Lost In Translation

Sakura At Night

This is absolutely the last cherryblossom picture.

DVD Notes: The Simpsons Season 5

Over the break I enjoyed Season 5 (1993-1994) of The Simpsons. They were really hitting their stride this season, Conan O’Brien was still writing for them. Lots of great parodies (“Cape Feare”, “Rosebud”/Citizen Kane, “Tree House of Horror IV” (The gremlin sequence from The Twilight Zone movie and Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula), “Marge On the Lam”/Thelma & Louise, the 100th episode, and one of my favorites, “Sweet Seymour’s Baadassssss Song”/features homage to Alien when a dog gets loose in the air ducts). This season also has one of my favorite musical numbers from “Homer and Apu”: “Who Needs A Kwik-E-Mart”(incidentally also nominated for an Emmy)-not to mention an appearance by The Ramones at Mr. Burns’ birthday party. As usual tons of great extras including informative commentaries.

Office View

This year the Kita Asaka campus in Saitama moved to the Tokyo Hakusan campus, so I got a new office nthe 15th floor of building 2. My office is still looking bare, so I'll post pictures later when I've got it set up better.

Book Notes: Eastward to Tartary

I recently joined a book club organized by the owner of a used bookstore where I do a lot of business. We often chat about books and politics since we have similar interests. Knowing that I was a fan of Robert D. Kaplan he invited me to join the club, of which Kaplan’s Eastward to Tartary is the first selection. He wants to discuss the current world order and global political situation through a series of books. I believe that he wants read Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations next.

Anyway, Eastward to Tartary was another engrossing book with Kaplan’s usual well-informed observations and opinions. He always does a lot of research about the countries and regions he visits and seeks out expert opinions from specialists of/in those countries as well as infusing his own astute observations along the way, leading to well-informed political analysis of the regions and states. I guess you could characterize his books as political travelogues, but they are more than that. I think his questions are often more provocative than his analysis for example:

Were national or ethnic loyalties giving way to new forms of cosmopolitanism, through globalism? If so, what did that mean for the future of authoritarian regimes? If dictatorships gave way to more democratic rule, would that mean more stability or les-more civility or lees-in countries through which I would pass?

I think these questions should be constantly asked as times passes and the states in question take on new policies and new administrations. I learned a lot about countries I didn’t know so much about and I am looking forward to our first book club meeting next Sunday.

Tenzuin Temple

Here's another local Temple in Bunkyo-ku.

DVD Notes: Twilight Samurai

Yoji Yamada, the director of the impressive Twilight Samurai, seems an unlikely candidate to make such a masterly film. He is the director of the Tora-san films (48 in all!), which are the comedic equivalent of formulaic films like Home Alone or Dirty Old Men. However, he has crated a beautiful, serene, and moving story of a petty samurai reluctant to fight, because of his family. The films details are historically accurate about the caste system and the hardship that even samurai would have to undergo for struggle. Seibei, the petty samurai in question, is struggles under the weight of debts incurred form his wife’s long illness and expensive funeral has two small daughters and a senile mother to care for as well. However, it is a labor of love for him, as he states that he gets to see his daughters grow up. While his samurai clansmen in the accounting department go drinking every night after work Seibei returns home to his daughter, thus earning him the nickname of “Twilight Samurai.” It has another meaning as well, since it refers to the time period before the Meiji restoration when the shogunate clashes with the Emperor’s forces for control of Japan, as seen in The Last Samurai. The era of the samurai is coming to an end and this film rings much truer than the Hollywood spectacle known as The Lat Samurai. It is a moving story of one man’s struggle with his family, duty, and honor. He is dispatched to kill another samurai Yogo, who has refused to kill himself. There is a subplot dealing with the emergence of his childhood sweetheart, whose honor he defends and whose status remains unresolved until after the fight. Before the battle Seibei and his challenger Yogo have a lengthy conversation and we learn that Yogo, too, has struggled like Seibei. I won’t give away the ending, but it is very moving and rings true. For a samurai film, there are very few swords fights; two in all, both well executed-the firs tin one take. It is over two hours long, but it never seemed to drag in my opinion. Rie Miyazawa was impressive as the childhood sweetheart Tomoe as well.

Favorite Places: Firehouse

The Firehouse near Hongo-san-chome subway station is an American-style lunch counter/cafe style/eatery with great burgers. It's a completely western menu. Today I had a tuna melt with home made potato chips and some decent meatless chili. I can also attest for the chicken sandwich and generous salads. The milkshakes looked tasty as well.

Dutch Wives

Only in Japan? From Japan Today:

Speaking to Nikkan Gendai (April 16) is Hajime Kimura, manager of Doll no Mori (Forest of Dolls), a business that opened last August in Tokyo's Ota Ward. It specializes in deliveries of "Dutch Wives" to homes and hotels. For those unfamiliar with this term, Dutch Wives are life-size latex mannequins used by men as a sex substitute.

Click here to read the rest of the artilce.

One Last Sakura Photo

Hanami has bascially been over since Monday when it rained heavily, but I thought I'd include one last photo. The sign says "The 34th Bunkyo Cherryblossom Festival," and this stretch of cherryblossoms is about 10 minutes from my apartment.

The Office: The Christmas Specials

A friend just lent me The Office: The Christmas Specials and it was a brilliant send off. The writing and acting were stupendous as usual. I think part of the appeal of The Office is that, like cable produced shows in America (The Sorpranos, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm), the production values are greater, as are the actors. The only American TV show that comes close is Arrested Development. In fact, I saw the first episode of the American version of The Office and it is almost an exact copy of the first episode with Americanisms inserted into the dialogue and the British language removed. Overall it paled in comparison, and the main reason is that the American actors can’t hold a candle to their counterparts (Ricky Gervais-a comic genius/Martin Freeman-great as the straight man/ Mackenzie Crook-as the irascible Gareth/ Lucy Davis-completely believable as Dawn/ all the bit players are effective as well/one of them, Elizabeth Berrington even has a role on Arrested Development). The DVD extra features are great as well providing further insight into the production: a documentary, director’s commentary, videos for David Brent’s songs “If You Don’t Know Me Now” and “Freelove Freeway.” It’s just sad that there won’t be any more episodes to watch.