The Structure and History of Movie Theater : An Art History of Phartom Space in Modern Japan

研究日本电影史的学者一直专注于电影及其作者，偶尔也会关注电影的技术和经济条件。然而，还没有一位电影学者或评论家对日本电影院如何吸引当地观众提出系统的调查。在这篇文章中，我将讨论10年来京都电影院和观众之间的关系。在日本电影业的黄金岁月里，京都有三家主要的电影制片厂，到1956年，有60多家电影院。从1947年到1956年，各大影院在改善画展和动员观影人数方面经历了三个阶段：第一个阶段是1947年，为了满足观众对座位的需求，一些影院开始限制站票销售；第二个阶段是1951年达到顶峰，剧院通过售票提供各种彩票奖励；第三个阶段是从1950年开始，剧院升级了设施，安装了空调和改进了音响设备。在1954年至1956年期间，《京都新闻》几乎每天都有当地信息，即电影在该市拍摄的地点和时间。这意味着报纸的读者，潜在的电影观众，可以欣赏从制作到消费的整个电影过程。通过利用报纸上的位置信息，读者可以体验到对京都的强烈归属感，京都是日本电影的首都，信息和娱乐都是在这里生产和消费的。

Scholars of Japanese film history have focused on films and their authors, and occasionally on films' technological and economic conditions. However, no film scholar or critic has offered a systematic inquiry into how movie theaters enticed local spectators in Japan. In this paper I will discuss the relationshipbetween movie theaters and spectators in Kyoto over a 10-year period.During the golden years of Japanese Cinema, Kyoto city had three major moviestudios and, by 1956, more than sixty movie theaters. During the period from 1947-56, theaters went through three stages in improving picture exhibition and mobilizing cinema attendance : first, in response to the demand of spectators forseats, in 1947 some theaters began to limit standing room ticket sales ; second, peaking 1951, theaters offered a variety of lottery prizes through ticket sales ; and third, beginning in 1950, theaters upgraded their facilities, installing air conditioning and improved sound equipment.I also give an analysis of the relationship between the local major movie studios and Kyoto Shinbun local daily newspaper. During the period from 1954 to 1956, Kyoto Shinbun included almost daily local information, i.e., where and when movies were shot in the city. This meant that readers of the newspaper, potential moviegoers, could appreciate the whole film process from production to consumption. Through making use of location information in the newspaper, readers could experience strong sense of belonging to Kyoto, the capital of Japanese Cinema where information and entertainmt were produced and consumed.