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Educators joined us for a movie and book club and stepped into Shoji Morimoto’s life “as a rental person who does nothing.” His short memoir (by the same name) chronicles his adventures providing a service to “the lonely and social anxious.” We also focused on Rental Family, a poignant comedy-drama stars Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, whose character has lived in Japan for seven years, speaks Japanese, and lands a job with a Tokyo rental company. Through his surrogate roles, he becomes deeply immersed and then entangled in the complex lives of young and old Tokyo residents.
NCTA seminar instructor Tese Wintz Neighbor lead this guided discussion of the film and book.
You can view the trailer of the movie below:
Dates and Times
Participants wereassigned (with flexibility) to one of the following two sessions:
Group 1: Wednesday, May 27, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Group 2: Thursday, May 28, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Program Requirements: This Book and Movie Study was held over Zoom. Teachers were expected to view the movie ahead of time (2 hours) and read the short book (2 hours), complete a short assignment, and participate in the two-hour Zoom session with video camera on.
Program benefits
- A physical copy of the book
- Online Resource packet
- Six free Washington State OSPI clock hours
Program resources
Follow this link for the Padlet with the program resources made by program leader.
This program was sponsored by the East Asia Resource Center at the University of Washington, and funded by a Freeman Foundation grant in support of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA).