My number three film of 2007 is Nightmare Detective (Akumu Tantei) by veteran indy helmer Tsukamoto Shinya. This is a film about death, emptiness and suicide - a contemporary topic if ever there was one. With more than 33,000 who do the deed every year, for many years now, for numerous Japanese the wish to die sometimes seems greater than the wish to live. Suicidal thoughts apparently are on the minds of many and that fits nicely in Tsukamoto's perennial themes of urban isolation and alienation.
What is it about?
The "Nightmare Detective" is a tormented, reclusive young man called Kagenuma (Matsuda Ryuhei, the "beautiful boy" from Gohatto), who dresses in a simple hooded cloak. He has the power to enter the dreams of other people, but this a painful proces for him. Himself suicidal, he sees his gift as a curse.
The heroine of the film is yuppie female cop Kirishima Keiko (pop star Hitomi in a strong first film role), who has just transferred to homicide out of an unconscious fascination with death. (She, too, is attracted to suicide in her dreams, where she meets a double of herself.) Her first two cases are the bizarre deaths of a punk girl and an obese salaryman, who have both slit their throats in apparent suicide while they were asleep.
Kirishima realizes that the deaths may not be suicides at all, but her bored, elder partner Sekiya (Osugi Ren) disagrees, and Kirishima only finds some support from her younger colleague Wakamiya (Ando Masanobu). She notices that just before their deaths both victims received a call from somebody identified as "0" on their cellphone screens. "Zero" of course denotes emptiness and death.
The parapsychological killer apparently does his grizzly work by entering the dreams of his victims. The punk girl, for example, wants to end her life but feels scared to die alone. She meets a stranger on the internet, a man who promises to die together (another social problem in present-day Japan). Then she is suddenly attacked by a ferocious invisible assailant - presumably the man to whom she talked-, who races up stairs and shoots through apartment buildings - filmed in classic frenzied Tsukamoto-style (the murderer is played by Tsukamoto himself) - finally slashing her to pieces on her bed.
Kirishima enlists the support of the - first unwilling - Nightmare Detective. She decides to be bait herself and dials Zero. And so a mad chase ensues through a terrible nightmare world...
What do I like about it?
- The face of Hitomi
Pop star Hitomi makes her thesping debut, and - while her acting has limitations - could not have found a better director to guide and mold her than Tsukamoto. Tsukamoto certainly makes the most of the youthful qualities of the leggy singer.
Hitomi plays an independent, strong woman, but although her eyes have a defiant stare, her face is characteristic Lolita. Tsukamoto has a fetish in all his films, be it metal, voyeurism or the human body, and here it is the face of Hitomi: Tsukamoto's camera most of the time is glued to her head, and what you remember most of the film, is Hitomi's face, floating up from the nightmarish darkness like a cherry blossom petal...
- Tsukamoto Shinya is still going strong
Fifteen years and ten films after Tetsuo, the Iron Man, Tsukamoto remains a true hands-on indie filmmaker. He has written the script, directs and plays one of the characters. Although backed here for the first time by a big studio and larger budget, he has not sold out his ideals, although the presence of Hitomi and Matsuda Ryohei helped attract a new, young public. His artistic integrity has remained fully intact and in fact, after the only "so-so" Vital and Haze, this is an interesting come-back to full Tsukamoto power!
- A world of sleep and death
Finally, this avant-garde mystery is another parody on J-Horror: the traditional long black hair figures in the opening scenes, but is immediately discarded and we also have the killing cell phone... But Tsukamoto's vision leads us into a real, dark world, where nearly anyone is just one step away from suicide, and where a mysterious lurker attacks people out of sheer spite from his gray, dusky dream-world. The result is a disturbing and yes... nightmarish film.
Links:
Official website.
Website on Tsukamoto Shinya with reviews of all his films.
Website of Hitomi.
January 28, 2008
Best Japanese Films of 2007 (2): Exte
We continue our journey in 2007 Japanese film land with my Number Two: Exte. About a half year ago I already dedicated a post to this film, which I will partly quote here while adding some new observations.
What is it about?
Japanese horror films are all too famous for the female ghosts who swing their long, black hair in front of their faces. The classic example is Ringu, where the videotaped ghost - hair first - even comes creeping out of the TV for her last killing spree, but the tradition is as old as Asia - another famous example is the story Kurokami, "Black Hair" in Kobayashi Masaki's cult classic Kwaidan. With the J-Horror boom fading, a certain tiredness with all those ghouly black tresses has inevitably set in, so here comes cult helmer Sono Shion with a tongue-in-cheek take on the subject which neatly puts things on their head.
In Ekusute ("Exte," "Hair Extensions") black hair growing uncontrollably is itself the ghostly killer. On top of that, a black-haired beauty in the form of Kuriyama Chiaki (the mace-wielding schoolgirl with the icy gaze from Kill Bill, now in a much sweeter role) takes center stage with such lustrous, long straight hair that she is almost a walking shampoo ad. That perfectly suits the film, because Exte is all about hair.
At the center stands the goofy, cross-dressing Yamazaki, a great role by Osugi Ren, who works in the city mortuary and stealthily collects the hair of the dead.
Custom officers have opened a container in the port and found it chock-full of black hair, not so surprising as Japan's newest female fad are "hair extensions" and domestic supply cannot keep up. The shock is that they also find a dead woman in the container, whose hair still seems to be growing. When Yamazaki notices that, later in the morgue, he elatedly carts her body off to his wooden shack. There he puts her in a hammock and to his ecstatic delight, the beautiful black hair indeed starts madly growing...
Yuko (Kuriyama Chiaki) is cheerfully working in a hair salon, how could it be otherwise in this hairy movie, that cynically is called "Gilles de Rais" after a notorious Medieval child murderer. As an apprentice practicing hard to become a full-fledged hairdresser soon, she happily cleans, clips and colors.
There is an important subplot concerning Mami, the daughter of Yuko's vampish elder sister Kiyomi (Tsugumi in a delightfully false role), who is abused by her mother and her mother's yakuza boyfriend. Kiyomi unceremoniously dumps Mami in Yuko's apartment when she wants to go partying. At first unhappy about having to take care of a child, by accident Yuko discovers the bruises with which Mami is covered because of all the beatings she gets... and so unofficially adopts Mami and starts a fight with sister Kiyomi (who would probably be happy to be rid of the little girl, but opposes Yuko purely out of spite) about control of her little niece.
The struggle between the sisters over little Mami runs parallel to the main story of the uncontrollably growing hair extensions and things heat up when both intersect. That happens when Yamazaki sells high-quality hair extensions made from the dead girl's locks to Yuko's salon. Now the vengeful spirit of the grisly murdered woman starts causing havoc and unsuspecting customers are being strangled by their hair extensions, which curl up into very efficient lassos and nooses. They also start spewing hair from the most unexpected places... Kiyomi steals a few such hair extensions from Yuko's apartment, with predictable but utterly satisfying results.
At the same time Yamazaki is drawn to Yuko's gorgeous, long straight hair (and that of the little niece, who resembles Yuko in this respect). And all the time the dead girl keeps spewing killer hair, whole rooms full of the black locks, like a nest made of hair...
What did I like about it?
- The long, black hair, growing and multiplying...
...and sprouting, not only on the head of the dead girl, but from all orifices of her body, in wave after wave. It shoots up from her mouth, her eyeballs, and from under her fingernails. It is not a movie to watch when you are eating something, your food will feel like a ball of hair and make you almost choke! The unruly hair in this film is like the slithering sand in Teshigahara's Women in the Dunes, an ominous presence dominating the whole film.
But there is also "good" hair in this film, the beautiful long straight hair of Kuriyama Chiaki (Yuko). And even the "bad", sprouting hair leads to good consequences, when Yuko and Mami are reborn as mother and daughter in that womb of hair that fills a whole room.
- the crankiness of Osugi Ren
Osugi Ren is a long-term collaborator of Kitano Takeshi and figures in many of Kitano's films. But this is his best flick by far, he goes completely through the roof with the fetishist character he plays. He even sings about his strange hobby in a terribly daft song that keeps ringing in your ears, "Hair, hair, my hair..." (The Japanese English word "hea" is used, instead of "kami no ke").
- the cool beauty of Kuriyama Chiaki
Eventually, it is female power that dominates this film. As reviewer Ronnie Scheib in Variety has so aptly put it, "Exte floats on an elemental tide of unleashed feminine power." And that is best personified in the cool beauty of Kuriyama Chiaki, whose long, black hair is of the straight and non-devilish type...
Links:
Official website (Japanese) with trailers and Yamazaki's song.
Website of director Shion Sono.
Website of Osugi Ren.
Official website of Kuriyama Chiaki.
What is it about?
Japanese horror films are all too famous for the female ghosts who swing their long, black hair in front of their faces. The classic example is Ringu, where the videotaped ghost - hair first - even comes creeping out of the TV for her last killing spree, but the tradition is as old as Asia - another famous example is the story Kurokami, "Black Hair" in Kobayashi Masaki's cult classic Kwaidan. With the J-Horror boom fading, a certain tiredness with all those ghouly black tresses has inevitably set in, so here comes cult helmer Sono Shion with a tongue-in-cheek take on the subject which neatly puts things on their head.
In Ekusute ("Exte," "Hair Extensions") black hair growing uncontrollably is itself the ghostly killer. On top of that, a black-haired beauty in the form of Kuriyama Chiaki (the mace-wielding schoolgirl with the icy gaze from Kill Bill, now in a much sweeter role) takes center stage with such lustrous, long straight hair that she is almost a walking shampoo ad. That perfectly suits the film, because Exte is all about hair.
At the center stands the goofy, cross-dressing Yamazaki, a great role by Osugi Ren, who works in the city mortuary and stealthily collects the hair of the dead.
Custom officers have opened a container in the port and found it chock-full of black hair, not so surprising as Japan's newest female fad are "hair extensions" and domestic supply cannot keep up. The shock is that they also find a dead woman in the container, whose hair still seems to be growing. When Yamazaki notices that, later in the morgue, he elatedly carts her body off to his wooden shack. There he puts her in a hammock and to his ecstatic delight, the beautiful black hair indeed starts madly growing...
Yuko (Kuriyama Chiaki) is cheerfully working in a hair salon, how could it be otherwise in this hairy movie, that cynically is called "Gilles de Rais" after a notorious Medieval child murderer. As an apprentice practicing hard to become a full-fledged hairdresser soon, she happily cleans, clips and colors.
There is an important subplot concerning Mami, the daughter of Yuko's vampish elder sister Kiyomi (Tsugumi in a delightfully false role), who is abused by her mother and her mother's yakuza boyfriend. Kiyomi unceremoniously dumps Mami in Yuko's apartment when she wants to go partying. At first unhappy about having to take care of a child, by accident Yuko discovers the bruises with which Mami is covered because of all the beatings she gets... and so unofficially adopts Mami and starts a fight with sister Kiyomi (who would probably be happy to be rid of the little girl, but opposes Yuko purely out of spite) about control of her little niece.
The struggle between the sisters over little Mami runs parallel to the main story of the uncontrollably growing hair extensions and things heat up when both intersect. That happens when Yamazaki sells high-quality hair extensions made from the dead girl's locks to Yuko's salon. Now the vengeful spirit of the grisly murdered woman starts causing havoc and unsuspecting customers are being strangled by their hair extensions, which curl up into very efficient lassos and nooses. They also start spewing hair from the most unexpected places... Kiyomi steals a few such hair extensions from Yuko's apartment, with predictable but utterly satisfying results.
At the same time Yamazaki is drawn to Yuko's gorgeous, long straight hair (and that of the little niece, who resembles Yuko in this respect). And all the time the dead girl keeps spewing killer hair, whole rooms full of the black locks, like a nest made of hair...
What did I like about it?
- The long, black hair, growing and multiplying...
...and sprouting, not only on the head of the dead girl, but from all orifices of her body, in wave after wave. It shoots up from her mouth, her eyeballs, and from under her fingernails. It is not a movie to watch when you are eating something, your food will feel like a ball of hair and make you almost choke! The unruly hair in this film is like the slithering sand in Teshigahara's Women in the Dunes, an ominous presence dominating the whole film.
But there is also "good" hair in this film, the beautiful long straight hair of Kuriyama Chiaki (Yuko). And even the "bad", sprouting hair leads to good consequences, when Yuko and Mami are reborn as mother and daughter in that womb of hair that fills a whole room.
- the crankiness of Osugi Ren
Osugi Ren is a long-term collaborator of Kitano Takeshi and figures in many of Kitano's films. But this is his best flick by far, he goes completely through the roof with the fetishist character he plays. He even sings about his strange hobby in a terribly daft song that keeps ringing in your ears, "Hair, hair, my hair..." (The Japanese English word "hea" is used, instead of "kami no ke").
- the cool beauty of Kuriyama Chiaki
Eventually, it is female power that dominates this film. As reviewer Ronnie Scheib in Variety has so aptly put it, "Exte floats on an elemental tide of unleashed feminine power." And that is best personified in the cool beauty of Kuriyama Chiaki, whose long, black hair is of the straight and non-devilish type...
Links:
Official website (Japanese) with trailers and Yamazaki's song.
Website of director Shion Sono.
Website of Osugi Ren.
Official website of Kuriyama Chiaki.
January 26, 2008
Best Japanese Films of 2007 (1): Sakuran
Midnight Eye's contributors have come out with their annual lists of the best (and worst) Japanese films of 2007. For me, too, this was a year of many films (mostly on DVD) and being an inveterate list maker, I like to present my own "best 10". I will do it one film at a time, so that I have more space to talk about each film.
Today my Number One: Sakuran, a flamboyant fantasia about the lives of top courtesans in the brothels of Yoshiwara a few centuries ago - a film that surprisingly has critics sharply divided. It has been mowed down in Variety, for no obvious reason, but to my relief both Midnight Eye and Mark Schilling (Japan Times) are very positive.
What is it about?
The story is based on a popular manga by Anno Moyoco. A little girl is sold into the harsh world of the Yoshiwara pleasure district and grows up to be an oiran, a top prostitute. This is no geisha story - geisha were hostesses who danced, sang and did party games to enliven a dinner. The oiran were just as accomplished in the arts, but on top of that they sold their bodies. They wore the obi, the belt tied around the kimono to keep it closed, in front as a sort of challenge. Glamorous and sophisticated, they dictated the fashion of the day. They were a sort of super-models, who lived in a world of glitter and on whom men spent great sums of money. You will find these queens of beauty portrayed in countless ukiyo-e.
As a child brought to one of Yoshiwara's brothels, rebellious Kiyoha (Tsuchiya Anna) stands out for breaking all rules, brazenly talking back, challenging authority, and even running away. In short, she is very un-Japanese, and there Tsuchiya Anna fits admirably, who with a Japanese mother but Russian/American father also is no traditional Japanese type. This does not make her very popular among the other girls in the brothel ("The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" is an old Japanese saying), so she has no easy life, but fights her way to the top - even resorting to "kickboxing" when necessary!
She grows into a beautiful but straight-talking courtesan with a quick temper, who is extremely popular among the men who frequent the brothel. Finally she becomes a Yoshiwara star, the top-prostitute who can show off her beauty slowly parading in super-high geta through Yoshiwara with her retinue.
But Kiyoha is not happy with her life and dreams of true love. She also longs for freedom, but is like the colorful goldfish who sit in their glass bowls in the rooms of the brothel: also Kiyoha is famous and gorgeous only for as long as she stays in her fishbowl.
What do I like about it?
- The fantastic colors/photography of first-time director Ninagawa Mika
Sakuran is visually stunning. Have you ever seen so many colors clashing and still harmonizing in one shot? The costumes are gorgeous, the sets lavish. But in contrast to so many other historical dramas, it is no museum piece: the film is vibrant and sparkles with life. Of course, this a pop version of life in the Yoshiwara brothels that skips all the sordidness. But there are great ideas, such as making even the top part of the gate leading into Yoshiwara into a goldfish bowl, a most fitting symbol for the women inside..
- the indomitable energy of lead actress Tsuchiya Anna
Tsuchiya Anna brings the same rebelliousness to the screen as in her first flick Kamikaze Girls. She displays an indomitable energy and zest for life, coupled with a bold sex appeal. Tsuchiya Anna started her career as a model in 1998, made her acting debut in 2004 and came to the stage as a musician in 2005
- the sheer originality, the breaking of the old and musty mould
Nothing is really historical in this period piece, and that is what makes it so likable. Ninagawa Mika turns her back on convention by the utterly modern, over-the-top beauty of the flamboyant kimonos, the contemporary ikebana flower arrangements, and above all the rock soundtrack from musician Shiina Ringo. Not for nothing has Sakuran been compared to Marie Antoinette, another great film by a woman director.
Director Ninagawa Mika is in the first place famous as photographer. She has exhibited in major galleries and museums in Japan and elsewhere and her colorful work also appears in well-known magazines. She is no stranger to the stage either, as her father is a well-known Shakespeare director.
People who say that a photographer should not/cannot direct a movie, are small-mindedly putting their fellow-humans in fixed cubicles. Why can't we change, develop, do new things? The interest of the film is, exactly, that a photographer with a special eye for color and composition has directed it - that makes this film so unique!
Links:
The website of Ninagawa Mika has many examples of her photography.
The website of Tsuchiya Anna.
Review by Tom Mes on Midnight Eye
Today my Number One: Sakuran, a flamboyant fantasia about the lives of top courtesans in the brothels of Yoshiwara a few centuries ago - a film that surprisingly has critics sharply divided. It has been mowed down in Variety, for no obvious reason, but to my relief both Midnight Eye and Mark Schilling (Japan Times) are very positive.
What is it about?
The story is based on a popular manga by Anno Moyoco. A little girl is sold into the harsh world of the Yoshiwara pleasure district and grows up to be an oiran, a top prostitute. This is no geisha story - geisha were hostesses who danced, sang and did party games to enliven a dinner. The oiran were just as accomplished in the arts, but on top of that they sold their bodies. They wore the obi, the belt tied around the kimono to keep it closed, in front as a sort of challenge. Glamorous and sophisticated, they dictated the fashion of the day. They were a sort of super-models, who lived in a world of glitter and on whom men spent great sums of money. You will find these queens of beauty portrayed in countless ukiyo-e.
As a child brought to one of Yoshiwara's brothels, rebellious Kiyoha (Tsuchiya Anna) stands out for breaking all rules, brazenly talking back, challenging authority, and even running away. In short, she is very un-Japanese, and there Tsuchiya Anna fits admirably, who with a Japanese mother but Russian/American father also is no traditional Japanese type. This does not make her very popular among the other girls in the brothel ("The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" is an old Japanese saying), so she has no easy life, but fights her way to the top - even resorting to "kickboxing" when necessary!
She grows into a beautiful but straight-talking courtesan with a quick temper, who is extremely popular among the men who frequent the brothel. Finally she becomes a Yoshiwara star, the top-prostitute who can show off her beauty slowly parading in super-high geta through Yoshiwara with her retinue.
But Kiyoha is not happy with her life and dreams of true love. She also longs for freedom, but is like the colorful goldfish who sit in their glass bowls in the rooms of the brothel: also Kiyoha is famous and gorgeous only for as long as she stays in her fishbowl.
What do I like about it?
- The fantastic colors/photography of first-time director Ninagawa Mika
Sakuran is visually stunning. Have you ever seen so many colors clashing and still harmonizing in one shot? The costumes are gorgeous, the sets lavish. But in contrast to so many other historical dramas, it is no museum piece: the film is vibrant and sparkles with life. Of course, this a pop version of life in the Yoshiwara brothels that skips all the sordidness. But there are great ideas, such as making even the top part of the gate leading into Yoshiwara into a goldfish bowl, a most fitting symbol for the women inside..
- the indomitable energy of lead actress Tsuchiya Anna
Tsuchiya Anna brings the same rebelliousness to the screen as in her first flick Kamikaze Girls. She displays an indomitable energy and zest for life, coupled with a bold sex appeal. Tsuchiya Anna started her career as a model in 1998, made her acting debut in 2004 and came to the stage as a musician in 2005
- the sheer originality, the breaking of the old and musty mould
Nothing is really historical in this period piece, and that is what makes it so likable. Ninagawa Mika turns her back on convention by the utterly modern, over-the-top beauty of the flamboyant kimonos, the contemporary ikebana flower arrangements, and above all the rock soundtrack from musician Shiina Ringo. Not for nothing has Sakuran been compared to Marie Antoinette, another great film by a woman director.
Director Ninagawa Mika is in the first place famous as photographer. She has exhibited in major galleries and museums in Japan and elsewhere and her colorful work also appears in well-known magazines. She is no stranger to the stage either, as her father is a well-known Shakespeare director.
People who say that a photographer should not/cannot direct a movie, are small-mindedly putting their fellow-humans in fixed cubicles. Why can't we change, develop, do new things? The interest of the film is, exactly, that a photographer with a special eye for color and composition has directed it - that makes this film so unique!
Links:
The website of Ninagawa Mika has many examples of her photography.
The website of Tsuchiya Anna.
Review by Tom Mes on Midnight Eye
Is rice still the "Soul of Japan?"
Is rice still the soul of Japan? Perhaps not so strongly anymore when you see the advance of hamburgers, pasta en steaks.
But various things still remind me of the fact that this tropical marshland plant has shaped Japanese civilization as we know it. Rice and the Japanese share a long and deep relationship. Rice cultivation caused the rise of extended families, of sophisticated water control and of communal cooperation. It made Japan into the "interdependent" society it still is today.
It also shaped religion as rice cultivation itself was seen as a religious act - the God of the Paddies (or the Mountain God) would be welcomed to the fields in spring and be sent off again in autumn. This in turn gave rise to annual observances, festivals (matsuri) and folk performing arts. These rituals were also connected with ceremonies in the Imperial House.
But that is not all. I find it interesting that rice was also money. Besides being the staple food, rice functioned as salary - samurai's stipends were measured and paid in rice - and as tax money. Both were measured in koku, usually translated as bushels, although the Japanese bushel at 180 liters was more than 5 times the U.S. bushel. One koku was the total amount of rice eaten in a year by one person.
Traditional Japan truly was a rice economy. Was there ever a bread or potato economy in Europe? I have not heard of it!
The type of rice eaten in Japan is called Japonica and characterized by greater stickiness than Chinese or Indian rice. Besides normal glutinous rice, there is even a more stickier type that is used for making the dreaded mochi rice cakes and the okowa (sticky, steamed rice) you can buy on the food floors of department stores. A third variety with long, starchy kernels is used exclusively as rice for brewing sake.
There are thousands of varieties of rice in Japan, many of them bred in the 20th century for improved productivity and resistance to disease and cold weather. The most famous types such as Koshihikari and Sasanishiki are brand names in their own right and demand higher prices than ordinary rice where different types have been mixed.
That rice is the basis of the Japanese menu, is demonstrated by an expression as ichiju ichisai : "one soup" (miso) and "one vegetable dish" (pickles) - a bowl of rice is also included, but so obvious that it is not even mentioned!
Besides being eaten as white rice (after polishing the brown hull away), rice is used for rice cakes, Japanese sweets, rice crackers, and to make sake, vinegar, miso, mirin (sweet cooking sake) and koji (malt). There are various rice dishes, such as onigiri, takikomi gohan (rice cooked together with various ingredients), donburi (white rice with a topping as eel, fried pork etc), Chinese-style fried rice (chahan) - and of course pilaff.
In a traditional society, nothing is thrown away, so rice straw was used for making rope, straw sandals, straw mats (goza), tatami padding, straw rice bags and straw rain coats (mino).
By the number of expressions and nuances for it in a given language, you can see whether something is important in that culture. Not surprisingly, there are many words for rice in Japanese. The Japanese make a difference between rice in the fields (ine), harvested rice (kome) and cooked rice (gohan). Gohan is also the general term for "food." When rice is eaten from a plate instead of from a bowl, it is not Japanese anymore and is therefore called by the English term "raisu."
Finally, some "rice etiquette":
- when serving rice, do not fill the rice bowl to the brim but only lightly put two or three scoops of rice in the bowl with the rice paddle;
- never put other food on top of the rice or mix it with other food in the ricebowl (of course, except when some pickles as a dried plum are already on top);
- do not add flavorings such as soy sauce or red pepper to the white rice, this looks very barbarian!
- when eating the rice, pick up the bowl in one hand and bring it close to your mouth (do the same with the miso soup); however, never pick up the plate when rice is served on a plate.
- when starting the meal say "itadakimasu!" ("I receive") and when finished "gochisosama!" ("Thank you for the feast").
If you don't like rice, be assured that it will grow on you the longer you stay in Japan. At least, that is my experience. When I was just in Japan, I could at most eat half a bowl, but after a couple of years I found myself increasingly asking for "okawari" (a second helping)!
But various things still remind me of the fact that this tropical marshland plant has shaped Japanese civilization as we know it. Rice and the Japanese share a long and deep relationship. Rice cultivation caused the rise of extended families, of sophisticated water control and of communal cooperation. It made Japan into the "interdependent" society it still is today.
It also shaped religion as rice cultivation itself was seen as a religious act - the God of the Paddies (or the Mountain God) would be welcomed to the fields in spring and be sent off again in autumn. This in turn gave rise to annual observances, festivals (matsuri) and folk performing arts. These rituals were also connected with ceremonies in the Imperial House.
But that is not all. I find it interesting that rice was also money. Besides being the staple food, rice functioned as salary - samurai's stipends were measured and paid in rice - and as tax money. Both were measured in koku, usually translated as bushels, although the Japanese bushel at 180 liters was more than 5 times the U.S. bushel. One koku was the total amount of rice eaten in a year by one person.
Traditional Japan truly was a rice economy. Was there ever a bread or potato economy in Europe? I have not heard of it!
The type of rice eaten in Japan is called Japonica and characterized by greater stickiness than Chinese or Indian rice. Besides normal glutinous rice, there is even a more stickier type that is used for making the dreaded mochi rice cakes and the okowa (sticky, steamed rice) you can buy on the food floors of department stores. A third variety with long, starchy kernels is used exclusively as rice for brewing sake.
There are thousands of varieties of rice in Japan, many of them bred in the 20th century for improved productivity and resistance to disease and cold weather. The most famous types such as Koshihikari and Sasanishiki are brand names in their own right and demand higher prices than ordinary rice where different types have been mixed.
That rice is the basis of the Japanese menu, is demonstrated by an expression as ichiju ichisai : "one soup" (miso) and "one vegetable dish" (pickles) - a bowl of rice is also included, but so obvious that it is not even mentioned!
Besides being eaten as white rice (after polishing the brown hull away), rice is used for rice cakes, Japanese sweets, rice crackers, and to make sake, vinegar, miso, mirin (sweet cooking sake) and koji (malt). There are various rice dishes, such as onigiri, takikomi gohan (rice cooked together with various ingredients), donburi (white rice with a topping as eel, fried pork etc), Chinese-style fried rice (chahan) - and of course pilaff.
In a traditional society, nothing is thrown away, so rice straw was used for making rope, straw sandals, straw mats (goza), tatami padding, straw rice bags and straw rain coats (mino).
By the number of expressions and nuances for it in a given language, you can see whether something is important in that culture. Not surprisingly, there are many words for rice in Japanese. The Japanese make a difference between rice in the fields (ine), harvested rice (kome) and cooked rice (gohan). Gohan is also the general term for "food." When rice is eaten from a plate instead of from a bowl, it is not Japanese anymore and is therefore called by the English term "raisu."
Finally, some "rice etiquette":
- when serving rice, do not fill the rice bowl to the brim but only lightly put two or three scoops of rice in the bowl with the rice paddle;
- never put other food on top of the rice or mix it with other food in the ricebowl (of course, except when some pickles as a dried plum are already on top);
- do not add flavorings such as soy sauce or red pepper to the white rice, this looks very barbarian!
- when eating the rice, pick up the bowl in one hand and bring it close to your mouth (do the same with the miso soup); however, never pick up the plate when rice is served on a plate.
- when starting the meal say "itadakimasu!" ("I receive") and when finished "gochisosama!" ("Thank you for the feast").
If you don't like rice, be assured that it will grow on you the longer you stay in Japan. At least, that is my experience. When I was just in Japan, I could at most eat half a bowl, but after a couple of years I found myself increasingly asking for "okawari" (a second helping)!
January 21, 2008
Best English newspaper in Japan
There are three English paper-based newspapers in Japan plus one published exclusively on the internet.
I rank them as follows:
Paper-based:
- My favorite is The Japan Times. The only independent English paper, with lots of new content (not translated from the Japanese press) and many articles on Japanese society and culture. Regular contributors are also famous, such as Donald Richie for book reviews in The Asian Bookshelf, Mark Schilling on Japanese film, Philip Harper on sake and Mark Schreiber on Asian thrillers and as one of the contributors of seamy Tokyo Confidential.
The weakest point of the Japan Times is that the news is usually old and stale. The paper apparently is written the day before - not during the night - and so carries stories that already have been two days before on TV and on the internet. In other words, you read it for the background stories and articles about Japanese culture, not for the news.
The website is excellent, containing many major articles and freely accessible (after a period of compulsory registration in the past). It is also getting more and more geared to the net, with opinion polls and a list of its articles that are "most blogged." What is missing is still the possibility to comment on articles on the site.
- In second position comes The Asahi Shimbun, which has been incorporated into the International Herald Tribune. The Asahi mainly features translations from articles published in the Japanese Asahi, although there are a few original pieces on culture in the weekend as well. Although I like the Japanese Asahi, the English version has never been my favorite - it has too much the nature of an extract, not of a paper with its own character. That I still put it in second place is only thanks to the IHT: together these papers form the ideal combination of international news with a section of local stories at the end.
Most interesting (original Asahi) parts are the Vox Populi, Vox Dei column, translated from the Japanese paper, interesting opinions on pressing contemporary affairs; and the Asahi Haikuist Network, where Japanese and foreigners send in their original English haiku.
With just a few translated articles from the Japanese Asahi, the web version is not very special, although both above-mentioned columns are available on the website.
- In third place comes the Daily Yomiuri. This paper is also mainly translated from the Japanese version, while adding large numbers of whole pages and stories from U.S. or U.K. papers as well. I find the English version a paper with little character of its own - in one word "boring." The only thing that goes for it and that ensures it a large number of subscribers is the fact that this is by far the cheapest of all English papers published in Japan.
For the website the same holds true - its is mainly remarkable for being padded with numerous syndicated articles and stories from AP.
Web-based:
- The Mainichi Daily News is a special case, as this paper some years ago stopped publishing its English paper version and converted wholly to the web. After the WaiWai debacle and with no original content, it remains to be seen whether even the website will survive.
Do you need a paper for news and background on Japan?
Although I occasionally buy one of the above newspapers, I am not a subscriber to any of them. There is a much better source of news on Japan than what you get on "dead trees:" the internet, made accessible by that fantastic service News on Japan. This website contains daily updated links to major (and sometimes obscure, and therefore all the more interesting) news stories, not only in the above-mentioned English press in Japan, but also to a wide variety of news sources elsewhere. Instead of opening a newspaper every morning, I log on to this site and click on the articles that seem interesting. The only thing I miss is the smell of ink.
Of course, a few handfulls of links is not enough for your daily take on the news, but the rest is also out there on the web. I read Shisaku and Observing Japan for political background (I know no better commentators, not in any paper newspaper!), Pink Tentacle for news on technology, What Japan Thinks for insights on Japan via opinion polls, Tokyo Art Beat, Metropolis and PingMag for art and design, Midnight Eye and Jason Gray for Japanese film, Japan Probe and Japundit for a humorous take on Japanese culture... what else do you need? My best newspaper is the internet!
Update 2011: The Asahi has ended its cooperation with the IHT and now is like the Mainichi only available on the web.
I rank them as follows:
Paper-based:
- My favorite is The Japan Times. The only independent English paper, with lots of new content (not translated from the Japanese press) and many articles on Japanese society and culture. Regular contributors are also famous, such as Donald Richie for book reviews in The Asian Bookshelf, Mark Schilling on Japanese film, Philip Harper on sake and Mark Schreiber on Asian thrillers and as one of the contributors of seamy Tokyo Confidential.
The weakest point of the Japan Times is that the news is usually old and stale. The paper apparently is written the day before - not during the night - and so carries stories that already have been two days before on TV and on the internet. In other words, you read it for the background stories and articles about Japanese culture, not for the news.
The website is excellent, containing many major articles and freely accessible (after a period of compulsory registration in the past). It is also getting more and more geared to the net, with opinion polls and a list of its articles that are "most blogged." What is missing is still the possibility to comment on articles on the site.
- In second position comes The Asahi Shimbun, which has been incorporated into the International Herald Tribune. The Asahi mainly features translations from articles published in the Japanese Asahi, although there are a few original pieces on culture in the weekend as well. Although I like the Japanese Asahi, the English version has never been my favorite - it has too much the nature of an extract, not of a paper with its own character. That I still put it in second place is only thanks to the IHT: together these papers form the ideal combination of international news with a section of local stories at the end.
Most interesting (original Asahi) parts are the Vox Populi, Vox Dei column, translated from the Japanese paper, interesting opinions on pressing contemporary affairs; and the Asahi Haikuist Network, where Japanese and foreigners send in their original English haiku.
With just a few translated articles from the Japanese Asahi, the web version is not very special, although both above-mentioned columns are available on the website.
- In third place comes the Daily Yomiuri. This paper is also mainly translated from the Japanese version, while adding large numbers of whole pages and stories from U.S. or U.K. papers as well. I find the English version a paper with little character of its own - in one word "boring." The only thing that goes for it and that ensures it a large number of subscribers is the fact that this is by far the cheapest of all English papers published in Japan.
For the website the same holds true - its is mainly remarkable for being padded with numerous syndicated articles and stories from AP.
Web-based:
- The Mainichi Daily News is a special case, as this paper some years ago stopped publishing its English paper version and converted wholly to the web. After the WaiWai debacle and with no original content, it remains to be seen whether even the website will survive.
Do you need a paper for news and background on Japan?
Although I occasionally buy one of the above newspapers, I am not a subscriber to any of them. There is a much better source of news on Japan than what you get on "dead trees:" the internet, made accessible by that fantastic service News on Japan. This website contains daily updated links to major (and sometimes obscure, and therefore all the more interesting) news stories, not only in the above-mentioned English press in Japan, but also to a wide variety of news sources elsewhere. Instead of opening a newspaper every morning, I log on to this site and click on the articles that seem interesting. The only thing I miss is the smell of ink.
Of course, a few handfulls of links is not enough for your daily take on the news, but the rest is also out there on the web. I read Shisaku and Observing Japan for political background (I know no better commentators, not in any paper newspaper!), Pink Tentacle for news on technology, What Japan Thinks for insights on Japan via opinion polls, Tokyo Art Beat, Metropolis and PingMag for art and design, Midnight Eye and Jason Gray for Japanese film, Japan Probe and Japundit for a humorous take on Japanese culture... what else do you need? My best newspaper is the internet!
Update 2011: The Asahi has ended its cooperation with the IHT and now is like the Mainichi only available on the web.
January 13, 2008
Black food is healthy in Japan
Food crazes come and go in Japan, one after the other, sometimes many simultaneously, but the fervor for "black foods" is remarkably steady – it has already been with us for almost ten years. And indeed, black is better, as black foods often contain more anthocyanin (a type of polyphenol found in high concentrations in blueberries and raspberries), isoflavones and minerals and have additional health benefits such as antioxidants to battle those free radicals. Anthocyanins make blueberries blue, cherries red and blackberries black. The darker the color, the more anthocyanins a food contains.
Most black foods have actually been long known in Japan, but were dropped out of the modern diet or are only eaten on special occasions, such as the black soybean – by many Japanese this is consumed only once a year in Osechi Ryori, the traditional New Year dish.
In fact, black soy beans were used in Chinese medicine to clear toxins from the body. Black beans are high in protein, fiber and anthocyanins and may be helpful for lowering cholesterol levels. Years ago a method was developed for roasting the beans, making it possible to eat the beans as a snack - or make black soybean tea by soaking the roasted beans in hot water. The resulting tea has the aroma of roasted beans and tastes slightly sweet. You can even eat the beans left over at the bottom of your cup as a snack!
Black soy beans have found their way into various food products as well. House Foods has brought a new type of cocoa drink to the market, “Black Bean Cocoa”, to which black soybeans from the Tanba region in Western Japan have been added. This has been a hit, adding the polyphenols of the cocoa to the anthocyanins of the black soybeans.
Kobe-based food manufacturer Fujicco has developed Black Beans Tea, there is Black Bean Coffee, and black beans are even added to soymilk drinks. There is also Black Beans Natto (if you can stomach that).
Another black ingredient are Black Sesame Seeds, which are a source of calcium and seem to be good for the kidney and liver. They also have high amounts of protein, iron, and magnesium. Black sesame seeds too, are added to all kinds of foods and drinks – there is also a soymilk drink with black sesame seeds, not to speak of black sesame biscuits and cereals.
Black Vinegar Drinks or “Kurosu” have also been around for some time now on the health foods market. Black vinegar is aged vinegar made from rice, barley and sometimes brown rice. It is aged for 3 months to a year in ceramic pots. The dark liqid is rich in citric acid, vitamins and minerals. It is said to help lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, amongst other benefits. This, too, is a huge market. Most manufacturers come from Kagoshima in southern Kyushu, such a Sakamoto Breweries that has 70% of the market.
Black Rice or Kurokome is so rare and high in nutrition that in China only the imperial house was allowed to eat it - it was therefore also called "forbidden rice." It is again rich in anthocyanins. It is not very common in Japan and you will probably have to to visit a health store to get it. The best way to eat it is to mix a spoonfull through your "ordinary" rice.
Blueberries have for some time been a popular ingredient in for example yogurt as they are believed to improve eyesight. That may be a myth, but these deeply hued berries are indeed high in antioxidants.
Black mushrooms such as shiitake are often eaten in Japan and also thought to be good for fighting loose radicals. Shiitake do not go well with Western food, but can be eaten separately as tempura. In Japan, you find them often in stews and soups.
Finally, we have Chinese Black Tea or Puaru (Pu-erh) tea that has also boomed in Japan. Chinese black tea is of the green tea family, but has undergone a fermenting process of many, many years – sometimes as long as twenty years (although three is more normal)! This leads to a very rich aroma. The tea is thought to possess detoxificating and antibacterial properties. It also helps to slim down.
In short, black is healthy. The market for black foods in Japan is huge – it is estimated to easily surpass the $500 million mark. Of course these foods are not a cure-all and some health claims are rather based on folklore than on solid scientific research. But being high in proteins and other nutritients, they will never be bad for you!
Most black foods have actually been long known in Japan, but were dropped out of the modern diet or are only eaten on special occasions, such as the black soybean – by many Japanese this is consumed only once a year in Osechi Ryori, the traditional New Year dish.
In fact, black soy beans were used in Chinese medicine to clear toxins from the body. Black beans are high in protein, fiber and anthocyanins and may be helpful for lowering cholesterol levels. Years ago a method was developed for roasting the beans, making it possible to eat the beans as a snack - or make black soybean tea by soaking the roasted beans in hot water. The resulting tea has the aroma of roasted beans and tastes slightly sweet. You can even eat the beans left over at the bottom of your cup as a snack!
Black soy beans have found their way into various food products as well. House Foods has brought a new type of cocoa drink to the market, “Black Bean Cocoa”, to which black soybeans from the Tanba region in Western Japan have been added. This has been a hit, adding the polyphenols of the cocoa to the anthocyanins of the black soybeans.
Kobe-based food manufacturer Fujicco has developed Black Beans Tea, there is Black Bean Coffee, and black beans are even added to soymilk drinks. There is also Black Beans Natto (if you can stomach that).
Another black ingredient are Black Sesame Seeds, which are a source of calcium and seem to be good for the kidney and liver. They also have high amounts of protein, iron, and magnesium. Black sesame seeds too, are added to all kinds of foods and drinks – there is also a soymilk drink with black sesame seeds, not to speak of black sesame biscuits and cereals.
Black Vinegar Drinks or “Kurosu” have also been around for some time now on the health foods market. Black vinegar is aged vinegar made from rice, barley and sometimes brown rice. It is aged for 3 months to a year in ceramic pots. The dark liqid is rich in citric acid, vitamins and minerals. It is said to help lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, amongst other benefits. This, too, is a huge market. Most manufacturers come from Kagoshima in southern Kyushu, such a Sakamoto Breweries that has 70% of the market.
Black Rice or Kurokome is so rare and high in nutrition that in China only the imperial house was allowed to eat it - it was therefore also called "forbidden rice." It is again rich in anthocyanins. It is not very common in Japan and you will probably have to to visit a health store to get it. The best way to eat it is to mix a spoonfull through your "ordinary" rice.
Blueberries have for some time been a popular ingredient in for example yogurt as they are believed to improve eyesight. That may be a myth, but these deeply hued berries are indeed high in antioxidants.
Black mushrooms such as shiitake are often eaten in Japan and also thought to be good for fighting loose radicals. Shiitake do not go well with Western food, but can be eaten separately as tempura. In Japan, you find them often in stews and soups.
Finally, we have Chinese Black Tea or Puaru (Pu-erh) tea that has also boomed in Japan. Chinese black tea is of the green tea family, but has undergone a fermenting process of many, many years – sometimes as long as twenty years (although three is more normal)! This leads to a very rich aroma. The tea is thought to possess detoxificating and antibacterial properties. It also helps to slim down.
In short, black is healthy. The market for black foods in Japan is huge – it is estimated to easily surpass the $500 million mark. Of course these foods are not a cure-all and some health claims are rather based on folklore than on solid scientific research. But being high in proteins and other nutritients, they will never be bad for you!
[Technical details gleaned from Japan's Nutraceuticals Today, an article by Paul Yamaguchi on the NPI Center website]
January 9, 2008
Sushi shop slang
When you want to show off in a sushi restaurant as THE connoisseur, you can of course order an omakase course and let the sushi chef, the Itamae-san, serve you the best delicacies he has been able to find at Tsukiji that day.
That may however be dangerous for your wallet. Sushi chefs have a rather obscure way of setting prices and omakases are always expensive.
Luckily, there is another way to boast your way to sushi stardom: use the special sushi shop slang to demonstrate you know your way around.
Here are a few examples of "itamae-nese":
otemoto - chopsticks, normal would be ohashi. "Otemoto" means literally "at the base of your hands."
murasaki - soy sauce, normal would be shoyu. Murasaki means "purple" and so refers to the color of the sauce.
agari - tea, normally ocha.
gari - thinly sliced ginger pickled in vinegar. "gari-gari ni yaseta" means "rattlebones," but I am not sure that is related!
ichinin-mae - a serving for one person, usually referring to the thick, sweet omelet eaten at the end of the course. Literally, "in front of one person."
odori-ebi, "dancing shrimp," a shrimp that is still alive.
hikari-mono, "shiny things," fish with the skin still attached as aji, horse mackerel.
shari, vinegared sushi rice. This is my favorite one: cooked rice normally is gohan. Shari refers to the Buddha's ashes, which were considered an important relic in Buddhism. When people are cremated in Japan, the body is not wholly reduced to ashes, but brittle bones are left. Small pieces of bone resemble rice grains, as they are white and shiny. The term is not meant to be unpleasant, but rather an honorific. In fact, as very few pieces of Buddha bones made it all the way to Japan, in medieval reliquaries often grains of rice were used as a substitute!
That may however be dangerous for your wallet. Sushi chefs have a rather obscure way of setting prices and omakases are always expensive.
Luckily, there is another way to boast your way to sushi stardom: use the special sushi shop slang to demonstrate you know your way around.
Here are a few examples of "itamae-nese":
otemoto - chopsticks, normal would be ohashi. "Otemoto" means literally "at the base of your hands."
murasaki - soy sauce, normal would be shoyu. Murasaki means "purple" and so refers to the color of the sauce.
agari - tea, normally ocha.
gari - thinly sliced ginger pickled in vinegar. "gari-gari ni yaseta" means "rattlebones," but I am not sure that is related!
ichinin-mae - a serving for one person, usually referring to the thick, sweet omelet eaten at the end of the course. Literally, "in front of one person."
odori-ebi, "dancing shrimp," a shrimp that is still alive.
hikari-mono, "shiny things," fish with the skin still attached as aji, horse mackerel.
shari, vinegared sushi rice. This is my favorite one: cooked rice normally is gohan. Shari refers to the Buddha's ashes, which were considered an important relic in Buddhism. When people are cremated in Japan, the body is not wholly reduced to ashes, but brittle bones are left. Small pieces of bone resemble rice grains, as they are white and shiny. The term is not meant to be unpleasant, but rather an honorific. In fact, as very few pieces of Buddha bones made it all the way to Japan, in medieval reliquaries often grains of rice were used as a substitute!
January 8, 2008
Ablution poem at the Kamigamo Shrine
The Shimogamo Shrine has Kamo no Chomei as famous resident poet, but also the Kamigamo Shrine with its deep forest and clear streams often was the subject of poetic effusions in former times. In the grounds stands a monument to Poem No 98 of the Hyakunin Isshu anthology that is situated here in the rustling woods, at the murmuring streams...
in the eveningThis poem was written by a courtier called "Ietaka of the Junior Second Rank" (1158-1237), who was quite popular as we find hundreds of his poems in imperial anthologies. A member of Emperor GoToba's poetic circle, he studied with Shunzei and became the son in law of Jakuren, both famous poets in their own right. The poet walks through the sacred grounds of the Kamigamo Shrine and is surprised at the sudden change of the seasons. The wind that rustles through the leaves of the oak trees is chilly, reminding him of autumn, and the only sign that it is still summer are the people performing ablutions with sacred wands at the river bank. Sacred bathing was a summer custom at both Kamo Shrines and is still ritually enacted at the Shimogamo Shrine in the form of the Mitarashi Festival in late summer.
when the wind stirs the oaks
at the brook of Nara
the ablutions are
the only sign of summer
kaze soyogu | nara no ogawa no | yugure wa | misogi zo natsu no | shirushi narikeru
[For a full translation of the Hyakunin Isshu, with elaborate discussions, see Pictures of the Heart by Joshua S. Mostow (Hawaii, 1996).]
January 7, 2008
One Tuna fish sells at 6 million yen
Tsukiji, Tokyo's famous fish market has held its first tuna auction of the New Year. This is always an opportunity for someone to show off his financial prowess by buying a fish caught in waters around Japan for an exorbitant prize.
This year the buyer was a Hong Kong-based sushi restaurant chain owner (!), an indication of the rapid internationalisation of Japanese food.
The bluefin was caught in waters near Aomori Prefecture and sold for 6.07 million yen, a five-year high. It weighed 276 kilograms, so that is a hefty 22,000 yen per kilo.
Will ordinary tuna also get as expensive as the one at this special auction?
Unfortunately, prices are bound to rise due to tightening controls on catches and rising fuel costs. Japan will have increasing problems to secure a stable supply of tuna, as also China and Russia are starting to like the big fishes, with stocks world-wide down to already dangerously low levels.
(Thanks to Yahoo Asia News)
This year the buyer was a Hong Kong-based sushi restaurant chain owner (!), an indication of the rapid internationalisation of Japanese food.
The bluefin was caught in waters near Aomori Prefecture and sold for 6.07 million yen, a five-year high. It weighed 276 kilograms, so that is a hefty 22,000 yen per kilo.
Will ordinary tuna also get as expensive as the one at this special auction?
Unfortunately, prices are bound to rise due to tightening controls on catches and rising fuel costs. Japan will have increasing problems to secure a stable supply of tuna, as also China and Russia are starting to like the big fishes, with stocks world-wide down to already dangerously low levels.
(Thanks to Yahoo Asia News)
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