Big Bird in Japan
| Big Bird in Japan | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jon Stone |
| Produced by | Sonia Rosario |
| Written by | Jon Stone |
| Starring |
Caroll Spinney Maiko Kawakami |
| Music by |
Tony Geiss Carol Hall Dick Lieb |
| Edited by | Ilene Merenstein |
| Distributed by | PBS |
|
Release date
|
January 16, 1989 |
|
Running time
|
60 minutes |
| Language | English |
Big Bird in Japan is a 1989 television special by the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), that aired on PBS January 16, 1989. It is the sequel to Big Bird in China which was also based on the popular television series Sesame Street. This television special was filmed in Kyoto and Tokyo at 1988. The program was also produced with the help of NHK.
Separated from their guided tour group while in Japan, Big Bird and Barkley find help from a friendly young woman who is planning to leave Japan at the same time they will be, and from the same town, Kyoto. She offers to take the pair to Kyoto as she says good-bye to family and friends along the way.
Big Bird witnesses some of Japan's beauty, its landscape and culture, with the help of the mysterious young woman and the friends of hers he stays with. She introduces him to a Japanese family, and teaches him some simple Japanese vocabulary. ("Ohayou" = "Good Morning," etc.) Big Bird is increasingly vexed by the fact that he has not learned the young woman's name, and the fact that she has a tendency to have disappeared quite suddenly when he turns to speak to her. One night, finding difficulty in sleeping on a futon, he happens to catch sight of her standing in the garden, singing an achingly melancholy song to the moon.
Attending an elementary school on the day he, Barkley and their mysterious helper are supposed to leave on the Shinkansen for Kyoto, Big Bird is treated to The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter as acted out by some of the students. One of the highlights of the special, Big Bird (and the viewing audience) learns the story of Kaguya-hime, a young girl found in a shining bamboo stump, who later reveals herself as a magical princess to her adopted family. She then must return to the moon, and leave her adoptive family behind.
Big Bird and Barkley arrive at the Shinkansen station almost too late, and their worried companion scolds them lightly once they're on board. Once they disembark, she orders them to stay put so that they don't get lost and miss meeting up with their tour. But Big Bird and Barkley are much too intrigued by their surroundings, and end up at the Sanjusangendo Temple. Barkley becomes frightened by the statues inside and runs away, with a distraught Big Bird in pursuit.
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