ZOOM JAPAN No.008 by Ilyfunet Communication

NewS

editorial

Despite its undoubtedly Chinese origins, ramen is now a Japanese dish that is eaten in abundance both across the Japanese arch ip ela g o a s wel l a s throughout the world. It has even returned to China itself, where they often eat instant cup noodles, a product invented in Japan in 1970. Despite their apparent simplicity, râmen is not easy to make, and there are fewer quality râmen restaurants than one m ig ht th in k Z o om Japan wil l g u ide you through the secrets of râmen, the dish that has become a monument to local gastronomy in various regions and cities, to the extent that the Japanese do not hesitate to drive hundreds of miles to enjoy it. Wishing you all bon appétit, and a happy New Year for 2013.

THE EDITORIAL TEAM info@zoomjapan info

The defence budget is set to increase by 100 billion yen [694 million pounds] in 2013. It is the first time in ten years that the budget dedicated to military costs has risen Territorial tensions with Japan’s neighbours, China and Korea, have something to do with it.

I N THE EYE OF Eric Rechsteiner

Yuki Daruma

White gold may have covered the streets of London, but snow can also be found in Tôkyô! It is a sufﬁciently rare occurrence to make one want to run outside and play with the neighbourhood children, building a Yuki Daruma (snowman)

POLITICS The return of trust among Japanese?

According to a poll for the Japanese channel NipponTV, new Prime minister Abe Shinzô’s government is benefitting from a 61.9% popularity rating. This impressive support can be explained by the strong expectations of the Japanese towards the economy. The liberaldemocrat party is also benefiting, with favourable ratings of 42.2%.

TOURISM Attractive Japan

The number of foreigners who travelled to Japan in 2012 increased by 34 6% when compared to 2011, with a total of 8.37 million visitors. This revival can be explained by the decrease in fears relating to Fukushima’s nuclear accident. Nevertheless, 2012 is still 2.8% below the level of 2010, before the triple catastrophe of 11 March 2011, but this is also due to the recent decrease in Chinese visitors because of the present sinoJapanese diplomatic disagreements.

NewS

SOCIETY How can school life be made easier?

Bullying at school is a concern for many in Japan, but there is still no solution to the problem.

For years, bullying at school has reg ularly be en h e a d l in e n e w s in th e Jap a n e s e m e d i a No t a

y e ar g o e s by wi th o ut rep or ts o f on e or m ore children committing suicide af ter having be en push e d o ver th e brin k by th e ir c la ssmate s . E a c h tim e , the media publishes the child’s farewell letter in which the y explain their daily life at school and the conditions that led them to

c h o o s e d e a t h , a n d e ver y time the authorities promise to camp a i g n t o en s ure s u c h tragedies will not happ en a g a i n How e ver, it always seems to end in failure and there are a lways more suicides

Of course, Japan is not t h e o n l y c o untr y i n which bullying – whatever its nature – takes p l a c e – b ut i t i s p e rhaps the countr y in which the issue is most acutely questione d In 2008, Na kanishi Kenji dire cte d Aoi Tori ( The Blue Bird) adapted from Shigematsu Kiyoshi’s novella It is the stor y of e ver yday life in a class af ter a bullie d pupil commits suicide and describ es the process of repentence, that is doomed to failure, insti g ate d by th e s c h o o l auth ori ti e s a f ter th e in c id e nt , a s w e l l a s t h e s u b t l e r a n d m o r e e f f i c i e nt approach of a replacement teacher, portrayed by the

g enia l Ab e Hiroshi He insists that the former student’s desk is kept in the class and g re ets him e ver y day in order to remind the pupils of his absence This b e havi o ur i s up s e tting , an d h e s o on re c e i ve s c omplaints from parents who wish to move on af ter the official period of repentance He also de cides to set up special post boxes, named "Blue Birds", dedicated to the collection of the pupils' reactions, althoug h it soon emerg es that these remain unused. Ultimately, the teacher ’ s metho d pays off, b e cause it forces the pupils to question themselves and the adults ab out th e ir own b e havi o ur.

T h i s i s o n l y f i c t i o n however, and nothing will actually be sorted o ut i n Jap a n i n th i s wa y. Ne ver th e l e ss , aware o f th e ur g en c y to find so lutions, the authorities are tr ying out innovative preventi o n m e th o d s . In th e S a i ta ma p re f e c t ure , north of Tôkyô, a webs i t e ha s b e en cre at e d ( http ://stopijime jp) where students can find all the necessar y information to report bullying around the clo ck , a s wel l a s p ost messa g es of support to victims. This initiative is an encourag ing first step, because bullied pupils usually find ver y little support from within their own schools, wh ich g enera l ly prefer to deny that such pro b lems e ven e x i s t How e ver mu c h m o re i s s ti l l n e e d e d i n order to put a definitive stop to it.

GABRIEL BERNARD

Scene from Aoi tori (The Blue Bird), by Nakanishi Kenji

TREND once ramen, always ramen

First it was sushi, now French consumers have discovered the pleasure of noodle soup. Zoom Japan investigated.

Aware of the larg e part that popular culture plays in both the commercial interests and imag e of the countr y, the Japanese g overnment is now redoubling its efforts to promote manga, literature and cartoons, as well as cuisine The g rowing trend in sushi and yakitori (chicken kebab) restaurants ha s l e d to th e cre ati on o f many s o - ca l l e d Japanese restaurants in Paris, where qualit y is of little importance. In response, the Japanese authorities have put tog ether a Japanese food e va luation committe e in charg e of ma king a list of establishments ser ving authentic Japanese cuisine since 2007 They

have launched a new initiative under the name Mog Mog Japan, whose ambition is to present “real Japanese restaurants in Paris” (as stated on their Facebook pag e) and publish an annual g uide with a targ et circulation of 30,000 issues in the first half of 2013 Six years ago, the booklet did not include a sing le ramen restaurant Was this a d e l i b er at e o ver s i g ht o r wa s r a m en n o t y e t c ons i d ere d “auth enti ca l l y ” Japanese ? At the time, no explanation wa s for thcoming The French ha d a l re a d y b e g un t o d i s c o ver s u s h i a n d

s h i m i , which were considered to be delicacies, but were still not g reatly attracte d to no o dle dishes Nowadays, sus h i i s s o l d in sup ermarke ts an d ha s d e ve l op e d a French clientele You also need only walk down rue

Sainte-Anne in Paris at lunchtime to see never-ending queues outside the principal ramen and udon restaurants. In London, the continuing increase in the number of restaurants specialising in ramen, such as the e xc e l l ent B on e Da

Pe ter Stre

or S h or y u R amen in Reg ent Stre et, is proof of this growing enthusiasm Just as in Japan, the British choose to eat ram en a s an inf orma l m e a l at an

ramen However, knowing a bit more about the dish can lead to a b etter understand ing of the de velopment of Japanese thinking over the past 150 years every day, neverending queues build up outside the restaurants.

th other meals in London), but unlike Japanese consum

Opening up to the rest of the world, including China, was essential in promoting the distribution of noodles throughout the archipelago “It was at the beginning of the Meiji era , when Japan was starting to open up to the world, that noodle cuisine, orig inating from Ch ina , ap p e a re d in th e Ch in e s e qua r ter o f Yo kohama At the time it wa s ma in ly sh io ramen, meaning salt-based ramen The Japanese added their soya sauce to the broth, creating shoy u ramen that prog ressively spread across Japan During th is pro cess many local versions appeared. That is why there are approximately fort y different kinds of ramen nowadays In a countr y where lo ca l pro ducts, esp e cia l ly food, are quite distinct from reg ion to reg ion, only noodles have manag ed to conquer the whole countr y, ” says food historian Hantsu Enda . It was only in the twenties that ramen shops started opening up in ever y city The low prices especially pleased the working classes as they were able to afford a g ood meal. Most restaurants open up near to railway stations or in shopping arcades (shoteng ai) in the cit y centres.

“In Western countries the ramen d ishes you g et in restaurants are rather more expensive than ordinar y food, but in Japan the opposite is true. In our countr y, taking a bill for 1,000 yen [£7] as the standard, e ver y d i s h that i s c h e ap er i s p l a c e d i n c at e g o r y B (Bîky u g ur ume), meaning that it is a simple, ea sily consumed dish A bowl of ramen usually costs between 600 and 900 yen. That contributed towards its great popularit y The second reason for it's popularit y is relate d to the fact that ramen fit in perfe ctly with Japanese eating habits For a long time the vast majorit y of Japanese meals could be summed up by ‘rice, a side dish, and a bowl of miso’ And there is an expression in Japanese that perfectly describes Japanese eating habits: shushoku purasu ichiju issai (a staple food, a soup and a side dish) Uniquely, a dish of ramen combines all of these elements on one plate,” adds Enda Ramen conquered the whole population after the Second World War In Ozu Yasujiro’s film, T h e Fl avo ur o f G re en Te a O ver R i c e ( O c ha z u ke

no aji), released in 1952, one scene demonstrates perfectly how a whole part of the population, until then only used to other dishes, discovers ramen A young woman wa l k s into a ramen restaurant for the first time and is initiated by one of her friends “It’s hot,” she says, a s she bring s the b owl f ull of broth to her mouth “ That’s why it’s so g ood,” is what she is told The young woman is rather clumsy while eating the ramen, in contra st to the b oy who is completely at ease in this “ g ood and cheap” place O ver the following years, enthusiasm for ramen continued to grow, resulting in the creation in 1958 of the first instant ramen (so kuseki ramen) by the Nissh in c omp any, gaining immediate success When the same company launched its cup noodles in 1971, ramen became the Japanese answer to MacDonalds, which opened up

HISTORY A bargain meal worth a big deal

In 2011 the word bento entered the Oxford English Dictionary, joining other words related to Japanese gastronomy such as sushi and sashimi This recognition illustrates the British enthusiasm for Japanese cuisine Ramen has also found a place in the Oxford English Dictionar y, and its etymology is explained as: < Japanese rāmen (1930 or earlier) < Chinese lāmiàn hand-pulled wheat-ﬂour noodles < lā pull, stretch, lengthen + miàn noodle (see mien n 2), with miàn assimilated to Japanese men noodle (1566 or earlier; < the base of Chinese miàn) Nevertheless, Japanese specialists are divided on that theory and today it is still hard to deter-

mine with certainty the origins of the word Ramen, mostly written in katakana (syllabar y generally used to transcribe foreign words), has now become a generic expression During the 19th centur y the expression Shina soba [Chinese noodles] was used more frequently for the dish It has nothing to do with ramen, which apparently originates from Sapporo, where a chef who had made a speciality noodle dish called his restaurant ‘ryûmen’, combining the

A bowl of ramen usually costs between 600 and 900 yen

throug hout the Archipelag o in the same year. Itami Ju z o ' s f i l m Ta mp o p o ( 1 9 8 5 ) h o n o ure d th i s d i s h , wh ich ha s b e come an inseparable par t of Japanese popular culinar y culture. “ The idea of making ramen the main theme in the movie has not only contributed to reinforcing its popularity but it has also g iven it a better imag e R amen restaurants have seen their status grow Until the movie was released, most Japanese didn’t have a ver y g ood opinion of ramen restaurants but Tampopo chang e d that Now, the restaur a nt o wn er s have b e c o m e f a m o u s a n d th e profession is one of the most resp e cte d , ” c onfirms Enda All you need to be convinced is to go and visit one of the bookshops whose shelves are pile d hig h with books dedicated to ramen

ODAIRA NAMIHEI

A dish that suits the nutritional balance of the Japanese diet

words for noodles (men) and willows (ryû) that bordered the street where it was located Others say that it is adapted from a Chinese word with a Japanese pronunciation This theory again originates in Sapporo, where a Chinese cook who had ﬁnished preparing his noodles (mian in Chinese) would often say the phrase “hao le” in his native language The “le” would sound like “ra” to the ears of his Japanese customers and became associated with the “mian” itself, that was pronounced “men” in Japanese This amalgam was then written on the menu as the name of the dish Nobody can be totally sure of the origins of the word though O N

Kagoshima

ramen

Kagoshima ramen

Onomichi râmen

ramen

ramen Susaki (Nabeyaki râmen)

ramen

Takayama ramen

Kyoto

Shirakawa ramen

Wakayama

Tokushima

Hiroshima ramen

Hakata ramen

Kurume ramen

Kumamoto

Sapporo ramen

Asahikawa ramen

ramen

Hakodate ramen

Aomori (Tsugaru ramen)

Kesennuma ramen

Yonezawa ramen

Kitakata ramen

Tokyo ramen

Naha (Okinawa ramen)

Yokohama ramen

Sano ramen

Niigata ramen

Sano

Yonezawa

Tôkyô

Naha

Sapporo

Kushiro

Aomori

CRISIS A recipe to escape the stew

No onl y is it g o o d to eat, nowadays ramen has a signif icant e conomic role to play in the countr y.

In Japan, as in other de veloped countries, publishing is not doing so well Publishers strug g le to attract readers who are spending more and more time with new digital technolog y but they have found a subje ct on which the Japanese continue to spend mone y : publications focusing on ramen. There are countless illustrated books that offer minutely categ orized lists of the best restaurants. The y are classified by reg ion, by ramen type and even by price All th e s e d e ta i l e d sp e c i f i cati ons a l l ow th e num b er o f books to increase year-on year, as well as the revenue th e y g en er at e L at e l y, th e Jap a n e s e e c o n o my ha s app e are d to b e m o ving in s l ow m o ti on (th e G D P decreased by 0 9 % during the third quarter of 2012) a n d i t w o u l d b e g o o d t o find any th ing that c ou ld encourage it to speed up again. Ramen seems to offer a reme dy It is a dish that many pe ople like and it is affordable. Unlike other kinds of restaurants, which are feeling the full force of the crisis with fewer people eating in them, those selling ramen are holding up well. They are even more popular than some of their fast food competitors, such as McDonald’s The Japanese branch of this American heavyweight has lately announced that 110 restaurants are to be closed throughout the archipelago, whereas the publishers of Kyukyoku no ramen [Ultimate ramen] have counted 879 new ramen restaurants in Tokyo and in the surrounding region this year.

What is happening in the capital is also true over the whole of the countr y, where ramen is bring ing some hope to the battered economy Many tourist g uides are appearing , using ramen as a way of encourag ing consumers to travel to one reg ion or another. It is a fact that the Japanese love their food and it has always been an important reason for travelling Ramen’s gro-

S ECRET

wing popularity has encouraged the regional authorities to help preser ve and develop local specialties, to ensure tourists continue to visit Some reg ions have more to offer than others, even though there is at least one ramen restaurant in e ver y cit y From nor th to south, the main ramen centres are : Sapporo, Asahikawa, Hakodate, Kitakata, Niigata, Tokyo, Yokohama, Hiroshima , Hakata , Kumamoto and Kagoshima In Sapporo, on the tenth floor of a building right next to the central station, is the Republic of Sapporo Ramen (Sapporo ramen kyowakoku), a group of specialised restaurants that attract thousands of people ever y day. Kitakata, a small town in Fukushima prefecture, makes sure to advertise the fact that one of the oldest ramen

restaurants can be found there Genraiken was started up in 1920 by Fan Jinxing from Ch ina and is stil l owned and run by one of his descendants In Yokohama, one of the so -called birth places of ramen, two museums have b e en op ene d : The Sh inyo ko hama Ramen Museum (www raumen co jp) in March 1994 and the Cup No o d les Museum (cupno o d lesmuseum jp) in S eptemb er 2011 In the meantime, in Kyushu, people are hoping that their famous white broth tonkotsu ramen, made from stewed pork, will b e awarde d officia l g overnment re c o g n ition It is obvious that the economic hopes surrounding ramen are hig h and taken ver y seriously by the Japanese O. N.

“The

I n m o s t r a m e n r e s t a u rants the chef starts the day by making what connoisseurs call “the soul ramen”, meaning the broth It is made from natural ingredients only Every chef has his secret, but it is generally made up

of leeks, onions, poultry, pork and garlic

“The way it is cooked is what is most important,” one chef says several times It needs to simmer slowly. “Otherwise the broth won’t be clear and that will affect the taste,” adds the chef, without taking his eyes off his stew pot from which mouth watering smells emanate The mixture simmers all day long When an order comes in, the chef grabs some noodles that were prepared the day before. “They are given

time to rest for 24 hours, which gives them a nice consistency,” continues the chef as he sets his timer for 3 minutes, not a second more. Meanwhile, he ladles out the broth “Good, it’s clear,” he says with satisfaction He mixes it with the shoyu [soya sauce] to blend the ﬂavours Just a second to observe the beautiful golden colour and the timer goes off He strains the noodles and pours them into the bowl of broth. With his chopsticks, he insures

that the noodles are properly separated

They must not stick together It is nearly ready He adds three thin slices of cooked pork, a generous handful of bamboo shoots and chives to the steaming bowl, before serving it to the hungry customer Before he starts to eat, the connoisseur examines the bowl for a second Ever ything is perfect and he can now tuck in, with the characteristic slurping noise of the seasoned ramen enthusiast. O. N.

Every year, hundreds of books about ramen swamp the bookshops

soul ramen”

I NTERVIEW

What got you interested in ramen ? Barak Kushner : There are two reasons. First, I was interested in the relationship between China and Japan, from the angle of my own individual experience I wanted to look into the relationship between China and Japan in the long term There were a few Japanese books about the role of the Chinese in the 1860s They attracted my attention and made me think of ramen as a symbol of Japanese cuisine, yet it is also so very Chinese So I decided to study its development My first contact with ramen was in Yamada, a little fishing town on the northeast coast of Japan It was badly hit by the tsunami back in March 2011 and partly destroyed by fire, including the place where I discovered ramen When I lived there, ever yday on my way to school where I taught English, I would walk past a grey building that always looked closed There was never any light on inside and no activity around it I thought it strange that there was a place like that in a small town but as I was incapable of reading Japanese, I had no idea what the building was The myster y was solved when a colleague of mine invited me out to eat at 2 in the morning after an evening drinking The strange building was in fact a ramen restaurant called Rokumon, which means “six pennies” That’s when I found out that ramen was absolutely delicious It was my first time and I fell in love with it I also found out that ramen is the dish that party people eat And Rokumon's customers seemed as tipsy as we were After that, I realised that there were many ramen restaurants in the city and that the Japanese liked to eat the dish at any time of day And as a historian, I thought to myself that ramen would be a great example to use in order to study the histor y of Japan and the part that this dish played in its interactions with China, apart from Western influences or other inside forces Relations with China before and during the reign of the Tokugawa were very important for Japan, but have been ignored by researchers over the past 50 years

I n t h e l i g h t o f t h e c u r r e n t t e n s i o n s between Japan and China, might cuis i n e b e a b l e t o p l a y a d i p l o m a t i c role ?

B K : That’s an interesting question I don’t think that exchanges of food can calm the tensions between the two countries because people on both sides don’t know much about the subject But the culinary relationship between Japan and China proves that there have been

Barak Kushner, a long story

long periods of peaceful relations between them that shouldn’t be forgotten when immature nationalist behaviour makes an appearance In fact, exchanges in terms of food have sometimes exacerbated tensions Nevertheless, the recent passion for ramen in Taïwan and the good image of Japanese food in China over the past thirty years tend to suggest that things could be improved

time, by including ingredients they used not to use, such as meat, oil or ramen style noodles Evidently, cuisine does play an important role, but for a long time the Imperial Palace didn’t ser ve Japanese food, as French food was preferred Now, Japanese embassies serve Japanese food Japanese cuisine is a synonym for sophistication, taste and style Only 30 or 40 years ago, Westerners didn’t think

Barak Kushner teaches the history of Japan at the University of Cambridge. He is a specialist in Sino-Japanese relations and his second book, Slurp! A Social and Culinary History of Ramen, was published by Global Oriental (2012)

Many Japanese ministries use cuisine to promote Japanese culture abroad It’s an aspect that must not be overlooked One must remember that only a centur y ago, Chinese people who came to study in Japan couldn’t stand the local food, whereas now they love it On one hand, that means that Chinese tastes have evolved On the other hand, Japanese cuisine has also evolved over a short period of

to define a cuisine as soon as you tr y to determine its authentic roots. What is more interesting is to ask ourselves why a countr y would want to do that What could it be afraid of? Is cuisine only defined by ethnic criteria? Of course not It would be wrong to think so Today, it is all a question of branding Japan wants to be sole owner of the brand because it is associated with the concept of Cool Japan. But lacking a proper political debate in Japan, soft power has become the answer to everything Many Japanese believe that popular culture will be their economic salvation Japan can argue that it has a strong culture, but that is not what will save it What it really needs is political action and the government’s continued attempt at labelling rests on the erroneous belief that as long as foreigners can take advantage of Japanese culture, they will support Japan

In many regions of Japan, stories have b e e n w r i t t e n a b o u t r a m e n W h y i s that ?

B. K. : All attempts to determine what is authentically Japanese will fail It is backward looking to consider that the cuisine from Kyôto is the only one worthy of rep r e s e n t i n g J

n T h a t i d e a d o e s n ’t take into account the changes in taste over the past few centuries due to outside influences. It becomes complicated

B K : That trend is related to the one I was talking about previously concerning th government’s branding efI think that several Japaregions are fighting for val and that ramen allow t o s t a n d o u t f r o m t h e

Over time, certain dishes een associated with specions although the stories told hem are completely false Kyûshû broth made with en the Japanese didn’t eat il the end of the 19th cene Tôkyô has based its repusoya sauce? Isn’t that just categorising one another? y times have we heard that m Osaka hate natto [ferya] and that people from it? It’s a way of labelling entify them better And it’s na that takes place everywworld

future for ramen ? ely on certain data, the prorease in the Japanese economy is benefiting ramen because it’s a filling, informal, and cheap dish with a variety of tastes There are even new tastes developing, such as ramen with tomato and cheese In addition, ramen is popular in Taïwan and Southeast Asia, without mentioning the instant noodles that have become the most popular fast food in the world. That is why I think the future of ramen is bright

Inter view by O. N.

CINEMA The Japan Foundation is putting on a show

To mark its 10th anniversary, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme will be looking back into the past through the eyes of contemporary ﬁlmmakers.

Picking up on a current trend in recent Japanese cinema, this season will showcase a series of works from directors

TECHNOLOGY Live with Murakami

including Takashi Miike, Sunao Katabuchi, Hirokazu Koreeda and Isshin Inudo, who all aspire to reinterpret and relive moments of times gone by through a variety of genres, styles and tones. The programme begins on 1st of February 2013 at the ICA, before touring nationwide.

Japanese author Haruki Murakami now has an app that could – for some fans at least – consign Apple's default calendar app to the junk folder. Random House has just released the Murakami Diar y app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch It's a calendar, which pulls in entries from Apple's iCal system, while peppering the year with quotes from Murakami's backlist of novels and short stories (all sharable via Facebook, Twitter and email). The app costs £1.99, which might attract keen fans rather than more casual

DATES & VENUES

1 – 7 February

ICA, London

Box ofﬁce: 020 7930 3647

www ica org uk

8 – 17 February

Showroom Workstation, Shefﬁeld

Box ofﬁce: 0114 275 7727

www.showroomworkstation.org.uk

18 February – 27 March

mac birmingham

Sales & Info: 0121 446 3232

www macarts co uk

22 – 28 February

Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast

Box ofﬁce: 028 9097 1097

www queensﬁlmtheatre com

1 – 7 March

Filmhouse, Edinburgh

Box ofﬁce: 0131 228 2688

www ﬁlmhousecinema com

readers, but the exclusive short stories, however short they are, make the app good value for the former, given that it also functions as a pretty decent calendar. https://itunes apple com/gb/app/murakamidiary/id584881937?mt=8 £1.99

THIS MONTH’S EVENT

DVD The woodsman and the Rain

Japanese cinema is full of surprises and is lucky to have a distributor in Great Britain that is open-minded and discerning in the choice of films that are regularly released Third Window Films is a company that deserves praise, for it is rare in Europe to find one that takes an interest in Japanese made productions Humour is one of its criteria and although not all the films it distributes are comedies, Third Window Films has treated us to a few gems over the past few months, such as Instant

(2012)

and

by the same director With The Woodsman and the Rain by Okita Shuichi, there is this sense of comedy and absurdity that several Japanese directors, such as Kitano Takeshi, master perfectly It is the story of a film being shot out in the countryside and the relationship between Katsu, a simple-minded local who is helping the team and Koichi, the clumsy director of the film At first Koichi believes Katsu to be hopelessly lazy and snaps at him to help his crew with the manual labour Watching Koichi’s authority being chipped away by an obliviously righteous Katsu is hilarious, but the two slowly become awkward friends The movie is great a success, thanks to Yakusho Koji, the genial actor who has worked with some of Japan's most famous directors, such as Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Kore-Eda Hirokazu He is perfect in the role of the naïve Katsu who, to a certain extent, is reminiscent of the French actor Fernandel in The Schpountz, by Marcel Pagnol (1938) The quality of the performances from Kora Kengo (one of our favourite young actors) and Oguri Shun is another reason to rush out and get the DVD or Blu-Ray GABRIEL BERNARD

Third Window Films, £11.99 and £13.99.

Swamp

by Miki Satoshi,

Adrift in Tokyo (2012)

TRIBUTE Farewell Nagisa!

After his death on the 15th Januar y at the age of 80, the director of In The Realm Of Senses left a huge legacy to cinema around the world.

oshima Nagisa, a unique film director and precursor of the so-called “Japanese New Wave” in the sixties and seventies, bowed out quietly on the 15th of January at the age of 80 After having been paralysed for years following a cardiovascular accident in 1996 that left him wheelchair bound, he died of pneumonia at Fujisawa hospital His death, just a few weeks after that of his friend Wakamatsu Koji (who produced In The Realm Of Senses), marks the end of an era of creative and rebellious Japanese cinema in which antirealism and unbridled imagination triumphed, in contrast to the “classic” social and realist trend in the cinema of the fifties.

Those who knew him well (and I have had the good fortune to be among them since the sixties and seventies) remember his strong anti-conformist personality, his radical assertions and his irrepressible laughter that few did not experience!

Oshima had already been at the heart of the debate in Japanese cinema long before his most famous movie, the “scandalous” In The Realms of Senses (Ai no korida, 1976). At the time of its release that film was more easily seen in Paris than in Tokyo, and for it he was ruthlessly censured for “pornography” He had already altered the direction of Japanese cinema when he turned his back on the Shochiku studio in 1960, where he had started as an assistant (to Nomura Yoshitaro and Kobayashi Masaji), and had became a film director in his own right in 1959 with the hyper-realist A Town of Hope and Love (Ai to kibo no machi) The Shochiku period was to be brief Two films bursting with energy were released in 1960, The Sun’s Burial (Taiyo no hakaba) and his famous Cruel Story of Youth (Seishun zankoku monogatari). Both, alongside Yoshida and Shinoda’s first films, were beacons of Sho-

chiku’s “New Wave” Soon after, with Night and Fog in Japan (Nihon no yoru to kiri), referencing Alain Resnais’ famous film, Oshima launched a scathing attack on certain left wing Japanese ideas as well as the anti-American stance of the radical young. The Shochiku studio withdrew the film after only four days, so the young Oshima, then only 28 years old, left the studio in a fury and launched his exceptional career, creating several films, all very different in subject and style In 1965 he started up his own company, Sozo Sha, with help from his wife, the actress Koyama Akiko, who appears in most of his films There followed a string of these daring and radical films, with sexual and political overtones, from Pleasures of Flesh (Etsuraku, 1965) to Sing a Song of Sex (Nihon Shunkako, 1967) and Death by Hanging (Koshikei, 1968), based on the true story of a Korean rapist who is condemned to death, and in which he violently attacks anti-Korean racism Oshima was a multifaceted film director, unlike Imamura Shohei and Yoshida, whose styles are always immediately recognisable. Some of his movies, such as Death by Hanging or Boy (Shonen, 1969) were then released in France, notably in Avignon in 1969 thanks to the distributor Shibata Hayao and his wife Kawakita Kazuko The Ceremony (Gishiki, 1971), the extraordinary portrait of a noble family falling apart, was shown at “The Directors’ Fortnight” at Cannes in 1971. Oshima also directed a few films for television, but it is due to the French producer Anatole Dauman that Oshima gained international renown with In The Realm of Senses (1976), shot in camera in Tokyo, and presented at the “The Directors’ Fortnight” in 1976. Oshima's masterwork came out during a climate of sexual scandal, bang in the middle of the moral revolution! Far from the “pornographic” film it was considered to be in the eyes of the Japanese censors, Ai no Korida uncompromisingly explores the outer limits of eroticism and death through the means of a true story that took place in 1936 at the height of Japan’s military growth

before becoming a director

After Empire of Passion (Ai no borei), a beautifully costumed crime film that won the Best Director Award at Cannes in 1978, Oshima directed Furyo (Senjo no Merry Xmas/Merry Xmas Mr. Lawrence, 1983), a very successful British production thanks to the erotic relationship portrayed between David Bowie and Sakamato Ryûichi (the latter also wrote the haunting musical score) However, this signalled the end of his great imaginative films of the sixties and seventies. Max Mon Amour (1986), that tells the story of Charlotte Rampling’s love for a Chimpanzee, was a failure with both critics and the public. He then directed an autobiographical film for T V called Kyoto, My Mother’s Place (1991) Alas, having being considerably weakened physically after his stroke in 1996, Oshima was able to direct only one more film, the elegant and erotic Tabou (Gohatto, 2000). Shown at Cannes, this was the homosexual swan song of a great director who was caught up by destiny and the cruelty of old age The mark he made on cinema in Japan and worldwide is huge Since 2000, numerous tributes and retrospectives have been dedicated to him throughout the world MAx TeSSIeR

Born in 1932, this civil servant’s son studied at Kyoto University After graduating in 1954, he signed up with Sho-

DESTINATION Amakusa, welcome to paradise

A few kilometres southwest of Kumamoto, the Amakusa archipelago is an astonishing place full of charm.

Ma j e s ti c b ut n o t o v er p o w er i n g , Ma t s u s -

h i m a B r i d g e i s a w o r k o f a r t t h a t y o u

cross before getting to the heavenly Ama-

ku s a i s l a n d s , t h e t w o m a i n o n e s b e i n g A m a ku s a

K a m i s h i ma a n d A ma ku s a S h i m o s h i ma . T h e f i r s t

s t o p o n th i s tr i p i s th e b r i d g e i t s e l f a n d i t s o b s e r -

vator y that will allow you to get an idea of the beauty o f th i s r e g i o n , l a r g e l y un kn o wn t o m o s t We s t e rn to uri sts , wh o o f ten pre f er tra d i ti ona l d e stinati ons s u c h a s Ky o t o o r To ky o . At a ti m e w h en o n e ma y h e s i tat e t o v i s i t Jap a n , w i th th e c o nti nu e d f e a r o f earthquakes and radiation leaks, Amakusa is a place that wil l ma ke you forg et such worries When trave l l ing f ro m th e S a n k a ku p en insu l a , y o u c a n vi s i t Amakusa by car, bus, or for the bravest, even by bike.

From Mi sum i stati on th ere are b us e s ( a 4 day p a ss

c o sts 4 , 0 0 0 y en) that c o nn e c t to th e ma in s i

i nt ere s t o n

g etting to see the landscape and taking advantag e of the special atmosphere of this part of Japan that even the Japanese do not of ten visit Since March, when the Sh in kansen in Ky ushu came b ack into ser vic e, interest in this area full of traditions and histor y has s e en a re sur g en c e am ong Jap an e s e to uri sts B e f ore taking the route of the Five Bridg es, conne cting the peninsula to the islands of Amakusa , you must stop

Completed in 1933, Oe’s Church was built in white chalk by a Frenchman, Father Garnier, in tribute to the faith of the local population.

at Misumi Nishiko, a harbour built at the end of the 19th c entur y and the on ly one in the who le of the archipela g o dating back to that period that remains

i n s u c h a g o o d s t a t e S e v e r a l b u i l d i n g s d e c o r a t e d

w i t h t y p i c a l s h i mm e r i n g c o l o ur s a r e o p e n t o t h e

public and many have be en turne d into cafés Af ter having a snack with a view over Misumi bay, you will b e ready to h it the road a g a in, on the way to other surprising discoveries

On g etting closer to Matsushima Bridg e, you mig ht spot a building that looks like a cross between a cake and a church This is the Amakusa Shiro Memorial,

s i t ua t e d i n K a m i -A ma ku s a . Ap a r t f r o m i t s o r i g inal architecture, this place is also interesting because i t rem in d s vi s i tor s that th e re g i on ha s l ong b e en a bastion of Christianit y and it still is today Introduce d by Por tug uese missionaries who reache d Japan

i n t h e m i d d l e o f t h e 1 6 t h c e n t u r y, C h r i s t i a n i t y

b e c a m e w e l l e s t a b l i s h e d i n th i s p a r ti c u l a r l y p o o r reg ion. In 1589, there were 30 churches in Amakusa

y t i l e d b e l l tower dom inate the other building s. Built in 1934 in a ne o - g oth ic st yle, its flo or is covere d in tatam i, which means you need to remove your shoes to venture inside A fe w kilometres nor th of Sa kitsu, Oe’s w h i t e c hurc h i s a l s o w o r th a v i s i t , w i th i t s c e i l i n g covere d in coloure d flowers like a Mexican church, a s t a r k c o n tr a s t t o t h e a u s t e r i t y o f t h e c h u r c h a t Sakitsu It was built in 1933, on a little hill in a region where the “hidden Christians” had been particularly numerous, by a Frenchman, Father Garnier When th e s k y i s b l u e a n d th e s un l i g ht s u p th e b u i l d i n g ( w h i

a n d o v e r t w o t h i r d s o f t h e p o p u l a t i o n h a d b e e n c o nv e r t e d T h e To ku g aw a ’ s b a n o n th e Chr i s ti a n relig ion just a fe w years later and the closing down of the countr y to foreig n influences le d Ama kusa’s re s i d ents to ren o un c e th e ir re l i g i on an d ro un d up those who ref use d to do so Howe ver, many continue d to pray se cretly in front of little statues of the Virgin Mar y. The Amakusa Shiro Memorial museum retraces this Histor y as well as the stor y of Amakusa Shiro, a 16 year-old teenag er who lead the Shimbara rebellion in 1637 against the Tokugawa’s anti- Christian policies Christianit y has greatly influenced the re g ion, wh ich stil l ha s more Christians among the p opu lation than the nationa l avera g e The fer vour of the “hidden Christians’” (kakure kirishitan) contributed to the religion becoming deeply rooted When Jap a n a d o p t e d a c o ns ti t uti o n re - e s ta b l i s h i n g re l ig ious fre e dom, ne w missionaries travelle d to Japan to help the local population rebuild churches There are many church b el l towers on the horizon, a surp r i s e t o tr a v e l l e r s w h o e x p e c t t o s e e t e m p l e s a n d s an c tuari e s Th i s i s p ar ti c u larl y tr u e in Sa ki tsu on Ama kusa Shimoshima . Built in a fjord reminiscent o f No r w a y, S a k i t s u c h ur c h a n d i t s g r

impression of serenity Not far from there, Amakusa R osario Kan has many obje cts of worship that were us e d b y th e “h i d d en Chri s ti a ns ” w h en p r ay i n g A short visit will allow you to find out more about this p erio d of Japanese histor y

Af ter the surprise of this strong Christian presence, th e vi s i tor wi l l b e str u c k on c e a g a in by th e b e aut y of the natura l landscap e As well a s the obser vation point situated at Matsushima Bridg e, where you can ta ke in the riches of the surrounding vie ws, a shor t stop at Myoken-ura is re commende d Follow route 389 North of Oe church and you will reach a beauti f u l s i t e cre at e d b y wave s a n

your souvenir album that will ne ver fade. Amakusa is f ull of these kinds of natural assets, perfectly crea-

Minamata

Yatsushiro

sushima Bridge

Tsurubayama

Rokurôji

te d by nature and to which man ha s adde d his own touch, such as Tsurubayama Park at the southern tip of Ama kusa Shimoshima . In 1978 over a thousand ch err y tre es were p lante d h ere an d i t i s won der f u l to se e them blo om in March-April At that time of the year the weather is m ild and it is a lways one of the b est to visit the reg ion During the third we ekend of April you can even take part in the Ushibuka Ha iya celebration during which thousands of p e ople dance throug h the stre ets of Ama kusa In summer it g ets hot, ver y hot, despite a little sea bre e ze

PRACTICAL INFoRMATIoN

To TRAVeL from Kumamoto, 1h40 to Matsushima (1,480 yen) or 2h25 to Hondo (2,180 yen. one or two buses an hour. 53 minutes to Misumi by train (Misumi line, 720 yen). To travel around the archipelago there are buses (4,000 yen for a pass) For more information, contact the tourist information ofﬁce website: www.t-island.jp

That is a good time to be on one of the many beaches to cho ose from, esp e cia l ly those at Satuski, not f ar from Tsurubayama and Ariake, on the west coast of Ama kusa Kamishima There are many b eaches and i t i s d i f f i c u lt to re s i st th e invi ting wh i te s an d n e xt to the turquoise blue sea . As with many other heavenly places about which Japan can boast, Amakusa knows how to seduce its visitors with the qualit y of its food In Ariake, a g iant sculpture is a reminder of just one of Amakusa’s many specialities: octopus After having spent some time at the beach, take a walk around the local market where many restaurants ser ve delicious octopus based dishes, such as octopus steak, tako tendon (calamari fritters ser ved with rice) and tako meshi which is simply ser ved with wh ite rice There are a lso ta koya ki, g ril le d o ctopus meatballs, which are much loved by the Japanese One of the best places to tr y out this cuisine is Asahiso. For 5,000 yen [£37] you are ser ved a menu in which octo-

pus is prepared in eig ht different ways, a moment to savour But not ever ybody likes tako and it would be unfair to say that is all Amakusa can offer. As in other reg ions of Japan, the archipelago has many hot water spring s around which hotels have been built On the island of Amakusa Shomoshima we recommend the S h im o da O ku z a s h i ki h o t spring , th e o l d e st in th e re g ion with over 800 years of h istor y. It is situate d north of Myoken-ura Among st the many accommodation options at the spring s complex, you can enjoy the p erio d atmosphere of the Gunp oka ku Gara sha (starting at 10,500 yen per nig ht at half-board ) and its twenties style, or Ishiyama Rikyu Gosoku no Kutsu, which is more luxurious (from 26,400 yen per nig ht at ha lf-b o ard ) Its b a lc on ies and private hot spring baths with views over the sea and its irreproachable food justif y the cost But who would not be prepared to pay for a little corner of paradise ?

GABRIEL BERNARD

A few octopus based specialties sold in Ariake market

The Amakusa Shiro Memorial

LANGUAGE To practise speaking, take the plunge

Bathing is the perfect time to relax and to maintain relationships. It is also a great opportunit y for conversation.

Th e b i g g e st c ha l l eng e wh en ta king a b ath in Jap a n i s th e t emp er at ure Mo re o f t en us e d to bathing alone or taking invig orating sho-

wer s , th e t y p i c a l Eng l i s hma n o r wo ma n may have

tro u b l e w i th s ta n d i n g th e h e at i n a Jap a n e s e b ath

E sp e c i a l l y a s th e b athro o m s a re n o t venti l at e d t o

g e t r i d o f t h e h u m i d i t y a n d m a k e t h e a i r e a s i e r

t o b r e a t h u n t i l e v e r y b o d y h a s f i n i s h e d b a t h i n g

Ta ki n g a b a th i s a m o m e nt o f p r i v i l e g e i n a Ja p a -

n e s e p er s o n ’ s e ver y d ay l i f e , w h en h e o r s h e w i s h e s

t o r e l a x a f t er a l o n g d a y. But f o r Pi p o , i t ’ s q u i t e a

tri a l , l i ke a ri t ua l i n i ti ati o n A ki n d o f ri t e d uri n g

w h i c h h e w i l l f i n d o u t i n t h e h u m i d a n d s u f f o -

c a t i n g b a t h r o o m , t h a t k n o w l e d g e o f c u l t u r e c a n

b e a c qu ire d thro ug h b o th th e m in d an d th e b o d y

大丈夫 �� ですか。ぬるくないですか。

Daijôbu desu ka ? Nurukunai desu ka ?

Are you all right ? Do you need warmer water ?

いいえ、ちょうどいいです。

Iie, chôdo ii desu

No, it’s just right for me

Af ter th i s ri tua l p a ss a g e , th e e xp eri en c e c ontinu e s

o u t o f t h e b a t h , s i t t i n g a r o un d t h e t a b l e w i t h a l l

t h e f a m i l y, r e l a x i n g a n d d r i n k i n g t e a , d r e s s e d i n casual clothing , which also helps loosen the convers ati on Th e tim e ha s c om e f or Pip o to pra c ti s e h i s

Jap a n e s e He n e e d s t o b e c a re f u l th o u g h , b e c au s e t h e h e a t o f t h e b a t h h a s g o t t o h i s h e a d a n d t h e

f u l l i m p l i c a t i o n o f Ja p a n e s e w o r d s i s s o m e t i m e s

ath er o f f er s Pi p

飲 � む？

Nomu ?

A drink ?

何 �� を？

Nani o ?

Of what ?

Bîru da yo. Bîru !

Beer, of course

誰 �� が？