Experiencing Japan through movies

Online film fest serves as platform for enthusiasts to ‘travel’ to without physically getting out of the country

Aristocrats – A movie about two women from different social classes, grappling with their respective journeys in life.

WHEN a film enthusiast raves about a particular movie that he or she had just watched, it is nothing unusual. However, when someone who has no strong interest in movies suddenly waxes lyrical about one for days on social media, it is something noteworthy.

That was what happened with a Tokyo-based friend of mine, Kiku.

Early last year, she went on and on about ‘Aristocrats’ – a movie that was being screened in Japan at the time. Her enthusiasm was infectious, even I got curious.

Not knowing if I would ever get to watching it, I bought the novel that it was based on, ‘Ano Ko ha Kizoku’ (That Child is An Aristocrat) penned by popular author Yamauchi Mariko. It was an easy read, but thought-provoking at the same time.

A year on, I was delighted when The Japan Foundation announced the line-up for the Japanese Film Festival (JFF) Online 2022, which was free to watch in 25 countries. Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and global travel bans, watching foreign films was a sure way to ‘travel’ without getting out of the country.

There were 20 movies in the list, including two animated films. While 2020 and 2021 releases were the main highlights, some older films were also available.

‘Aristocrats’ was in that list, among those that I wanted to watch.

Every nuance and depiction

Set in Tokyo, ‘Aristocrats’ is about Hanako and Miki, two women from different social classes who grapple with their respective journeys in life. Their paths have crossed because of a man they are both seeing.

I suddenly understood why the movie appealed to Kiku. Originally from a remote mountainous town in the Nagano Prefecture called Iida, she would know the ‘insider-versus-outsider’ scenario well, since she has been working and living in Tokyo over the past decade.

Director Yukiko Sode picks up the nuances from the novel beautifully, and hectic Tokyo becomes quiet and visually pleasing as we follow the urban and rural divide that we, as visitors or tourists, do not often get to see beyond the glitzy glamour of the Japanese metropolis.

Sumodo is a sports documentary that goes behind the scenes to capture the lives of two sumo wrestlers from different stables.

Still a cultural journey through Tokyo was the 2020-released ‘Sumodo: The Successors of Samurai’. A work by filmmaker Sakata Eiji, this sports documentary goes behind the scenes to capture the lives of two sumo wrestlers from different stables as they prepare for Japan’s major tournaments.

More than just about the sport itself, it shows the character-building of these two athletes, Ryuden from the Takadagawa Stable and Goeido from the Sakaigawa Stable, and what they go through in order to survive the highly competitive and complicated world of professional sumo.

To many foreigners, sumo may seem like a comical sport with comical-looking athletes.

To some, it may seem like a discriminatory arena where women are not allowed in the ring.

However, it is an interesting insight into the Japanese culture where mental fortitude is the key to victory.

When watching the two men eventually face each other towards the end, I was compelled to root for both.

Of dialect and cross-cultures

From Tokyo, I was able to ‘travel’ to the northern prefecture of Aomori, famed for its apples.

The 2021 movie ‘Ito’ was truly a mixed bag of Japanese traditional and pop cultures.

The story is about a high-schooler Ito, who lives in the outskirts of Hirosaki City. Like many people in the rural areas, she speaks in the local dialect with a strong accent and struggles with the standard Japanese. She also has trouble socialising with others, often stuttering in the Aomori dialect.

Ito portrays the phases that the titular character goes through as she blossoms in personality and talent.

As a language learner, I have an interest in non-standard Japanese dialects, so I find the movie to be fascinating in that sense. I read somewhere that director Yokohama Satoko, who is from Aomori herself, had difficulty in finding a young star who could speak the dialect, so as to be believable enough to play Ito. Eventually 21-year-old Komai Ren, another Aomori native, was cast for the titular role.

Another cultural aspect in this ‘trip’ to Aomori was the ‘Tsugaru shamisen’, a traditional three-stringed plucked instrument that has its roots in Tsugaru in the northern end of the prefecture. In the film, Ito is a budding and talented Tsugaru shamisen player, and the third-generation instrumentalist in her family.

However, she thinks she looks silly when she is performing.

Before the pandemic, tourists in search of pop culture experiences in urban Japan often gravitate towards maid cafés. In a maid café, the servers are dressed as Western-style maids and treat customers like their masters or mistresses at home. It requires a certain courage and mettle to dress up and be cute and servile to strangers.

In her search for a part-time job, Ito is drawn to an unlikely advertisement – a vacancy at a maid cafe in neighbouring Aomori City. As traditional and pop cultures converge, Ito blossoms in personality and talent.

‘Bread of Happiness’

The café depicted in ‘Bread of Happiness’ closely reflects those located in the rural areas across Japan.

A 10-year-old movie in the JFF lineup took me further north to Hokkaido.

‘Bread of Happiness’ was set in and filmed around picturesque Lake Toya.

Formed from a volcano caldera, the lake is located within the Shikotsu-Toya National Park, which is popular with nature and hot spring lovers.

In the movie, Rie and Nao are a couple who had moved from Tokyo to Hokkaido. They run Café Mani, a lakeside bakery café that also provides lodging. Although secluded, the café has its regular and non-regular customers. Each of them comes with their own personal problems, but they leave feeling a little brighter, and with a full stomach.

Interestingly, the café really exists in real life but it is known as Café Gauche, and it does not provide accommodation.

I love cafés located in the rural areas. In my travels around Japan, I often look out for these places and would try to drop by for lunch or tea. Hospitality is always impeccable as the owner would treat customers like their private guests, and these cafés are usually good spots to learn about the local culture, history or even community gossip.

‘Finding magic’

Oz Land is also based on a novel by Komori Yoichi, titled ‘Ozu no Sekai’ (The World of Oz).

From north, I ‘travelled’ to the southern prefecture of Kumamoto in Kyushu Region. The 2018 comedy ‘Oz Land’ featured Mitsui Greenland, a real-life amusement park that is part of a resort chain.

The movie is also based on a novel, ‘Ozu no Sekai’ (The World of Oz) by Komori Yoichi.

In the story, a snooty Tokyoite Kurumi gets a job with a luxury hotel chain but is assigned to its affiliated amusement park in Kyushu. Dismayed, she finds herself performing what she considers as menial tasks and spends miserable days wishing that she could return to the capital.

Over time, Kurumi gains a new perspective over her job and her colleagues. She comes to realise that her tasks do have a meaning after all, which is to turn their amusement park into a dreamland where families find magic and happiness.

‘Oz Land’ has the ‘feel-good’ factor that anyone who have ever visited theme parks in Japan or elsewhere can relate to. The scenes of colourful attractions and happy visitors exude warmth and lightness, very much like how I would feel when riding a ‘Ferris Wheel’.

The JFF Online is annual initiative by The Japan Foundation to promote Japanese cinema to the world. This year, the festival ran from Feb 14 to 28.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/36TVIGR
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