0503.2025.34
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