Shunji Shimizu


Shunji Shimizu,, is a well-known Japanese subtitler and translator, referred to by one scholar as 'practically a household name in Japan'. He translated popular authors including Erskine Caldwell and Agatha Christie. He had a long working relationship with the Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures. He was a mentor to the eminent subtitler Natsuko Toda.

Career

Shunji Shimizu is said to have inaugurated film subtitling proper in Japan. The first subtitled film in Japan was Josef von Sternberg's 1930 film Morocco. It came out in Japan in 1931 and was subtitled by Yukihiko Tamura. The film's success was so great that Paramount decided greatly to expand its distribution of films to Japan, but Tamura was not able to leave Japan. He introduced Shunji Shimizu to Paramount Pictures, which whom he went on to have a long working relationship. One scholar suggests that "Shimizu's work with Paramount marks the start of film translation proper in Japan and he is considered by many to be the first true film subtitling craftsman ".
He was Paramount's subtitler for the Japanese market, with responsibility for preparing Paramount newsreels for distribution in Japan in the late 1930s and early 1940s, until American films were banned in Japan. He published extensively on the art and practice of subtitling. He was at one point a representative of the Japanese Administrating Commission of Motion Picture Code of Ethics.
He acted as a mentor to the later very well-known subtitler Natsuko Toda, and also taught translation to the sf editor, writer and translator Masami Fukushima.

Films subtitled by Shunji Shimizu

  1. Working Girl
  2. The Last Parade
  3. The Criminal Code
  4. 24 Hours
  5. Ladies of Leisure
  6. Girls About Town
  7. The Beloved Bachelor
  8. Caught
  9. Two Kinds of Women
  10. This Reckless Age
  11. Strangers in Love
  12. Wayward
  13. The Lights of Buenos Aires
  14. Fifty Fathoms Deep
  15. This is the Night
  16. The Broken Wing
  17. Million Dollar Legs (1932 film)
  18. Sky Bride
  19. The Misleading Lady
  20. The Strange Case of Clara Deane
  21. Make Me a Star
  22. Sinners in the Sun
  23. Devil and the Deep
  24. The Miracle Woman
  25. Subway Express
  26. Guilty as Hell
  27. Ten Cents a Dance
  28. Thunder Below
  29. The Night of June 13
  30. No One Man
  31. Madison Square Garden
  32. Street Scene (film)
  33. The Big Broadcast
  34. If I Had a Million
  35. Palmy Days
  36. The Phamtom President
  37. Night After Night
  38. Evenings for Sale
  39. He Learned About Women
  40. Corsair
  41. Island of Lost Souls
  42. Under-Cover Man
  43. Wild Horse Mesa
  44. The Vanishing Frontier
  45. The Devil is Driving
  46. American Madness
  47. Forbidden
  48. Hot Saturday
  49. Hello, Everybody!
  50. The Billion Dollar Scandal
  51. From Hell to Heaven
  52. Murders in the Zoo
  53. White Zombie
  54. Luxury Liner
  55. Reserved for Ladies
  56. Terror Abroad
  57. Heritage of the Desert
  58. The Story of Temple Drake
  59. Strictly Personal
  60. The Greeks had a Word for Then
  61. Song of the Eagle
  62. The Age for Love
  63. Rain (1932 film)
  64. The Girl in 419
  65. College Humor
  66. I Love That Man
  67. The Eagle and the Hawk
  68. Supernatural
  69. Washington Merry-Go-Round
  70. The Night Club Lady
  71. International House
  72. This Day and Age
  73. I Cover the Waterfront
  74. Brothers
  75. Mama Loves Papa
  76. Disgraced!
  77. Platinum Blonde
  78. Gambling Ship
  79. Three-Cornered Moon
  80. Midnight Club
  81. Her Bodyguard
  82. Under the Tonto Rim
  83. One Sunday Afternoon
  84. Air Hostess

Publications by Shunji Shimizu

  1. Eiga Jimaku no Gojunen.
  2. Eiga Jimaku no Tsukurikata Oshiemasu
  3. Eiga Jimaku wa Honyaku de wa Nai, ed. Natsuko Toda and Tamako Ueno