Lost In Translation

Okinawa

I really enjoyed learning about Okianwa's fascinating history in George Kerr's book, Okinawa: The History of an Island People (1958). It highlights the special relationship Okinawa had with both China and Japan. It also, in some ways,  resembles the history of mainland Japan itself as it was part of the globalization that opened the country to the world when it was briefly occupied by Commodore Matthew Perry who also forced open the mainland. I was bemused by the doings of the missionaries that found their way to Japan and Okinawa-they are not paragons of virtue. These were the first attempts at "cultural colonization." There is mention of "the Sidotti incident", in which a fearless Italian missionary named Giovanni Batista Sidotti who washed ashore on  Yakushima island and was taken to Edo where he baptized servants assigned to him-angering his hosts. His actions were seen as a demonstration of European determination and prompted a new decree to kill any Europeans found attempting to enter the kingdom. Later a family, "the Bettelheims" ensconced themselves in Gokoku-ji temple for seven years forcibly trying to convert unwilling Okinawians by breaking into their houses to preach to them and meddle in local political affairs.I particularity enjoyed part Three:"Between Two Worlds" and Part Four: "Okianwa-ken: Frontier Province." The poorest prefecture gets saddled with the majority of American bases and still today is know for their kindness and adeptness at music and entertainment. I see no reason why things will ever change-mainland Japan prefers things the way things have been since Okinawa suffered the only land war fighting in WWII.

Zona

When I was watching one of the extras on Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, an interview with Geoff Dyer it reminded me that he wrote a book about the film-Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room (2012). It's an unusual book since it is something of a personal recollection of one person's relationship with a film that he has revisited many times over the years.It is essentially a summary of the film according to Dyer, but it is filled with segue to other references, authors, and events in his Dyer's life. Some of these diversions include Kenzaburo Oe's The Quiet Life, the films of Robert Bresson, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, the novels of Don DeLillo, poetry from Wordsworth, W. H. Auden, Billy Collins, and Philip Larkin, Milan Kundera's Immortality, William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience, J.M. Coetzee's Diary of a Bad Year, the philosophy of Heidegger, among other artistic and cultural touchstones. It is a rambling and entertaining discussion of one man's cinematic giving tree that continue to inspire thought and interpretation through multiple viewings-one man's obsession with a single cinematic masterpiece. 

The King Is Always Above The People

I have been a fan of Daniel Alarcon for some time and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed his latest collection  of short stories, The King Is Always Above The People (2017). In 2010, he was recognized by the New Yorker as one of 20 promising writers under 40. I think this shows his promise-all of the shot stories had their merits, but I think my favorite was "The Provincials," which also happened to be the longest. A father and his son return to the provincial town they escaped. He is now working at a job that seems useless to eh townspeople—Head Librarian of the Rare and Antiquarian Manuscripts division of the National Library—and has one son in America. The son traveling with him is an actor and is mistaken for the other son, so he assumes his identity and learns to value what the town has to offer. There were several poignant observations about life throughout the story for examples:

I was too young to recognize what would later seem more than obvious: that I was the greatest source of my old man's concern. That, if he was old old too soon, I was at least partly to blame.

His politics affirmed that all work held an inherent dignity. This was what he always reported, but of course no ideology can protect a son from the unwanted inheritance of his father's ambitions.

Grown men with hurt feelings are awkward creatures; grown men who feel dimly they done something wrong are particularly opaque.

As I mentioned earlier that I enjoyed all of the stories, but the other standouts for me included: "Abraham Lincoln has Been Shot," "Republica and Grau," and "The Bridge."

Hayashi Fumiko Memorial Hall

I recently learned that Japanese novelist Fumiko Hayashi has a Memorial Hall nearby in Nakai station in Shinjuku ward. Hayashi is an author I haven't read yet. However, I am familiar with her because several of her books and stories have been adapted by Miko Naruse, one of the greatest Japanese directors, including: 1936: Inazuma (Lightning), 1948: "Bangiku" ("Late Chrysanthemum") one of the sources for the film of the same name, 1950: Chairo no me – novel; source for Naruse's 1953 film Wife (Tsuma), 1951: Ukigumo (Floating Clouds) – novel; source for Naruse's 1955 film, and 1951: Meshi (Repast) – novel; source for Naruse's 1951 film. Floating Clouds in particular is probably the novel I will read when I get around to it since it is my favorite Naruse film and I wrote an academic paper about it several years ago.

Natsume Soeseki Memorial Museum

This way to the Natsume Soeseki Memorial Museum (opened in 2017) in Waseda. I was unaware of this museum until I saw that an acquaintance was giving a lecture here in Japanese. Since I have just finished reading most of Soseki's novels and a biography I felt it was the right time to visit.

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.

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.

BFI: Andrei Rublev

As a follow up to watching Andrei Tarkovsky's classic Andrei Rublev, I decided to read Robert Bird's BFI: Andrei Rublev (2004). It was another well-researched edition in the series providing much insight into the seminal film. In fact, the Criterion Bluray DVD includes an interview with Bird as well. The book is divided into four parts: 1. From Rublev to 'Rublev', 2. The Via Crucis of 'Andrei Rublev', 3. The Shape of the Story, 4. The Elevating Gaze. In Chapter 3, Bird discusses the prologue, seven episodes, and epilogue that make up the structure of the film. It is another stand out edition in the BFI Film Classics series.

If There Were No Japan

I recently read a Roger Pulvers memoir called The Unmaking of American and saw that he also recently wrote a cultural memoir called If There Were No Japan (2015). I think the books are quite similar, however, this book was first written in Japanese-and that being the case comes across as a bit condescending-having a thing or two to tell the youth of Japan about their culture. Then again, it was the culture sections in The Unmaking of an American that I most appreciated and this books has lots of that as well, but also the humble brags that marred the other volume as well. That being said, the man has lived an interesting life mostly pursuing things that intersted him-so hats off.

The Miner

Natsume Soeseki's experimental novel, The Miner (1908), is something of a outlier in the output of the great Japanese novelist. It is not traditionally seen as one of his best works by critics and is often only found in the complete works of Soseki. However, it is considered by noted contemporary writer Haruki Murakami to be one of his favorite Soseki novels and he provides the introduction. Murakami's introduction gives background information such as the history of the real-life model Ashio Copper Mine and context within Soseki's career. In addition, Jay Rubin, one of Murakami's most prolific translators does the translation for this novel as well as providing an enlightening afterword. Like many of Soseki's later works, this story is deeply philosophical and provides great insight into the mind of a 19 year old man (and perhaps that of the author) who is having an existential struggle. Due to some vague scandalous romantic triangle feels the need to flee his family and comfortable existence in Tokyo and heads to the copper mines of Tochigi after meeting a recruiter on his aimless flight north. It prefigures later day classics such as Kokoro and The Gate.