Nostalgia, The Search For Japanese Identity, and Tora-san as Cultural Icon

<jats:p>The enormously popular It’s Tough Being A Man films iconized the search for a lost Japan and self-discovery through travel. Beloved by Japanese, the films played twice a year until the death of the hero, Tora-san. Cleverly manipulating the age-old conflict between giri (duty) and ninjo (feelings), the films capitalized on the popular furusato (hometown) boom and the modern “westernized” Japanese attempt to recuperate a vanishing tradition. Was the Japanese culture portrayed symptomatic of “invented tradition?” What did the interplay between travel and self-identity, periphery versus center, and madonna (beautiful, young woman) and travel signify?</jats:p>