At the Movies, 2013 - Part I

I've been trying to organize my thoughts about the latest movie I went to see: "Eien no Zero" (The Eternal Zero).  So far, no success.  My initial rating of the movie right after I finished viewing it was "so-so".  Overall, the movie may still hold that rating from me but there are a number of details which have kept my mind spinning.  More on that later.

In the meantime, here are some quick thoughts from me about other movies I watched this year.

"Wara no Tate" (Straw Shield).  Directed by Miike Takeshi.
A student of mine told me she had gone to see a movie and found herself the only person in the theatre.  I asked which movie and went to see it myself.  I also was the only person in the theatre.  Part of that coincidence came from the fact that we both had gone to the late screening of the film and the other was that the film had been in the theatres for a few weeks.  The movie in question was the above named offering from Miike Takeshi.  We both agreed that the film started off well but fizzled out as it reached its end.

"Kaze Tachinu" (The Wind Rises).  Directed by Miyazaki Hayao.
I didn't get the theatre to see this film the weekend it was released as I was out of town then.  Though I didn't really wait too long to see it.  I think I caught it at a late show screening the following Monday.  No, I was not the only person in the theatre.  All in all, I enjoyed this film.  I was captivated by the film's depiction of life in prewar Japan.  The story, a mixture of fact, fiction and pure fancy, was not as contentious as I thought it could have been but it wasn't lighthearted fluff either.

"Django Unchained".  Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
It's a Tarantino movie.  Went to see it with my co-worker Nick, who is a big Tarantino fan, and his girlfriend.  This one, for me, was all I expected from a Tarantino movie.  It got the job done and that was good enough for me.

"Lincoln".  Directed by Stephen Spielberg.
A good movie interspersed with my occasional observation of "That subtitle is not what that character said".   The political maneuvering depicted in the film had my head spinning at some points.  It was quite fascinating.  I spent a fair bit of time surfing wiki pages after viewing the film to get a better grip on the history behind the story I had had the pleasure of viewing.

"42".  Directed by Brian Helgeland.
This one I went to see more or less on a lark after spotting a poster advertising it at the shopping centre across the street from the theatre.  I had gone there to have a sundae which I had developed a sudden craving for after dropping a couple of suits off at the dry cleaners.  It wasn't a bad movie but it wasn't a great movie.  I was aware of a couple of historical inaccuracies in the film prior to viewing it thanks to a quick check of a review online.  I suspect the student of mine who went to see it after I told him about it was more impressed than I was.  The trailers shown before the film included ones for two films I figured I really did want to see, "Kaguya-hime no Monogatari" and "Eien no Zero".... I will talk about those two in my next post here.

Back in Matsushima

Bird in the shot, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

I suppose I could've picked a photo featuring one of the many islands lying in the bay south of Matsushima but I opted for this one instead. I took way too many photos of little pine tree covered islands. So a photo with a seagull hogging the shot is probably a good choice to share here.

My trip to Matsushima was the second time I visited this popular tourist destination. Though the first time wasn't much of a visit. My father drove the family there from our hotel part way up Mount Zao and when we got there the traffic was terrible, it was hot, and there probably wasn't a place to park. So we just looked at the scenery from the car and headed back to Sendai (and Mt. Zao). At least that's how I think things worked out. We're talking about 40 years ago so you'll have to excuse me if my recollection of the visit is a bit hazy.

Matsushima was spared from damage by the the March 11th, 2011 tsunami by virtue of its geographical features. The numerous small islands close to the town and several larger islands lying further out took the brunt of the tsunami. There are probably a number of islands which were damaged by the earthquake but only one of them was pointed out to passengers on the boat cruise I took.

Matsushima is one of the renowned three places of scenic views in Japan. The other two are Itsukishima and Amanohashidate. I've been to Itsukishima (also known as Miyajima) in Hiroshima prefecture. I had once given a thought to visiting Amanohashidate but when planning the visit from Kyoto, where I was staying at the time, I found it to be a touch distant for a single day trip. I suppose I'll get there...some day.

A Rainy Day in Miyagi Prefecture

Kyotokumaru No. 18, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

The fishing boat in the above photo is now being dismantled. Not too long after I visited Kesennuma, a vote was taken to decide the fate of the boat and the result was in favour of removing it. Unlike the pine tree of Rikuzentakata which died, was cut down, preserved and raised as a memorial, this boat will not remain to remind people of the devastation caused by the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

My drive that soggy July day was sobering one. I started out in Ichinoseki, Iwate prefecture and made my way through Rikuzentakata, Kesennuma, Minamisanriku, Onagawa, Ishinomaki and on to Sendai. I took Route 45 for a good part of that trip. Along the way I passed plenty of signs which marked the upper limits of tsunami inundation, plots of land which looked like abandoned fields but were in fact foundations of houses and buildings, washed out railway bridges, and large compounds full of debris still being sorted out for removal. By the time I got to Ishinomaki I was both physically and mentally tired. Getting onto the highway was a respite of sorts. By the time I found parking and had checked into my hotel, I was pretty well exhausted.

In hindsight I'm not exactly sure why I undertook that leg of the trip. Going to Hiraizumi, Matsushima and Sendai are typical "touristy" things to do. Driving Miyagi's northeastern coastal road is not. I suppose I did it partly out of morbid curiosity, a desire to grasp the gravity of the devastation, and wanting to pay my respects to the victims. In the end I feel a small part grateful that the weather that day was bleak and wet as it intensified the emotional impact that passage along that route had on me.

Yonezawa Technical High School

Yonezawa Technical High School, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

I have one student who attends the Yonezawa Technical High School. Apparently they have an annual "event" which the students refer to as "Jigoku no Oenrenshu" (I'd loosely translate it as "School Cheering Practice from Hell"). It seems that at his school there are four school songs which are essentially yelled out at the top of ones lungs. Freshmen students have a week or so to learn these songs at the beginning of a new school year. If I recall the story correctly, the newbies are assembled and taught the songs en mass. Then the following week they have to learn them off by heart. If it was just a matter of being given a lyric sheet and committing the songs to memory then things would be simple. But no, this is Japan and why make things that easy. I was told that all through the second week of the new term the songs are blared through the school PA system at lunch hour each day. Added to that joyful scene are marauding teams of third year students who patrol the school and ambush freshmen students with demands to perform the songs on cue. The part that got lost in translation was the grand finale. The way I understood it, after enduring this torture (what else could I call it), the first year students are hauled down to Fukushima to perform these songs. I asked my student what he thought of that and he told me his class didn't make that trip to Fukushima on account of the 3/11 earthquake.

Addendum: Another one of my friends attended the same school over a decade ago. The "Jigoku no Oenrenshu" was something she missed out on because she transferred into the school in second year. Nonetheless she confirmed the details of the above story. The additional things she pointed out were; 1) that the songs are belted out with one's hands held behind the back whilst thrusting out the chest and looking upward, 2) in her time the upper class students checked on the progress of the first year students on a one-to-one basis and in close quarters (they'd stand less than arm's length away from their "trainee"). Oh joy...

ほたるまつり

ほたるまつり (Firefly Festival) Poster, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

I took this photograph a short while before the "Hotaru Matsuri" (Firefly Festival) opened. I was a bit preoccupied with other things in late June and then the rainy season came on with full vengeance. Taking time off to drive to southern Iwate prefecture and through areas devastated by the 3/11 disaster brought me to July 21st as my first opportunity to go up to Onogawa Onsen.

Onogawa Onsen is a few kilometres south of Yonezawa. It's a small "onsen" (hot spring) resort area with a handful or more ryokan (inns), eateries and souvenir shops. In the winter time the locals make a "kamakura mura" (essentially a collection of snow caves or igloos) to attract visitors. The summer time attraction is the firefly festival.

I think I recall someone saying that in the past it was not uncommon to see fireflies in and around Yonezawa. I can only assume that habitat destruction has led to them only being seen in great numbers out in Onogawa Onsen.

All in all, I saw real fireflies for the first time in my life. Not many of them but enough for me to be happy to say that I've actually seen them.

きゃろらいんちゃろんぷろっぷきゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ...and other stuff.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

Last Saturday I stayed behind after the last class I taught to clean up a few things. My co-worker James was teaching his evening class of junior high school students. At some point in his class I heard exclaim "WHAT!!! Kamyu what?!?" very loudly. I heard one of his students say "Kyary Pamyu Pamyu" in her own defense. I sat there and smiled to myself. Yes, it's the woman whose stage name is so out in left field even the Japanese have trouble getting it out of their mouths. Naturally, when I went to a karaoke shop later that evening and found a life size cut out of the (in)famous woman, I took a photo of it and sent it to James. As for the title of this blog entry, the hiragana spells out Ms. Takemura Kiriko's full stage name: Caroline Charonplop Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. I really want to know what processes are running in her head. That name is either pure brilliance or complete lunacy.

Aside from that silliness, we are now in the midst of a winter which doesn't seem to want to let its grip on this city loosen. Unlike last winter, the temperature range has been wider and we've had days of rain and warm weather in between blizzards, winter wind storms and days upon days of continuous snow. It was amusing counting the dump trucks lined up on a street in the old downtown. They were waiting their turn to haul snow out of the area in preparation for last weekend's annual Yonezawa Snow Lantern Festival. All said there were seven of them.

As luck would have it, this year the snow lantern festival weekend coincided with Chinese New Year. So that limited the venues we could book to have our obligatory Chinese New Year party. We managed to find a place nonetheless in spite of the influx of tourists who flowed into the city. Oh yes, "Thank you" to James for delivering his New Year's toast in his grandparent's dialect of Chinese. Well done.

A friend wrote an entry on her blog about why she doesn't enjoy that almost ubiquitous Japanese furniture item, the kotatsu. I, on the other hand, am seated at mine with it turned on whilst my kerosene heater is blasting away in the background. I suspect, but I haven't checked to confirm, the arrangement I've been using this year to heat my living space is less expensive than what I employed last year. Last year I used the wall mounted heater/air conditioner unit quite a bit (along with the kotatsu). This year I've been using a tag team of the kerosene heater and a floor standing electric heater. So far that combination has worked quite well. As for sitting in one spot for the better part of my time spent at home...it's not much different from what I did back in Canada! Such is life.

A Short Trip Back Home

Tomahawk Restaurant, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

I've been back in Japan a bit over a week after visiting family and friends in Vancouver over Christmas and New Years. Things are more or less back to the usual now with the exception of a bit of jet lag which lasted the better part of the week (a cup of coffee wasn't enough to get me through the spells where I wanted to stay awake).

How was it being back at the old homestead? Quite good. It goes without saying I ate a lot of foods which I can't have here in Japan: homemade turkey dinner with all the fixings, North American style pizza, Greek style roast lamb, Cantonese style Chinese food (including yum-cha/dim sum goodies), Indian cuisine, the list goes on...

In a way it was like I had never left. But there was still that lingering feeling that something was amiss. I called it "reverse culture shock". I was doing a lot of things I had done in my past life in Canada but at the end of the day there wasn't a place which I could claim as being "mine", i.e.: home. Yes, I own an apartment in Vancouver but I have tenants renting it out now. Hardly the place I can turn myself in to at the end of busy day of shopping, dining and socializing.

The Tomahawk Restaurant is one place I drove by almost each day (I borrowed my mother's car) during my stay in Canada. It has been a constant throughout all my waking memory. I suppose its exterior has been cleaned up a bit every now and then but aside from that I don't think it has changed in appearance in over half a century. In a way it was a symbol of at once of being back home and yet being a stranger in a familiar place; a place both comfortable and alien at the same time. I can't quite put my finger on it but I know the feeling is real.

All in all the trip back home was a good one. There was a slight pang of sadness when I headed off on my return journey. I'll be back again...can't say when but it will happen.


Post script: Technically my B.C. driver's licence is invalid so I carried my Japanese driver's licence when I drove. It was amusing when I produced it was I.D. at a bank. The teller wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "At least the name is in English" was all she could say... (^_-)\*