Lost In Translation

Thoughts On Japanese Culture

Mike Guest touches on something that is quite common in Japan in his latest column:

Here's a story with which many foreign residents of Japan can relate: I pulled into a parking garage, my wife (who is Japanese) following in her car. We were going to meet for lunch at the adjoining hotel restaurant. When the parking attendant came to my window, he asked, "Shukuhaku desu ka?" (Are you staying at the hotel?). "No. Just to the restaurant for lunch," I replied in Japanese, since I knew that parking was free for restaurant patrons too. But, when he saw my face, he became flummoxed. "But you have to...umm you can't...." Then he noticed my wife's car behind me. "Are you together?" he asked. "Yes." So he went over to my wife's window and asked her, "Shukuhaku desu ka?" with my wife duly answering "No," but that we were going to the adjoining restaurant for lunch. "OK," he said and ushered both our cars in.

This is hardly an unfamiliar situation for foreign residents: confusion arising from a local erroneously assuming that foreigners must be confused and will therefore cause problems. Where does this attitude come from? Why did the attendant start from the assumption that as a foreigner I would not know what I was doing? My visual foreignness seemed to trump the fact that I was driving my own car, with local license plates and spoke to him in Japanese. The attendant was locked in to a debilitating notion of us-and-themness.

I think I know why. It's a simple syllogism. Ninety-nine percent of non-Japanese have no connection to this country. Therefore, non-Japanese won't know the intricacies of Japanese society. This parking spot (and system) is in Japan. I am a foreigner. Therefore I will probably not know the parking system. After all, our cultures are different and these cultural differences dominate us. At least this is what many Japanese students have been fed by scholars and educators, even (especially!) in English lessons--by Japanese and non-Japanese alike!

Zombieland

Zombieland didn't seem to get much press when it came out, which is unfortunate, because it is an entertaining little film. I first heard it get raves on Slate's Cultural Gabfest. It clocks in at just under 90 minutes. It stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harreleson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors in the post apocalyptic America now known as Zombieland. Eisenberg has survived by following a set of rules for survival which show up in the film as graphics as they are referenced. In this universe zombies can be killed by guns, so there is a lot of video game-like violence and lots of dark humor. There is a lot of great cinematography-slow motion sequences the Wax video homage of the zombie running on fire at the beginning-this sequence in particular is impressive. It has a good soundtrack as well-Band of Horses among others. There's a surprise cameo, but I won't spoil it.

Arms

My search for the perfect cheeseburger continues. This one is from Arms,a great little place near Yoyogi park. It is nicely spiced with tasty special sauce. They also have good chili, and I want to taste the Turkey Pastrami Sandwich next time.

 

Nyotaimori: Japanese Tradition?

There was an interesting piece by Brett Bull in the Japan Times last about nyotaimori:

For at least as long as nyotaimori — the practice of serving sushi on the body of a naked female — has been making inroads overseas, the media has been raising the same question: Where does the practice fit within the context of Japanese culture?

Land Of The Blind

Land Of The Blindness has some interesting aspects to it, but it is not as satisfying as Jess Walter’s debut, Over Tumbled Graves or his subsequent novel, Citizen Vince. A lot of the premise was too on the nose-too obviously taken from the headlines-dot com bubble frauds, local political races. Other aspects were too over the top, Clark becoming a millionaire and the utter helplessness and afflictions of Eli. It has the makings of a compelling mystery, but the execution seemed somewhat marred by inauthentic details piling up. However, I liked the set pieces about Clark and Eli’s youth-growing up in the East valley on the other side of Division on Empire in Spokane. I also liked the use of the historic Davenport Hotel as a story location. I liked some of the observations Walter makes about the east-west divide of the state and Seattle vs. Spokane. In particular he says that Spokanites don’t trust anyone who left town but thinks everyone that stayed must be too stupid to get out.

More By Phatrick

My friend Phatrick's blog, Diary of a Sadman has moved and has started a new engaging series on his adventure in Egypt.

One of his essays, Sea Swim, also appears in the online journal Ducts.org

Best Books of the 00s

The Onion AV Club has had a series of articles rating the best entertainment of the 00s. The latest list concerns the best books. They have included fiction and nonfiction together. Here's another list from The Times which combines fiction, nonficiton, AND poetry. A literature focused website, The Millions, has their own survey of the best fiction here. Here's my Top 10 list in alphabetical order:

Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001): a fascinating page turner by one of the great stylists writing today.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (2006): a wonderful coming of age story by another master stylist, I almost considered Cloud Atlas, but some sections of it didn't work for me.

The Brief Wonderous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007): a wild ride of a coming of age novel that incorporates comics, history, and drama. 

Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (2005): local Spokane boy writes a literary crime story that takes place during the year that Carter gets elected president.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001): a compelling page turner that reflects the modern dysfunction of American families.

Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman (2001): an entertaining heavy metal memoir from a peer about pop culture and growing up in North Dakota.

The Known World by Edgar P. Jones (2003): this is an epic tale of American history.

Nixonland by Rick Perlstein (2008): the best book written about the 60s, meticulously researched and startlingly well written.

Platform by Michel Hollenbecque (2002): an assault on the preconceived notions of what it means to be alive today.

Retribution by Max Hastings (2008): another meticulously researched history book that chronicles 1944-45 in a compelling narrative.

Demode 7 Burger

Demode 7 Burger is near Sangubashi station near Yoyogi Park. It has an extensive menu and tasty burgers-a bit miffed that they forgot to put the cheese on the burger while cooking. Good burger, but probably not in the Top 5 in Tokyo.

 

 

Glamorama

I was spurred to read Bret Easton Ellis’ Glamorama after learning that the lead character was Victor Ward a minor character from my favorite Ellis novel The Rules of Attraction. (Also an entertaining film) It is another satire that takes the modern obsession with celebrity, brand names, and outward appearance to task. It is a condemnation of the 90s culture of the shallow, but also a horror story of sorts. I’m assuming that Ellis had to do some serious research for all the name dropping he did in that book-I feel that I am pretty culturally savvy but I missed about 20% of the references. In fact the initial setup may have been a bit too long and the novel itself seemed somewhat bloated at 500 plus pages. Ellis is one of the leading moralist in American fiction-he usually has an ax to grind and it gets done here, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as his other novels (Less Than Zero, Rules of Attraction, or Lunar Park).

Top Japanese Films

Saw this at F***ked Gaijin:

Film magazine Kinejun has published a list of Japan's all-time greatest films to commemorate their 90th anniversary. They did the same exercise for previous anniversaries and, each time, "Seven Samurai" took the top spot. This time, however, "Tokyo Story" was voted best. The full list:

1. Tokyo Story (東京物語 )
2. Seven Samurai (七人の侍)
3. Floating Clouds (浮雲)
4. Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate (幕末太陽伝)
5. Battles Without Honour and Humanity aka The Yakuza Papers (仁義なき戦い)
6. Twenty-Four Eyes (二十四の瞳)
7. Rashomon (羅生門)
7. Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (丹下左膳余話　百万両の壺)
7. The Man Who Stole the Sun (太陽を盗んだ男)
10. The Family Game (家族ゲーム)
10. Stray Dog (野良犬)
10. Typhoon Club (台風クラブ)

The most recent film is "Typhoon Club", which came out in 1985, so it's only changing tastes and a different set of critics which have affected rankings since the 1999 list was compiled. In that one, A "Fugitive from the Past" aka "Straits of Hunger" (飢餓海峡) was ranked 4th but doesn't appear at all this year. The same goes for "Murderous Instincts" (赤い殺意) and "Tales of Ugetsu" (雨月物語). Twenty years ago, Kurosawa's "Ikiru" (生きる) and "Yojimbo" (用心棒) made that year's list but not since. "The Life of Oharu" (西鶴一代女) has also fallen slightly out of favour in the same way.

I certainly need to see some of these, but also surprised not to see "Ikiru" or any films by Shohei Imamura or Juzo Itami.