Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2010

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

The number of Western movies subtitled in Japanese is rapidly declining amid a growing preference for dubbing and the increasing popularity of 3D movies, Kyodo News reports, citing figures from the Foreign Film Importer-Distributors Association of Japan. About 40 percent of the theaters that showed Avatar, for example, used the dubbed version of the hit 3D film, while 60 percent showed dubbed versions of Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3; for the big summer hit Inception, 40 percent of theaters opted for the dubbed version. Film distributors in Japan acknowledge that subtitled movies have traditionally been the way to show foreign films in Japan, with the dubbed versions used mainly for animated movies aimed at families with children. But many Japanese viewers are complaining how difficult it is to read subtitles on screen, movie distributors said, adding that dubbed versions draw more audiences. Natsuko Toda, who has been making subtitles for English-language movies for decades, told Kyodo that the subtitled version is the best form for enjoying a foreign movie because the true voice is one of the major attractions in the performance of an actor or actress. “I hope that people don’t start relying on dubbed voices because they can’t read kanji,” she was quoted as saying.