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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. With what evocative metaphor does Kurosawa describe his smugness in the second chapter of this section?

2. In The Gleam of Fireflies, who wrote a new speech to replace the one young Akira was given?

3. What did Kurosawa lose in his duel with the gang of students that attack him in Murasaki and Shonagon?

4. How many family members did Akira Kurosawa lose in the events of September 1, 1923?

5. How was the Keika Middle School destroyed?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Forgotten Children, and how did it affect Kurosawa?

2. Describe young Akira Kurosawa' daily schedule.

3. Why was Akira sent to Toyokawa Village by his father?

4. Who is Mr. Tachikawa?

5. What importance does Kurosawa place on mentors in Honor and Revere?

6. Why did Akira Kurosawa not fight in the military?

7. How did the earthquake provide an opportunity for violence in Tokyo?

8. What embarrassments did young Akira experience at his father's hometown?

9. Describe the memory of the dog in Babyhood?

10. Describe Akira's relationship with Aunt Togashi.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the relationship Akira has with his older brother. When the author is young and considered a crybaby, what pointed differences exist between him and his brother? How does his brother toughen him up at this age, and what other tactics does his brother use to make him tougher over the years that follow? how does the relationship develop in the years leading to Akira's brother's suicide? What similarities between them become clear only after the brother's death?

Essay Topic 2

Akira Kurosawa makes a series of honest admissions about his personal failings throughout his autobiography, but he invariably includes a defense of these faults in the course of the admission. Write an essay about three such admissions and their defenses:

Part 1) What is the exact nature of Akira Kurosawa's physical weakness? How does it affect his ability to succeed in certain realms? Couched in his admission that he was physically weak, what strengths does the author assert? Discuss the physical exploits that Akira insists he accomplished as a teenager.

Part 2) When discussing the beginning of his directing career, Akira admits that he is a stubborn man with an awful temper. Why does he feel the need to tell the reader this? Does is inform some of the bold and often ill-conceived decisions he makes on set? Does it add some context to his unbridled success?

Part 3) At the very end of SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Kurosawa admits to being a fantastic egotist. What indications of this fact are there throughout the narrative of the book? What final act of egotistical indignation perfectly illustrates this self-regard? How has it served him well in his early career?

Essay Topic 3

When Akira Kurosawa began to establish himself in the film industry, the War was still going on and a group of Japanese censors were reviewing his films. Write an essay about his conflicts with the censors. What specific issues do the censors have with his early pictures? How does he respond to these issues? Discuss the way Kurosawa describes the censors int he text. How did the conflict between the censors and Kurosawa end with the War?

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