We wanted to find out more about the schedule for LOTR in Japan, and Bruce wrote in to clear things up: "The opening date for LOTR in Japan is March 2 (Saturday). The February 23 (Japan Time) date is a special "late-show" showing, just one show from about 8:30 pm, I think. There is no fixed showing time yet. There will also be an invitation showing for a lucky 20,000 people on the 12th (Japan Time). I struck out on that one, even though I sent in a great number of ballots! TV commericals first started on January 1. I saw two of them - 30 second versions of the latest trailer - on an mid-morning comedy/variety show. I did not see the trailer in the theater until the end of January or first of February, attached to Shrek of all things. The Lord of the Rings in print ("Tale of the Ring" - in Japanese) has not been a very big seller in Japan, and it was not easy to find in book stores, at least where I live."Alan agreed: "There are some late-night one-off shows on Feb.23, GRAND opening March 2nd."
Nanae found this information, which has a different premiere date: "I read your little article about "LOTR in Japan" and I just had to tell you this. After I read your article, I went to the Japanese LOTR site and checked it out. It said that February 21st is going to be the premiere. It said that the majority of the theaters will release the movie on the 2nd of March, but there will be few theaters that will release it on February 23rd.
The following stars will attend the Japan premiere of LOTR on Feb. 21st: Elijah Wood
Liv Tyler
Viggo Mortensen
Sean Bean
Orlando Bloom
Dominic Monaghan
Barry M. Osborne (the producer)
I wish I could go (T.T). I wanna meet all these stars. My friends in Tokyo said that huge posters of LOTR are all over in the city. They are very excited about the release of the film.