Naomi (1993)
Naomi’s story is focused around a man’s obsession for a modan garu or modern girl. The main character, Jōji, is a well-educated Japanese man who is an electrical engineer in the city, and comes from a wealthy landlord family. Jōji wishes to break away from his traditional Japanese culture, and becomes immersed in the strange new Westernized culture which was beginning to form in Japan. The physical representation of everything Western is embodied in a young girl named Naomi. Jōji sees Naomi for the first time in a café and instantly falls for her exotic “Eurasian” looks, Western-sounding name, and sophisticated mannerisms. Like the story of the prepubescent Murasaki in the classic novel The Tale of Genji, Jōji decides he will raise Naomi, a fifteen-year-old café hostess, to be his perfect woman: in this case he will forge her into a glamorous Western girl like Mary Pickford, a famous Canadian actress of the silent film era.
Genre: Romance
Director: Mitsuru Meike, Toshiki Sato
Actors: Hinako Akiyama, Kazuhiro Sano, Kyoko Irohani, Mineo Sugiura, Yumi Yoshiyuki, Yumika Hayashi
