Language, Literature, and Culture

Rhythms in Migration: Whispering Sidewalks and Japan's Jazz Age Cinema

Document Type

Book Chapter

Abstract

This chapter discusses the 1936 film Whispering Sidewalks (Hodo no sasayaki), a striking yet long-neglected Japanese jazz musical starring the Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) performer Fumiko "Betty" Inada (1913-2011). A semi-fictionalized account of Inada's own career in Tokyo in the 1930s, Whispering Sidewalks serves both as a rare document of Japan's vibrant and tumultuous interwar jazz age as well as a window into the under-researched experience of Nisei performers who traveled to and gained fame in Japan during this period. Just as compelling, however, is the story of the film's production and circulation, where a thwarted domestic release yielded a fortuitous second life in Hawai'i and California. In tracing the transpacific journey of the film and its lead actress, this chapter argues that a full accounting of Japan's jazz age cinema requires us to expand our view beyond the nation itself. © 2026 Editorial selection and matter, Sean O'Reilly; individual chapters, the contributors. All rights reserved.

Publication Title

The Advent of Sound in Japanese Cinema: A Handbook

Publication Date

2026

First Page

207

Last Page

222

ISBN

9781040840474

DOI

10.5117/9789048572441_CH12

Keywords

jazz, migration, musical film, Nisei, Transpacific

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