On Feb 11, 2012 will be the theatrical release of a dramatic movie about the Hayabusa mission. It looks like an expensive production: they built a copy of the main JAXA control room for the film.
Here is the web site: http://www.hayabusa2012.jp/index.html
You can watch some trailers there. Watch the one marked 'ver 2' in particular.
It's all in Japanese, but hopefully there will be an eventual DVD release with subtitles.
Here's an English translation of the trailer that I made with the help of some friends:
http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/2011/12/robots-in-space-the-movie/
Your translation is actually for a different Japanese movie about Hayabusa!
The one I posted about was directed by Tomoyuki Takimoto, and stars Ken Watanabe.
The full title reads "Hayabusa – Return From Afar".
And yet another one comes out March 10, more of a documentary.
Woah! I just assumed it was the same film without even clicking the link. Wow, two. The trailers are remarkably similar, but both look good to me. Thanks very much for posting that.
I want to see these. Thanks for the trailers, you guys!!!
Alright now -- show of hands -- after seeing the trailer who thinks they are going to cry at the end of the movie?
I can't cry, but I may well develop annoying completely unrelated oil leaks around my optical sensors. If anyone says anything about it, they can bite something shiny...
You can order the older one right now from the Amazon Japan web site, though not available until March 7.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%AF%E3%82%84%E3%81%B6%E3%81%95%EF%BC%8FHAYABUSA-DVD-%E5%A0%A4-%E5%B9%B8%E5%BD%A6/dp/B006MQC02W/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1327451647&sr=1-2
Be warned that Japanese DVD's are ridiculously expensive even before shipping, and they are coded for Region 2 so check whether your computer maybe can play them. This one does have English subtitles.
There are actually a few listed. To see them, go to www.amazon.co.jp, select 'DVD' from the dropdown and paste this into the search box -> はやぶさ. (Hint, use Chrome browser and it's built in translation feature)
I cried watching the trailer. Oh boy.
You're still a dude. I leaked some unidentified substance myself.
Oh my goodness, there's a Blu-Ray box set coming out that looks like it even includes a board game...
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0055BCP98/
I am totally willing to buy this, and have a Hayabusa movie night at my house, if I can figure out how to play it. I am guessing my Region A Blu-Ray player will not play it though....?
It looks like there are 3 disks in the box, so you get a DVD and BluRay version. I have never tried this, but I think software DVD players are more lenient about region coding than the hardware ones. Especially on Linux. There are region-free hardware players too, like this one from Samsung. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-DVD-C350-Region-Player-Guaranteed/dp/B003VX56MK?tag=duckduckgo-d-20
Hard to make out how the board-game works in that small photo. Seems to be made out of paper.
You are looking at a $100 expense there, including shipping, so research carefully before ordering. (And tell us what you find out)
I paid not much less than that to get the BluRay of Kaguya HD footage from Japan. Worth every.single.penny.
I was able to log in on the co.jp site using my amazon.com credentials. Once you get to the "My Account" page you will see an option "would you like to see this page in English" which you might find useful.
Translation of actual product pages is rather hit or miss, as Google's translation service is rather bad for Japanese. (I can read just enough Japanese to at least know when Google gets it wrong) Don't forget to look for "International Shipping", and be sitting down when you see the prices. Exchange rate is about ¥77 to the US$.
Just wanted to pass on that I just (yesterday) received my blu-ray copy of Hayabusa and watched it. At first blush I would have to say I was impressed with the film, and that it is a good movie. It was engaging for even my less UMSF enthusiastic wifey-poo, and I would say for the time allotted was a good encapsulation of Hayabusa's journey and trials. It was not dry or boring and was (with my American bias / low expectations for films with a technical heart) well acted.
-- Pertinax
I think you are talking about one of the three films made on Hayabusa's journey. A few weeks ago I also went to see one of them. Whether it was true or not, two things impressed me a lot.
1. Prof Kawaguchi was apparently always scornful of those people around him in the operating team who went to shrines and temples for a safe journey for Hayabusa. He himself, in the end, though, went to a shirne when Hayabusa went missing...
2. When he came out of this shrine he accidentally came across (in the film I watched) a guy who happned to have lathed a part for hayabusa. To him he confided that his dentist had told him that his molar teeth had been so much depleted upon grinding on them during times of difficulties.
Pandaneko
Hi Pandaneko,
The movie I watched was titled はやぶさ / http://www.yesasia.com/us/hayabusa-deluxe-box-blu-ray-first-press-limited-edition-english-subtitled/1027943515-0-0-0-en/info.html. I look forward to the others eventual release to Blu-Ray.
-- Pertinax
Pertinax, if you are watching it on BluRay, and it is called simply 'はやぶさ ', then it is most likely the version released last year, that just recently came out on BR. Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi.
If Pandaneko saw it recently in a theater, that is probably the latest one, "はやぶさ 遥かなる帰還" starring Ken Watanabe as Kawaguchi and directed by Tomoyuki Takimoto. As far as I know, that one is not yet available on disk. That is the one I am waiting for.
JAXA cooperated with both productions I think.
W00t! A date has been set for the DVD/BluRay release of the Watanabe version of the Hayabusa movie, "Hayabusa, Return from Afar" (はやぶさ 遥かなる帰還). August 10, 2012.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%AF%E3%82%84%E3%81%B6%E3%81%95-%E9%81%A5%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8B%E5%B8%B0%E9%82%84%E3%80%90Blu-ray%E3%80%91-%E7%80%A7%E6%9C%AC%E6%99%BA%E8%A1%8C/dp/B007VB8C4C/ref=sr_1_4?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1337552586&sr=1-4 is a link to the BR entry at Amazon Japan. But, huh? Only Japanese subtitles? That can't be right.
Running time 138 minutes.
A short article about the movie and comments by Ken Watanabe. This was published before the movie came out..
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/vox/AJ201202060061
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan/movies/AJ201202200030
The disc you refer to with English subtitles is the earlier version from last year, not the Toei version with Watanabe. I am composing an email to Toei to ask if the Amazon listing is correct regarding subtitles.
My friend in Japan informs me that most Japanese DVDs do *not* have English subtitles, so we may be out of luck on this one (the one with Ken Watanabe). No response yet to my email to Toei headquarters.
Thank you for that info. That has been my impression after the last couple of weeks searching (that discs were assumed to be Japanese ST only unless otherwise stated). I can understand that for the vast majority of 'home market' movies. However, while rightly a source of tremendous national pride within Japan, Hayabusa's story was also a source of great honor for Japan across the world. As such, it seems to me to be an amazing oversight on Toei's behalf not to take the trivial (compared with the remainder of the expense in the production of the film and discs) expense of translating this celebratory film and providing subtitles in the worlds lingua franca. I would think that purely from a marketing perspective providing English subtitles, even though counter to the norm, would be a given. Oh well.
I am thankful for the film released earlier this year (http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=FXXA-54530) with English subtitles.
-- Pertinax
PS - Anyone have any spare Babel Fish?
PPS - Would a Babel Fish work with a TV?
For anyone who still wants to get one of the Hayabusa movies, here is a better source than Amazon Japan.
http://www.yesasia.com/us/hayabusa-blu-ray-special-edition-english-subtitled-japan-version/1030922019-0-0-0-en/info.html
This is the version from last year, that does have English subtitles. And since BluRay divides up the world differently from how DVDs do, it will play on North American bluray players.
And free shipping!
$76.99, still not cheap, but that beats $100. This is the special edition that comes with other goodies, including a making-of feature. (I can't say whether the making-of part has subtitles)
Hi folks.
The three Hayabusa films will be screened at the Embassy of Japan in U.S.A.
Of course they have English subtitles. Enjoy!
!!! Each event requires a separate registration. !!!
See this page: http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/JICC/events/hayabusa-films.html
Last night I saw HAYABUSA: The Long Return Home (TOEI Company, LTD.) It was really well-done film, I thought. Ken Watanabe was very good as Professor Yamaguchi. The English subtitles were specially commissioned by the JAXA representatives for this showing. From following along on unmannedspaceflight.com, I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen and, as far as I could tell, the movie was quite accurate. There was even a shout out to the "official energy drink." The reception had wine, plentiful sushi, and barely edible Japanese space food, and they gave out cardboard models of the HTV filled with cookies. It was a very enjoyable event. They will be showing HAYABUSA (20th Century Fox Japan) on Monday, October 29.
I wish to see it some day, the heroic work to return Huyabasa and complete the mission successfully were a true marvel.
@Michael Capobianco: So they go that energy drink in also, not to surprising, that drink became a bit of a running joke for a brief time.
TheAnt: Yes. LIPOVITAN-D was certainly part of the Hayabusa experience here on unmannedspaceflight.com. The reference in the movie went by so fast that I almost missed it, though.
For those in the DC area: the October 29 showing of the 20th Century Fox HAYABUSA has been postponed to Nov. 2 because of Hurricane Sandy.
Whether Japanese studios are coming to their senses regarding prices, or it is exchange rates, anyway, the earlier Hayabusa movie with English subtitles is now available in Bluray format from http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%AF%E3%82%84%E3%81%B6%E3%81%95-HAYABUSA-Blu-ray-%E7%AB%B9%E5%86%85%E7%B5%90%E5%AD%90/dp/B00NMHRUM4 for only $11.25 (US) plus $9.60 for shipping and customs. That is quite reasonable for shipping from Japan. And it is shipped by Amazon itself and they do international deliveries. woo hoo.
The Ken Watanabe version still not available in English. Look for "英語" on the Subtitles line.
Some brief comments on "Hayabusa". The movie is working several themes at once, including trying to explain to the lay public exactly how the mission works. The cinematic device for doing this is to follow the story of a female graduate student (played in an adorably geeky way by Yűko Takeuchi) who gets involved in the project. She has completed her Masters in astronomy or geology (not sure which) with a paper on crater formation. While working on her Doctoral thesis she is working in a book store. After attending a lecture on future exploration plans she introduces herself to the speaker, who later invites her to come work for him, and she ends up several years later in the control room during Hayabusa operations.
There is a funny scene where she is coming out of an elevator on her first day at work and bumps face to face into Professor Yamaguchi. She freezes in her tracks and while she tries to decide whether to introduce herself, bow, or get out of the way, the elevator door keeps trying to close on her.
At some point she is trying to explain how "electric rocket engines" work to a small child and she gives a very technical answer which she suddenly realizes the kid does not undertand at all. He wanders off and the grad student gets this look in her eyes as she realizes the unmet need for explaining the project for the non-technical audience. So she decides to make this her work. She does it by writing a sort of manga which bears a striking similarity to the drawings done by Go Miyazaki. She has Hayabusa talking about the trip he is undertaking. A co-worker asks "You mean like Tommy the Tank Engine?"
One of the public talks given by the young woman's boss goes over who Hideo Itokawa was, the Japanese rocket scientist after whom their destination asteroid is named. This is an example of how the movie blends documentary-style information into the narrative.
Hm, female ex grad student who explains space science to the public. Sound like anybody we know?
Thanks for the heads-up, Blue Sky. I ordered the Blue-Ray from Amazon Japan and, amazingly, it arrived in less than a week.
I would rate the Ken Watanabe movie a bit higher than this one for drama and characterization, although you're right that the central character is well done in this one. It's been a while since I saw the Watanabe version, but my impression is that the special effects in that movie are not quite as good as they are here.
And someone does actually take a swig of Lipovitan-D in this movie, which is a plus.
I'd say they're both worth watching, for different takes on the mission. How often do you get movies centered around unmanned spacecraft?
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