Lost In Translation

Ginza Cosmetics

Ginza Cosmetics is one of three so-called "comeback" films set in urban environments (the other two were Dancing Girl and Meishi) released in 1951. It is the story of a few days in the life of a single bar hostess, Yukiko (Kinuyo Tanaka) with a young son.  It prefigures one of his better known films, When a Woman Ascend the Stairs (1960) starring Naruse regular Hideko Takamine, which is also about the struggles of a high class bar hostess in the Ginza district. It is notable that Naruse doesn't make Yukiko's child, Haruo, a burden-he is a cheerful self-sufficient child who wanders off one day. And Yukiko is forced to leave behind a nice young man, Ishikawa, she is looking after with her younger sister Kyoko (Kyoko Kagawa). Kyoko quickly falls for the earnest young man. This kills some hope for Yukiko who vows to go on working hard to get by and bears no grudge against her sister whom she repeatedly warns about the life of a bar hostess and the importance of finding a decent man to marry to get out of the game. I think Naruse gives a sense of what Ginza was like in the early 50s with location shots and realistic details like street musicians, itinerant child storytellers, child flower hawkers, as well as neon bar signs in English and Japanese. Yukiko, is often seen with images of imprisonment, frequently being positioned in doorways and corridors, seen between partitions, framed in mirrors, or viewed through windows. There is no easy way out of the life that she has chosen and at the end of the film Yukiko is entrapped by both the bars on the bridge which hints at a paucity of liberty of movement implied by her rapid progress. In Catherine Russel's book The Cinema of Naruse Mikio, she sums up the film as thus:

This is perhaps the point where Naruse's modernity becomes recognizable as a discourse of ressentiment. Melodramatic loss and nostalgia take on symbolic weight of social allegory... Yukiko .... a survivor despite all the odds, and her trials and tribulations need to be recognized in terms of cultural critique and the realistic depiction of the life of a bar hostess as a new tendency of postwar Japan, marking Naruse's ongoing reworking of the tendency film genre of the early 1930s.

I think this film is probably one of Naruse's top 20 that I have seen with a strong performance from Tanaka and a gritty urban drama set in the bars of Ginza much like the equally excellent When a Woman Ascend the Stairs that would follow.

On Kurosawa

In 2018 author Peter Tasker and Zen Photo Gallery decided to celebrate the 20^th year of the passing of Japanese world cinema master director Akira Kurosawa with an elaborately illustrated hardbound coffee table book, On Kurosawa. And as an artifact, this book is successful with the extensive collection of movies stills, illustrations, and photographs by Akihide Tamura. The handsome book design was created by Satoshi Machiguchi and Yuka Nagase of MATCH and Company. The book is divided into seven sections starting with “I Masterpieces” followed by “II Breakthrough,” “III Who is Kurosawa?,” “Kurosawa & Mifune,” “V Slump,” “VI Recovery,” and ending with “VII Coda.” In addition, there is a useful list of sources which include “Films Associated with Kurosawa,” “Films About Kurosawa and Associates,” “Related Films: Mishima and Yamamoto,” “Books-English” and “Books-Japanese,” and an “Other” section with links to interesting Youtube videos, a Japanese Playboy article from 2008, and an internet link to a page about Kurosawa and Mifune. The text is comprised of a mix of essays, poetry, and short-stories inspired by one of Kurosawa’s 30 films, exploring both Kurosawa’s legacy as well as the truth and relevance of those films today. Some of the pieces are more successful than others in expressing these concepts. For example, in the section “Screen: Scandal” Tasker explores Kurosawa’s relationship with journalists and his inspiration for the 1950 film in which journalists are the villains. Tasker was also illuminating he wrote four different narratives (from the points of view of the producer, the auteur, the go-between, and the critic) about what went wrong when Kurosawa was dismissed from a production in the entry “Screen: Tora!Tora!Tora!”. “Screen: Rhapsody in August” addresses Kurosawa’s controversial take on the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki with a summary of the film interspersed with criticisms of Kurosawa’s victimization of Japan in the film by three different critics. There are other points in the essay when Tasker provides interesting tangents related to Kurosawa and his films such as a discussion of unimpressive contemporary re-makes of some of his films (“Screen: 21^st Century Turkeys”), a list of Kurosawa’s favorite books (“Life: reading Books”), a discussion of the few women who appear in his films (“Life: Women”), and a list of his favorite 100 films of all time (“Life: Going to the Cinema”). Tasker’s book can be seen as a tantalizing introduction to the world of Kurosawa or as an additional resource for admirers of the great director. Either way, the volume would look good on any coffee table.

Fleabag

I finally decided to watch Phoebe Walter-Bridge's tragicomedy Fleabag because of all the good press it was getting, but also because there are only two seasons and the episodes are less than 30 minutes each. I think it's very effective, but I can't say that it is laugh out loud funny, but I can't say its humorless either. But I think it is largely successful in crating characters who feel real to life that the viewer can greatly empathize with or vehemently dislike. It is is powerful, moving, tragic, but also cathartic and feel good at times. It perhaps relies too much on breaking the fourth wall with pithy facial expressions, but I can say that it is a rare and unusual TV viewing experience in that there is nothing like.

The Teahouse Of The August Moon

The Teahouse Of The August Moon (1956) is very much a product of its time. It features Marlon Brabndo as Sakini a Japanese- Okinawan interpreter-perhaps one the most egregious casting choices in film history on par with Charlton Heston as a Mexican government official in Touch of Evil. To his credit he spent two months studying local culture, speech, and gestures and, for the actual shooting, spent two hours daily having make-up applied to make him appear Asian. However, they did manage to cast Machiko Kyo (Rashomon) as Lotus Flower a geisha gifted to the American commander, Captain Fisby (Glenn Ford) in charge of democratizing the small village. So I guess it was interesting from a historical perspective, however as a comedy it has not stood the test of time well. Hard to imagine how the play version by John Patrick won a Pulitzer prize and a Tony. 

2019 Okinawa JALT Summer Language Teaching Symposium

In Okinaawa you will see many of these guard lion dogs-shisa-these were in my hotel in Naha.

Koukusaidori in Naha.

I got inspiration to visit the Dojo Bar from the late Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown episode in Okinawa.

Local libations-Orion Beer and awamori-the local "moonshine-which I quite like.

My former student Anthony has moved from Hong Kong to Naha. We caught up I saw him about two years ago in Hong Kong last.

Here's a "shimabuta" (locally sourced pork)sausage with garlic, special sauce, shichimei (spicy powder), and sea weed sprinkles.

I was persuaded by the shop name, Doraemon, to eat at this kinawa soba shop-he's a famous cat robot with no ears.

Miyako meat Okinawa soba.

The location for the conference: Okinawa Gender Equality Centre (Tiruru).

One of my old students from Meiji recommended his great aunt's recent restaurant in Naha not far from my hotel, Kappaou Ren.

Cold corn soup and a cold egg plant dish with bonito flakes as apetizer.

Mixed sashimi plate.

Tempura shrimp.

Awamori-local liquor.

Anago (salt water eel) tempura.

The proprietor and an unusual statue.

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A friendly izakaya on Kokusaidori.

At the airport earlier than usual since it was raining.

Sōseki: Modern Japan's Greatest Novelist

Recently I have been catching up on reading the English translated novels of Natsume Soseki, so having read the lion share of them I was looking forward to John Nathan's Soseki: Modern Japan's Greatest Novelist (2018). The biography is divided into 17 chapters and look at significant periods of Soseki's life such as Chapter 4 "The Provinces" about his experiences as a teacher firs tin Matsuyama and then Kumamoto. Other chapters look at his experiences in London as well as significant periods when wrote some of his more famous novels. It seems the attention to certain novels are driven by Nathan's interest rather than general regard. For example he chose not to examine The Miner, the last novel I read by Soseki which has been pointed out by Haruki Murakami as a one of his favorite Soseki novels and a turning point in his writing style. He also devotes a significant number of pages to Light and Darkness, the last unpublished novel, more than earlier better known works such as I Am a Cat and Botchan. Overall, it was a pretty interesting and incisive look at one of Japan's greatest novels.

The General

I'm a fan of Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, so The General (1998) came onto my radar as a Gleeson film that I had missed. I was surprised and delighted to see that it was directed by John Boorman (Point Blank and Deliverance). It is based on the true story of Dublin folk hero and criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off two daring robberies in Ireland with his team in the 70s and early 80s. He was known as "The General" and irascibly personified by Gleeson. It seems that Cahill had broken into Boorman's home and stole his gold record that he won from "Dueling Banjos" from the Deliverance sound track. The well-made production was filmed in black and white and won Boorman the Best Director award at he 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Stage-Struck Tora-san (21)

In Yoji Yamada's Stage-Struck Tora-san (1978) the viewer gets an insight into a dance revue in Asakusa where Sakura (Chieko Biasho) and Tora's (Kiyoshi Atsumi) childhood friend Nanako (Nana Kinomi) dances. There are several nods and asides to the popular culture of the day in this episode-starting out with the Close Encounters of the Third Kind parody pre-credits sequence. In addition there are some asides to super popular pop group Pink Lady throughout the film as well. Tora mentors a young farmer, Tomekichi (Tesuya Takeda), who is a kind of younger version of Tora often finding himself jilted, in Kumamoto. Sakura has to come and bail Tora out as he runs up a bill at the inn that he cannot pay. While in Tokyo he works earnestly until Nanako shows up on the scene and he's hooked and transfixed by her performance. Soon after Tomekichi shows up wanting to see the revue and becomes equally smitten with a chorus girl. We've been here before, it will not end happily for Tora nor Tomekichi. Another interesting aspect of the film is the frequent mentions of the recession and financial hardship that was seen in the Japanese economy in 1978 due to the "Second Oil Shock".

The Lovers On The Bridge

Leo Carax's second feature film, The Lovers On The Bridge (1991) is a visual feast. It's an atypical love story between homeless alcoholic Alex (Dennis Levant) and young woman Michelle (Juliet Binochet) who is losing her sight who is sleeping rough. It took eight years for the film to finally get distribution in America, and in that time, its reputation has ballooned to mythic proportions. Due to runaway production costs, which included building a full-scale replica of Paris' famed Pont Neuf bridge over a Montpellier lake, the film was the most expensive in the country's history and a colossal flop at that, leading financiers to demand too much money for the American rights. It's somewhat hard to believe that Carax would be given so much money for what is essentially an art film with little commercial promise. The film doe not always hit the mark, but when it does-say during the exuberant dance during a fireworks display-it is mesmerizing.

Evening Stream

Evening Stream (1960) is an interesting late career film from master director Mikio Naruse. The fact that Naruse was credited with co-directing the film with Yuzo Kawashima (who I best know as Shohei Imamura's mentor) is striking enough, but ti was one of four films directed by Naruse in 1960 which included his most well known film in the west, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. It seems that they wanted a younger director's touch on the film to appeal to younger "Sun tribe" audiences. And Kawashima was best known for his 1957 comedy A Suntribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era. So he may have been responsible for the young geisha scenes with several younger actors. It was aid that Naruse directed most of the scenes in the geisha house and those with the older generation- which includes Takashi Shimamura as the father of a non-geisha. The complex story is centered on a lively geisha inn and a restaurant, and the story gradually focuses in on an uncomfortable love triangle: the manager of the restaurant (Isuzu Yamada) and her daughter Miyako (Yoko Tsukasa) are in love with the same man, the brooding restaurant cook Ita (Tatsuya Mihashi). There are some melodramatic sub plots throughout, in one Ichihana (Michiko Kusabe) is in the process of getting a divorce and starting a relationship with a kimono dealer named Takiguchi (Akira Takarada bestknown for his role in Godzilla) ends very swiftly and violently. The film essentially is recording the changing of the water trade society and the decline of the insitutiions in Ginza at the beginning of a new era which will see influences from outside Japanese society as it opens up economically to world as symbolized by the u@coming 1964 Olympics.