Fans of Japanese manga may be familiar with the genre gekiga (劇画), a term coined by renowned artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi in an attempt to demonstrate that not all comics are for children. Literally meaning “dramatic pictures,” the gekiga style is characterised by its realism and often-shocking plot twists. It started as an underground movement, but has since made its debut as an alternative style of manga.

Tatsumi is an animated gekiga film of sorts, inspired by and based on Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s life. In order to create the film, director Eric Khoo had his animators reproduce specific scenes from Tatsumi’s autobiographical work, A Drifting Life. Viewers are treated to an intimate view of Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s life as a struggling artist, his failed relationships with members of the opposite sex, and an inside look into his journey to becoming one of the greatest manga-ka in Japan.

The manga of Yoshiro Tatsumi were used to create a worthy film.

Tidbits from Tatsumi’s short stories are interwoven between actual recollections about Tatsumi’s life, an inclusion that is initially confusing but eventually helps viewers understand more about Tatsumi’s thought process and the ideas that influenced him to push the boundaries of what was considered traditional in the manga world.

The 94 minutes of this film will be easier to follow if you are familiar with Tatsumi’s works already, but even if you aren’t, you probably won’t find it too difficult to differentiate experience from fictional narration. So if you’re interested in post-Occupation Japan and what life was like for artists back then, this just might be the film for you.

Tatsumi premiered in Japan during the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival, and is currently being screened at film festivals around the world. It’s slated for a 2012 release in the UK.

** This film is narrated in Japanese with English subtitles and may not be appropriate for young viewers **

Hello Japan! Hello Kitty!

Despite its stereotypical childish appearance and colorful design, this book is actually an extremely useful and entertaining  introduction to Japanese society and culture, almost worth introducing to 1^st year University students studying Japanese culture. According to the book’s editor, it was initially designed to be used, and read by Japanese people who travel abroad, so that they can practice easy conversation with foreigners and discuss Japan, its culture and society. That’s why you can find the book at Haneda Airport and Chitose Airport’s book shops in Hokkaido (Not at Narita). The striking thing about this book is that it features the world wide famous Japanese Sanrio character Hello Kitty, also known as Kitty White*, who introduces the reader to her family, to her friends and all the special events and particularities of her home country. Throughout the book, Hello Kitty speaks systematically in English and in Japanese, which also helps to sharpen the language skills of a non-Japanese reader, who hopefully has a small amount of knowledge about Japan and its language. Because you can constantly compare the words in Japanese characters and in English, the reader’s eye is continuously learning and registering from the reading. The second striking thing about this book, apart from the fact that it features Hello Kitty, is also the use of the romaji reading, to make it easier for the non-Japanese conversation partner to read the book too!

The book is divided into six parts and in each of these parts, Hello Kitty introduces 9 to 13 chapters for each topic such as:

1)   “Welcome to Japan”

2)   “Communication”

3)   “Sightseeing”

4)   “History and Culture”

5)   “Food and Cooking”

6)   “Japanese Lifestyle”

The illustrations are simple as Kitty, and very straightforward. While introducing actual places in Japan or Japanese typical meals, the book uses actual photos to make it more real. But it also illustrates using symbols for the most famous object or place on a map of Japan, so as to put a “face” to the city or the prefecture. For example, Niigata city is famous for its rice fields and sake.  Aomori prefecture is famous for its delicious apples. Apparently, Yamaguchi city is famous for its poisonous fugu fish and Nagasaki city for its castella cake. Fukushima is spelled “Hukushima” and it features a samurai warrior—not three melted down nuclear reactors.

In every chapter, you can find a “Did you know?” section, which explains something awkward or something unusual about Japanese life.

Under the chapter “Attending a funeral” Osoushiki (お葬式), you learn all the details and the steps you need to take when you attend a Buddhist funeral in Japan.

Kitty-sama feels your pain. Let her guide you through the tribulations of a Japanese funeral.

The opening illustration where Hello Kitty sheds a single tear is wonderfully Japanese in many senses. If Hello Kitty was introducing Korean culture or American Reality TV, she’d be shooting tears from her eyes like North Korea testing missiles after the death of the Supreme Leader. The funeral section is surprisingly concise and thorough. It covers everything from the protocol for burning incense to honor the dead to making a bow to the family members, and receiving the “return gift” after the sad feast. The “Did you know” for this section tells you: “that when you see a hearse on the street, we make a fist putting the thumb inside. This is to protect our parents, as thumb is referred to as “parents finger”, (oyayubi 親指) in Japanese.

From time to time, you also find a section called “for young people only” (wakamono dake若者だけ) where you can learn the slang used by Japan’s younger and ruder generations, such as “Are you serious?” マジで？ Maji-de? Or “You must be joking” うっそ〜 ussoo.

The book has some practical uses as well. Under the chapter “National Holidays”, you can find a calendar with Japan’s special days, such as the “Respect of the Aged Day” 敬老の日keiroo no hi, which is the third Monday of September, every year.

Just in time for 節分 (Setsubun)! Coming up in February!

This book is not childish at all, read it and you will learn much about Japan and its people, children, youth, adults and elderly people. And there are absolutely no pictures of green tea KitKats or high-tech toilets. We expected this book to be awful—it turns out to be awfully entertaining.

Hello Kitty’s Guide to Japan, English and Japanese/ハローティの英語で紹介する

Editor:　ナツメ社/Natsume Edition

Author:　桑原功次/Koji Kuwabara

Year of Publication: 2011

*According to some sources, although Hello Kitty aka Kitty White is a Japanese company created character, she is actually a British female national. Which is a bloody surprise, don’t you think, guv’nor?

“Kiyoku, tadashiku, utsukushiku” 　『清く、正しく、美しく』 “We shall perform with Purity, Sincerity and Beauty”

Introduction:

Takarazuka Revue, is the 20^th century version of Japanese Kabuki, the primary differences being it incorporates Western music and instead of all men playing both female and male roles, all the performers are all women. In Takarazuka, which has a cult like-following in Japan, the most esteemed role of all is that of the 男役 (otoko-yaku) : the part of the male.

The cultural ramifications and sexual dynamic of this entertainment empire are extremely well-covered in the book  Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan by Jennifer Robertson.

Women perform all the male and female characters of the company’s musicals and shows; all the members of the troupe refer to themselves internally as “students.”  Male role performers are granted a higher status in the company. About 400 members represent the whole company. Forty new members directly recruited by the Takarazuka music academy enter the professional troupe each year. Top stars usually spend 6 to 10 years as junior students.

Once she enters the company, the student will belong to one of the five kumi, (factions), such as the Hana Gumi (Flower Troupe), Tsuki Gumi (Moon Troupe), Yuki Gumi (Snow Troupe), Sora Gumi (Sky Troupe), Hoshi Gumi (Star Troupe). The word “kumi” or “gumi” in Japanese is also often used by Japanese criminal organizations in faction names but there is no Goto-gumi in the Takarazuka. Each troupe has a leader, and this position is acceded to members according to strict seniority. There are more than 70 members in each troupe. In every troupe, there is a designated top star in the male role and in the female role, both together they are the goruden conbi, ゴールデンコンビ, (golden combination). Women who reached this position have reached the highest pinnacle of success for a Takarazuka star.

The Takarazuka Opera Company performs in two main theaters: one in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture and a theater in Hibiya, Tokyo, (Subway A13).

 History:

Ichizo Kobayashi is the founder of this cultural institution and its origins date back to 1910. This businessman, who owned the Hankyu Railways in Osaka decided to build the first indoor swimming pool in Japan in the village of Takarazuka near Osaka, in order to attract clients who would have to use the rail ways to get to that area. Having created a non-heated mixed swimming pool, this entertainment place called paradaisu (“Paradise”) did not get the success he was expecting. However, in 1911, in Osaka, the the department store Mitsukoshi engaged a group of ten male singers and musicians in the western style in order to entertain the clients of the department store and it was a rousing success. Kobayashi immediately decided to rip off the idea, recruited about twenty girls, and taught them to sing. He transformed the indoor swimming pool into a gigantic theater, whose purpose was to entertain families and children. In the beginning, the girls were part of a singing choir, Takarazuka shoukaitai( 宝塚唱歌隊,aka the choir of Takarazuka), however Kobayashi insisted on adding the word shoujo, 少女 (young woman) to the name that he gave to his group in the naming of Takarazuka shoujo kageki yousei kai (宝塚少女歌劇養成会-the association of opera training young girls).

In 1913, Kobayashi’s institution was named Takarazuka Kageki Dan (宝塚歌劇団) (The Takarazuka Academy of Music). Kobayashi then founded a school of music and dancing. Young women who were recruited had to spend two years in the Academy before joining the Takarajiennu, タカラジエンヌ, (“Takarasiennes”) from the professional troupe. This is how a new bourgeois type of culture was created that was aimed at people who could afford to spend money for pleasure and fun.

What type of performance:

The production of Takarazuka includes also Japanese traditional type of plays, such as the Genji Monogatari (源氏物語–Tales of Genji), European style of plays, such as “Mon Paris”, and also Broadway style shows, such as West Side Story. The shows at Takarazuka were, in the beginning essentially addressed to an audience of children, however the style soon became erotic and politically engaged. In general, the theater never represented contemporary Japan, except during the 1930’s and 1940’s, when certain military subjects were treated. Japanese people or society were almost never represented. The show offered the Japanese people a chance to  dream of lives in other parts of the world.

Sexual Politics:

The actresses of Takarazuka are recruited according to esthetic and physical criteria, such as their beauty, their height (taller than average for otokoyaku, 男役, (male performers), their voice and the shape of their face (square face, if possible, for the otokoyaku). Just by naming these criteria, we can see that clichés for male roles are established from the start.

During the first years of Takarazuka, in the 1910’s, the joyuu, 女優, (actresses, female comedians) were not viewed favorably by the public. They were judged as being decadent and leading a life of independent women. To which, Kobayashi has responded by creating an academy for young women who attend “school” as seito, 生徒, (students). This made it sound like the girls were not professional performers. This understanding also assured the parents that they had placed their child in a good school, where education was very strict and traditional. “Takarasiennes” was a name to refer to the term in vogue parijiennu, パリジエンヌ, (“Parisiennes”) or parisians. The Takarasiennes are hierarchized within the academy of music and dance. They have to study during two years and hold a relationship of sempai/kouhai, 先輩/後輩, (elder/smaller sisters) between the first year and second year students. This means that the kouhai have to respect the senpai and they have to clean the music and dancing rooms without electrical equipment such as vacuum cleaners. The teachers at Takarazuka are convinced that intense work and hardship education shapes the characters of the students. Men are also strictly prohibited from coming inside the academy. Takarazuka allowed young Japanese women to participate to artistic culture and more precisely allowed women work as artists in contemporary theatrical culture. There were very few actresses and singers during the early days of Takarzuka but the quasi-academic setting protected the image of its performers and reassured society that these women were engaged in a legitimate enterprise.

When Kobayashi started his musical company, he did not want the public to imagine that the Takarasiennes were delinquents. He played with the terms of designation to preserve the “purity and innocence” of his dancers. He has defined the brand image of his product: he made clear that his recruits come from wealthy families and that after they spent years within Takarazuka, his actresses were “ready” to become virtuous women, knowing how to take care of men and how to educate correctly their children. He therefore followed the myth of the “good wife/wise mother”, according to the term used by Jennifer Robertson, in Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan (1998). This concept seems to have been invented during the Meiji period in order to catalyze society. Kobayashi even pretended that the young woman who graduated from his academy were going to be more disciplined and suited for family life because his school guided them in a healthy path and without direct relationship with men from the outside.

Takarazuka, at its start, present some characteristic of paternalism. Young Japanese women were trained to become model housewives. It seems that Kobayashi even tried to control his girls even after they retired, by ensuring a decent marriage with a respectable and rich man. This shows, once again, the importance of “economic” marriage for women (in Japan) and in general.

Language in Theater:

In the Japanese language, the speech of each gender is much more distinct than in most of other languages. For example, in French or in English, there is not more than one way to refer to oneself, as a person with male genitals or female genitals. When we refer to ourselves, we say “I”. In Japanese, at oral speech, females and males use the pronoun watashi or watakushi, 私, in order to designate themselves. However, females usually do not use or cannot use (although nowadays, anything is possible!) the pronouns ore, 俺, or boku, 僕, these terms are used by males.

Media controversy in the 1930’s:

In 1939, when the media turned against Takarazuka for the first time, the actresses, especially the otokoyaku actresses performing male figures were seriously been discredited. One of the first scandals of lesbianism had been denounced in the press at that moment. Effectively, these women disguised as men and imitating male voice and speech, with short hair were beginning to worry the public opinion. What actually worried the Japanese society was more the sudden love of the young Japanese women for the western culture and these otokoyaku.

The Fans:

Many of the fans seems to have been mature or married women, but what was unacceptable for the Japanese society in general were the pubescent and pre-pubescent shoujo, 少女, whose sexuality was beginning to be “deviant” or “deviating” by the Takazuka actresses. Official measures have been taken to put these young girls on the “right path” and to direct them into their femininity so that they could enter the symbolic adulthood described by the Restoration. The modern Japanese woman, as Robertson describes her to us readers in her book, was “fascinating, attractive, weak and different”, that is why it was desirable for men to control her. However, this soon began to be a necessity, because the woman was beginning to be “dangerous, strong and indifferent”. The Japanese state showed a strong will to describe the ideal shojo and a strong will to operate to contribute to form patriarchal military institutions, which idealized heterosexuality.

Kobayashi, the founder of Takarazuka was not a feminist, however he seemed to openly criticize society centered on masculinity. He was the first to wish that theater and opera were accessible to women as much as to men. Kobayashi seems to have used his Takarazuka actresses to circulate the ideal image of male and female behavior within the family cell. While bowing to the sexual politics of the times, he also seemed to subvert the culture and allow women greater access to the world of the performing arts. However, as the times have changed, Takarazuka has not. It will be interesting to see how or if it survives into the next century.

FUCKIN' SALE. In flashy Osaka the use of English for decorative purposes in Japanese advertising reaches a new peak of perfection.

There are some stories that explain themselves pretty f*ckin’ eloquently.

God knows what the people in this Department Store in Osaka were thinking when they came up with this advertising slogan but Zarina Yamaguchi, a friend of a friend, was thinking “pretty damn funny” when she snapped this picture on January 4th. Zarina explains:

Well, a childhood friend of mine and I were strolling along the local street in Shinsaibashi, Osaka. Being around the extra-genki Osaka-jins and salesladies screaming ‘Irashaimasse’ from every direction for the ongoing New Year Sales has never made us feel more at home. On our way to catch up over coffee, I walked into this store to check some things. Truth is, I didn’t even notice the posters. When I looked around, each corner had posters that printed ‘fucking sale’. I didn’t know how to react but what caught me by surprise was that none of the people around me seem to understand the profanity. My friend Sarah and I, both of mixed Japanese descent, both bilingual in Japanese and English, were struck with the comical twist. Pretty sure I would have never seen this elsewhere, I had to snap a shot. 

The store is located in Shinsaibashi right next to Hearton Hotel Shinsaibashi and Planet 3rd cafe, she adds.

I should note that Zarina’s childhood friend is Sarah Kashani, my friend and one of the most knowledgable scholars on Koreans in Japan. Sarah verified the authenticity of the signage and the sale, although neither side has disclosed whether they actually bought anything at the sale.

2012 is going to be a fuckin’ awesome year in Japan. You can’t help but feel that way. Our thanks to Ms. Yamaguchi-sama for her contribution. We’re f*ckin’ grateful. 超感謝ですよ。

These cats are all dressed up for the fuckin' sale, dude.

During the last Year Of The Dragon (2000), Godzilla caused almost as much damage to Japan as TEPCO. Happily, recent earthquakes did not awaken him.

A solid earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 shook up a wide area in eastern and northeastern Japan on  Sunday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. There was no Godzilla Warning issued and no Nuclear Safety Inspection Agency staff hurt themselves fleeing from the nuclear reactors where they were stationed.

The Government of Japan has assured the populace that Godzilla did not waken from his slumber to herald in the Year Of The Dragon. Prime Minister Noda assured the public that Godzilla was not in fact a dragon, while admitting that because Godzilla is a fire-breathing, gigantic, destructive reptile–”he does bare similarities to a dragon but Godzilla cannot fly. Thus he’s not a dragon. We have everything under control this time.” The Godzilla & Mothra Management Agency (GMMA) also said that they had checked the ear plugs inserted in Godzilla’s head and were certain that the ruckus had not caused any serious changes in his REM measurements. “He’s sound asleep,” sources said.

The agency noted that quake measured an intensity of 4 on the Japanese scale of 7 in many locations in downtown Tokyo, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures–but only 1.2 in the underwater dungeon in which Godzilla has been imprisoned since the previous Year Of the Dragon.

by Amy Seaman, film correspondent.

Question: Test your cinema knowledge. Who are the people below and what do they have in common? (We’ve given you some big hints.)

Hayao Miyazaki — founder of Studio Ghibli.

Clint Eastwood — Gran Torino, Million Dollar Baby.

John Woo — Mission Impossible.

Martin Scorsese — Taxi Driver, Goodfellas.

Answer: Four highly lauded filmmakers and directors, all with a ridiculous amount of talent, skill and creativity… Creativity and skill that they attribute partly to the films of Akira Kurosawa.

So maybe now you’re asking, who is Akira Kurosawa?

Well, even if you’re not a huge Japanese movie buff, you’ve probably heard of him, perhaps indirectly. Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Dreams  — those were all by him. A Fistful of Dollars, Babel, The Host, Across the Universe — those were all produced by directors influenced by him.

Kurosawa may have departed this world in 1998, but his spirit lives on, at least in the hearts of the filmmakers that Catherine Cadou — Kurosawa’s faithful French-English-Japanese translator and interpreter — interviewed to produce Kurosawa’s Way, a documentary and semi-tribute to the groundbreaking director. Cadou’s film mainly consists of short snippets of her interviews with 11 prominent directors and producers from all around the world, in which they analyse Kurosawa’s unique narrative and cinematographic style, citing a clear Shakespearean influence and the then-unprecedented camera angles that have now become a ubiquitous part of contemporary cinema.

With a runtime of 52 minutes that is interspersed with clips of some of Kurosawa’s best works, Kurosawa’s Way is a more than worthwhile watch for anyone interested in what makes filmmakers tick, if not just for Martin Scorsese’s humorous recollection of what it was like to work with Kurosawa on set.

Catch Kurosawa’s Way (and a Q&A session with director Catherine Cadou) this Monday, October 24 at 5:30 p.m. at the Toho Cinemas in Roppongi Hills. Tickets are available online at www.tiff-jp.net and at the event itself.

** This film is narrated in French, with Japanese and English subtitles **

There’s always something ominous about seeing post-apocalyptic, futuristic worlds — even if it’s just on a screen. Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊) plays on this unsettling emotion, cultivating a society in which humans coexist with and, in some cases, are co-inhabited by cyborgs. (Editor’s note: It was a seminal film in Japanese animation, a genre now commonly known as anime, and the inspiration for the film The Matrix. The movie covers classic science fiction themes such as : What is humanity? Can computers achieve sentience? What makes our identities: our memories and/or are experiences or the sum total of our life decisions? Who are we if our memories themselves can be manipulated and restructured?)

Ghost In The Shell is classic of Japanese Anime and was the inspiration for The Matrix

Based on a comic of the same name by Shirow Masamune, this 1996 flick was an instant hit, praised for its masterful blending of traditional cell animation with its more modern digital counterpart. The film, which takes place after World War III, follows Major Motoko Kusanagi (草薙素子) and her second-in-command Batou (バトー), who is more cyborg than human, as they track and chase an elusive hacker known only as the Puppet Master, a mysterious entity that has made a game out of commandeering the ghosts of partially human cybernetic organisms. Joining them is Detective Togusa, who is not cybernetically augmented, and an old school cop. He is originally from the violent crimes division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (警視庁捜査一課) and the only detective in the squad with a wife and children. All three detectives are part of a national police agency, modeled after the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and are detectives in the mysterious Public Security Investigations Section Nine. (公安９課)

Though Ghost in the Shell is set in a realm where even the simplest everyday things have become computer-run, mechanized, and dehumanized to some extent, the story itself retains themes that will be familiar to human viewers, especially nowadays. Throughout its 80-minute runtime, Kusanagi finds herself — or perhaps, itself — facing a somewhat existential identity crisis, one that is inevitable in a world where it is possible to manipulate an organism’s memories, to rewrite their personal history.

Admittedly, the idea of humanity versus machinery isn’t an entirely new one, so what makes this movie worth watching is its presentation of an age-old question: Will it ever be possible to emulate true humanity through technology? In the moments that Kusanagi appears to pause and think — as a non-modified human would — the answer seems clear. Mere seconds later, though, it disappears again, blending in with the beautiful but somehow haunting music that is the movie’s soundtrack, leaving the question hanging. In some ways, it’s not Kusanagi’s behaviour, but the film’s orchestral score that serves as the jarring reminder of just how delicate humanity is.

However existential and universal as the film’s main theme may be, subtle details peppered throughout make it difficult to overlook its political overtones. Produced at the tail end of the Cold War, right after the burst of the Japanese economic bubble, the story recalls the rueful sentiments of a society on the verge of decline. Through impressive animation that leaves no detail overlooked, Masamune depicts an Asian society that has remained prosperous, despite the downfall of its other first-world counterparts.

It’s hard not to love the film on a purely artistic level, even if its political overtones and philosophical questions that are a shade overwhelming at times. It has a slightly predictable plot and two too many musical montages, but it is a fascinating film in many ways and a quintessential Japanese anime, well worth seeing if you love a good science fiction flick with stunning visuals.

 by journalist colleague, Gavin Blair, writing from Tokyo.

Japanese TV Host’s Resignation Shines Light on Showbiz Mob Ties

The yakuza have strong links to the entertainment biz, but the times may be changing as the government cracks down on gangs.

Shimada Shinsuke (島田紳助） one of Japan’s more prominent television personalities is scheduled to announce his retirement from the industry or at least his talent agency, Yoshimoto Kogyo (吉本興業） at a press conference at 10pm today. Allegedly, the reasons behind his retirement are  that his close ties to a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi Kyokushinrengo (山口組極心連合）might be exposed in a weekly magazine.

According to police sources, for several years Shimada Shinsuke was close to Goto Tadamasa, the former head of the Yamaguchi-gumi Goto-gumi, until Goto was forced to retire on October 14th, 2008. It was from that time that Shimada allegedly became close to a senior member of the Yamaguchi-gumi Kyokushinrengo. Several months ago, Shimada apparently made the mistake of making deragatory remarks about Mr. Goto, which did not sit well with the former crime boss. Shimada even allegedly did the unthinkable, referring to Mr. Goto without any honorifics at all, an act in Japanese society which is called 呼び捨て (yobisute). This so offended Mr. Goto that he leaked information to the press about Shimada’s friendly relations with organized crime.

In Goto Tadamasa’s best-selling autobiography, 憚りながら (Habakarinagara) Goto refers to Shimada as a hypocritical little チンピラ(chinpira) which is yakuza slang for the lowest level of yakuza. The publisher of Goto’s book, Takarajima, in a book released this March (平成タブー大全）in a chapter written by yakuza expert Mizoguchi Atsushi, discusses in details Shimada’s close relationship to the Kyokushinrengo leader, Hashimoto Hirofumi.

Shimada has been in trouble before, for a case of assault, in 2004, in which he dragged a 40 year old female employee into his dressing room by pulling on her hair, and then slapped her repeatedly. She had failed to show him the proper respect, he felt. It was certainly thuggish behavior and he was fined for the assault.

The talent agency he belongs to Yoshimoto Kogyo, has been rumored to have yakuza ties for years. The company was listed on the stock market for a short time but then later withdrew as a listed company on their own, or after considerable pressure from the police.

It remains to be seen what will be the official reasons announced for his retirement.

UPDATE: Shimada’s relationship to the yakuza boss in question allegedly included cash gifts to the boss for “looking after me.”  The police are taking an interest in the reasons behind the alleged donations. Police sources have said they now consider Shimada to be a yakuza associate or in police lingo, 準構成員 (junkoseiin).