Lost In Translation

Warehouse: Kowloon Walled City

Warehouse in Kawasaki is an amusement center that is designed as a re-built Kowloon Walled City (the original was demolished in 1994) from Hong Kong. The attention to detail is really impressive.

The entrance-under 18 not allowed.

Exit to the parking lot.

Warlock

The second Jim Harrison novel I've read Warlock (1982) is something of a departure from his debut, Wolf A False Memoir. This novel actually has a plot-although it is ruminative in places-the second half in particular plays out like a conventional thriller. In this novel Johnny Lungren aka "Warlock" is at his wits ends, he's married to a beautiful, smart nurse and is unemployed. He is living a sort of torpor until his wife introduces him to an eccentric doctor/inventor who hires him to trouble shot problems with his investments. Johnny is an engaging character who voices opinions on many things but is especially fixated on food and sex-he's something of a foodie obsessed with meals and cooking and when not lusting after his wife he's picking up strange women while on the job. I understand that this is something of a deviation from his early books, I still found it engaging and entertaining.

Yamamoto Hamburg

I recently discovered a new "Hamburg" restaurant, Yamamoto.  Anyway, this place is on the shotengai (Pearl Center Shotengai) in Minami Asagaya and I ordered the gratin hamburg with rice and miso soup for ¥1500-excellent-I'll be back.

Underworld Beauty

Seijun Suzuki seventh film Underworld Beauty (1958) shows him growing into a style. It is a typical film-noir gangster piece, but he spices it up with interesting camera angles and set designs. Interesting/unconventional set designs are a trademark of Suzuki's and this may be the first film in which he employs them. It is the story of a recently released felon Miyamoto (Michitaro Mizushima know for The Lone Wolf and Cub samurai series) who want sot make good for a diamond heist that he gets put away for, but his friend Mihara (Toru Abe) loses a leg int he heist. The yakuza involved in the heist don't exaclty see things the same way and Mihara dies-but Miyamoto feels obligated to make sure his juvenile delinquent sister, Akiko (Mari Shiraki a Suzuki regular) should be taken care of and he sets off to not only provide for her but try and cure her of her evil ways. She is involved with a petty yakuza who runs a mannequin studio where he employs her as a model-so she can traipse around half naked-it is a kind of exploitation film after all. But this a great set for a typical gangster double cross and calls into mind his artistic set designs. However, probably the most fascinating aspect of the film was seeing Tokyo a mere 13 years after the end of the war-well before the economic miracle has taken place. An interesting early career film from a Japanese master filmmaker.

d47 Museum: Nara

The d47 Museum in Shibuya's Hikarie building has an exhibition about Nara prefecture going on at the moment. It is a display of design related entries from the guidebook made by the museum.

A display on Naomi Kawase's great 1997 The Mourning Forest, which was an award winner at Cannes that year-Kawase is from Nara and the film is set in the mountains of Nara.

Afterwards I went to u47 Shokudo for a meal with pickles, Persimmons, somen-like hot noodles, and sushi wrapped in leaves from Nara with a beer from Shimane.

Zatoichi The Last

I am something of a compelet-ist so I tracked down the last Zatoich film Zatoichi The Last (2010) directed by Junji Sakamoto. It is essentially a star vehicle for SMAP singer Shingo Katori. The production details are impressive, but Katori just can't live up to the standard set by his Zatoichi fore bearers Shintaro Katsu and Takeshi Kitano.

Due Italian

I sometimes work in Ichigaya and I had walked past an Italian ramen shop several times without entering, Due Italian, but I recently found out it was added to the Micheline Guide as a Gourmet Bib restaurant so I realized it was not just a fad shop (i.e. I refuse to eat pineapple ramen in Nishi Ogikubo for this reason). I had the Fromage Ramen for ¥980 and was great. I guess they are going for the female crowd with thin noodles in a chicken-based broth with creamy cheese and spring onions-I'll be back.

Gomorrah (TV Series)

I saw the original film based on Roberto Saviano’s explosive nonfiction book, Gomorrah, so when a friend told me about the TV series, Gomorrah I knew it would be something I'd like. It is the story of the Camorra mafia clan run by Don Pietro Savastano (Fortuna Cerlino) in Naples, so there is lots of gratuitous violence. The story mostly follows the doings of his trusted lieutenant Ciro (Marco D'Amore) and Don Pietro's son Genny (Salvatore Esposito). All three actors mange have mastered the menacing 10 yard stare. I have watched the first season and have just started watching the second season (a third has been green lighted). It is fast paced action, compelling storylines with excellent production values ala HBO series Sopranos was probably a blue print for the series as well. But what standouts is the artistic cinematography and exotic European locations used throughout. I was hooked from the first episode-looking forward to more viewing pleasure.

Born To Be Blue

Robert Budrea's jazz biopic Born To Be Blue (2015) looks at a slice of the late Jazz great Chet Baker's life. The focus is on his recovery from a savage beating that left him unable to play his trumpet-he recovered and kept on living as junkie hooked on heroin until his death in 1988. Eathan Hawke is excellent in the lead role of the handsome and talented but troubled musician. In college I saw the Chet Baker documentary Let's Get Lost and this film makes me want to revisit it to find the truth that is buried in this film.

Pictures From The Water Trade

I first encoutered John David Morely's novel Pictures From The Water Trade (1985) in a quotation from it that appeared in Allan Booth's very personalized Japan guidebook, Japan: Land of Myths and Legends. At first I thought it was a memoir, but when the copy arrived the book jacket had praise for the novel from the likes of Anne Tyler, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ian Buruma. I suspect that the two authors may have been acquaintances-what are the odds of two Englishman writers living in Tokyo in the 80s not knowing each other? No matter, I did enjoy Morely's novel and it is one the better novels I have read set in Japan. Recently this issue came up on a social media site and I conceded with the original poster that a "great" novel written in English had not yet been written. He was in the midst of reading a novel that he felt might earn those honors-Artuo Silva's Tokyo Whip-which I plan to read soon and offer up my own judgement. Yet several good novels have been written and I suggested another Englishman-David Peace's two novels Tokyo Year Zero and Occupied City as my favorites. This book joins those books. That being said, its biggest deficits were the canned speeches put in characters mouths to explain certain aspect s of Japanese culture. However, there is much to like about the novel including the stylistic language used by the author that is often funny and accurate.