Childhood Days (1990)
"Shonen jidai" (original title)

Bombing during World War II resulted in whole urban populations fleeing to the countryside, and this created a meeting of urban and rural cultures. Shinji (a young boy evacuated from Tokyo)... See full summary »

Director:

Masahiro Shinoda

Writers:

Hyozo Kashiwabara (book), Taichi Yamada

Stars:

Tetsuya Fujita, Yuji Horioka, Katsuhisa Yamazaki

15 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Tetsuya Fujita	...	Shinji Kazama
Yuji Horioka	...	Takeshi Ohara
Katsuhisa Yamazaki	...	Futoshi Tanabe
Noritake Kobinata	...	Kensuke Sudo
Atsuko Koyama	...	Minako Saiki
Shima Iwashita	...	Shizue Kazama
Toshiyuki Hosokawa	...	Shusaku Kazama
Chôichirô Kawarazaki	...	Tatsuo Kazama
Kazuyo Mita	...	Shige Kazama
Nobuko Sendô	...	Akiko Tanabe
Mitsue Suzuki	...	Maki Kazama
Shinsuke Ashida	...	Principal
Hideji Ôtaki	...	Stationmaster
Kyosen Ôhashi	...	Photographer

Storyline

Bombing during World War II resulted in whole urban populations fleeing to the countryside, and this created a meeting of urban and rural cultures. Shinji (a young boy evacuated from Tokyo) and his new schoolmates (who are villagers) don't exactly know what is going on in the war. They see the B-29 bombers and the glow of cities on fire, but the problems of being separated from one's mother and surviving among one's peers loom larger than international politics.

---

Plot Keywords:

rural | coming of age | train | world war two | teen | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

12 January 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Takeshi: Childhood Days

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hyogensha

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Boyhood memories

This is a story of an 11-years-old boy, who went for evacuation, when Tokyo was in danger of Ameircan air-raid, to Toyama, rural village facing Japan sea, until the war ended. However, this movie does not portray horrors or misery of the World War II. The scenes that remind wartime, like air raids, food shortages or military education, are limited though important.

You see boys of particular personalities: a son of a high-ranking official in Tokyo, a poor peasant's son who is the class leader with good study performance and outrageous character, a landowner's son with good study performance and upper hand inclination, a big strong boy with poor study performance, etc. Those typical characters of the gang-age remind your own gang-age memories. In my boyhood, I was sent from my home in a city to my aunt in a village for three months while my parents could not take care of me. In the village school I was odd man out, but I could have some friends, who had in some degree resemblance with the boys in this movie. That was why after watching the movie, I could not help recalling my boyhood in strong nostalgia. Perhaps every grown-up man would find something common in his memory and the movie.