Lost In Translation

Tonoharu: Part Three

I think I first stumbled across Lars Martinson's graphic novels, Tonoharu, inspired by his two stints in Japan as a Assistant English Teacher (AET), about eight years ago. An experience that I too had and my initial reason for coming to Japan. But it was his exquisite illustrations that compelled me to see the project to completion's end. The first volume was published in 2008 and was followed by volume two in 2010. But the final volume, Tonoharu: Part Three was just published this year (2016), so all in all it took him 13 years to complete his three part graphic novel. It is a satisfying collection, if not a bit dark in it's storyline, however, there is a sort of last minute plot change that dilutes some of the bleakness. Martinson keeps a blog and I found this YouTube video he made that explains why it took hims so long to complete the project and the things he learned while doing it. I look forward to seeing what other projects he creates-he is certainly a talented artist.

A Foreign Affair

I must have read something recently about Billy Wilder's forgotten postwar romantic comedy A Foreign Affair (1948), becasue I was compelled to seek it out. It seems audacious to film a romantic comedy amid the rubble of Berlin in 1948. Wilder was an emigrant form Vienna as was his lead actress Marlene Dietrich and composer Friedrich Hollandaer. The love triangle concerns a straight-laced congresswoman form Iowa (Jean Arthur) and a rake of a Captain (John Lund) and his mistress (Dietrich). Under the seemingly simple romantic comedy is a cynical reappraisal of what was going on in postwar Germany. It also has some subversive suggestions about fraternization between American servicemen and the German "Frauleins" that was going on in all conquered Axis countries. I find it hard to believe that it got green lighted so easily-I suppose this was quite some time before self-censoring "politically correct" attitudes were in favor. But I can't believe no studio executive didn't question whether it was "too soon?" or not. It is a sophisticated and cagey comedy that has a documentary footage feel in the location footage of bombed out Berlin and crumbling sets of the impoverished German characters-an unlikely setting for a romantic comedy.

Time And Place Are Nonsense: The Films Of Seijun Suzuki

I've been preparing to read Tom Vick's book Time And Place Are Nonsense: The Films Of Seijun Suzuki (2015) by watching some of the films from his oeuvre that I missed (Underworld Beauty, Tattooed Life, and Kanto Wanderer). I'm glad that I did since those films were discussed along with his more well known titles such as Branded To Kill and Tokyo Drifter. Vick does a good job of covering several different aspects of Suzuki and his films in the following chapters: 1. Branded to Kill and the "Suzuki Seijun Problem," 2. Nikkatsu Action, 3. Limits of Illusion: The Development of Suzuki's Style, 4. Suzuki's Collaborative Method, 5.War and Nihilism, Sex and Violence, 6. Suzuki's War Films, 7. American Connections, 8. Hiatus and Return, 9. Traditional Influences, 10. The Taisho Era, 11. Suzuki's Taisho Trilogy, 12. Late Recognition, 13. Suzuki's Impact and Influence. I foudn the chapter on traditional influences interesting in how Suzuki used shunga (erotic wood block prints), bijinga (pictures of beautiful women), and kabuki as inspiration in his films. Vick also makes for a compelling case that Sam Fuller is Suzuki's American counterpart as a master of b genre films that can seen as great film making. All in all, this is an informative and comprehensive look at one of Japan's great film makers.

Princess Raccoon

Princess Raccoon (2005) was Japanese cult director Seijun Suzuki's last film and likely his last-he is deep in  his 80s now. It is a curious film that reflects his visual flair and predilection ostentatious set design. He employs all the tools available including GCI and Chinese star Ziyi Zhang and Joe Odagiri. There are several musical interludes throughout, which I am nto a fan of. It has some interesting set pieces but I cannot say that the story or film moved me in any way. I suppose it was more to see what it would look like being a completist-I much prefer his earlier work from the 50s and 60s.

Kamakura (Fall 2016)

I decided to take a stroll around Kamakura after visiting the Kamakura City Kawakita Museum. I was not the only one the city was teeming with visitors to see the lovely fall colors. This is a ramen shop in a traditional old house with a shrine.

The approach to Jufukuji temple.

The approach to a restaurant specializing in local ingredients.

The impressively designed Kamakura Starbucks.

The Narrow Road To The Deep North

I was really impressed with Australian Richard Flanagan's Booker Prize winning novel Narrow Road To The Deep North (2013) mainly focuses on the life of an Australian former Burma Railway POW and doctor Dorrigo Evans. It is a compelling novel on several levels. Evans is a lover of poetry and it gets its title from a famous book of poems by the 17th century Japanese haiku master Matsuo Basho. This is very much a novel of big ideas-what is the meaning of life, how does one live after experiencing unspeakable evil and other mysteries. It is a historically based novel that doesn't let the Japanese off the hook for their atrocities committed during the war. The Japanese are portrayed as human, but Flanagan includes the many evil and unethical acts that took place during the war including decapitations by samurai sword (which was documented in the war), forced labor and poor treatment/starvation of POWs, the use of stimulants (known as shabu), the existence of comfort women (brothels organized by the Japanese staffed mainly by Koreans), unspeakable medical experiments on POWs by the Japanese, cannibalism, and the use of conquered colonials in their army from Korea and Taiwan. The victor's justice is also portrayed in the novel as a lowly Korean guard is executed while his Japanese commanding officer is goes free and gets to live  along life as a private citizen before succumbing to cancer at an old age. There is also a love story between Evans and his aunt by marriage as well as examinations of long friendship between soldiers who survived on both sides. The novel is epic in scope and executed in an impressive fashion-powerful and true to life.

Kamakura City Kawakita Film Museum

My main purpose for visiting Kamakura was to see the Toshiro Mifune exhibition which has a tie-in with my friend producer Yukie Kito's film Mifune: The Last Samurai at the Kamakura City Kawakita Film Museum. The grounds are beautiful, but the exhibition was not so comprehensive-I was hoping to see more.

Stray Dog  is a personal favorite.

Acharanata

I am going to visit Sri Lanka this winter vacation. There are several sources that were inspiration for this adventure-essays by Paul Bowles, descriptions from travel writer Paul Theroux, and a memoir about living there as a child by by Michael Ondaatje.  Before I go I must sample the food (similar to neighboring India) and I found a lovely restaurant nearby in Nakano, Acharanata. This was a chicken curry, but several side dishes that were explained by the Japanese chef who had spent time in Sri Lanka. I'm looking forward to more great meals during my sojourn.

Travels: Collected Writings, 1950-1993

I can say that Paul Bowles is one of my favorite writers and now having read Travels: Collected Writings 1950-1993 (2010), I have finished reading all of his available writings. This collection is mostly made up of pieces that were, collected earlier in, Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue (1963). I think if there were that many pieces in a collection by another writer I might have not bothered with the collection or skipped those pieces. But I decided to re-read them and savor the familiarity and evocative scenes described Bowles who has a gift of bringing the atmosphere of a place to life, for example the Sahara Desert in "Baptism of Solitude," as well as the people that populate those specific places, like in "Mustapha and his Friends." There are two excellent pieces about his travels into countryside and mountains of Morocco to record the traditional music there that is some of his best writing in "The Route to Tassemit" and "The Rif, to Music." In those pieces, in particular, he brings Morocco and the inhabitants to life. But he awakened an interest for me in his in his part-time home in Ceylon, that is the subject of "Fishtraps and Private Business." I plan to make a pilgrimage to his private island on my visit there next month. The book is arranged chronologically by editor Mark Ellingham and contains mostly travel pieces but also travel-oriented journals, introductions to photographic books, and even a glossary of kif terms for a 1960s books on cannabis. It includes an introduction by one of my favorite travel writers Paul Theroux as well. I suspect some of the material may have been cannibalized for Bowles' autobiography, Without Stopping, which I also recently read. The earliest pieces are from Bowles early days as a teenager in France-among the 30 uncollected writings spread throughout the book. There were a number of pieces from the now defunct Holiday magazine that were among my favorites as well: "How to Live on a Part-Time Island" (another piece that inspired me to visit Ceylon), "Madeira" (on the isolat4ed Portuguese island), "Window on the Past" (about Spain), as well as several pieces on Morocco and cities in Morocco. I was impressed with pieces about travel in Istanbul ("A Man Must Not Be Very  Moslem"), India ("Notes Mailed at Nagercoil), the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya ("Letter from Kenya") as well as a piece about the civil war in neighboring Algeria ("Sad for U.S., Sad for Algeria"). I think the following quote from "Windows on the Past" sums up Bowles' perspective on travel writing:

If I am faced with the decision of choosing between visiting a circus and a cathedral, a cafe and a public monument, or a fiesta and a museum, I'm afraid I shall normally take the circus, the cafe, and the fiesta, trusting to luck that I shall manage to see the other s later. I supposed I'm not what today is called culture-minded. Perhaps the that is because the culture of a land at any given moment is the people who live in it and the lives they lead in it, not the possessions they have inherited from those who came before. They may or may not profit by their legacy. If they do, so much the better for them; but whether they do or do not, their culture is represented by them and not by their history.

I feel a sort of kinship with Bowles and hope to see as much as he has seen. I can't help but note that he did it so much earlier than others and had to struggle and suffer in order to do so. Bowles was not a fan of progress and I suspect most travel today would have been too tame for his type of adventure lust-very much a trailblazer and original thinker.

Imperial Palace East Gardens

I started working at Kyoritsu University this year and the station that I use to get there is Takeshiba Tozai subways station, which is directly across from the Imperial Palace. While I have been to the Imperial Palace on several occasions I have not been to this side of the palace grounds which has access to the Imperial Palace East Gardens. I took advantage of a beautiful fall day to have a short stroll through the gardens, which offers free entrance.

The Hirakawa-mon Gate.

Suwano-chaya Tea House.

Nihonmaru garden.

Shiomi-zaki slope.