Lost In Translation

The Scarlet Gang Of Asakusa

Recently, I have been catching up on the works of Yasunari Kawabata and the most recent work read was The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa (1930). I believe I read Donald Richie's afterword (he also wrote the introduction) in some collected works of his at some point and was looking forward to reading this for some time. It seems that it is currently out of print, which is a shame, because I think it is one of Kawabata's more interesting works. It is an early work, so stylistically it is quite different from his more mature works, but the innovation seems to work here where he has blended a sort of journalistic/documentary style with vignettes of life in Asakusa-which used to be the leisure-time go-to spot for Tokyo. It has probably has been replaced by Shibuya or Shinjuku today. So Kawabata records the atmosphere and the cast of characters that frequented this area, while also crafting a story of the street urchins that were entrenched there, aka "The Scarlet Gang." Kafu Nagai was also known to chronicle this area as well as this milieu. It is fascinating stuff, a time and place that has long passed by.

Sake Fun Zokkan

There was a nihonshu tasting event in Shibuya last night at Sake Fun Zokkan. There were some interesting sakes paired with food options as well as tasting sets.

Manotsuru Aomon Nama Junmai undiluted Nakadoir with salted and fermented amarbi shrimp over cream cheese.

 Manotsuru Unmai Hiyaoroshi Namazume with simmered pork and bran in sweet and spicy sauce.

Gakkou Kura 4 Cloudy Style Brewery School No.4 with seared fresh yellowtail with tomato sauce.

Inn Of Evil

A friend recommended a late Masaki Kobayashi film Inn Of Evil (1971), which turned out to be quite an ensemble piece that still retains Kobayashi's humanism. Most of the action in the film takes place in the Easy tavern that is on a small island in the Sumida river in Tokyo and serves as the hideout for a band of smugglers led by the inn owner, Ikuzo (Kanemon Nakamura). He run the inn with his daughter, the surprisingly still innocent Omitsu (Komaki Kuruhara). One night Yohei (Kei Sato), the self-confessed bisexual "the living buddha" and Sadashichi the Indifferent (Tatsuya Nakadai), a dagger expert, bring in Tomijiro (Kei Yamamamoto) from which they learn of his woes of not having enough money to find and buy his beloved fiance, Okiwa (Wakako Sakai) out of prostitution that her dissipated father sold her off to pay his debts. His story inspires humanism in the other members of the gang-tubercular Genzo (Shin Kishida), the brutish Masaji (Yosuke Kondo), and the feminine Omitsu (Komaki Kurihara), and they vow to help him set her free. This set up is reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of the Gorky play, The Lower Depths, in the ensemble acting and one location setting. First they must undertake a risky smuggling venture in order to get the money for Tomijiro. However, while they are away trying to earn the funds needed, a local drunk (Shintaro Katsu) gives the money to Tomijiro. Needless to say things do not work out as planned and at the end of the film, since the job was a set-up and only Sada has survived and now the inn is surrounded by the police and they have to fight their way out to see that Tomijiro can get away to save his birde-to-be. This is an impressive visual spectacle since it takes place at night and the police have illuminated the area with lanterns. The films is aided by another impressively composed score by Toru Takemitsu. The theme of the story story is true to Kobayshai's usual criticism of the status quo and powers that be. In this case it is the corrupt constabulary and the royalty and other officials, whose taste for the finest forbidden contraband that has kept these scoundrels in business.

Zatoichi Meets The One-Armed Swordsman

It seems that Shintaro Katsu and his production team had a good strategy at this late stage of the Zatoichi series in keeping audiences coming back to the box office with fresh ideas for marketing. In the previous installments he brought in big stars like Toshiro Mifune for Zatoich Meets Yojimbo and Tatusya Nakadai for Zatoichi Goes To The Fire Festival. In this installment, Zatoichi Meets The One-Armed Swordsman (1971), it is a joint production with the Shaw Brothers from Hong Kong to tie in with the Kung Fu films that were gaining popularity at the time and could be released for two different markets.. Another long time Zatoichi director is at the helm-Kimiyoshi Yasuda. Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) crosses path with an orphaned Chinese boy and his protector Wang Kang (Jimmy Wang Yu), a Chinese swordsman who has come to Japan to visit a former Japanese training partner at his temple in Japan. Therefore, many of the kung fu tropes of action films deployed in the film: such as using wires to show Wang Kang jumping up cliffs and walking on the shoulders of his opponents as well as using his hand to hand fighting abilities. Zatoichi displays a surprising number of guises-at one point he farts to expel some peeping toms and later cuts the ear off a yakuza boss-the first time we've seen him torture a foe-somewhat disturbing, but quickly forgotten in the flow of the film as the action is constantly taking place. It seems as thought he body count is increasing as the series progresses. This might be a reflection of the increasing popularity of exploitation cinema worldwide. It is something to be consider as the Zatoichi franchise winds down.

Kobe 2015

I made a short trip to Kobe to present on Mikio Naruse's 1955 film Floating Clouds at the 2015 IAFOR Film Asian Conference (this is my fourth visit to the lovely Kansai city nestled in between mountains and the sea).

Shotengai.

The Flower Clock.

This beer bar, Standdard, has several craft beers on tap.

Roger and Brent, the delegation leaders from my two Kyrgyzstan trips at home in Kobe.

Christmas already at the Crown Plaza ANA.

Art Center Kobe, the Conference venue.

Kobe from the Shin-Kobe Ropeway.

At the top of Mt. Rokka at Herb Garden Village.

Osaka in the distance.

Good Men Good Women

Hou Hsiao-hsien's Good Men Good Women (1995) is the final chapter of a trilogy on Taiwanese history (that also includes A City of Sadness and The Puppetmaster). However, it has a very unusual story structure. The film begins introducing one strand of the narrative which is shot in monochrome and depicts a group of idealistic students who have travel from Taiwan to mainland China during the 1940s. They plan to lend their support to the resistance against the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. Later they are denounced as Communist sympathizers during the Kuomintang's White Terror campaign of the 1950s under Chiang Kai-Shek. The tragic story of these well-intentioned resistance fighters is the subject of a proposed film in modern day Taiwan entitled Good Men, Good Women. The role of the real life heroine, Chiang Bi-Yu, has been offered to an inscrutable actress named Liang Ching (Annie Shizuka Inoh). At one point Ozu's Late Spring is playing on a TV-homage to the artist that has been frequently compared to. It turns out she is coming to terms with her own decadent and emotionally fraught past when she was living with her petty gangster boyfriend Ah Wei (Jack Kao.) Thus her life is contrasted with the selfless freedom fighters and she evolves from the selfish decadent person who was dependent on a petty gangster. These scenes are shown in flashbacks prompted by the reading of pages from her stolen diary that are being faxed to her by an unknown person. Thus she is the conduit in which the past of the country and the character are reckoned with. It brings elements of Hou's historically infused films and the contemporary ones that depict life today in films like Goodbye South and Millennium Mambo. As usual there are exquisite long shot and takes as well as artistically arranged shots that use mirrors framing and other techniques to give the film its signature cinematic look.

Manji

Manji (1964) is an adaptation of the novel (Quicksand in English) by Junichiro Tanizaki by New Wave director Yasuzo Masumura (Giants and Toys). I read the novel several years ago and remember enjoying it, but I could not remember the plot clearly. Tanizaki is a master of sexual obsession and at exposing the frailties of people when sex and love are involved. The screenplay was written by Kaneto Shindo (best known for his film Onibaba). The story concerns a bored housewife, Sonoko (played by the sensuous Kyoko Kishi-The Woman in the Dunes) in Osaka who meets the beautiful femme fatale Mitsuko (Ayako Wakao-Street of Shame) and falls in love and under her spell. Mitsuko relationship with a jealous, impotent young man Eijiro (Yusuke Kawazu). Mitsuko manipulates both and eventually draws Sonoko's husband, Kotaro (Eiji Funakoshi-Fires on the Plain) into the a three way love triangle. Sonoko feels that ultimate she is betrayed when a three way suicide pact ends with her as the only survivor. It's a salacious story of obsession and betrayal, which has been remade twice since this film was released. Masumura does an excellent job of putting together mis en scene shots with exquisite framing in Japanese style houses with sliding doors, screens and windows, the use of colors, and shots through fabric, as well as the use of mirrors. The music also adds to the overall impression of obsession and betrayal. This excellent adaptation inspires me to see more films by the talented Masumura, who is little known outside of Japan.

Na Camo Guro

Tried a brand new restaurant in Nakameguro that specializes in kamo (duck), these ducks were from Yamagata. We went with the tasting menu set for ¥4000. Above appetizers: duck cured like ham, the soup had duck bacon in it, and the wafer sandwich aslo had duck mixed in it.

The vegetable dip was made from tomato and miso.

Duck with salt and mustard.

Tsukune (minced duck).

Mixed appetizers, the standout was the duck bacon with mustard on the right.

Nihonshu from Yamagata.

Grilled vegetables and duck.

Ramen in a duck sauce garnished with...duck.

No duck in the coffee jelly.

Zatoichi Goes To The Fire Festival

It seems that the 21st installment of the Zatoichi series, Zatoichi Goes To The Fire Festival (1970) is considered a fan favorite. The film is in the capable hands of veteran Zatoichi director Kenji Misumi (The Tale of Zatoichi, etc.) and cinematographer extraordinaire, Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon). Furthermore, it features some big stars of the cinema in Tatsuya Nakadai (Yojimbo and Harakiri) as the vengeful wandering ronin looking to avenge his wife's ex-lovers for honor and the blind evil yakuza boss, Yamikubo (Masayuki Mori famed for Ugetsu and Rashomon) who Zaotoichi must (Shintaro Katsu) must defeat. It wouldn't be a Zatoichi film if there wasn't a love interest-Okiyo (Reiko Ohara). There's a curious side story involving an androgynous transvestite, Peter, who tries to seduce Zatoichi in order to kill him after he tried to get him to help him join the yakuza and was duped. It seems to be a little bit from left field for the series, which usually plays it straight. As usual the cinematography is top notch with several scenes that were filmed on location outdoors during the summer in the mountains and near streams and in post town sets. Apparently the bath house fight scene is much loved, however, I found it a bit gimmicky and over the top. The body count seems to be ratcheted up a bit in this film as well (I guess his has been a constant since Katsu productions took over-got make the star look good). There isn't a fire festival per se, but the climax takes place on a lake of fire that Zatoichi escapes from and exacts his revenge. But I guess despite those short comings, I too, would consider this one of the better films in the entertaining series.

The Best American Essays 1991

When I stumbled across The Best American Essays 1991, I thought I'd give it a read since it had essays by several authors that I admired (Woody Allen, John Updike, Mario Llosa Vargas, etc.) I skipped some essays, but most were enlightening or entertaining in some manner that I found worthwhile. Woody Allen's essay, "Random Reflections of  Second-Rate Mind" was predictably funny. Margaret Atwood and John Updike both wrote on assignment about "The Female Body." Frank Conroy writes a reminiscence about his love of the pool hall in "Running the Table." Gerald Early writes about female identity, race, and the Miss America pageant in "Life with Daughters: Watching the Miss America Pageant." Dina Hume George uses personal anecdotes from her life to discuss the problems on a Sioux Indian reservation in "Wounded Chevy at Wounded Knee." Then Stephen Jay Gould offers up an interesting discussion of authenticity in "Counters and Cable Cars." Critic Elizabeth Hardwick writes about her beloved home city in "New York City: Crash Course." Garrett Hongo's personal essay on his grandfather, "Kubota," is enlightening about the Japanese-American experience before and after WWII. "Maintenance" is a chance for Naomi Shihab Nye to talk about the many applications of the term. In "Late Victorians" Richard Rodriguez talks about the architectural influence of this movement, San Francisco, and the gay movement and AIDS crisis. Dorien Ross discusses self-identity and image in "Seeking Home." And Mark Rudman muses on memory and the pleasures of walking in New York in "Mosaic on Walking." Amy Tan talks about language, family, and identity in "Mother Tongue." There is another essay that discusses race and identity, in Marianna De Marco Torgovnick's essay "One Being White, Female, and Born in Bensonhurst." The last essay I read was from one of my favorite contemporary novelists, Nobel Prize winning author Mario Vargas Llosa, who discusses the history of conquest in South America in "Questions of Conquest." Editor Joyce Carol Oates has done an admiral job of pulling together a variety of voices that reflect the American experience from a variety of genders, sexual identity, and racial backgrounds to show the complexity of American life that seems as though it may have been ahead of its time in 1991.