The Barren Zone

*The Barren Zone*
The Barren Zone
Starring	Mikijirō Hira
Country of origin	Japan
Original language	Japanese
No. of episodes	31
Original release
Network	TBS
Release	April 4 –; October 31, 1979

Fumō Chitai
Fumō Chitai
Directed by	Satsuo Yamamoto
Screenplay by	Nobuo Yamada
Starring	Tatsuya Nakadai; Isao Yamagata; Kin'ya Kitaōji; Tetsurō Tamba
Music by	Sato Masaru
Production; company	Geiensha
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	August 28, 1976;
Running time	181 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

The Barren Zone
	First tankōbon volume cover
Author	Toyoko Yamasaki
Original title	不毛地帯
Translator	James T. Araki
Language	Japanese
Publication date	1973–78
Publication place	Japan
Published in English	1985

The Barren Zone (Japanese: 不毛地帯, Hepburn: Fumō chitai) is a novel by Toyoko Yamasaki. It was serialized in the weekly magazine Sunday Manichi from 1973 to 1978.

The novel was partially adapted into a film starring Tatsuya Nakadai and directed by Satsuo Yamamoto in 1976. It was later adapted into two television miniseries in 1979 and 2009.

Synopsis

Tadashi Iki is captured during the invasion of Manchuria and returns to Japan after being interned for over a decade in Soviet labor camps. Owing to his former position in the Imperial General Staff, he is offered a position at the expansive Kinki Corporation.

1976 film

Fumō Chitai (不毛地帯) is a 1976 Japanese film directed by Satsuo Yamamoto.^[1]

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai - Tadashi Iki
Tetsurō Tamba - Isao Kawamata
Isao Yamagata - Ichizo Daimon
Jūkei Fujioka - Army Chief General of Kwantung Army
Kin'ya Kitaōji
Takashi Yamaguchi
Kaoru Yachigusa
Shiho Fujimura
Ichirō Nakatani
Hisashi Igawa
Eitaro Ozawa
Etsushi Takahashi - Detective
Jirō Tamiya - Tatsuzo Samejima
Hideji Ōtaki - Seizo Hisamatsu

Awards

1st Hochi Film Award^[2]

Won: Best Supporting Actor - Hideji Ōtaki

31st Mainichi Film Award^[3]

Won: Best Film
Won: Best Screenplay: Noboru Yamada^[1]

1979 TV series

Cast

Mikijirō Hira - Tadashi Iki
Tomisaburo Wakayama - Ichizo Daimon
Atsuo Nakamura - Tatsuzo Samejima
Hideo Takamatsu - Tatsuya Satoi
Kimiko Ikegami - Naoko Iki
Takashi Shimura - Masaharu Tanigawa
Kō Nishimura - Seizo Hisamatsu
Tamao Nakamura
Ayumi Ishida
Ichirō Murakoshi - Narrator

2009 TV series

The Barren Zone
Starring	Toshiaki Karasawa Koyuki Kenichi Endō Yutaka Takenouchi Yūki Amami Sadao Abe Kuranosuke Sasaki Toshirō Yanagiba Emi Wakui Isao Hashizume Ittoku Kishibe Yoshio Harada
Narrated by	Issei Futamata
Composer	Yugo Kanno
Country of origin	Japan
Original language	Japanese
No. of episodes	19
Original release
Network	Fuji Television
Release	March 11 (2009-03-11) – October 15, 2009 (2009-10-15)

Cast

Toshiaki Karasawa - Tadashi Iki
Yoshio Harada - Ichizo Daimon
Kenichi Endō - Tatsuzo Samejima
Ittoku Kishibe - Tatsuya Satoi
Toshirō Yanagiba - Isao Kawamata
Emi Wakui - Yoshiko Iki
Koyuki - Chisato Akitsu
Nicholas Pettas - Pratt
Mikako Tabe - Naoko Iki
Sheryar Khan - Oil Company Manager
Issei Futamata - Narrator

References

^ ^a ^b "デジタル大辞泉プラス「不毛地帯」の解説". kotobank. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
^ 報知映画賞ヒストリー (in Japanese). Cinema Hochi. Archived from the original on 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2011-01-08.
^ "Japan-movie" 31 1976年 (in Japanese). japan-movie.net. Retrieved 2011-01-08.

External links

Fumo Chitai at IMDb

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This article about a television show originating in Japan is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[kotobank-1] "デジタル大辞泉プラス「不毛地帯」の解説". kotobank. Retrieved 11 October 2021.

[2] 報知映画賞ヒストリー (in Japanese). Cinema Hochi. Archived from the original on 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2011-01-08.

[3] "Japan-movie" 31 1976年 (in Japanese). japan-movie.net. Retrieved 2011-01-08.

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