The Japan Society Review 78
Book, Stage, Film, Arts and Events Review

Issue 78 Volume 13 Number 6 (December 2018)

Welcome to the final issue of The Japan Society Review in 2018.
This year has provided wonderful opportunities to read andlearn about Japan through publications, films and events andin the Review we have covered 29 of them, from art exhibitions
to academic books, literature, and theatre. The Japan Society isextremely grateful to all of its reviewers for giving up their time andexpertise. They transmit their knowledge and passion about Japanin their reviews and this issue is especially dedicated to them.
The issue opens with a review of British Foreign Secretaries
and Japan 1850-1990, a volume published by Renaissance Books
and the Japan Society that was presented at our Annual Meeting inJuly 2018. Compiled and edited by Sir Hugh Cortazzi and Professor
Antony Best, this book is the latest addition to the Japan Society’s
series devoted to aspects of Anglo-Japanese relations which
includes ten volumes of Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits aswell as British Envoys in Japan. The essays included in this work
show us “how the Anglo-Japanese relationship played out inWhitehall through the careers of the successive foreign secretaries”.
Also dealing with international relations but from avery different, individual perspective, A Tokyo Romance is the
autobiographical account by American writer and historian Ian
Buruma of his time spent in Japan through the late 1970s to
the early 1980s. Buruma explores the beginning of his life-longlove and fascination with Japanese culture, focusing on his
experiences as a photojournalist and his first hand contact withradical filmmaking and avant-garde theatre.
With references to Japanese linguistics, art and modern
popular culture, Ninja: Unmasking the Myth is an entertaining
and informative study of one of the most celebrated figures ofJapanese imaginary, the ninja or shinobi. The author, Stephen
Turnbull, exposes the myths surrounding these figures andprovides ninja enthusiasts and novices with a clear and thoughtprovoking introduction to its elusive history.
For those readers thinking of travelling to Japan soon,
the new guide book Japan – 100 Hidden Towns can enhanceyour journey via side trips to places off the beaten track. Wellresearched and organised, this guide contains information about
nature spots, festivals, museums, food and drink, and contains
beautiful, photographs and useful phrases in Japanese.
We conclude this issue with a review of the film Shoplifters,
the latest work of Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu. Awarded
with the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival in 2018, Shoplifters isa heart-warming and unusual story of human affection which also
provides a powerful critique of Japanese contemporary society.
Alejandra Armendáriz-Hernández

Contents
1)

British Foreign Secretaries and Japan 1850-1990 compiled
and edited by Antony Best and Hugh Cortazzi

2)

A Tokyo Romance by Ian Buruma

3)

Ninja: Unmasking the Myth by Stephen Turnbull

4)

Japan – 100 Hidden Towns edited by Anthony Gardner

5)

Shoplifters directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu

EditorAlejandra Armendáriz-Hernández
Reviewers
Morgane Chinal-Dargent, Peter Kornicki, Susan Meehan, George
Mullins and Beau Waycott.

Image: © Thunderbird Releasing

British Foreign Secretaries
and Japan 1850-1990:
Aspects of the Evolution of
British Foreign Policy
compiled and edited by Antony
Best and Hugh Cortazzi
Renaissance Books (2018)
ISBN-13: 978-1898823735
Review by Peter Kornicki
International travel, G8 and G7 summits, videoconference calls and the internet have brought
immediacy and personal chemistry into play in foreign
relations in recent years, and it is very easy to take themfor granted. In the middle of the nineteenth century,
however, communication was by sea-borne mail,which took two to three months from Japan to Britain
and vice versa. Japan was not only on the other side of
the world, but it was also largely out of mind. Indeed, it
wasn’t until 1962 that a British foreign secretary visited
Japan, and 1972 that a British prime minister travelled
to Japan.
The essays in this book, written by the two
editors and by others including Ian Nish and Thomas
Otte, show us how the Anglo-Japanese relationshipplayed out in Whitehall through the careers of thesuccessive foreign secretaries, starting with Lords John
Russell, Clarendon and Granville and ending with Sir
Geoffrey Howe. In addition, the late Hugh Cortazzi
provides accounts of the policies of Edward Heath andMargaret Thatcher, the first two prime ministers to visit
Japan. As Antony Best reminds us in his wise and wideranging introduction to this volume, between the mid
nineteenth century and the years of Mrs Thatcher as
prime minister, the relationship between Britain andJapan had not only gone through ups and downs
but had also been fundamentally transformed. In the
1850s Britain and the British Empire were thriving andenjoyed enormous power that covered the globe
while Japan was a newcomer on the international
stage. By the 1970s Britain had lost its empire andwas in economic decline, while Japan was enjoying aperiod of high-speed growth and was very clearly on
the rise.
For most of the nineteenth century it is difficult to
identify anything that could be called a policy towards
Japan in the Foreign Office. For Britain the promotionof trade was the prime interest, even though Lord John
Russell, for example, was unimpressed by the arrogant
behaviour of some British merchants in Japan. For the2

most part, therefore, matters were left to the Minister(from 1905 Ambassador) on the spot, even after it
became possible, in the 1870s, to communicate rapidly
by telegraph. Foreign policy towards Japan, then, wasmainly pragmatic and took the form of reaction to
events. Two phrases that occur in this book, ‘cautious
inactivity’ and ‘benign neglect’ seem to encapsulate
the approach of successive foreign secretaries in thenineteenth century, few of whom seem to have taken
any particular interest in Japan.
In the late nineteenth century there were anumber of issues in the Anglo-Japanese relationshipthat very much exercised the Japanese government,
however, particularly the unequal treaties and thequestion of extraterritoriality. It was only in the final
decade of the nineteenth century, however, that Japanbegan to impinge on the consciousness of successive
foreign secretaries. In 1894 negotiations for the revisionof the treaties got underway and although they did
not reach a conclusion for many years the atmosphere
had definitely changed. This was partly because of
growing suspicion of Russian intentions in East Asiaand partly, of course, a reaction to Japan’s success in
the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-95, which made Japanthe dominant power in East Asia. Sir Edward Grey wentso far as to say in retrospect that, ‘We had made up
our minds that the time had come when dealings
with Japan must be put on the same equal terms asexist between nations of European origin’. These finesentiments were slow to be put into action, but theformation of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902
inaugurated a period in which Japan required morethan ‘benign neglect’ from foreign secretaries.
Lord Curzon, who served as foreign secretaryfrom 1919 to 1924, was the first to have already takena serious interest in Asia. In 1892 he had visited Japanas an MP and met a number of senior members of theJapanese government including Ito Hirobumi, theprime minister. In 1894 he had published Problems of
the Far East: Japan-Korea-China, and he had drawn on
his knowledge of Japan’s military strength to predict a
Japanese victory in the Sino-Japanese war. His period
in office coincided with the end of the Anglo-Japanesealliance in 1923, but Curzon had in fact been in favourof extending it for a further period.
Curzon’s successors lacked both his first-handknowledge of Japan and his interest in East Asia butthey also had to deal with far more serious problems
as Anglo-Japanese relations deteriorated in the 1930s.
Ernest Bevin as foreign secretary in the post-war
Labour government had to deal with the occupation
Issue 78, Volume 13, Number 6 (December 2018)

of Japan and the conclusion of a peace treaty, but
over subsequent decades, as the Japanese economy
entered a period of sustained growth, relations withJapan entered a new phase. Increasingly trade issues,
such as access to the Japanese market and Japanese
investment in Britain, became the focus of British
policy, but there was also growing recognition ofJapan’s growing role on the world stage, for when
the G6 was formed in 1975 Japan was one of theoriginal members. Whether they were interested ornot, foreign secretaries found that Japan took up moreof their time and attention, and Japan has continued
figure prominently in the formation of British foreign
policy. More recent developments, however, such as
responses to the transformation of China into a global
economic and political power are not covered in thisbook, for the obvious reason that under the 30-year
rule the relevant papers have not yet been released.
Anybody with an interest in the politicaldimension to the Anglo-Japanese relationship willfind this book a goldmine, while for those who workon the Foreign Office papers in the National Archives
in Kew, it will be an invaluable guide to what wasgoing on in London while successive ambassadors
were reporting on events in Japan. The essays are
uniformly well researched and they manage to locatechanging policy towards Japan in the context of a fluid
international situation in which Japan usually did not
figure prominently in British political considerations.
Few Japanese political leaders have been
comfortable in English, it is true, but on the other
hand no British foreign secretary has yet been able
to display much knowledge of Japanese. For thisreason, interpreters have had a crucial but invisible
role to play in Anglo-Japanese relations, as have British
diplomatic representatives in Japan. This book carries
on its cover a picture of the imposing British Embassy
building in Tokyo, and perhaps there is in that justa suggestion that foreign policy may be made in
Whitehall but would be at sea without the acumen of
British ambassadors, most of whom have had at least
some knowledge of Japanese. One of them, Sir HughCortazzi, who learnt his Japanese during the war, wasthe joint editor and originator of this book, and it is sad
to note his passing.§

A Tokyo Romanceand design. Buruma’s memoir of his time spent in Japanthrough the late 1970s to the early 1980s shows us
not just how his personality as a youth was concreted,but also how a society caught between stupefying
economic growth and the mass student protests that
followed. Buruma escapes his upper class adolescencein the Netherlands with a scholarship to study film at
Nihon University, Tokyo, but inevitably spends moretime in seedy underground picture houses and rowdy
town halls filled with drunken performances of live
theatre than in the university’s libraries or lecture halls.
Finding amazement from these almost hallucinatory
escapades, clearly serving in binary opposition to a
wealthy and privileged upbringing, an enchantment
with Tokyo’s shitamachi (or, as Buruma translates it,“low city”) is born.
Home has always been a thorny subject for
Buruma, who describes himself early in the memoir
as “Anglo-German-Jewish” with lapsed Dutch
Protestantism in his paternal lineage. Readers can easily
infer the noisy, neon and wholly alien nature of theshitamachi provides anonymity in which it is evident
Buruma revels. Through lurid and often captivatingly
poignant prose, readers are taken through a numberof adventures within the context of contemporary
Japanese cinema; perhaps most interesting is

by Ian Buruma
Penguin Press (2018)
ISBN-13: 978-1101981412
Review by Beau Waycott
Ian Buruma is arguably one of the most well known
public intellectual in contemporary culture. Journalist,
author and now the relatively recently-appointed
editor of The New York Review of Books, Buruma is auniversally respected and valued voice on a plethoraof pressing issues, be they political, artistic, cultural orprosaic. His 1984 book Behind The Mask was widelycelebrated for detailing the darker undersides ofJapanese culture, and laid the foundations of his
intellectual career. Yet, for such a public figure, there
has always been something of the flâneur about
Buruma, with the journey he took from a disenchanted
undergraduate Sinologist in the Hague to a leading
expert on all things Oriental living in New York
remaining a clouded mystery.
A Tokyo Romance serves to explain this journey, orat least the beginning of a life-long love and fascination
with Japanese culture (be it low or high) and, more
importantly, how this culture is manifested through art
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3

Buruma’s association with Donald Richie, an American
GI who stayed in Japan after World War II, and is widely
credited with bringing Japanese film to popularity in
America, particularly the work of Ozu Yasujiro. Richie
serves as a sensei to Buruma, widening his view ofJapanese society greatly with common acquaintancessuch as Terayama Shuji, whose character is portrayeddeftly by Buruma in multiple misadventures.
Those with more traditional interest inJapanese culture may be shocked at the nature of
Buruma’s writing, with many of the works he details
conforming to the principles of ero guro nansensu(erotic, grotesque, absurd), as was typical of avantgarde arts at the time, mainly in protest against boththe contrived and snobbish nature of high-class
Japanese traditions and the Westernisation of urban
Japan and its culture. Throughout the memoir there
becomes a growing tolerance for the perverse in
the arts, with Buruma writing that Japanese society
has a ‘pornographic imagination’ that is far moreevident than in the cultures in which he grew up, bethat through advertising and fashion or theatre andcinema. Just a cursory reading makes it clear that thisholds a great appeal to Buruma, yet details of personal
thoughts and emotions are frustratingly infrequent,
with possible leads to a wider opinion all diverging
before any true sentiment is shown. Buruma also
worked as an assistant to Magnum photographerswhilst in Japan, and many of his own black-and-whitephotographs of shocking avant-garde performances
are printed in the book, yet they all receive either aperfunctory mention or no mention at all, with starkand brief notes all that accompany such expert piecesof photojournalism.
Ultimately, Buruma finds the cinematic world too
insular, drops out of his university studies and begins
to spend more time in theatres, growing an interest in
Noh and other unconventional schools of performance.

As he becomes more and more immersed in Japanesesociety, a strange paradox becomes evident. Moving
deeper into the lives of Japanese friends, be it throughtravel, work or friendship (or, often with Buruma,
a combination of all three), he actually becomes
more isolated and removed from the native group;
the status of gaijin becomes far more noticeable for
Buruma, for his Japanese counterparts, and for thereader. Buruma is forced to accept a rhetoric of “once a
gaijin, always a gaijin”, and a feeling of discontent rises
the further he integrates into society. Buruma seems toalmost juxtapose Murakami Haruki’s characters: whilst
Murakami shows solitary Japanese characters withmainly Western traits, Buruma is a sociable Westerncharacter with Japanese traits.
Buruma’s memoir is warm, artful and fond,describing the youthful, colourful and rich escapadesof an open and free young man living in foreign
anonymity. Complimented with lucid, agile prosethat bounds off the page and straight into all of yoursenses, Buruma has created a memoir that comes close
to literary wondrousness. Yet, despite the captivatingplot and beautiful authorship, Buruma’s feelings
remain overly guarded, and there is a constant senseof detachment from the text, almost as though thesixty-something Buruma writing the text can see little
commonality with the past self he’s writing about. The
remote nature of Buruma’s own characterisation leaves
doubt about what the true “romance” of the novel is;
perhaps it is the art Buruma creates and reviews, orthe namelessness he is allowed in a foreign culture, ormaybe sexual freedoms not comme-il-faut in his native
Europe. Overall, however, A Tokyo Romance receives
a warm recommendation, due to its holistic portal ofJapanese society, cinema and theatre in a time where
Japan was undergoing something of an identity crisis,
and at a time when the identity of a truly fascinating
intellectual was becoming.§

Ninja: Unmasking the Mythelusive history of the now ubiquitous image of theninja, or shinobi. Although the picture of the shuriken(ninja star) wielding masked figure is widely associatedwith Japan, few know of the truth that lies behind thiswell-constructed historical figure: however, in thisbook, Turnball exposes the myths and sets the record
straight.
In the quest to discover the truth behind theblack-cladded warrior, Turnball takes the reader ona journey through Japanese history in a concise andneatly written piece of work. The book includes an

by Stephen Turnbull
Frontline Books (2018)
ISBN-13: 978-1473850422
Review by George Mullins
Stephen Turnball’s recent factual work Ninja: Unmasking
the Myth acts as an entertaining, yet informative, bookthat provides both ninja enthusiasts and novices witha clear and thought-provoking introduction to the4Issue 78, Volume 13, Number 6 (December 2018)

in-depth analysis of early Japanese texts, with a focus
on language, and takes a critical lens to examine
battle reports from Japan’s infamous Sengoku period.
Turnball also casts his gaze to the contemporary
world and the future of the ninja myth. He eloquently
explores the impact of the influential early 20th
century Ninja manuals, alongside manga and feature
length films, illuminating their instrumentalism inconstructing the current image of the covert, highly
skilled and agile warrior that exists today. In thisexciting and factual work, readers will fine great
enjoyment in Turnball’s down to earth writing styleand unparalleled knowledge of the mysterious ninja,
which Japanophiles around the world have come toadore.
With the term ‘ninja’ only appearing in theJapanese dictionary in 1974, it’s truly fascinating tothink that the unknown espionage warrior manged
to become a ubiquitous cultural phenomenon so
rapidly. Anime, manga and video games are rife withninja characters, who wear masked outfits and wield
sharp short swords. But popular media images of thelegendary warrior, such as that in Naruto or Mortal
Kombat, often mystify the truth behind the fascinating
historical figure. With help from Mie University
researchers, and a deep-pool of historical and cultural
knowledge, Turnball picks apart the myths surrounding
the ninja and ninjutsu and cornicles it’s rise in theJapanese cultural consciousness. In the book’s concise
15 chapters, readers will be sure to see the facts behindthe ninja myth trump their fictious representation.
Ninja: Unmasking the Myth starts off with achapter that highlights the discontinuity in the ninja
tradition, neatly framing the book’s key focus. Turnballcritically assesses the language and kanji charactersthat were used in some of the early texts that allude to
the famed ninja warrior. By highlighting the plethora ofinterpretations of the word ‘ninja’ it is clear to see thata precise understanding of the warrior’s origins may
be impossible to achieve. For example, discrepancies
in the interpretation of the meaning of ‘nin’ exist,
with some schools of thought believing this alludes
to the warrior’s secrecy and invisibility, traits whichcharacterise modern interpretations of the ninja. Butothers believe ‘nin’ refers to endurance and patience,such as mastery of martial arts.
The writer also introduces readers to the word
‘shinobi’, which adds further linguistic ambiguity.
‘Shinobi’ has historically been used simultaneously
as a noun to describe the black-clad assassin, but andalso as verb to express sneaky and secretive behaviour
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carried about by anyone indiscriminately. This duel
meaning, as Turnball displays using a historical battle
account from 1338, results in misinterpretations andconfusions, and has led to certain historical events
being associated with ninja, when in reality they myhave no bearing to the true history of the ninja warrior.
This chapter’s focus on Japanese characters means it
will be of particular interest to those studying Japanese
language, however, to a layman like myself, it is stilleasy to comprehend and remains enlightening.
Chapter 2 delves further into the warrior unit’s
origins. Turnball points use towards the profound andlasting Chinese war manual Sun Zi and the Art of War as
a possible building block in the foundation of the ninja
as a key actor in feudal Japan used for espionage andinfiltration purposes. This is a particularly interesting
interpretation as the Ninja is often presented as auniquely Japanese icon, yet ironically, it’s true origins
may in fact lie in China! Chapters 3 through to 6 focus
on the geographical location of the ninja: Koka andIga. These two provinces lie East of the Kyoto-OsakaKobe metropolitan area and, as Turnball explains, havebecome the home of the ninja myth. Thousands ofJapanese and international tourists flock to Koka eachyear to experience life in the ninja village. Iga city is also
a popular tourist hotspot, boasting an impressive Edo
period castle and as well as being the birth place of
the widely known samurai/ninja figure Hattori Hanzo.
Turnball illuminates these chapters with fascinating
historical accounts of battles and family feuds, with
Koka and Iga acting as the back drop of these Game
Of Throne esc. stories. Tales of castle infiltrations andninjas dressing up as monks fill these entertaining
chapters. The account of the Rokkaku samurai clan vs
the Nobonaga family in the 16th century is a personal
favourite and highlights the exciting, yet gruesome,world of the ninja in pre-Tokugawa Japan.
From Turnball’s writing and analysis, a truthful
picture of the ninja begins to form. Rather than amagical, elusive, mask-clad assassin, the more accurate
image of a tactile and cunning espionage solider
begins to emerge from Turnball’s accounts. ThroughTurnball’s analysis of historical sources, the mysticaland fantasy becomes grounded, and the pragmaticand well-trained shinobi of civil-war Japan takes its
place: one that preferred rope ladders and civilian
clothing too ninja stars and masked outfits.
Turnball moves away from the geographicalfocus on the ninja and looks at their presence inTokugawa Japan. Chapter 7, entitled ‘The Shogun’s
Shinobi’, assesses the role the ninja warrior occupied
5

during the peaceful rule of the Tokugawa bakufu.
Turnball concludes that they acted more as detectives,using low-level espionage to ensure both samurai andpeasants followed the rigid rules of the shogunate.
Shinobi men are even of said to of infiltrated andinvestigated Commodore Perry’s black ships upon
their infamous arrival in Yokohama! What Turnballdisplays is that the ninja did factually exist and were
utilised in Tokugawa Japan, however their deeds areless heroic, and action packed as their 21st century
image presents them as. The ninja’s cloaked mask andninja shuriken seem to of been traded in for a detective
cap and evidence bag.
Chapters 8 to 10 shift their focus to the analysisof ‘ninjutsu’: the rules and warrior code behind the roleof the ninja. By focusing on the ninja manuals of 20th
century, Turnball attempts to show how the legendary
ninja figure began to move from the realms of reality
into retrospective mythical warrior with supernaturalprowess. Books such as Mansenshukai, known as
the so called ‘ninja bible’, emphasis the ninja’s needfor secrecy and disguise while also illustrating thecore Confucian principles behind the justice seeking
warriors. Turnball’s keen analytical eye and use of
primary sources truly makes for pleasant reading inthese critical chapters. Photos of typical black, sword
wielding ninjas, Edo period castles and old Ukiyo-e
woodblock prints also breath life into the book andhelp provide visual context to many of the writer’sarguments.
From chapter 11 onwards, readers are treated toan over view the recent post-war history of the ninja
and its highly marketable image. Turnball informs
readers of the start of the ninja tourism and pulp
magazines that serialised ninja activities and brought
the ancient warrior into the homes of many Japanesepeople. Turnball also uses the James Bond film You
Only Live Twice as case study, outlining one of the firstand most influential exposures mainstream western
audiences have had to the shinobi warrior. Due tothe magic of Hollywood , the lasting image of ninja
abseiling down walls and throwing shuriken, all in thepresence of Sean Connery, is still the current imageof the ninja which pervades the minds of Japanese
enthusiasts to this very day.
Turnball concludes his fantastic book by casting
his gaze to the future of the ninja image, and the futureof the myth. With Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games fast
approaching, the ninja is being reframed as a strongwilled athlete to help publicise the event. With theestablishment of the Mie University ninja Department,a key contributor to the book itself, the ninja warrior isbeing researched with respect and the myths are being
exposed. Turnball concludes that much of the current
image we have of the ninja is roughly historicallyaccurate, or at least developed from some genuine
reality. However, we should not forget that the ninja
of today is an entertainment figure and commercial
commodity: the world is more concerned with making
money from the warrior it is with representing him
accurately.
Turnball’s excellent case study of the ninja mythtakes readers on a whistle stop tour of Japanese
history. With references to Japanese linguistics, art andmodern popular culture, Ninja: Unmasking the Myth istruly an entertaining and fascinating work. Above all,
Turnball breaths new life into the ninja and teaches
us an important lesson: we should be critical and lookdeeper into the history of the things we blindly view asfact. Ninja: Unmasking the Myth really does, without adoubt, prove that the true history of the Ninja is just as
interesting as the myths themselves.§

Japan – 100 Hidden Towns

It is evident that much effort went into the book.
Candidate towns were recommended by each of Japan’s
47 prefectures and also by a selection committee. Over
150 towns were visited and researched by a team offoreign researchers mainly resident in Japan. The fruitsof the research were appraised by the mostly Japanese
selection committee and the 100 towns chosen. The
towns are not overly obscure or difficult to reach andI can certainly vouch for ease of travel to and allure of
Imabari, Izu Oshima, Nagatoro, Kawagoe, Sakata, andKusatsu.
The book highlights which of the towns are
known for performance arts, local delicacies, traditionaledited by Anthony Gardner
Nellie’s Publishing (2018)
ISBN-13: 978-4905527497
Review by Susan Meehan
I was won over by this guide book to Japan. Initially I
wondered whether there is a market for a printed travelbook in this age of informative websites and apps, but
Japan – 100 Hidden Towns contains information thatis not as readily accessible, well considered or wellresearched.
6

Issue 78, Volume 13, Number 6 (December 2018)

crafts, hot springs, seaside, museums/galleries, wildlife/
nature and festivals while also indicating which towns
are ideal for history lovers, geology enthusiasts, art fansor hikers amongst other categories. It also contains
succinct travel information. Entries include “must see”
places, nature spots and food and drink information,
and also refer to an area’s history with allusions to Will
Adams, the provenance of the watery, mythical Kappaor the Emperor Go-Toba for example. An oversight,
perhaps, is lack of commentary on Lafcadio Hearn inthe section on Shimane.
While the book is a welcome addition for intrepid
travellers keen to deviate from the more well-trodden
paths, it is also extremely useful for repeat visitors
to Japan and Japan residents. It is valuable for those
who travel in search of particular attractions, such as
food, nature and culture – from Kabuki to regional
soba noodles and Akashi’s own variety of takoyaki – allhighlighted in the book.
Having lived in Japan for just over five years, I
was pleased to find Miyakojima, a characterful andbeautiful Okinawan island, included. The condensed
information about Miyakojima is useful, but perhaps
the travel section could have mentioned ferries
between the islands rather than just flights from Tokyo.
“Slow” travel is an altogether different proposition,
however, and may require another book. Happily, thebook mentioned travel to Yakushima by jetfoil from
Kagoshima Port rather than just by aeroplane andlikewise with regard to Amami.
While first-time travellers to Japan may not want
to miss out on visits to Tokyo and Kyoto, this book will
help them enhance their journey to Japan via side trips
to places like Tono’s Furusato Village in north eastern

Shoplifters
directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu
released in the UK byThunderbird Releasing (2018)
Review by Morgane ChinalDargent
Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest
outstanding film Shoplifters(Manbiki no Kazoku, 2018),
which earned him the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival
last May, confirms the unbelievable talent with which
the director depicts the beauty and tenderness of thebroken ways in which family unite functions with thisheartwarming and devastating tale of love and thief.
Latest reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews/

Japan, a gorgeous Edo-period farming village withthatched-roof buildings in a setting of ponds and rice
field. Readers are likely to be taken with the idea ofvisiting Rikuzentakata’s Miracle Pine, the only surviving
pine from this part of the coast, ravaged by the 2011
tsunami; and Amanohashidate, a naturally occurringsandbar in Kyoto Prefecture. There is an evocative
photograph of a visitor to Kasamatsu Park bent double,
looking through his legs towards Amanohashidate
which appears like a ladder leading to heaven whenviewed from that position.
The book is just over 400 pages in length, but
a very handy, easy to carry size. It features beautiful,enticing photographs, travel advice and useful phrases
in Japanese. The information is very much condensed,
but encourages the reader to perhaps undertake
more in-depth research and to refer, rather cleverly, toits website, www.100hiddentowns.jp, which includes
detailed maps and updates to help readers while on
their travels.§

Kore-eda has already caught the attention of Japaneseand international audiences for the past 25 years withdeeply humanist films such as Still Walking (Aruitemo,
Aruitemo, 2008), Like Father, Like Son (Soshite Chichini Naru, 2013) or Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary,2015) where he initiated the questioning of kinshipand subverted the representation of modern family
on screen. Nonetheless, with Shoplifters, Kore-eda
perfected his dialogue and strengthened the approachof his perennial theme by showing the unusual andpowerful story of the Shibata family.
Set in a non-touristic and quite unattractive
outskirt of Tokyo, the film opens on the daily activities
that bound Osamu (Lily Franky) and his pre-teen
acolyte Shota (Jyo Kairi) together: petty thief. With a7

quick and secret gesture, Shota informs his father theway is clear before filling his backpack with instantnoodles and other necessities. While the duo walks
back home in the freezing night to share their feast
with the rest of the Shibata’s, they come across ayoung girl, Juri (Sasaki Miyu) standing on her own
on her door step. Osamu naturally takes her along,a decision that does not seem to please his wife
Nobuyo (Ando Sakura) who cannot figure out how
to realistically welcome another mouth to feed. With
reason: the little house is crammed with her younger
sister Aki (Matsuoka Mayu ) who contributes to thefamily as a sex worker in the local strip club and the
grandmother Hatsue (the late legendary actress Kirin
Kiki) whose small pension supports the entire family.
After discovering some bruises and burns all over Juri’s
body and hearing her parents violently arguing upontaking her back home, Osamu and Nobuyo take thedecision to keep the little girl with them. As the couple
attempts to convince themselves that they are saving
Juri rather than kidnapping her, the family embarks ona tumultuous and touching adventure.
Kore-eda has often been compared to theemblematic Japanese director Ozu Yasujiro for theirshared interest in exploring the topic of family onscreen. Still, with this working-class drama Kore-eda
evokes rather the cinema of Naruse Mikio or Ken
Loach, a resemblance the director himself confirmed
in an interview with The Guardian on the occasionof the release of Our Little Sister a few years ago. Yet,the strength of Shoplifters does not only lie on the
representation of the social reality of lower classes inmodern Japan.

© Thunderbird Releasing

Kore-eda holds majestically together the
carefully paced scenario before unfolding a painful
truth as the story goes and finally reveals the genuine
nature of a family for whom we developed a profoundattachment. The cast of talented actors wonderfully
supports the authenticity of the links uniting the
Shibata’s together as the viewer finds himself blindly
assuming the parentage of the protagonists, whichemphasises the surprising and powerful outcome of
the film where the tensions built up throughout finallyachieve a climatic and deceiving end. Kore-eda’s
mastery certainly dwells in his ability to represent his
characters delicately oscillating between poor moraleand genuine love for each other with in backgroundthe suffocating anxiety of not belonging to anyone or
anywhere. The director seems indecisive, not able tochoose whether the fragmented clan is either evil or
simply too ingenuous for this world, which brings out
the deeply humane aspect of the film.
This celebration of human nature is shown ina series of insightful scenes, dazzling in their simple
ability to shake the audience to the core in a matterof seconds. It is the case in the sequence when Shota
trains Juri (whose name is changed to Rin after joining
the Shibata’s clan) to shoplifting and the little girl getcaught. Surprisingly, the owner of the shop offers hera lolly rather than telling her off and advises Shota
not to involve his little sister in his bad habits. In thesame vein, in a tender and evocative scene Osamu
and Nobuyo finally find themselves alone in the houseand take the chance to have sex after what seems
to be an eternity, revealing the genuine attachmentthat ties the two together. All in all, Shoplifters let us
fathom the assumption that the lack of material means
can be made up with sincere human connection andaffection. Daily outburst of simple happiness such asa day at the beach, the meals eaten at the family’s
diner table, the bath shared together make us root for
the Shibata’s and make us hopeful that it will show
them the way to redemption. But it is not the case.
Kore-eda shows the Shibata’s as both endearing anddeceitful, something that prevent his film from fallingin unnecessary pathos and rather, turns it into a wise
and subtle tale.
To conclude, with his latest film Kore-eda finds
his own way to make a powerful and necessary social
critic within a genuinely touching modern melodramathat owe him to integrate the legacy of emblematic
filmmaker who decided to give a voice to the outcastsof the society. A well-deserved Palme d’Or and a filmthat we could not recommend to watch more.§