japansociety
Japan Book Review
Volume 2 No. 5 October 2007
Issue No. 11

Japan-UK Reviews

Editor: Sean Curtin

Contents

Managing Editor: Clare Barclay
long with our usual great selection of new book reviews in this issue
we offer our first proper film review of the award-winning andhighly popular movie Hula Girls. We now hope to start regularreviews of major Japanese films and DVD releases to complement our bookline-up. You will also find a preview of the thought-provoking debut novel
Under the Sun along with our main features and Japanese language bookreviews. Finally, please keep on sending in your letters and comments about
what you would like to see in Japan Book Review. Also please remember if
there is a book or movie you would particularly like to make a comment about,then either e-mail us (info@japansociety.org.uk) your thoughts or post them tous. We will put your comments up on the Reader's Comments section of thewebsite and when possible publish some of them.

A

Sean Curtin
New reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews.html
Archive reviews: http://www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews_archive.html(1) Hirohito: The Showa Emperor
in War and Peace(2) "Koizumi no Shori, Media no
Haiboku" (Victory for Koizumi,
Defeat for the Media(3) Britain and Japan: BiographicalPortraits, volume VI(4) The Japanese Housewife
Overseas(5) Long Nights Alone(6) Reader's comments: Long
Nights Alone(7) Hula Girls(8) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman(9) Warriors of Art: A Guide toContemporary Japanese Artists(10) Under the Sun (Preview)

Japan Book Review
Hirohito: The Showa Emperor in War and Peace,
Ikuhiko Hata, edited by Marius B.Jansen,
ISBN 978-1-905246-35-9, pages 272 including notes and index, Global Oriental, 2007.
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
So much has been written about the Showa Emperor that some readers may
ask whether there is anything more to be said about a man who would hardly
have left much lasting impression if he had been born in any other walk of life.
But Professor Ikuhiko Hata's book provides some interesting insights into theemperor's personality, as well as into aspects of modern Japanese history.
Professor Ikuhiko Hata, professor emeritus of Nihon University, has delved
deeply into the source material available in Japanese and English and hasinterviewed many of the participants in the events he describes. The results of
his researches impressed the late Professor Marius Jansen, a doyen of Japanese
historical studies in the USA, and we must be grateful to him and the publishers,
Global Oriental, for bringing these fascinating studies to the attention of English
speaking students of modern Japanese history.
This is not a new biography of the Showa Emperor but a series of historicalstudies of events in which he was closely involved. The first essay deals with thejapansociety

Japan Book Review: October 2007

infamous ni-ni-roku (26 February 1936) incident when theemperor's adamant refusal, following the murder of some of
his closest advisers, to countenance a "Showa Restoration" asdemanded by the rebels, ensured that the mutiny wascrushed. But as Professor Hata puts it: "From the emperor's
perspective, the mountain had laboured and produced amouse. Hegemony had merely passed from the hands of theImperial Way Faction into the hands of the Control Faction
and its epigones and Japan would soon plunge headlong
down the path to destruction in the China and Pacific Wars."
Hata's account fills in many details and gives a vivid pictureof how the events must have seemed to those at the centre of
the crisis.
The second chapter goes over the events in the final days of
the Pacific War and describes how the emperor was eventuallyinduced to take the decision which led to Japan's surrender. It
also depicts the reactions of the military and naval extremists
and the traitorous attempts to stop the emperor's broadcast.
Inevitably it leaves many questions unanswered. Why inparticular did it take so long for intelligent men (and many ofJapan's leaders were intelligent and realistic) to recognize thatJapan was defeated. This should have been obvious at thelatest by the end of 1944. Yet they adhered to the belief thatJapan's "polity" (a concept which non-Japanese find hard tofathom) could only be preserved by fighting a last battle on
the mainland which could only lead to total destruction. Theirfailure makes them guilty of the millions of deaths caused by
the continuing war in the months from January to August
1945. The emperor seems to have recognized that Japan faced
total defeat, but his personality was not strong enough toenable him to challenge the guilty men. We also have to ask
how much he knew about the atrocities carried out overseas
and if he did realize the facts why he apparently did not
attempt to stop further acts of barbarity.
The third chapter reveals the extent to which in the final
days of the war and the early days of the occupation attempts
were made by Japanese extremists to ensure the survival of
the imperial line. Many of the facts revealed here were new tome. They confirm that the occupation authorities were right tobe wary of the former militarists.
The final chapters deal with the emperor's relations with
General MacArthur and the possibility of the emperor
abdicating, a step which the General regarded as unnecessary
and undesirable. MacArthur and his advisers clearly saw theretention of the emperor as essential to the maintenance ofinternal peace in Japan.
Hata also deals with the emperor's position in relating to
the International Military Tribunal's trial of class A war
criminals. This section is relevant to recent revelations about
the emperor's criticism of the decision by the Yasukuni shrine
authorities to enshrine the souls of these criminals.

1000 Years of the Taleof Genji
Yoshioka Sachio (Master textile
dyer and historian) at the“Recreating
Genji's
Palette”
symposium held at the Embassy ofJapan, London on 7th November
2007 to mark 1000 years of the Taleof Genji.

2"Koizumi no Shori,Media no Haiboku"(Victory for Koizumi,
Defeat for the Media),by Takashi Uesugi,
Soshisha, November 2006, 286 pages,
1500 yen
Review by Fumiko Halloran
This is a rare book written by a journalist who criticizes thefaults not only of himself but the press in general in its
reporting on the Koizumi government. He is courageous inlisting his original articles and examining them against what
actually happened, adding background around specific topics
he covered. He found that most of his reporting on Prime
Minster Koizumi either was not accurate or grossly
misinterpreted the reality of PM Koizumi's domestic andforeign policy.
Perhaps the most serious weakness in Mr. Uesugi's
reporting was that he did not cover domestic policy in detail,particularly of the structural reforms on which PM Koizumi
risked his political life. Mr. Uesugi admits that he did notextensively report on that because he did not fully understandthe details of economic and financial policies at the time.
Instead, he focused on the political struggles that surrounded
the structural reforms. Being a freelance reporter, perhaps hecould not cover all the topics but, as he admits, he and many
journalists were swept up in covering PM Koizumi's fights
with his own party, his unexpected choices of key cabinet
ministers, and political drama such as firing of Ms. Makiko
Tanaka as foreign minister. The Koizumi regime was neverdull but presented dramatic characters and stories and wastherefore nicknamed "The Koizumi Theatre."
Foreign press reported extensively on PM Koizumi's
foreign policy but stories on his domestic reforms andeconomic, fiscal, and financial problems drew only scantattention, except for publications such as the Economist
magazine. (I thank the NBR staff for doing research on thispoint).
Mr. Uesugi's portrait of PM Koizumi when he was in office
is rather harsh, calling him an ultimate narcissist who focused
only on his own ideas, ruthlessly cut even close political allies
if necessary, and pursued his goals relentlessly. The author,
perhaps correctly, points out that PM Koizumi's declaration ofa general election when the Upper House defeated his bill for
privatizing the postal savings and insurance system damaged
the basic rules of the parliamentary system. Indeed, there wasa question why the prime minister could declare a generalelection when the Lower House had passed the legislation.
But it was within his jurisdiction. The only problem the press
had was that most political reporters did not believe PM
Koizumi would pull such a stunt as they were mired in the
traditional political games. When PM Koizumi declared anelection, the press was thrown into confusion and was forced
to follow the political frenzy rather than remain in control of
the reporting. PM Koizumi's LDP had a landslide victory. Mr.
Uesugi saw the election in the summer of 2005 as an epitaph
of defeat for the press.

japansociety Japan Book Review: October 2007

Mr. Uesugi concludes that journalists, particularly politicaleditors and reporters, did not understand that PM Koizumi
and his team had succeeded in breaking down the traditional
relationship between the government and the press.
Traditionally, the Chief Cabinet Secretary made government
announcements at press conferences. Political reporters frommajor news organizations who belonged to the Cabinet pressclub were fed materials and briefed by ministries. The
reporters competed with each other on personal and directaccess to the party leaders, trying to get latest information
about what was going on within the party and the cabinet. By
this method, they speculated about forthcoming cabinet andparty appointments. The shortcoming of this practice was thatpolitical reporters were often too close to those in power andwere accustomed to being briefed by the ruling party andministries rather than investigating the issues on their own.
The first action the Koizumi team took on the press
relations, however, was to change the system of reporting.
Traditionally, print press reporters monopolized thequestioning of the prime minister who would come back fromthe parliament or various functions to his official residence.
This was called "burasagari shuzai" (hanging on to the source)
as the PM would answer questions while walking into theresidence. TV crews were not allowed. The Koizumi teamchanged it to limit the burasagari arrangement for the printpress reporters during the day only and focused on TV
reporting in the evening. Consequently, PM Koizumi's
remarks and image were beamed directly into millions ofhouseholds. This in turn generated greater interest in the socalled "TV wide shows" during which contemporary political
topics were debated. The effort to bypass the close
relationship among bureaucrats, politicians, and politicalreporters worked and reporters from the Cabinet press clubbegan to lose useful sources. An exciting topic was cabinet
appointments but, since PM Koizumi never consulted anyone,even his staff, on these appointments, the reporters were left
in the dark until the moment of the announcement. So were
the LDP leaders.
Mr. Uesugi suggests that Japanese newspapers should
identify their writers, should investigate taboo subjects morevigorously, and stop self-censorship through the press club
system. He is particularly critical of TV coverage, although hehimself became a news reporter for a television station lastyear. Directly involved in TV programming, he asserts herealizes now how TV coverage of the Koizumi government
was often distorted because they were sensitive to the reactionof viewers. For example, when Ms. Makiko Tanaka waspopular among the public, no TV stations dared to report on
her incompetence in running the ministry and her bizarre
behavior and remarks that almost paralyzed Japan's foreign
policy. When PM Koizumi finally fired her, his approval rate
dropped overnight by 20 points.
Mr. Uesugi was born in 1968. After graduating fromcollege, he worked for a TV station, then became an aide to amember of the House of Representatives. After that, he was
hired as a reporter in The New York Times Tokyo bureau andlater began to work as a freelance reporter. Since 2006, he has
been a reporter for Asahi Television.
This book is worth reading because of the author's honesty
in examining the flaws of Japanese press. His central interest
is to pursue a healthy tension between the government andthe media. As a freelance reporter during the Koizumi years,
he certainly seemed to have pursued that objective, howeverjapansociety Japan Book Review: October 2007

flawed. As a member of a television station that can besaddled with viewer ratings, sponsors, government
regulations, and tension between management and union, thisreviewer wonders how far Mr. Uesugi can go toward that
goal. Mr. Uesugi's candid book seemed to attract attention ofJapanese readers, as the book went into a fourth printing in
one month after its publication and remains a best seller.
A different version of this review first appeared on the National
Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) Japan-U.S. Discussion Forum andis reproduced with permission of the author. The original review canbe found here:
http://www.nbr.org/foraui/message.aspx?LID=5&MID=27545

Britain and Japan:
BiographicalPortraits, volume VI
by
Sir
Hugh
Cortazzi(compiled and edited)Japan Society and Global
Oriental (Folkestone, Kent),2007), xxiv + 424 pages, ISBN
978-1-905246-33-5
Review by Janet Hunter

Since the publication of thefirst volume in 1994, the chapters in the volumes of the
Biographical Portraits series have provided us with anincreasingly complex and multifaceted picture of the humaninteraction at the heart of Anglo-Japanese relations, at alllevels of society and in different spheres of activity. This
volume, like its predecessors, offers a highly eclectic mixtureof personal experiences and life stories, focussing on
individuals who, through their ideas and actions, or throughthe organisations with which they were associated, havecontributed to the mutual interaction of the two countries overthe past century and more.
This new volume consists of over thirty new case studies, aswell as a short account of the visit by the Beatles to Japan in
1966. The portraits range widely, and include politicians,
members of the imperial and royal families of the twocountries, business leaders, literary and artistic figures, as well
as scholars and teachers. The politicians include those such as
Winston Churchill and Edward Heath, whose names are notnormally associated with the history of Anglo-Japaneserelations, but whose attitudes towards Japan were of signal
importance at particular times during the 20th century. On theJapanese side, Yoshida Shigeru visited Britain in 1954, while
Nitobe Inazo, famous as an interpreter of Japan for Western
audiences, spent time in London working for the nascent
League of Nations in 1919-20. We learn that court diplomacy
was a key factor in communicating goodwill between the twocountries, even in the turbulent interwar period, while the firstforeign visit by a reigning Japanese monarch, that of the
Showa Emperor to Britain in 1971, marked a stage in therebuilding of friendship after the hostility of the Pacific War
and Occupation years. Moreover, probably few readers knowthat princes Albert Victor and George in 1881 opted to be
tattooed by Japanese tattooists with dragons on their arms,
and they were not alone among visiting members of the3

English royal family in doing so.
A major part of this volume is devoted to studies ofbusiness interaction, and Toyota and Nissan receive particularattention, as do the individuals on both sides involved in the
Nissan and Toyota decisions to invest in production plants in
Britain in the 1980s-1990s. Other Japanese and British
businessmen have their own chapters. In some cases these areindividuals whose recent roles in Anglo-Japanese relations
are well known, such as Sir Peter Parker, Lord (Eric) Roll andChino Yoshitoki of Daiwa Securities. Others are businessleaders such as Morita Akio, whose careers were notparticularly 'Britain-specific', but whose achievements have
had a profound effect on life in the UK. Lesser known
individuals involved with commerce and business earlier inthe century include Frank Guyver Britton, who spent much of
his life in Japan as an engineer, and Ernest Comfort, who wassent to Japan in the early 1920s to help develop aircraft
production by Mitsubishi.
We also read about British writers who spent shorter or
longer periods in Japan - Somerset Maugham, Ian Fleming,Frank Tuohy and Angela Carter - and whose experiences
often shaped their subsequent writing. Several of the chapters
focus on those who helped to increase the awareness andunderstanding of Japanese art and culture in Britain. In thecontext of the arts and crafts movement, Charles Holmesought to introduce the applied arts of Japan, under theslogan of 'beauty and utility.’ The splendid collection ofJapanese artefacts in the British Museum was largely the workof Augustus Franks, while James, Lord Bowes, established thefirst museum in Britain devoted to things Japanese, acollection sadly dispersed in the late 19th century. William
Gowland, whose collection also found its way to the British
Museum, made a signal contribution to the development ofarchaeology in Japan. Finally, there are studies of teachers andscholars, including the consul and later academic,
J.H.Longford, and Kathleen Drew Baker, a botanist who nevervisited Japan, but whose research enabled the prosperity of
the country's postwar nori production.
Writing a comprehensive appraisal of the content of thisvolume is impossible. The diversity of subject matter, writing
style and approach is immense. Some are strongly academic
in formulation, some much less so. Each reader will seek out
the chapters that best accord with his or her particularinterests. It would be invidious to select particular
contributions as better or worse than others. I hope I may use
the reviewer's prerogative, however, to note some personal
preferences. I enjoyed particularly those chapters that told me
about individuals such as Frank Guyver Britton about whom
I knew little (though perhaps should have known more), but
who devoted much of their lives to Japan and made a quiet
contribution to the fabric of Anglo-Japanese relations. The
cases made for the contribution of some of these lesser known
individuals, such as Frank Gowland, was persuasive. Other
chapters shed a new light on some familiar names, such as thejournalist Hugh Byas, or the scholar Maruyama Masao. A final
strength of the book is the inclusion of a number of personalmemoirs, which are likely to constitute an important reference
for the historians of the future. Overall, though, there is in thisvolume something for everyone, whatever the nature of theirinterest in the history of the relationship between Japan and
Britain.
Janet Hunter is a professor at the London School of Economics andPolitical Science.

4

The JapaneseHousewife Overseas:
Adapting to Change
of Culture and Status,
by Ruth Martin,
Global Oriental, 2007, 162 pages
including index bibliography andendnotes, ISBN 978-1-905246-43-4,£45.
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
Ruth Martin's study, which is based on a doctoral thesis,
analyses the challenges and opportunities which the wives ofJapanese businessmen faced when they accompanied theirhusbands on their postings to Britain. These differeddepending on where their husbands worked.
Those posted to London often found that their husbands
worked just as long hours as in Japan whereas the Japaneseworking in factories such as those around Telford tended tofollow British hours and could spend more time with theirfamilies. Inevitably Japanese customs often prevailed
especially in firms operating in the London environment. For
instance the managerial hierarchy was reflected in themeetings of company wives where juniors had to get up andbow when the boss's wife came in and when she departed toher chauffeur driven car. Outside London the atmosphere
was less hierarchical. One striking difference between being inJapan and Britain was that whereas in Japan wives rarely met
other company wives in Britain they were much more likely tosocialize with the other wives in their company.
It is noteworthy that practically none of the Japanese wives
took up any paid employment when they were in Britain.
Ruth Martin does not say whether British employment laws
had anything to do with this. She points out, however, thevoluntary work which Japanese wives undertook. They have,for instance, made a significant contribution to the 'Japan inYour Classroom' scheme sponsored by the Japan Festival
Education Trust and Japan 21, now incorporated into theJapan Society. She notes the way in which the Japan Festival
in 1991 and Japan 2001 "have gone a long way in affecting theimage of Japan in the UK, especially among younger people."
A major challenge for Japanese wives in Britain has
inevitably been language. Many wives came to Britain withan inadequate knowledge of English. This made it difficult forthem to settle down and cope with problems in dealing withschools and household affairs which fell to them while theirhusbands were at their offices or factories. As Ruth Martin
points out colloquial English can be very puzzling. One child
was told to bring "Wellingtons" to school for an excursion. The
mother eventually discovered what was wanted. In fact
Japanese women, when given the right training, often prove
better linguists than Japanese men. Some of the best
Japanese/English interpreters, in my experience, are educatedJapanese women, but they need to develop self-confidence.
Many Japanese are afraid to of making mistakes and by sodoing being impolite; accordingly they tend to be reluctant totake part in conversations thus making it more difficult forthem to make English friends.

japansociety Japan Book Review: October 2007

Many Japanese wives came to appreciate Britain as a placein which to live, but they also found some negative aspects oflife in Britain such as the lack of customer service especially in
London and the unreliability of British workmen plus, ofcourse, the unpunctuality of British trains. Many did,
however, make good English friends and these friendships
often endured after they returned home. Life in Britain also
helped many of them to appreciate better both the good andthe bad points about life in Japan.
Ruth Martin's study understandably does not come to any
startling conclusions, but its analysis contains much of interest
to a student of Japanese society and culture and deserves to beread by more than the social science community.

Long Nights Alone,by Miki Fujita,
BookSurge Publishing, 2006, 268
pages, ISBN: 1419614274
Review by J. Sean CurtinLong Nights Alone is animpressive debut English
language novel by theestablished Japanese author
Miki Fujita. The bookseamlessly transports thereader to the intriguing but
socially ridged world of 10th Century Japan. Fujita brilliantly
blends a fascinating historical setting with a gripping
narrative which makes for compelling reading. The way
people lived in 10th Century Japan is probably a complete
mystery to most non-specialist readers and this makes the richtapestry of historical facts laced throughout the book one of
the reasons it is so enjoyable to read. Fujita succeeds inskilfully illuminating a complex lost world in this excellently
researched novel. Her lucid, engaging writing style makes thetransition to this distant alien land seem almost natural, andshe allows the reader to understand a little of the dynamics ofthe period. I certainly felt I gain some insights into the social
structure of the period, and how it shaped the logic as well as
behaviour of the people of that age.
The novel largely revolves around the life, love andfrustrations of the talented Lady Bellflower, whose life course
is dictated by the complex social norms of the period. The
actions of the young, innocent Bellflower are severely
restricted by the traditions of her age and in many respects sheis the archetypal bird in a gilded cage. Her thoughts burnwith passion and curiosity about the world which she so
eloquently depicts in poetry, while her heart yearns to know
the true meaning of love. Yet this beautiful young woman
finds herself trapped in a realm where the kind of love she sodesperately craves is an illusion confined to the realms offiction. Following the social conventions of the time herparents strongly encouraged her to marry a man from a
prominent family to enhance their own and her social status.
They recommend a union with the down-to-earth Fujiwara
Tomonaga, who is an up-and-coming aristocrat. To a certain
degree Tomonaga is the antithesis of Bellflower's male ideal
and she tries to resist his advances. An inner struggle between
love and duty plays itself out within the young energetic
woman, but Bellflower eventually submits to her family's

japansociety Japan Book Review: October 2007

wishes, agreeing to tie the knot with Tomonaga.
Her new husband already has one established wife, thecalculating Lady Wisteria, as well as a long-term mistress, thegracious Morning Glory. Soon after her wedding night
Bellflower discovers the agony of being forced to share her
new husband with another woman and the conflict thiscreates within her eventually consumes her. Over time thepain of her situation makes her selfish and bitter until her
poetry is the only true vestige of her former self.
Bellflower channels her passion into her writing as a meansof escape from the social sarcophagus within which she isentombed, but while her prose remains sophisticated it
conceals a darker side. At the other end of the spectrum, thesame cultural milieu transforms Tomonaga's mistress,
Morning Glory, into a beacon of self-sacrifice whose virtue
outshines all the other characters. Lady Wisteria, Tomonaga's
scheming first wife, is the great survivor of the story and one
feels she would be at home in any age. How each of these very
different women copes with the confines of the age they findthemselves in is one of the fascinating themes of the narrative.
As for Tomonaga, despite his many faults he eventually learns
the meaning of true love.
According to a foreword by the author, the underlying
source for the novel is a 10th Century diary by an aristocratic
woman known to history only as "Mother of Michitsuna" whowas married to the powerful aristocrat Fujiwara Kaneiye. This
diary was required reading for classical literature classes
when Fujita was a high school student in Japan and while"Long Nights Alone" is an entirely original work, the poems
from this classical work about the deep loneliness the lady felt
when her husband was away provided the inspiration for thenovel. It seems that allowing the non-Japanese reader greater
insights into Japan is one of Fujita's primary objectives andpresumably one of the main reasons she decided to write thenovel in English instead of her native Japanese. The result ofher efforts is an impressive debut English language novel,
which offers an enlightening window on a murky period ofJapan's history. With "Long Nights Alone" Fujita hasestablished herself as a new talent to watch.

Long Nights Alone: Reader's Comments
by Clare KeenLong Nights Alone is a must-read novel set in ancientJapan, a really fascinating period. For me, this book opened up
a whole new chapter in Japan's long history. I really felt
sympathy for Lady Bellflower, the main female character, whois described in realistic terms. You can genuinely understandthe injustice she feels at having to marry someone she does not
love, Fujiwara Tomonaga, and then have that person share histime with her and another women, Lady Wisteria. The talealso made me reflect on the human condition in general as thenovel is based on a 10th Century diary. Duty, love, power,
romance, pride, passion, obligation, endurance and revenge
have all been with mankind for as long as the written word
has existed. Miki Fujita's writing style really makes the mostof this potent mix of emotions and she gives us a great
historical backdrop. I just could not stop reading this bookonce I started. You could really empathize on different levels
with Bellflower, Lady Wisteria, and Morning Glory. The
ending even brought a tear to my eye and I hope there will bea sequel or maybe even a movie, it would make a fantastic
period piece.

5

Hula Girls - special event and screening

Hawaiian Centre in this region of Japan which experiences
winters bitter enough to obliterate the hardiest of palm trees.

Review by Susan Meehan

By turns funny and sad and occasionally menacing withglimpses into domestic violence, Hula Girls is undoubtedly afeel-good film and the local Japanese dialect used is a joy tohear. Characters are developed fully and change over thecourse of the film which is charged at times with tension andconflict ("the essence of drama," according to Tony Rayns).

For the third year
running, the Embassy ofJapanorganised
anexcellent festival of new
Japanese films at BAFTA
over the weekend of 14-16
September 2007. Guided
by the expert hands of Tony Rayns and Alexander Jacoby, thechoice of films on offer was extremely good.
Hula Girls (2006) had its UK premiere on Saturday 15
September and was preceded by a talk between acclaimed East
Asian film critic Tony Rayns and director, Lee Sang-II, who
flew over from Japan especially for the event. Gently probing,
Tony Rayns elicited interesting and lengthy replies from thevery thoughtful and eloquent Lee, on topics ranging from
Lee's Korean ethnicity to his time at film school and his
opinion on the state of the Japanese film industry (thoughmore people in Japan are watching Japanese rather thanforeign films, most of these tend to be TV spin offs - a situation
Lee is not happy with).
Lee was born in Niigata, Japan in 1974, but having attended
a Korean School in Japan, he said that there had been times
when he had felt isolated from Japanese society and had been
moved to make films on the Korean situation such as Blue
Chong (Ao Chong, 2000), a portrayal of third generation
Koreans in Japan. Blue Chong, Lee's graduation piece from theJapan Academy of Moving Images was also his first featurefilm and won him the Grand Prize at the PIA Film Festival. His
next film, Borderline (2002) once again mused on Japanesesociety and the zainichi or ethnic Koreans.
The success of Borderline led to the Japanese film industry
knocking on Lee's door. Unable to refuse the lucrative offers
which came his way, a rather wistful Lee conceded that it
meant no more dabbling with indies - at least for the time
being. His ambition is to make an independent movie with agreat budget, but the first step towards this is to work in themainstream.
Lee's third film, Sixty Nine, was a change of pace and studiocommission (Toei) based on the Ryu Murakami
autobiographical book and was followed by Scrap Heaven
about two boys, a girl and their revenge game and then HulaGirls.
Hula Girls was released to much critical acclaim in Japan in
September 2006 and went on to win five major awards at the2007 Japan Academy Awards including best film, best director,
best screenplay, best supporting actress and most popular film.
It also won two major awards at the prestigious 80th Kinema
Junpo Awards including best film and best actress.
Though centering on a motley crew of women in hula gear,the film is reminiscent of the Full Monty, Billy Elliott, Calendar
Girls and Brassed Off in its depiction of the demise of a mining
community and its demoralised citizens. It is 1965 Japan andthe mining town of Iwaki in Fukushima Prefecture is interminal decline with the collapse of the coal mining industry.
In hope of restoring Iwaki's fortunes, the town's elders andsole mining company have a whacky idea - the building of a6

We were extremely privileged to have another audience
with Lee after the screening. Looking very relaxed, he told
Tony Rayns that much research had gone into the film which
he wrote with Daisuke Habara - he visited Iwaki of course andread interviews with the dancers and miners. The Hawaiian
centre (now called the Spa Resort Hawaiians) still exists andsince the film's success has been fully booked for months
ahead.
We were not surprised to hear that Lee made the film withthe features Billy Elliott, Brassed Off and The Full Monty verymuch on his mind. As to the lack of romance in the film, Leeinitially said this would have got in the way of the story, butthen admitted that in the first version of the film which wasjust under three hours long, romance did feature. Pressed into
shortening the film, the romance between the Hula teacher
and Kimiko's brother and a love interest for Sayuri weresacrificed. There was a collective melancholic sigh from arather soppy audience at this point.
In answer to a question about favourite directors, Lee said
he continues to respect Imamura Shohei and admires Ken
Loach - he loved The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
Following the Q&A, I couldn't believe my luck at being
introduced to Lee over a drink of Guinness in the swanky
BAFTA bar and asked him about his influences. Lee said that
he likes films by Kurosawa Akira, Martin Scorcese, Imamura
Shohei, Francis Coppola, Ken Loach and Stanley Kubrick. He
naturally likes the films which Hula Girls is often compared to(Billy Elliott, The Full Monty and Brassed Off) and had even been
to Victoria Palace to see the Billy Elliott musical during his stayin London.
As to actors outside of Japan whom he respects and would
like to work with, Lee mentioned Liam Neeson, Sean Penn andDaniel Day Lewis. I started getting a feel for this director who
likes heavy-weight actors with a political and social conscienceand identified with his good taste! I suggested that he might
like Jim Sherridan's In the Name of the Father, which he does,and Lee also said that he loves Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen and
Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, which made a tremendous impact
on him. Given the chance, he would like to make a film basedon the novel by thriller writer Takamura Kaoru called Shoot the
Riviera, which takes place in Ireland, Japan and the UK.
I can't wait to see Lee back in London and look forward to
his next film which he is already working on. It is set in the
1880s, and deals with the modernisation of Japan and the Ainu
of Hokkaido post-Meiji Restoration; certainly something tolook forward to!

japansociety Japan Book Review: October 2007

Blind Willow, Sleeping
Woman
by Haruki Murakami, translated fromJapanese by Philip Gabriel and Jay
Rubin,
Vintage, 2007, 436 pages, ISBN: 978-0099-51282-0
Review by Mikihiro Maeda
Haruki Murakami's novels aretranslated into around forty languages. Murakami is one of themost famous living Japanese novelists, and at the same time heis a translator of American literature into Japanese, namely theworks of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote, John Irving andRaymond Carver. As many Japanese may know, his novel"Norwegian Wood" (Noruwei no Mori) was published in 1987,
and this two-volume book has sold around eight million
copies in both hard cover and paperback in Japan and has
made him a national celebrity.
This book "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" is a collection oftwenty-six short stories from the surreal to the mundane, someof which he wrote while staying at a U.S. university after the
publication of "Norwegian Wood". In 1981 he wrote 'The
Mirror', 'A Perfect Day for Kangaroos', 'Dabchick', 'The Year of
Spaghetti', and 'The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes.' The final
five stories, 'Chance Traveller', 'Hanalei Bay', 'Where I'm Likely
to Find It', 'The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day'and 'A Shinagawa Monkey' appeared in the book "Strange
Tales From Tokyo" (Tokyo Kitanshu), published in Japan in
2005. Although five stories share the same theme, each story
can be read separately.
In the introduction of this book he described his short story
writing style as follows: "I find writing novels a challenge,
writing short stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting aforest, then writing short stories is more like planting agarden." When he finished writing novels he wanted to write
short stories, and once a group of short stories was finished heagain focused on writing a long novel or he rewrote shortstories and incorporated them into novels in some cases.
'Firefly' in this book was incorporated as parts of the longnovel "Norwegian Wood," and 'Man-Eating Cats' was "Sputnik
Sweetheart" as readers may notice. And 'Crabs', 'A Poor Aunt
Story', 'Hunting Knife' and 'Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman'have all been greatly revised before translation into English, so
the versions published in Japan differ from the stories in thisbook. Before translation into English, Murakami also mademinor changes to parts of stories with which he was not
pleased.
Sometimes when Murakami writes a novel, he writes inEnglish at first and then translates it into Japanese with therhythms of jazz. According to the author, his English
vocabulary is more limited than his Japanese vocabulary, so it
is easy for him to write in simple sentences. Regarding theinfluence of jazz music, he ran a jazz bar in the western part ofTokyo with his wife for one year before graduation fromWaseda University until he had to stop to concentrate on
writing novels. So in his novels we can enjoy many famousjazz and popular western songs. I think one sentence in the
introduction of this book should be introduced here: "An ideathat springs up in your mind, a word, an image, whatever. In

japansociety Japan Book Review: October 2007

most cases it's like jazz improvisation, with the story taking me
where it wants to."It also should not be forgotten that Murakami is not a
perfectionist about published translations of his works. He
does not hesitate to publish a new book in foreign languages,
even if the translated version is not perfect or is incomplete. He
has said that it is much more important to publish in goodtime than to wait for the perfect version to come later. Some
Japanese writers hesitate about whether their works should betranslated into other languages, saying that the original
Japanese meaning will not be conveyed accurately in otherlanguages. But in this global age, those novels not translated
are never read by foreigners. Novels should be translated into
other languages to be read worldwide.
Why are his works loved by and attractive to so many
readers not only in Japan but also in foreign countries, mainly
in Taiwan and China? In one of his most famous novels, "TheWind-Up Bird Chronicle," he examined the Manchuria
incident, which occurred during World War II, and apparently
he regrets the Japanese military action in China at that time. It
appears that this is one of the reasons why Murakami is well
accepted in Asian countries, mainly China. Moreover, in the
day and age when Murakami was young it seems that people
appreciated inner spiritual satisfaction much more than thematerialism embraced these days.
"Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" was the winner of the 11th
annual Kiriyama Prize in 2007 and the Frank O'Connor
International Short Story Award in September, 2006. Also, in2006 Murakami received the Franz Kafka Prize (Czech
Republic) for his novel "Kafka on the Shore (Umibe no Kafka)."
Two recipients of this latter prize before him won the Nobel
Prize for Literature, so it seems that Murakami will be apossible nominee for the Nobel Prize in the near future.
This review was produced in collaboration with Global
Communications Platform and first published on the Platform:
http://www.glocom.org/

Warriors of
Art: A Guide toContemporary
Japanese
Artists
by Yumi Yamaguchi
and Arthur Tanaka,
Kodansha International,
2007, 176 pages, over
200 colour plates from 40
artists, ISBN 10:4770030312, ISBN 13:
9784770030313, price£20.
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
This book will help anyone who wants to understand thecontemporary art scene in Japan, who is sympathetic tocontemporary art in Europe and who enjoys the sort of art
collected by the Saatchi brothers. It is unlikely to appeal to theolder generation who remain attracted by traditional Japanese7

art and culture, but if we want to understand the attitudes ofthe younger generation in Japan we must be aware of modern
trends and interests. This is therefore a book which whether
we like the works of the artists illustrated in it we cannot
ignore. It brings together the works of 40 contemporary
Japanese artists devoting four pages with vivid colour
illustrations to each artist.
In her introduction Yumi Yamaguchi explains the
background to and the development of modern Japanese art.
The pioneer was Taro Okamoto (1911-1996) who “as an art
student in France in the 1930s was influenced strongly byvanguard groups such as Abstraction-Création and thesurrealists”.
The lead in the final years of the twentiethcentury was taken by Takashi Murakami. In 2001 Murakami
took his self-curated Superflat exhibition on a tour of theUnited States in which "he presented his concept that all
creative works on a flat surface are 'hyper two-dimensional' or'superflat,' and that the term superflat can also be used todescribe the shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture."(Some members of the Japan Society may recall a lecture by
Murakami at the Royal Institution when he expounded his
theories and showed a film illustrating them. I for one cameaway not much the wiser.) Murakami's second exhibition
called "Coloriage" was followed by a third exhibition entitled"Little Boy." This "emphasised the importance of otaku
subculture - an obsession with the fantastic world of anime,
manga, and computer games - in contemporary Japanese art."
Below is a photograph of Takashi Murakami's "Reversed
Double Helix," 2003, urethane paint, fibre glass and steel:Yumi
Yamaguchi tells us that Yoshitomo Nara's "depiction of cute
yet menacing children have made a huge impact both in Japanand overseas." His "trademarks are his angry or troubled little
girls, marooned against an empty background, excluded fromthe adult world."

She explains in her introduction that "A glance at the workof the forty artists introduced in this book reveals recurring
images of the cute, the grotesque, the erotic, the violent. Japanis a society where the dividing lines between adult and childculture are blurred…It is a society where expressions ofsexuality and violence flood the market place… But beneaththe veneer of cultural chaos and futuristic decadence lies
another Japan: a Japan where centuries of spiritual tradition
have been passed down through the generations."
Yumi Yamaguchi provides a brief account of the work ofeach of the forty artists who are introduced in this book. For
instance of Makoto Aida she notes that his themes are "diverseand unpredictable" and include "sadomasochism, political8

satire and absurd humor."Junko Mizuno, she writes, "draws on the cute characters foundin girls' comics and incorporates them into her own narrative
world - a place where fantasy meets grotesque."Preview: Under The
Sun
by Justin Kerr-Smiley
Reportage Press, 2007, 243 Pages,
ISBN13:9780955572937(Hardback), £16.99p
Preview by J. Sean Curtin(review next issue)
This is an impressive firstnovel by Justin Kerr-Smiley
which grippingly depicts thesuffering and pain of conflict and the humanity that lies within
us all. The two protagonists, the English pilot Edward
Strickland and the Japanese officer Captain Tadashi Hayama,
slowly bridge the immense cultural gulf which divides themand in the process discover the meaning of true friendship.
The duo have very different philosophical outlooks and thesometimes sharp contrast between the pair forms a central
theme in the novel. It is a thought-provoking book exploring
the psychology of conflict and how men cope with theimmense trauma and terrible stresses of war. The narrative
skilfully navigates around the complexities, contradictions
and absurdities inherent in the wartime concept of 'the enemy'
and how impossible it is to sustain such an idea in a conflictfree environment. It is set on an idyllic Pacific island largely
untouched by the savage winds of WWII. The book is
extremely well-researched and will appeal to those alreadyfamiliar with Japan as well as the ordinary reader.

Under The Sun had a wellattended book launch in
Holland Park, London on 1st
November 2007 at which theauthor, Justin Kerr-Smiley,signed copies of the novel
and answered questions
about the novel.

japansociety Japan Book Review: October 2007