Lost In Translation

Empire of Passion

After reading Maureen Turim's book length study, The Films of Nagisa Oshima, last year I realized there were several films of his that I still needed to see. Oshima died at the beginning of this year incidentally. At the top of that list was Empire of Passion (1978). It is essentially the companion piece to his best and most (in)famous film, In The Realm of the Senses (1976), which gathered accolades and was censored in Japan and elsewhere for it's graphic depictions of sex. However,  Empire of Passion is a radically different, as pointed out by Tony Rayns in his informative essay by noting opposites: urban/rural, shameless/guilt stricken, artifice/nature, exposure/concealment, female voyeurs/one frustrated male voyeur, male narrator/female narrator, etc. This story focuses on the defiance of Seki (played by Kazuko Yoshiyuki) a married mother of two and Toyoji (played by In The Realm of the Senses lead Tatsuya Fuji) a discharged soldier 26 years her junior. They conspire to murder Seki's husband Gisaburo, a rickshaw driver in a rural village during the Meiji era. Oshima incorporates a ghost story into the film as Gisaburo haunts Seki and the villagers in their thoughts, dreams, and supposed sightings. The films takes place after the Sino-Japanese War and shows how the central government begins to affect people's  lives for the first time, this is seen in the police inspector who comes to the village to solve the mystery of Gisaburo's death. Oshima employs a number of visual themes and motifs to great effect such as circles, the changing of the seasons, and long tracking shots. There are many striking visual images throughout the film. The artistry of the film reflects the selection of a veteran and proven cast with the likes of cinematographer Yoshio Miyajima (Harakiri and Kwaidan) and composer extraordinaire Toru Takemitsu (Woman in the Dunes and Pale Flower). The Criterion extras include: Double Obsession: Seki, Sada, and Oshima, a video essay by film historian and critic Catherine Russell, interviews with actors Kazuko Yoshiyuki and Tatsuya Fuji, an interview from 2003 featuring production consultant Koji Wakamatsu and assistant directors Yusuke Narita and Yoichi Sai, the U.S. trailer, and a booklet featuring an essay by critic and historian Tony Rayns and a 1978 interview with Nagisa Oshima.

Grill Mash

I've been meaning to visit Grill Mash in Ebisu just down the street from my apartment for some time. I've been waiting for a time when I needed a hearty meal. The week's special was garlic hamburger steak, I got the 160g portion for ¥1000 and an ontama egg (a half-cooked egg) for an extra ¥100. The lunch meal comes with a drink, rice,and a salad. Next time I need to try the mash potatoes which they recommend getting with melted cheese.

Shocking Crimes of Postwar Japan

I first learned about Mark Schreiber's book Shocking Crimes of Postwar Japan (1996) from the bibliography of David Peace's postwar Tokyo-based crime novel Occupied City. The crime that Peace fictionalizes is from the third story in the book, "Enigmatic Bank Poisonings" (1948). This story like most of the others in this collection exposes an aspect of the dark side of Japanese culture that is far from the "official view" of the harmonious, benign culture that the Japanese tend to promote. This story suggests that a former member of Unit 731 (a medical unit that undertook medical experiments on prisoners in Manchuria) posed as a public official and enticed 12 bank employees to take fatal poison so that the bank could be robbed. The crime has never been satisfactorily solved. Schreiber researches and reports on some fascinating cases and the social implications of these seems easily apparent to me.

Schreiber begins that book with the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo subway gas attacks, "Tokyo 1995: The Crime of the Century," since it was causing a sensation at the time of the writing of the book and is probably the most shocking criminal event during the postwar era. This crime perpetuated by followers of a cult underscores the lack of spirituality in the life of many modern Japanese searching for a meaning in life that led them to take life from others.

This is followed by "The Matter of Kodaira Yoshio" (1946), about the rapes and murders of social a misfit. Kodaira may have honed this behavior serving as a Imperial soldier who admitted to committing atrocities (rape, theft, and murder) in Pegu, China in 1928. Thus, it might be a case of the chickens coming home to roost. Later in the collection, Schreiber, recounts the story of another murderer rapist in "The Girl Hunter" (1971) who killed 8, raped dozens and approached hundreds. This showed the nativity and possible adventurous nature of women then residing in rural Japan at that time that would risk getting in the car of the infamous Esiaku Sato. 

After the bank poisoning story, Screiber writes "Murder or Suicide? The Mysterious Death of a Railway Executive" (1949). It is the mysterious story of the death of a railway executive that was being harasses by the AMerican Occupation to lay off 95,000 workers and break the unionist power. This reeks of the burgeoning anit-communist stand of America. However, another of the concerns with this story is the dubious 99% conviction rate of the Japanese police that they often get from confessions obtained through duress-here they avoided questioning some important witness. Police incompetence is somewhat of a common theme in these stories, but there are also many instances of impressive action and effort taken to catch criminals. There's another mysterious unsolved story that Screiber reports on later in the collection, "Up In Smoke" (1968) in which a Toshiba factory is robbed of the cash bonuses they were planning on delivering to the factory workers-highlighting the absurd cash culture that is still prevalent in Japan today.

I thought "Last Rights for a Stewardess" (1959) was fascinating for several reasons. It was the example of a modern, fast living woman murdered and one of the examples where the Japanese media was pushing the anti-foreigner crime myth (99% of crimes are committed by Japanese). A promiscuous (the autopsy revealed semen from two men in her) women was murdered and the leading suspect was a Belgian priest-it was never solved. I was surprised to learn that the crime in "The Murakoshi Tragedy" (1963) was inspired by a fictionalized kidnapping depicted in Akira Kurosawa's 1963 film High and Low. This case seems to highlight police incompetence, they finally caught the kidnapper/murderer after screwing up an attempt to apprehend the him during the ransom drop.

It was inevitable that there would be some pieces on the yakuza in this book since organized crime has existed in Japan for hundreds of years. Schrieber reports first on a battle between two big syndicates in "High Noon at Matsuyama: The Gangs That Couldn't Shoot Straight" (1964). It seemed with the Olympics fast approaching the government wanted to control organized crime to save face in the world spotlight and yet the yakuza still persist today. The second story in the collection, "A Tale of Two Godfathers" (1978) looks a decade long battle between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Ichiwa-kai that shows the ineffectiveness of the police to stop organized crime.

"The "Mini-Cou d'E'tat of Kim Hee Roh" (1968) sees a Korean, bitter from racism and discrimination at the hands of the Japanese, take 13 hostages at a resort in Shizuoka before being taken in. The eleventh story in the collection, "Korean Intrigue at Iidabashi" (1973) also involves a Korean, a national political figure, Kim Dae Jung, is kidnapped in Japan and taken back to Korea. This incident is a classic example of Japan's absence of strong principles in international relations not involving matters related to its economic well-being.

"The United Red Army and the Siege of Asamasano" (1972) is fascinaiting to me, because I have seen two films that recreate many of the crimes committed by the United Red Army discussed in this report. The first Koji Wakamatsu's United Red Army (2007) and some minor actions are chronicled in Olivier Assayas' Carlos (2010).

Poisoned food crimes terrorized people all over in the 80s, and Scheiber discusses some incidents that took place in Japan in "The Glico-Morinaga Incident: A Showcase for Corporate Blackmail" (1984-1985). However, no one is ever killed from the poisonings nor is anyone ever arrested in this curious case.

I was familiar with "The Miura Affair: A Three-Ring Media Circus" (1981-1985) in which Kazuyoshi Miura faked a robbery in LA and had his wife murdered by would-be robbers reinforcing stereotypes about dangerous America. He couldn't be convicted in America and served time in Japan. In 2008 he was arrested in Saipan and brought to trial in America where he died mysteriously in jail in LA, possibly a suicide. It was widely suspected that he got away with murder. The last piece in the collection "Candid Camera: Death of a Con Man" (1985) concerns the arrest and demise of a pyramid scheme scammer who was murdered on camera by an angry citizen. 

House of Cards

I was intrigued to hear about the made-for-Netflix TV series House of Cards (2013) that was produced by David Fincher starring Kevin Spacey. I finally made the plunge when I saw it endorsed by Steven Soderbergh in a recent interview. Fincher directs two episodes and has hired a stable of proven directors in the other episodes: James Foley (Glen Gary Glen Ross) 3 episodes, Carl Franklin (Devil In A Blue Dress) 2 episodes, Allen Coulter (Sopranos) 2 episodes, Joel Schumaker (Batman Forever) 2 episodes, and Charels McDougall (several quality TV series like The Office and Parks and Recreation). The writing, based on a BBC series of the same name, is also high quality and captures the spirit of politics in America. I haven't even started to talk about the great performances-first and foremost, Kevin Spacey sets the pace but is ably supported by fine performances from Robin Wright, Michale Kelly, Kate Mara, and Corey Stoll among a strong supporting cast. I like the fact that all 13 episodes were available from the get go, so you can binge on them if you want. I'm looking forward ot next season to see if they can keep it up.