1950 Sapporo Japan

Junko Rich

Born 1942

Sapporo, Japan

Interviewed on January 31st, 2026

By Ren Topping 

What is the first film that you remember seeing in the theater?

Escape at Dawn (暁の脱走, Akatsuki no Dassō). That’s a romantic film. [It] takes place during the war in China. Manchuria, basically. Because my mother, my adopted mother—who was really good—died when I was seven, my father just hated to go anywhere alone, really. So, he dragged me to see the movie in [the] theater. His choice. 

First thing I remember [about] that film, I was so traumatized and started to cry in the theater, and [my] body started to shake, so we had to move out. Because there was war, [the] end scene is the lovers escaping from a barbed wire fence and they’re shot down. I never saw the ending of it, so I don’t know if they survived or died. So after that, I truly refused to go see movie[s] with him. 

How old were you when you watched Escape at Dawn?

So it’s 1950, probably, so I was seven or eight. 

Where was it?

In Sapporo. 

You talked about the ending, but what did you think of the rest of the movie?

Because it’s just adult film*, I don’t remember other than lots of talking on the screen, close ups, and maybe just a little strange compared to Bambi**. Because I thought that that was a movie. 

When you went to see Escape at Dawn with your father, did he let you get popcorn or were there any concessions?

Oh, no. There is no such thing in Japan. Movie theater is just go to see movie. No food, nothing. Popcorn culture, I [never] knew until I came to the U.S. 

Do you remember what the theater was like?

Yes, because that theater still exists in Sapporo. I walked by when [your] mom and I walked through the arcade. It’s an arcade because Sapporo is cold in winter, so they have a covered arcade about seven or eight blocks long. And between the third or fourth, I think, there was a movie theater. 

How did you get there?

Walked. Like you in New York, walking ten blocks is no big deal. Unless [there was] inclement weather, you just walked. There was no bus, those days, just either trolley or walk. 

Do you remember the name of the theater?

No, I don’t. Something kinema (キネマ). [In] Japanese, cinema, because it’s a C, Japanese translated phonetically. So that in Japan, it’s always kinema or something, something eigakan (映画館) meaning house of movies. 

And that’s exactly the same theater when, after we married, Jiji*** and I went to see a movie, and that was maybe called Dirty Dozen. That was way into the future after we married. Peter always loved to see the movie, so we went to a movie almost weekly. Whenever they changed, we went to see the movie.

And the first one was Dirty Dozen and he laughed [his] head off with every joke. Then people would be shushing him because Japanese audiences [are] very quiet. And of course laughter comes before people finish reading. The joke started and he started to laugh aloud and I had to nudge him. 

This interview was conducted with my maternal grandmother. 

Notes: 

*Meaning a film directed at adult audiences, not an “adult film”. 

**My grandmother also has an early memory of watching Bambi with her first grade class.

***The term of endearment we used for my maternal grandfather. From the Japanese ojiisann (お祖父さん) meaning grandfather, although he was from New Jersey.