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15. But back to what The Karate Kid says about Okinawa and Japan.
There is literally zero indication in the first film that the former is part of the latter country.
Let's go to the script.
There is literally zero indication in the first film that the former is part of the latter country.
Let's go to the script.
16. In Karate Kid, the first mention of either place is the following exchange:
"Daniel: Did you learn this in Japan?
Miyagi: Okinawa.
D: Where's that?
M: My country. China here. Japan here. Okinawa here."
http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/k/karate-kid-script-transcript-miyagi.html
"Daniel: Did you learn this in Japan?
Miyagi: Okinawa.
D: Where's that?
M: My country. China here. Japan here. Okinawa here."
http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/k/karate-kid-script-transcript-miyagi.html
17. This exchange does not feel ambiguous to me; the text of the film is quite clear that Okinawa is distinct from Japan.
Mr. Miyagi makes two other references in this film to being from Okinawa, and Daniel once refers to his sensei as being from Okinawa.
Mr. Miyagi makes two other references in this film to being from Okinawa, and Daniel once refers to his sensei as being from Okinawa.
18. There are no other references to Japan as a place in the film.
In Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel that the song he was drunkenly singing to his dead wife is "Japanese blue" and that a tool is a "Japanese sander," but these are the adjectival "Japanese" not the place.
In Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel that the song he was drunkenly singing to his dead wife is "Japanese blue" and that a tool is a "Japanese sander," but these are the adjectival "Japanese" not the place.
19. At one point a bully calls Mr. Miyagi a "Nip," a once-common slur that is an abbreviation of "Nippon," a more traditional pronunciation of the Japanese name of Japan, "Nihon."
Morita had previously performed standup as "The Hip Nip."
Morita had previously performed standup as "The Hip Nip."
20. The film is replete with references to Japanese cultural practices that are not (like karate) really from Okinawa, such as chopsticks (from the famous fly-catching scene) or bonsai, which is a favorite hobby of Mr. Miyagi.
21. A critical, and more subtle, reference comes in this scene where Daniel reads this old letter of Mr. Miyagi's:
"We regret to inform you that on November 2, 1944, at the Manzanar Relocation Center your wife and newborn son died due to complications arising from childbirth."
"We regret to inform you that on November 2, 1944, at the Manzanar Relocation Center your wife and newborn son died due to complications arising from childbirth."
22. Daniel finds the following newspaper stored away with the letter. We can see that this Los Angeles Tribune article says "Army Moves Japanese to Manzanar" and "Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry."
23. This is the closest the film gets to referring to Miyagi as Japanese, and it's an oblique and subtle reference, and even diagetically one could easily imagine it as a mistake on the part of the American government. Or it could be that his wife was Japanese while he was not.
24. After all, we know that he served in Europe during WW2, not as a Japanese translator.
In any case, this scene is a highlight of the film and you can really feel Morita earning his Academy Award nomination.
In any case, this scene is a highlight of the film and you can really feel Morita earning his Academy Award nomination.
25. Shockingly, the studio wanted this scene cut from the movie, which would have been a slap in the face not only to Pat Morita and the entire Nikkei community, but to the intelligence and taste of the film's audience. The film would have been far worse. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-01-01/cobra-kai-season-3-netflix-tamlyn-tomita-kumiko-karate-kid
26. Pat Morita spent time in two Japanese internment camps as a child: Gila River camp in Arizona and then the Tule Lake camp in California. Incredible, Morita was moved to the camp to join his family directly from being discharged from a NINE-YEAR stay in a spinal hospital.
27. Manzanar, located in the brutally inhospitable desert of Owens Valley, California, was the most famous of the WW2 Japanese internment camps
I've been there myself, and I can say that in recent years it has been beautifully restored into an excellent, if grim, museum site.
I've been there myself, and I can say that in recent years it has been beautifully restored into an excellent, if grim, museum site.
28. Legendary photographer Ansel Adams took an excellent series of photos of Manzanar, some of which were published in a book with the ironic title "Born Free and Equal." https://www.loc.gov/collections/ansel-adams-manzanar/about-this-collection/
