Lost In Translation

Peppermint Candy

Peppermint Candy (1999) is an impressive film from Korean director Chang-dong Lee (Secret Sunshine). It tells the life story of a hapless man who regrets his life decisions and his story is told in flashbacks which calls to mind the same structure that was used in Memento. A shot of a train running backward is the transitional device that connects the flashback episodes. The opening calls to mind the opening shot of Hsiao Sien Hou's Dust in the Wind. It is a an engaging film and coupled with the equally powerful Secret Sunshine makes me want to see more films by Lee.

Japanes Girl At The Siege of Changchun

It is often said that war is hell, but the same can be said of the postwar experiences of many. During wars people have been displaced, cities destroyed, there were shortages of food and medicine. And the losers are often at the mercy of the victors. Homare Endo’s experiences as vanquished Japanese in China are recorded in Stonebridge Press’s English version of Japanese Girl at the Siege of Changchun: How I survived China’s Wartime Atrocity (2016) translated by Michael Brase.

Homare and her family struggled for several years after Japan defeat in World War II in the former colonial state known by the Japanese as Manzhouguo. There the story begins in the capital, Changchun, where her father, Takuji, ran a pharmaceutical company, the Shinkyo Pharmaceutical Company. This company produced an anti-opiate addiction medicine called Giftol. Her father’s expertise and success would keep him and his family in China long after Japan’s defeat. Homare’s father felt responsibility towards his company’s workers and their fates in the face of defeat. Later his kindness toward his Chinese and Korean workers, as well as his success with the factory, would allow them to survive several life or death confrontations with Chinese authorities over the years.

The central event, the 1947 siege of Changchun by Mao’s Revolutionary Army in which they hoped to starve out the Nationalist Army out. This was done in spite of the large number of civilians that were still inside the city. The author briefly outlines the political motivations and historical context which is discussed more fully in The Afterword. Homare feels that as a survivor she must bear witness to this atrocity despite the fact that this event has been suppressed in China by the government. Most official accounts put the number of deaths as between 150,000 to 300,000. Homare suggest that at he very least there were hundreds of thousands base don the views of survivors and calculations of the city’s demographics. At any rate, a disturbing number of people perished. And many more suffered great hardships for survival as Homare’s story illustrates.

It was the aftermath of the Siege of Changchun that most strongly affected Homare and her family. The Qiazi, the no man’s land surrounding Changchun, was a horrific wasteland of rotting corpses that would haunt Homare all of her life. The family is trapped to remain in China during the civil war due to her father’s usefulness to the Communist Party and trapped by need for survival. They travel to liberated Yanji, which had a majority Korean population and was the first place that the reactionary rhetoric of the revolution would put the vanquished Japanese family at risk. But her father is singled out by a former acquaintance as treating his Korean workers well and encouraging them to go to night school while working at his factory. Takuji's scheming nephew, nick-named The White Rat-master of his own survival, was at the heart of the campaign to denounce Takuji.

Their struggle for survival continued until they reached the relative safety and stability in the large city of Tianjin. Here Honmare recovers from her malnutrition that almost killed her, Her extended recovery keeps her out of school. However, once she gets the opportunity to study in a Chinese school she became motivated with a steely resolve to succeed among the Chinese that still see her a reminder of the former colonizers and a “Japanese dog.” In spite of the bullying she succeeds at school, putting the other children to shame by having a foreigner out perform them in school. This took place in the wake of the Korean War, in which Japan manufactured munitions for the invading America Army and sign a treaty with them making them enemies of the allied communist states. It is in the aftermath of this that Homare and her family are finally repatriated to Japan-a place that Homare never has seen with her own eyes in 1953. Her postwar struggle had finally come to an end. It is a fascinating, harrowing story of resilience and struggle that has been overlooked by most people and historians. It is a story that needs to be told, in order that it will not be repeated.

Akai Tomato

I've noticed the Akai Tomato in the Pearl Center Street shotengai for some time. It is very old-school and I finally stopped in when I saw they had a mushroom doria set-with salad and drink for ¥700. It is a very generous portion and they do old-school youshoku, but I won't be back since it seems to be a smoker's paradise-ashtrays on every table and at least half of them were smoking away while I was eating-walls yellowed with cigarette smoke. Too bad, the meat sauce spaghetti looked good as well.

Macbeth (2015)

I have to say I was impressed with Justin Kurzel's adaptation of Macbeth (2015). It is a cinematic re-interpretation that is dark and brooding in the atmosphere and somewhat understated with Michael Fassbender in the lead role and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth. The story isn't so fresh in my mind but when the famous lines are read my attention was drawn tot he delivery-which seemed understated in most cases "sound and fury" as well as "out damn spot" among other memorable lines. Fassbender made more of a n impression than Cotillard, Sean Harris was also impressive as Macduff in the production. I feel as though I ought to re-watch Akira Kurosawa's version again as well-Throne of Blood. In college in a Shakespeare class we had to compare and contrast Kurosawa's film with a Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play-a very interesting enterprise in retrospect.

The Killers (1964)

I'm not sure The Killers (1948) needed to be remade, but the result, The Killers (1964) directed by Don Siegel, is definitely a different film. This version stars Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Angie Dickinson, and Ronald Reagan! I was reading Rick Perlstein's The Invisible Bridge last year and he mentioned Reagan hated it when they showed this movie on TV because his character was a creepy bad guy-and that he is in this film. The story works just fine, but it seems curious as to why the producers felt that the original film needed updating.

Trattoria 29

A friend suggested trying out Trattoria 29, a cozy little Italian restaurant in Nishi Ogikubo that specializes in meat. I was very impressed. Instead of bread they serve vegetables with oil and vinegar as a starter.

Mozzarella with herbs.

Meatballs were deep fried like menchi-katsu.

Broccoli ravioli.

The main event Miyazaki roast beef. Overall, excellent-the kind of place that is worthwhile searching out.

Onimasa

Hideo Gosha's Onimasa (1982) comes across as Japan's answer to The Godfather, while it doesn't quite live up to that billing-it was a very interesting film. Tatusya Nakadai always puts in a lively performance-this time as a chivalrous yakuza boss with several mistresses and the focus of this film is a girl he take sin as a daughter from a poor family. She has a very strong will and soon becomes his favorite because of her grit and strong will. She insists on being educated and becomes a teacher and eventually takes up with an intellectual and is the de facto narrator of the story of the rise and fall of Onimasa. The story is set in the Taisho era and the set designs ad to the overall impression of the film. I can't help but think the dog fighting scenes earlier in the film would have caused a certain amount of controversy in America. Overall it was a entertaining film.

The Green House

I am a big fan of the novels of Nobel Prize winning author Mario Vargas Lllosa in general I have to admit that The Green House (1965) was a bit of a chore. There are four narrative strands in the novel that has a large cast of characters. It is very Faulknerian in the deployment of the story. I guess I admire the atmosphere of the novel most of all, it gives the reader a glimpse into the past of Peru and into the region depicted-Piura, where Llosa was born. It almost feels like a mythological story. It is about a town and a brothel that was the center tf the town despite the influence of the catholic church in the region-that eventually brought it down. It is peripheral, but also central to the story. It just seems as this novel was much more difficult to get caught up in the story as other novels from Llosa such as The Feast of the Goat, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, or The Bad Girl. But a worthwhile endeavor over all, there are still novel sot be read and I will eventually get around to them all. Translator Gregor Rabassa died last year so it was a homage to him as well.

While The City Sleeps

Fritz Lang's late career noir film, While The City Sleeps (1956) calls to mind other cynical looks at the media, such as Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole and and Alexander Mackendrick's The Sweet Smell of Success. However, there is also a crime mystery element to the story as there is a race to find a serial killer of young women in the city. The new owner of the media company offers a high ranking job to the first manager who can get the earliest scoop on the case. It may not be the classic that M is, but it is well-made and entertaining none-the-less.

Hafuu

On this trip I wanted to make an effort at having some fine dining experiences, so I when came across a high end meat restaurant, Hafuu, I decided to check it out.

I went with the wagyu sirloin steak lunch set with rice, pasta, salad, pickles, and miso soup for ¥4500. Since it was my last day I decided to also get some more local nihonshu, Kariho, ¥1200 for a tokkuri (flask) with the meal. A bit of a splurge, but an excellent meal in an old chya house away from all the madness in central Kyoto.