Summer 1993 turned out to be a dreadful season. We suffered natural disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes, endless rain, and cool weather. The worst news came on 27th July when I heard that Madame Kashiko Kawakita had passed away. The eighty-five years of her life were devoted single-heartedly to the cinema.

In the twenties, together with her husband Nagamasa Kawakita (d. 1981), she began the import and distribution of European films, which had a great influence on the Japanese film world. Cultural exchange between Japan and the rest of the world through films was Mr and Mrs Kawakita's ideal. It was precisely for that reason that they introduced Japanese films, which were completely unknown before the war, enthusiastically at international film festivals all over the world. Having survived the chaotic situation during and after the war, Madame Kawakita spent a long time in Europe in the fifties as her only daughter Kazuko went to study there. It was in Europe that she learnt of movements for the preservation of films and film libraries. Upon her return to Japan, she made great efforts to develop these movements in Japan and established the Japan Film Library Council. She also contributed to the realization of a Franco-Japanese Exchange Review between the National Museum of Modern Art and the Cinémathèque Française in 1962/63. The Japanese films collected on this occasion and the works donated by Cinémathèque Française became a precious part of our museum collection. Following the move of the Fine Arts Museum in 1969, a campaign was raised for the Film Department to take over the old building on its own. This resulted in the opening of the present National Film Center in 1970. Madame Kawakita continued her devotion, even after her husband's death, by establishing the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, further supporting the Film Center, and actively promoting international cultural exchange through films. Neither the film archive which was completed in 1986, nor the Film Center headquarters which is currently under construction, could have been conceived without her dedicated enthusiasm.

Although Madame Kawakita was taken ill and hospitalized last November, she was still quite fit. Through her secretary, I would report details of our activities, to which she would respond with words of encouragement. It was the sudden death of her only daughter Kazuko that hastened her death. When I returned from the FIAF Congress in Mo i Rana on June the 5th, I heard that Kazuko had been taken to hospital and went straight there to see her. She had suffered a hemorrhage at her office the previous day and fallen into a coma. Despite everyone's prayers, she passed away early on the morning of June 7th (she was 53 years old). Kazuko Kawakita started the Ciné-Club movement in the sixties, imported and distributed art films in the seventies, and was active in presenting young Japanese film makers abroad. Her death was a blow on the Japanese film world at the beginning of summer. It grieved me beyond tears to hear that Madame Kawakita had faced her daughter's death dauntlessly. After a period of deep mourning, through her secretary, I informed Madame Kawakita that the Film Center had been accepted as full member of FIAF. The following day, we received a message from her congratulating us and encouraging our future activities. It was soon afterwards that we were to be hit by the second misfortune. Having lost two great K.Ks, I feel it is our duty to endeavor all the more to preserve the cinema in pursuance of their wills.

Masatoshi Ohba