Lost In Translation

The Lower River

I was inspired to read Paul Theroux's latest novel  The Lower River (2012) after learning that it was inspired by his African journey chronicled in his travel book Dark Star Safari. Elephant Suite was similarly inspired by his journey documented in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and his time in India and I enjoyed those novellas. It is also well-known that Theroux spent time as Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi in the 60s as a young man. In Dark Star Safari, it is clear that he is disappointed in what has happened to Malawi and Africa in general and this disappointment informs the novel. For example, "They weren't corrupt now; they were changed, disillusioned, shabby, lazy, dependent, blaming, selfish; they were like most people. You didn't have to come all this way to be madden by them. You could meet them almost anywhere." Ellis Hock is a man adrift after a bitter divorce, retired and in search of the happiness of his lost youth as a teacher in Africa in the 60s, so he returns to the idyll of his youth only to find that is a much different place from what he had experienced as a youth. In fact it becomes a kind of nightmare prison and torture from which he seems powerless to escape from. His description of the native Africans he meets seem realistic and  true to life. And Theroux does a good job of documenting Hock's decline, but I found the character, Hock, and some of the circumstances that lead Hock to his dilemma contrived. All in all, I found Dark Star Safari to be more compelling overall.

In Rotation: Neko Case, Elvis Costello & The Roots, and Stepehen Malkmus and the Jicks

Neko Case has followed up 2009's Middle Cyclone with another solid album with several great tunes in The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The More I love You (2013). The usual collaborators are there (Calexico, members of The New Pornographers, and Kelly Hogan) and a host of new ones (M. Ward, Mudhoney's Steve Turner, and members of My Morning Jacket, Vizqueen, and Los Lobos)--all people I like and respect. The standout tracks for me include: "Night Still Comes," "Man," "City Swans," "Local Girl," and "Ragtime."

I don't know the music of The Roots well (seems that they've been Jimmy Fallon's house band and now are the band for The Tonight Show), but their collaboration with Elvis Costello on Wise Up Ghosts and Other Songs (2013) is a wonderful thing. He embraces hip-hop's sampling savaging by jamming together the lyrics of "Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)" and "Pills and Soap" for "Stick Out Your Tongue." My favorite tracks are: "Walk Us Uptown," "Sugar Won't Work," "Stick Out Your Tongue," and "Wise Up Ghost."

I've been a huge Stephen Malkmus and Pavement fan, so not sure how I missed 2011's Beck produced album Mirro Traffic. It might be his best all-around record since his solo debut. Standout tracks include: "Tigers," "No One Is (As I Are Be)," "Senator," "Jumblegloss," and "Curious Georgie."

Homeworks: Club Sandwich

Homework's in Hiroo does a ncie club sandwich, with turkey not chicken-which you often get in Asia.

Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II

I enjoyed Robert Leckie's autobiography, Helmet for My Pillow (one of the biographies that inspired the HBO miniseries The Pacific). So when I found out that he had written a book on the battle of Okinawa, Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II (1996), before I was scheduled for my second visit to the island I knew it would be my background reading there. Leckie points out some astonishing facts: "Never before...had there been an invasion armada the equal of the 1,600 seagoing ships carrying 545,000 American GIs and Marines that steamed across the Pacific. In firepower, troops, and tonnage it eclipsed even the more famous D day in Normandy." Furthermore, 100,000 Japanese soldiers and 80,000 (many by suicide) were killed. The Japanese lost 7,830 aircraft and 180 ships. The US saw 12,520 killed (5,000 at sea-the most ever for the Navy) and 37,000 wounded. The invading force lost 800 aircraft and 36 ships. He charts the movements of the invading force as well as those of the Japanese. Particularly unnerving are all of the "kikusui" defensive kamikaze attacks the largest with 300 at one time as well as sacrificing their largest ship the Yamato, which was sunk before it could do any damage. There were fast hard to control single engine planes called "baka bombs" (baka means stupid in Japanese) being deployed, sometimes with great damage. There were many descriptions of valor. For example, Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector, who joined as a medic was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions in the campaign. There are some fascinating descriptions of battles and attacks: 20 Japanese twin engine bombers attacked an airfield late in the war and only one got through and crash landed and only 6 of the crew of 14 survived and attacked the field with grenades and blew up eight planes, damaged another 26, blew up two fuel dumps with 70,000 gallons of fuel, killed two and injured 18 before being hunted down and killed. Leckie adds an analysis of the significance of the battle, which he narrates authoritatively that the Japanese were defeated at the time, but no one knew it, which I think is a bit misleading. That analysis I think was written a bit too authoritatively in my opinion. However, overall I think it was well researched and a compelling narrative.

Okinawa Misc.

Awamori, Okinawa rice distilled liquor (unlike rice brewed nihonshu aka "sake").

The view from the Royal Diawa Hotel near Omoromachi in Naha.

A tropical Chirstmas begins in Novemeber like everywhere else.

My last meal Okinawa soba.

Tsukemen Senmonten Mitamenjo

This seems to be a popular chain tsukemen restuarant, but  I found the soup tepid and too sweeth for my tastes. There are more palatable places to eat noodles in Nakano in my opinon.

Suzaku

I finally got a chance to see Naomi Kawase's 35mm film debut and 1997 Camera d'Or (Best New Director) award winner, Szaku (Moe no suzaku). It is an extremely mature cinematic debut, much like that of her countryman Hirokazu Koreda's debut, Marbosi, the previous year. I see several parallels between the films as well, however, Kawase has her own vision and technique that reflects her past work and expertise in documentary film making and photography. Both films owe something to Ozu in the dialogue and content: there is very little revelatory dialogue--it si mostly greetings and partings and simple everyday small talk (perhaps a reflect of the inscrutable Japanese image) and both films deal with families. Perhaps, Kawase is more traditionally Ozu-like in that her meditation is on the dissolution of a family in the awe-inducing mountains of Nara. I can see the influence of Kurosawa in her film as well when at one climatic point two characters are caught in a downpour, and it is no ordinary downpour--it is Kurosawa-esque in that it is a powerful attention getting effect. Koreda focuses on the brutal coastline of Kanazawa, but nature plays significant roles in both films. Both films have an inexplicable suicide of a father of a family and the questions of how to morn and how to cope with loss and continue to live haunt both films. Furthermore, both directors mange to assemble several powerful images from Koreda's erie bonfire in Marbosi to the illuminated train tunnel in Suzaku. Kawase has assembled a cast of unknowns save for one professional actor Jun Kunimura. Although this became the debut of Machiko Ono, who later went on to a successful acting career. I look forward to seeing her other feature films after such a remarkable debut.

Shisha

Here's a selection of the variety of Shisha, lion dogs, you see in Okinawa.

Shuri Castle

Zuisenmon Gate at Shuri Castle.

Shuri castle Seiden, royal seat for the Ryukyu Kingdom for 500 years.

We happened upon a festival while at Shuri Castle, it is called Hatagashira. The Hatagashira of Okinawa can be likened to the Mikoshi of mainland Japan. A Mikoshi is a portable Shinto shrine. Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle of a divine spirit in Japan at the time of a parade or celebration. They are carried in a procession and hoisted up and down to a chant by the bearers. The Hayagashira does something similar and there are helper with y-sticks or ropes to make sure it doesn't topple over. They stop and proceed and restart after lighting firecrackers to announce the next session. There were martial arts displays and I saw a wooden headed snapping dragon that you see during Chinese festivals-the Chinese influence is very apparent here.

Shikinaen Royal Garden

Shikinaen is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was the second residence for the Ryukyu royal families.

Stone bridges.