Information regarding Criterion's TOKYO STORY 2 x DVD set (September 2003) Members of the Ozu Yahoo email group posed a number of questions to the producer of the Criterion set. What follows is a paraphrased account of the information gleaned from the responses: 1.) The original Tokyo Story negative is not available (burnt in a fire). It is not known if Shochiku have utilised Tokyo University's restoration but Criterion dealt directly with Shochiku for their October 2003 DVD release of Tokyo Story. Criterion have been working closely with Shochiku on creating new transfers and are pleased with the results. 2.) Criterion did the telecine on a Spirit Datacine from the masterpositive using a wetgate process to get the best possible picture. This was using the best element available to Criterion. In addition, Criterion have spent many weeks digitally restoring sound and picture. The audio materials for lots of Ozu films show their age but the Criterion restoration team have been working on them for several weeks doing their best to remove and eliminate the crackling present on previous versions. There is unfortunately hiss on almost all original Ozu sound elements and this is tough to eliminate. Although Criterion have made the recordings less hissy, much hiss still remains. 3.) I Lived, But... is not a new transfer. Criterion felt it was more important to invest their time and resources on restoring the film itself. 4.) Criterion were not able to track down interview footage of Ozu, however they inform us that several short documentary pieces have been made about him by the Japanese television company NHK, but these pieces essentially repeat the material in I Lived, But... The Criterion producer asked Donald Richie about this, he mentioned that Japan has never been particularly "mediacentric" in focus, and therefore none of the big filmmakers of the past were interviewed for television in the same way that American or European directors were. Of course, Kurosawa was interviewed many times but mostly later in his life. 5.) The "Talking with Ozu" extra was created by Shochiku on the 90th anniversary of Ozu's birth (1993). It is apparently quite terrific with each director speaking eloquently about Ozu. 6.) Criterion told ozuyasujiro.com that there will be "a lot more Ozu on the way". We cannot wait. [Questions by Glynford Hatfield, Blaž Kutin, and Nick Wrigley. Thanks to Kim Hendrickson.]