The vulnerable nation in Japanese cinema: subservience and salvation in Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Dai Nipponjin [Big Man Japan]

Abstract

ABSTRACT Dai Nipponjin (Big Man Japan) is a 2007 mockumentary that veers wildly across multiple forms of realism to incorporate full-blown farce. This paper examines the final scenes of the film to show how comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto’s debut film shifts through mockumentary and CGI kaigu (giant monster) genres to employ a tokusatsu (live-action special effects) coda that highlights Japan’s subservience to foreign powers and the very real threat of a regional militaristic attack. We contend that over a decade later, Matsumoto’s blending of intertextual frames remains a strangely vivid reminder of Japan’s vulnerability to external forces.