1944 Tokyo, Japan

Miyoko Lotto

Born March 4, 1944

Tokyo, Japan

Interviewed on January 27, 2025

By Aimee Chang

Aimee Chang (AC): What is the first movie you remember seeing?

Miyoko Lotto (ML): I will never forget. I was about five years old and my father took me to see Bambi. Oh wow, I was so traumatized. To this day, I cannot watch Bambi. Oh no. I refused to let my children watch Bambi, so they haven’t watched Bambi. That was the impression. It was because the mother deer got shot and that destroyed it for me. 

AC: Yes, that must be traumatizing for a five year old to watch. Were you in Tokyo or in Hokkaido at this point?

ML: We were already in Tokyo by then. This was in 1949.

AC: Awesome! Do you remember anything else about the movie? 

ML: I remember that my father loved Peter Pan. I told him that I saw it three times when I was maybe seven years old. We went to the movie theater three times for Peter Pan because, you know, we didn’t have videos at that time. My father looked at me and said, I saw it five times. So I have this vision of my father being Peter Pan. That was my idea of what my father must have been as a youngster because he loved it so much. Actually, Walt Disney asked my father for permission to use his snow crystals for Fantasia.

AC: Right, because he was the first person to create artificial snowflakes. That’s amazing. Did he say yes?

ML: Yes, he gave them permission. Oh, he was a Disney fan! He was thrilled.

AC: Did you also go see Bambi and other films with your other relatives?

ML: Mostly my father or my mother. When I was five to seven years old, my two sisters were in school. My oldest sister was 12 years older than me. Both of them were in a boarding school. It was a really difficult boarding school so they had to work a lot. They never had a chance to go and watch the movies. So I mostly went with my mother and my father. 

AC: What did you think about the other characters in Bambi? Do any characters stick out to you in particular?

ML: I remember the rabbit, Thumper. I liked him a lot. But I just remember the movie as something that brought tears to my eyes as a child if I thought about it. So it was like no way, you know. But it was such an impression. I can tell you that it was my first and my last time watching that movie. After seeing Bambi, Snow White and all those other movies didn’t scare me as much.

AC: Do you remember anything about the musical soundtrack because you were playing piano at that point?

ML: Yes, I was already playing piano and that might have had something to do with that scene where the mother is shot. You know, the musical scores can make it so horrendous.

AC: How did you get to the theater? Do you remember the name of the theater that you went to and were there any ushers?

ML: I really don’t remember the theater’s name at all, or much of the exact details. But I’m sure I would either go by a train or a taxi. In Japan, the trains go everywhere. There weren’t too many theaters in Tokyo at that time, but the train was right there, so it was easily accessible. I lived pretty central, by the Meiji Shrine.

AC: Do you also remember going to the concession stands and if you had a favorite candy at the theater? Was that a central part of your theater experience? 

ML: So because I was in Japan, I don’t think that was a big thing. Maybe it’s more of an American staple. I do remember I went to a community house on Sundays. We would have Sunday classes at ten o’clock and then after an hour or so, we would have a quick lunch. The community house always had movies at one o’clock. I remember having a treat for lunch and then going there; food was definitely part of that. But you had to go through Sunday school to get your treat and then go to the movies. 

The movies at that time, in the 1953-1954 era, were horrendous movies. You know, it’s either bashing the communists or a pirate movie, or Robin Hood. Whatever it was, it was the kind of movies at the community house that were okay for children. The things I saw there were so horrendous that I don’t even remember what they were. They were just swords, horses and westerns; the good guys win and the bad guys die.

AC: Did you ever watch silent films?

ML: Only as an adult and on television. I’ve never seen a silent film at the theater, but when I was teaching at NYU, my colleague, Ron Sadoff, was in charge of doing the music for films. He was teaching my kids how to make music for silent films. You would have the screen over there and you have the piano over here. Then you would have to create the sound of whatever you wanted to play for that screen. I went to see one of those things. 

AC: That’s such a great experience for the students. I love listening to the soundtrack of each film. 

ML: Yes, exactly. Do you know the Chinese composer, Tan Dun? He has a piece called Eight  Memories in Watercolor. It’s perfect for little kids, right? I have some Chinese students and I like them to get in touch with their roots. Well, when I assign this piece and ask the mothers to go by the music scores, they say, who is that composer? I would say, he’s the man who got an Academy award for the music in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

There is a scene set in a bamboo forest. The two protagonists are sword fighting in the bamboo, and one is swinging one bamboo and the other character is swinging the other way. It’s phenomenal with the music. It’s just beautiful. It’s a real dance, you know, that kind of writing is so lively. I explained this to my students’ mothers that it’s Tan Dun who wrote that, then they buy the score really fast.

AC: That’s so funny and that’s great that they appreciate his music. Well, thank you so much. This was really fun.

Note: Miyoko Lotto is an acclaimed concert pianist and teacher. Miyoko Lotto was Aimee Chang’s piano teacher at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, where she studied from 2015-2021.