Lost In Translation

Koushintou

This is a small shrine in Ebisu called Koushintou, a little history in a modern place.

A Separation

Heart wrenching. Those are the words that come to mind when I think of trying to describe  the experience of watching Asqhar Farhadi's 2011 Oscar winning film (Best Foreign Language Film), A Separation. The separation is what happens between an Iranian couple at the beginning of the film, because the husband doesn't want to immigrate after obtaining a visa in order to look after his aging father who is stricken with Alzheimer's. And what follows is a litany of tragedies  that seemingly could have been avoided. It is complicated by Islamic laws that are black and white and leave no room for maneuverability and ultimately explode in tragic consequences. Well meaning people from the upper middle class and lower middle clash and the effects taint their children as well. Admittedly, it took me a while to get drawn into the story, but by the halfway mark I was riveted to the screen, concerned with how it would play out. Highly recommended.

Soul Dressing

Soul Dressing is a funky little restaurant in Ebisu. Their burger is better than average, but doesn't compare to Blacows, which is just 300 meters away. The skinny fries are exceptional (and I love squeeze bottles of condiments). But it has a nice open balcony and generous sized lunch special portions. In addition, they have brunch on Saturday, so I will be back.

Tokyo Station

The new remodel of Tokyo station was recently unveiled.



The refurbished ceiling.

The Woman In The Dunes

Clearly after seeing Hiroshi Teshigahara's film version of The Woman in the Dunes (1964), one can appreciate why it is considered his masterpiece. In 1964 it won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival. In 1965 it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Foreign Film and Teshigahara was nominated for Best Director at the Oscars. It is included in the Criterion collection, Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara. This edition includes an excellent video essay on the film by critic and festival programmer James Quandt. Most of the action takes place between the man, played by Eji Okada, and the woman, played by Kyoko Kishida, within the house surrounded by sand dunes, and Teshigahara has done an excellent job of using different framing techniques, cut aways, close-ups, and other artistic treatments to make sure that the film is interesting to watch. The sand itself is used as almost another character brought to life by the foreboding score by Toru Takemitsu. I see some similarities between Teshigahara and another new wave director Shohei Imamaura in that both are drawn to animal metaphors and images as well as strong sensual earth women. The film differs slightly from the Kobo Abe novel that he has adapted for this film-the ending in particular is different, but appropriate to the overall themes and motifs. I think I may have enjoyed the film more than the novel, even though it was very close to the original source. I like what Teshigahara brought to the Kafkaesque story that made it more dynamic as a film.

One Dish Thai

In my quest to find my default Thai restaurant in Ebisu led me to One Dish Thai off Meiji dori. I'm not sure this is it, but it has a great course menu where you can choose two appetizers and one main dish for ¥1200. I got a fresh spring roll and Thai sausage (see above). Not enough fire in the sausage.

My true test is how the Gai Pad Gapow (basil chicken) tastes. It was OK, but not in my top 10. It's a good price for a filling set, so I can see myself going back.

Mizoguchi And Japan

Next year I am going to be teaching a course on Japanese Cinema for the Taught in English Program at Meiji. I am planning on using Kenji Mizoguchi's masterpiece Ugetsu as the first film in which I will model the previewing director PowerPoint and discussion questions for the post viewing activity. So I am trying to bone up on the director and his films, and Mark Le Danu's book  Mizoguchi And Japan (2008) is a great resource for understanding the director's contributions to Japanese cinema and analysis of his major films. Le Fanu makes his case for Mizoguchi among the pantheon of the world's great directors and gives context of his work and looks closely at some of the trends and motifs in his work. For example he starts out discussing his three masterpieces: The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953), and Sansho the Baliff (1954), in "The Great Triptych." This is followed by discussions of his films that deal with prostitutes and Geisha in the chapter "Geisha, Prostitution, and the Street." Here he discussed the following: Osaka Elegy and Sister of Gion (both 1936), The Straits of Love and Hate (1937), Women of the Night (1948), Gion Festival Music (1953), The Woman of Rumor (1954), and Street of Shame (1956). In "Visions of History" Le Fanu discusses his historical-based films such as The Loyal 47 Ronin (1941-2), Crucified Lovers (1954),The Empress Yang Kwei Fei (1955), and Tales of the Taira Clan (1955).Le Fanu also discusses the films that Mizoguchi made about "respectable women," for example, The Love of Sumiko the Actress (1947), My Love Has Been Burning (1949), A Picture of Madame Yuki (1950), Miss Oyu (1951), and The Lady from Musashino (1951). LeFanu addresses many aspect of Mizoguchis films aside from thematic content-such as his long drawn out one scene takes that is his forte and stylized Japanese acting among other topics. It is an informative and well-researched look at one of Japan's master filmmakers.

Koshikawa Koen

This the Lotus pond near the entrance to the small but beautiful Koshikawa Koen.

The small island is called Horajima.

There were some hungry carp and turtles in the pond.

Not sure what these flowers are called, but pretty sure we don't have them in Washington state.

Shiraito-no-taki waterfalls.

The rice paddy that is looked after by a local elementary school.

Horajima from the other side.

A stream in the park.

Engetsu-kyo (Full Moon Bridge).

An old style building on the grounds.

Tsutenkyo bridge.

Sho-rozan rock.

Seiko embankment.

Big ol' orange Koi.

More of the Lotus pond in full sunshine.

The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows (1959) is the first full length feature by French New Wave director Francois Truffaut and it is also based on episodes from his own wayward life. It was a difficult childhood with emotionally distant parents, oppressive teachers, and petty crime that results in time at a juvenile facility. But it also is a time of escaping life to the movies and attempts to gain personal freedom. Truffant's use of non professional child actors and on location filming are among the fresh aspects of this film. It gets the Criterion treatment with two audio commentaries: one by cinema professor Brian Stonehill and another by Francois Truffant's lifelong friend Robert Lachenay, rare footage of Jean-Pierre Leaud, Patrick Auffay, and Richard Kanayan, newsreel footage of Leaud in Cannes for the showing of The 400 Blows, excerpt from a French TV program with Truffant discussing his youth, critical writings, and origins of Antoine Doinel, TV interview with Truffant about the global financial reception of The 400 Blows and his own critical impression of the film, and the theatrical trailer. It is a powerful film of a hardscrabble life of a child.

Fairness

Kate Elwood always has some interesting observations about cultural differences between Japanese and Americans and the latest from The Daily Yomiuri focuses on the concept of fairness:

Fairness, of course, is a concern for both Japanese and Americans, but there are differences in the way the two cultures engage with the concept. Social psychologist Michele Gelfand and other researchers conducted a variety of studies related to fairness among Japanese and U.S. students. In the first study, they asked the students to write down all the fair behaviors that came to mind in five minutes, and in another five minutes to write down all the unfair behaviors that occurred to them. If the behavior recorded was something they did more frequently than other people, they were told to begin the statement with "I" and if it was something others did more than the participant, to begin it with "They."

The U.S. students wrote more than twice as many statements related to fair behavior beginning with "I" than they wrote "I" unfair statements. Similarly, the Americans' "they" unfair statements were almost twice as frequent as their "they" fair statements. On the other hand, the Japanese "I" fair statements were only slightly greater than their "I" unfair statements, and the same was true of the difference in frequency between their "they" unfair and "they" fair statements.

In another study, the researchers asked different groups of U.S. and Japanese students to write down a conflict that they had personally been involved in. They were then asked to imagine how a neutral third party might view the actions of both the participant and other person involved in the conflict. The Americans were much more likely to believe that the impartial evaluator would consider their behavior fair and their counterpart's unfair, than the Japanese respondents were.

In yet another study, participants were asked to engage in a negotiation activity. Afterward, they were randomly assigned positive, negative or neutral feedback regarding their negotiating effectiveness compared to the performance of all the other participants in the study. Then the participants were asked to evaluate whether they felt personally responsible for the feedback they had received. The Americans were more likely to accept personal responsibility when the feedback was positive than when it was neutral or negative, but the Japanese were less likely to accept responsibility when the feedback was positive compared to the two other evaluations. Similar results were obtained when the participants were asked how confident they were that the feedback reflected their abilities.

Gelfand and her colleagues suggest one reason for the cultural differences in the results of their tests is the Japanese emphasis on hansei, a term used to describe the practice of thinking over one's actions, both good and bad, with an eye to future improvement. Such training in a more self-critical approach, the researchers argue, is likely to result in a divergent outlook on "fair" assessments.

The introspection focus begins early: Early childhood education specialist Satomi Izumi Taylor and her colleagues made a survey of the attitudes of 143 people--teachers, parents and grandparents--to hansei among kindergartners. In response to whether it was important for the children to engage in hansei, 132 answered "very important" and only two answered "not important at this age."

Japanese people certainly care about fairness. I'd even venture to say that in some situations I've witnessed they have been "obsessed"--in a very good way--with it. Perhaps what the Japanese student from way back was remarking on was a significant difference in assurance in making fairness allocations regarding one's own actions.