Lost In Translation

Outrage

In his latest film, Outrage released in 2010, director/actor/writer Takeshi Kitano has returned to his roots with an ultra-violent yakuza film. Again I rented the film without English subtitles knowing that this one would probably be easier to understand since it was more of an action film and I can say that it was pretty entertaining with all the black humor and stylized violence. I must admit to missing the subtitles of the betrayals and insults among the yakuza-the Japanese that yakuza use is almost another dialect. There was some impressive cinematography that is characteristic of an auteur like Kitano who put his indelible stamp on all of his films. I still think there two in between this and the last film of Kitano's I saw, Takeshis. Again, I think I'd like to see this film again again with the aid of subtitles, but I felt I could enjoy it without understanding completely what was going on.

I'm Staying With My Boys...

I'm Staying With My Boys... is a biography written by Jim Prosser with Jerry Cutter of the life of the late Marine Sargent John Basilone who died in the battle of Iwo Jima. His story was one of three featured in the HBO miniseries The Pacific. I've already read the other two, Robert Leckie's memoir Helmet For A Pillow and Eugene Sledge's memoir With The Old Breed. I understand that some incidents had to be altered for continuity, but there seems to have been a fair amount of whitewashing in realtion to Basilone and Leckie in particular in terms of their drinking, gambling, and skirt chasing. But I think they choose three good representations of what war was like in the Pacific theater. I still feel the need to read a definitive, comprehensive account of the Pacific theater, but all of these books have given me greater insight into the brutal, protracted battle with the Japanese in the Pacific theater and what it would have been like if they had tried to invade the mainland. It also discusses how the Japanese adapted from the banzai no surrender-fight-to-the-last-man attacks of Guadalcanal to the bloody cave fighting of Pelielu and Iwo Jima which prompted the development of the flame thrower to clear out caves, which were dangerous to take in the fighting. Basilone's story was unusual in that after his heroics at Guadalcanal he was drafted into helping sell war bonds and eventually asked to be sent back to his company, something that I was unaware of. The miniseries chose to use a full episode to show what life was like in Australia after Leckie and Basilone (in separate companies of course) were stationed there after Guadalcanal. And there was significant screen time given to his war bond drive and family life interactions to give a broad scope of the life of Basilone. There's still one memoir on my shelf, R.V. Burgin's (a member of Sledge's Company K who was featured in his memoir With The Old Breed) autobiography Islands Of The Damned that a friend lent me. I have also been rewatching the ten part HBO series recently.

I have made it a habit to visit WWII Pacific battle sights on my travels and have visited sites in Hawaii, Tokyo, Saipan, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Singapore-and hope to see more thanks to Chuck Thompson's guide The 25 Best World War Sites: Pacific Theater. He makes some interesting observations about the HBO miniseries on his blog here.

Confessions

Confessions (2010) had been getting a lot of press (including a Best Foreign Film Academy Award Nomination), so I thought I would challenge myself and watch the film in Japanese without subtitles. The result were mixed in that I probably only comprehended 50% of the film. But that's not saying that I couldn't enjoy other aspects of the film like the visual imagery, however, I would like to see it again with subtitles in order to get the subtleties of what was going on in the film.

"Welcome to 100 Years of Solitude, Pat McCoy. Have a nice day."

My friends in the band The Camaros in Spokane, Washington have done me the honor of writing a song about me "Welcome to 100 Years of Solitude, Pat McCoy. Have a nice day." (from their last gig Friday 3/25/11 at A Club) I think that makes me immortal. I really like it- and hope you do as well, enjoy.

Radiation,"Flyjin," and Other Matters

I guess I should continue the updates as family members have been asking about the conditions on the ground here recently. I suppose there's been a lot of fuss about traces of radiation found in the water and foods like spinach and milk. The amount is not enough to cause significant damage. They have been cautioning the consumption with small children and pregnant women because children's cell divide faster. Here's a link to the WHO explanation of the situation.

Things continue to be touch and go at the nuclear reactors in Fukushima, but largely under control. The evacuation zone suggested by the Japanese government was not as large as suggested by the U.S. government and they have recently extended it, but it remains very far from Tokyo. I feel no danger.

There's a new term being bandied about the fleeing foreigners (known as gaijin in Japanese) in Japan "flyjin." When the earthquake happened and the ensuing problems with nuclear reactors in Fukushima many foreigners fled to south or out of the country to their home countries or places like Singapore. A lot of Japanese people have mentioned that they were disappointed by this. I heard the buzz on discussion sites like 2-Channel and Twitter question the validity of giving foreigners voting rights if this is how they react in a crisis. The German and French embassies suggested that their nationals evacuate Tokyo. So they were among the first to go. Wealthy expats in industries like banking were among the first wave to leave as well. Most of the people I know stayed, but some left and some went south to places like Osaka and Kyoto. Many "flyjin" seem to be returning this week.

I work at several universities and many have cancelled or scaled down graduation ceremonies and postponed opening ceremonies, guidance and orientation. Meiji University has cancelled all ceremonies and will start two weeks late, Chuo university will proceed as planned, and Musashi University has delayed the opening of classes for 10 days. I'm still waiting to hear from another. But with all the free time I might try to sneak away for a few days in April using mileage accumulated over the year.

Hitch 22: Confessions and Contradictions

I have a complicated relationship with the writer Christopher Hitchens as I once discussed earlier here. I guess I was originally drawn to his writing because his interests intersect some of mine: history, politics, current world affairs, and literature. I must admit that some of his audacious attacks on the likes of Henry Kissinger, Princess Diana, and Mother Theresa drew my attention to him. He is also a close friend of one of my favorite contemporary British writers, Martin Amis. And recently I read two of his books about his political heroes Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. He and I also share an appreciation for George Orwell. I think these things were enough for me to be interested in reading his autobiography Hitch 22: Confessions and Contradictions.

It was an interesting read for the most part, however some sections dragged more than others. It starts out with the typical family background, growing up in school, college, political beginnings, professional life, up through his most recent acquisition of American citizenship. There are specific chapters on his influential and famous friends like Martin Amis, James Fenton, Salman Rushdie, and his friendship/falling out with Edward Said. On a lesser scale, he mentions former champions/friends that no longer have his respect like Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, and Julian Barnes among others that have crossed his path through out the years. There are several sections that follow his political causes and reporting: "Havana vs. Prague," "Portugal vs. Poland," and "Mesopotamia from Both." I think the sections about his political growth and history explain his positions fairly well-one can walk away understanding were he is coming from in regards to Bosnia and Iraq, even if I disagree with the latter case. For example, I can agree with him that I couldn't really stomach Chomsky or Vidal post 9/11 when they suggested that it had been orchestrated by the US government to get us into a war with Iraq. Then again I can't abide by his support of the Bush administration for liberating Iraq and ignoring the deceit and myriad of ways that it represent all that is wrong with America. In fact he has no problem, saying that Clinton was a shill for corporate interests, but not a word about Bush in this regard. His hatred for Clinton due to this, his treatment of women, and his propensity to lie seem to not sit very well with him. One of my biggest problems with Hitchens is that I think he sets his sights on unlikely targets because they are unlikely not because they are deserving of scorn. I think there are many more deserving characters than Mother Theresa, Princess Diana, and Bill Clinton. And I thought there would be more about his atheism-it is alluded to, but maybe because he already wrote a best selling book on the subject. I don't regret reading it, but it wasn't as compelling as I though tit might be.

Cafe 917

Taco rice lunch at the Cafe Quina (917) in Shimokitazawa.

Sergio Leone and "The Dollars Trilogy"

Somewhere on the internet I was reading about a list of the greatest westerns of all time. I was surprised that I had seen very many of them, to be fair I'm not a huge fan of the genre. However, I do feel the need to understand why John Ford is overwhelmingly revered. And some of the revisionist films I've seen (particularly those of Sam Peckinpah, and others like McCabe & Mrs. Miller, 3:10 To Yuma, etc...) have made me reconsider this.

Thus, I felt that I needed to visit "The Dollars Trilogy" directed by Sergio Leone starring Clint Eastwood. I think it's hard not to feel some of the influence of Sergio Leone even if you're not completely familiar with his films. Perhaps the distinctive evocative scores of Ennio Morricone that punctuated the films took on a life outside of the films in reproduction or parody. I can see how these films paved the way for the later revisionist film makers who followed and how Leone breathed new life into the genre with his distinctive style. I guess I was also interested to see how Leone would adapt one of Kurosawa's great films, Yojimbo (which in itself was a thinly veiled adaptation of one of my favorite Dashiell Hammett novels Red Harvest) in A Fisful of Dollars. This the film that plucked Clint Eastwood from obscurity and thrust him ito the limelight with his star making performance. In this film Leone established many of the traits that would be repeated in the following two episodes of the trilogy. For A Few Dollars More is probably the most overlooked since it is in the middle, but has its merits as well. In particular it presents the west as place of personal loss and sexual brutality that would influence future westerns and introduces Lee Van Cleef who will also appears in the final installment. There is a great performance by Klaus Kinski in this film as well. I think it is generally understood that The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is the crowning achievement of the series and one of the all-time great westerns. Eli Wallach has often been singled out for his performance as Tuco. It is known as morality study that has more nuance than is usually seen in westerns.

Bonus: Here's an introduction to "Spaghetti Westerns"  from the Onion AV Club.

Unseasonal Shisa

This is a shisa outside an accessory store in Shimokitazawa. The unseasonal March cold is too much for this tropical creature from Okinawa.

More Aftermath Musing

Things are slowly starting to return to normal. I think the nuclear reactors will soon be stable according to news reports. I got an email from my university that said they were going to cancel the graduation ceremonies. They are considering postponing the opening ceremony, guidance, and orientation. They have also decided to allow foreign students to return by May (we have a large number of foreign students in our department: The School of Global Japanese Studies). I think I'll stop by the campus and check out my office and do some research at the library if it's open and assess any damage done on campus-I heard there was minor damage.

Last night I went to a "Tokyo Survivors" home party since today is "Vernal Equinox Day" in Japan (I know, anything to get them to take a holiday and spend money). More stories about where people were when it hit and the mass foreigner exodus. It seems the French and Germans were largely the first to leave, but it sounds like you won't be able to swing a cat and hit an investment banker in Heartland this week as usual either, either. Some people are returning to Tokyo this week after fleeing sound to Osaka, Kyoto, and other areas.

The big scare are the trace amounts of radiation found in the water supply and milk and spinach. I think the media needs to do a better job of putting this in perspective so that people know that the levels of radiation are less thane you get flying or taking an x-ray. The levels in the food and water are also reasonable and not a worry. I suspect there are some who will never return-last night we were joking there will be some job opening coming up in the near future-career opportunities.