The Japan Society Review 102
Book, Stage, Film, Arts and Events Review

Issue 102 Volume 18 Number 2 (October 2023)

The autumn season offers an excellent opportunity tospend more time reading books or watching films at
home. The October issue of The Japan Society Review
is here with some suggestions for you to enjoy in thewarmest spot of the house watching the rain from thewindow.
The issue opens with two reviews that look at Japan
from a personal perspective. In My Families and Other
Samurai: A Memoir, Fukuda Haruko OBE weaves together
the intricate threads of Japan´s modern history with thelives of members of her family shedding light on the untold
stories of Japan’s elite. YouTuber Chris Broad presents awritten extension of his video channel in Abroad in Japan,
a depiction of personal experiences and anecdotes about
Japan and Japanese culture gathered during his morethan ten years living and working in the country.
Approaching two specific aspects of Japaneseculture, origami and manga, this issue also includes thereview of Origami and Kirigami for the Home, by Wei You,
which shows the possibilities of making paper objects

for practical and display purposes around the home,and Manga, Murder and Mystery - The Boy Detectivesof Japan’s Lost Generation, by Okabe Mimi, an academic
monograph exploring the historical and socioeconomic
contexts of the figure of the shonen (boy) detective incommercially successful manga series such as Detective
Conan or Death Note.
Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Onda Riku is
our featured review in the domain of literary fiction. Setaround an international piano competition and the livesof the competitors, Onda’ss book beautifully engages
with ideas about sounds, nature, music and inspiration.
The October issue closes with a review of theOscar-winning Japanese film Drive My Car, directed by
Hamaguchi Ryusuke in 2021 and based on a short story
by Murakami Haruki. The film is a thought provoking,melancholic drama on loss, regret and self-acceptancewith superb performances and exquisite cinematography.
Alejandra Armendáriz-Hernández

Contents
1)

My Families and Other Samurai: A Memoir by Fukuda
Haruko2)

Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad

3)

Origami and Kirigami for the Home by Wei You

4)Manga, Murder and Mystery - The Boy Detectives ofJapan’s Lost Generation by Okabe Mim

5)

Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Onda Riku

6)

Drive My Car directed by Hamaguchi Ryusuke

EditorAlejandra Armendáriz-Hernández
Reviewers
Cameron Bassindale, Laurence Green, George Mullins, Tung Ken
Lam and Michael Tsang.
Image: Still from Drive My Car.

My Families and Other
Samurai: A Memoir
by Fukuda Haruko
Richfield and Barr Publishing
Limited (2023)
ISBN-13: 978-1399959056
Review by Laurence Green
UK-based financier Fukuda Haruko will be familiar
to many members of The Japan Society, not only as
a former Joint Chair of the Society herself, but for
her long and successful career in the cut and thrustworld of finance, working as both a stockbroker andinvestment banker in the City of London.
Forging a distinctly international career that
traces its roots back to a time when the process ofreconciliation between Japan and the rest of the world
was very much still a work in progress, Fukuda’s story isclearly fertile ground for a memoir. But what makes My
Families and Other Samurai such a compelling volume
is that for every bit it is a story of her own life, it is also a
testament to the lives of her parents Masaru and Yoko
- their story bound up in an intricate, interconnected
web of individuals moving in the very upper echelonsof wealth and influence in 20th century Japan. Whatemerges is a glimmering portrait of socio-political
history in which Fukuda’s family and their forebears
on both sides emerge as key players involved on thefrontlines of not only the country’s emergence as amodern nation, but also characters uniquely positioned
to capture the flavour of the Japanese upper classes’
way of life, something rarely documented so accessibly
and candidly for Anglophone audiences before.
The book’s early passengers extend out
in broad fashion, detailing a complex dynastic
structure of arranged marriages, samurai families
and entrepreneurial ‘new money’ forged in the heatof Japan’s Meiji Restoration. Fukuda’s ancestors
and extended family include Tanaka Heihachi the legendary founding father of Japan’s foreignexchange market - and Yamanashi Katsunoshin - ahighly influential Admiral who would go on to become
President of the very same Peers’ school where Fukuda
herself, as well as members of the Japanese Imperial
Family, were educated.
There is ample detail too on the family
residence Fukidecho, which occupied the plot of land
immediately south of Tokyo’s esteemed Hotel Okura.
The moving descriptions of this home, along with themany photographs included in the book, offer a wistful2

ode to the ceaseless march of time; the property
eventually sold off and redeveloped bit by bit until as is perhaps not a surprise to anyone that knows thenature of the Tokyo property market - the site is utterly
unrecognisable in its present day form.
What follows is the heart of the book’s premise- Fukuda’s parents Masaru and Yoko, and their lives
pre, during and post the Second World War. Even
for a family in the elite of Japanese society, the yearsof Occupation following the war were not without
their hardships, though what emerges as the mostengrossing part of the tale is the family’s ceaselessrelocation - first to Washington, then London - as
Masaru rises through the ranks of Japan’s Ministry of
Finance.
The life of a diplomatic family, bound as it isto ‘service’, is portrayed with elegance and verve inthese chapters - we hear of Fukuda’s invitation to
the Kennedy White House during the family’s time in
the States - but we are also afforded the fine detail of
Masaru’s accomplishments in his involvement with
the Japanese Government Sterling Bond Issue of
1963, an international first. As Fukuda points out - thesurface level glamour of the diplomatic life; endless
diners, members clubs and shopping at the finest
stores, always carried with it the double-edged swordof unceasing hard work.
Fukuda’s own time in the UK also holds immenseinterest; schooled at Channing, and then her ‘going up’
to read history at Cambridge’s New Hall. One wonders
what it must have been like to be a Japanese in London
in the 60s, still only a couple of decades after the War,and a woman at that - to then reach this bastion of
British higher education. Fukuda’s memories capture
this with laser-like detail, and also grapple with thecomplex intensity of feelings as she ponders to what
degree she feels removed from the country of herbirth the longer she spends abroad.
The book’s emotional and narrative climax comes,
as it inevitably must, with Masaru’s death in 1984. We
are given a moving insight into his final wishes for
Fukuda to help disseminate his collected economic
writings to long-time friends and acquaintances, andalso the meticulous detail by which he planned his
own funeral. These pages lead into the book’s elegiac
finale, which necessarily speeds through the 80s and90s (further details of Fukuda’s own career during
these times are promised in what will no doubt be an
engrossing subsequent volume) to tell us of Yoko’stime during widowhood, and the poignancy of her

Issue 102 Volume 18 Number 2 (October 2023)

100th birthday - which having happened during the
COVID pandemic, is carried out via Zoom.
The reader is ultimately left with an engrossing
family portrait that arguably does for 20th century
Japan what the likes of Hugo Vickers and Simon
Heffer have done for the aristocracy and politicalelite of Britain during the same period. Told with thecrisp, breezy matter-of-factness of a historian, theemotion nevertheless comes through strongest in

the remarkable vividity in which Fukuda’s parents areconveyed in the text. We feel their lives through theirhabits, their interests - but more than this, we feel theirstoicism and unshakeable sense of service to bothfamily and nation. This is, undoubtedly, the essenceof the samurai conveyed in the book’s title, but also,
perhaps, a valiant attempt at getting to the very heartof the human condition itself, and the meaning we all,ultimately, aim to glean from the years allotted to us.§Abroad in Japan

unfamiliar with Broad’s videos will find a narrator who
is funny, engaging and refreshingly self-deprecating.
Fortunately, Abroad in Japan is helped along notjust by its quirky narration but also by its genuinely
bizarre situations. Within the space of a handful ofchapters, Broad climbs Mt. Fuji, gives a speech about
Family Mart fried chicken to hundreds of (presumably
bemused) people and travels around Harajuku looking
for a man famous for pushing nine Siamese cats aroundin a pram. Broad keeps the theme light and frothy forthe most part and does not linger too long on any
story, being no mean feat in what it is essentially an
autobiography.
He does handle the more serious topics withgravity, however. When a student attempts suicide
at the start of his second year of teaching, or when
he receives a terrifying (false) nuclear missile alarm.
I am not surprised, as in Broad’s videos he does not
shy away from more serious topics, and usually does
so with sensitivity. Readers will appreciate Abroad inJapan’s brief changes in tone, before Broad inevitably
steers the narrative back towards eating, drinking andsmoking.
Where the book does fall a little short, I am sadto say, is in its overall goal. I am not entirely sure who
it was written for; it tries a little to be all things to all
people. I went in with the expectation that it was
written for fans of the Abroad in Japan channel. As
such, I couldn’t help but skip past the bits about how
different convenience stores are in Japan, or Broad’ssometimes clunky explanations of the Japanesesocial hierarchical culture. Interesting, for sure, but
topics most people familiar with the Abroad in Japan
channel, or an interest in Japan at all, have probably
come across numerous times. Clumsy phrasing at
points (two groups of people fall into a “chorus ofsnores” in a bus and then a hotel within two pages)
gave me the impression that Abroad in Japan would
have benefited from more editorial oversight.

by Chris Broad
Bantam (2023)
ISBN-13: 978-1787637078
Review by Cameron Bassindale
In the more than 10 years since
he began his rise to JapaneseYouTube super stardom, amassing almost 3 million
subscribers along the way, Chris Broad of theimmensely popular Abroad in Japan channel has
made documentaries, appeared on NHK television
programmes, and cycled the length of Japan. Now,
he has written a book. Abroad in Japan charts Broad’s
journey through the JET programme, teaching in ahigh school in a far-flung corner of Tohoku throughto the present day, where he educates and entertains
his legions of Japan-mad fans. Published by Bantam(Penguin Books) and now on The Sunday Times bestsellers list, readers can expect a considered, interesting,and often hilarious read throughout.
I have had the pleasure of being on this journeywith Chris for the past decade, watching his videos gofrom pixelated rants about Japanese fast food in a tinytatami room in Sakata to the highly produced, wellpolished travel content he produces today. His abilities
as a filmmaker and YouTuber are well established, but
can he write?
The short answer is a resounding yes. You
would be forgiven for thinking the whole book is atranscript of one long Abroad in Japan video, such isthe strength of his voice shining through. For people
familiar with his work, Broad’s quintessentially British
jibes and withering self-criticisms are wheeled out infull force and are instantly recognisable. The fact that,as I was reading, I could picture in my head Chris’
body language and hear his distinctive home counties
accent is a testament to how strongly his personality
and joie de vivre is imbued in the book. Readers
Latest reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews/

3All things considered, any issues I found with thisbook didn’t at all impact my enjoyment of it. For a firstbook, Chris Broad can most certainly hold his head up
high. His unromantic descriptions of feeling totallyin over your head, riding an emotional rollercoastereveryday will make even the most seasoned Japan“lifer” wistful for the time they first stepped off theplane and into a new world. For those who have yet
to live in Japan, or for those who never will, Abroadin Japan is as realistic a depiction of a Brit in modern
Japan as you are likely to come across.§

Origami and Kirigami for theHomeusually better than photographs for showing what’s
important when folding. Photos are used later inthe book for projects like gift wrapping and projects
involving cutting and glueing. Near-standard origami
symbols are used, but curiously the “push-in” symbol
only seems appears in the double-page spread ofbasic folds. Some steps have errors in the diagrams,
for instance, the step 5 at page 53 has only valley foldlines for an inside reverse fold (mountain fold lines
and push-in arrows would be correct). Some diagrams
omit folding arrows when they would help the reader,for example in the lower half at page 39.
A more important problem is that the illustrations
for the steps in the origami diagrams are too small andoften cramped, as in page 46 with almost 30 steps.
Even when there are fewer steps, the steps are still
small – page 36 has steps that are only 15 mm wide.
The basic crane in page 83 has 12 steps yet there isempty space 4 cm tall at the top and bottom of thepage. I admit that I myself have used illustrations thissmall, but this book has pages four times the size of mybook, Origami From Surface To Form (2022)
One way of making more space would havebeen to refer to the basic folds instead of repeating
instructions on how to make the preliminary fold(square base) and bird base in each project that uses
it (hinode crane, p. 32; hakobu crane, p. 36; geometricbase, p. 38; flamboyant flamingo, p. 44; square flower
tiles, p. 76; crane, p. 83).

by Wei You
Herbert Press (2022)
ISBN-13: 978-1789940824
Review by Tung Ken Lam
This attractive book by author Wei You shows you
how to make paper objects for practical and display
purposes around the home. Kirigami - a variation oforigami in which the paper is also cut as well as being
folded - is second main word of the title, so origami‘purity’ (i.e., achieving results by folding alone) is nota priority and all of the following are encouraged:
cutting, decorating, glueing, mounting on wires, etc.
This review considers several criteria and,with some important reservations, Wei You’s booksucceeds in all of them. In the first place, regarding
the overall look and feel, this is an attractive book withfull colour images throughout. Moreover, in relation
to the content of the book, the projects are enjoyable
to make and there is enough variety and interest. In
addition to origami decorations and items to display,
35 pages are devoted to gift wrapping and greetingcards with a good representation of the different
genres of papercraft, folding and cutting.

Another criteria to consider is if the instructions
that are clear and easy-to-follow. In this regard, thisbook uses a sensible mix of diagrams and photodiagrams. The origami projects use diagrams drawn
on a computer, a good decision as diagrams are4

My fourth criteria to review focuses on how
much the book relies on special and decorated paper
and if the projects could work using ordinary plain
Issue 102 Volume 18 Number 2 (October 2023)

paper. In Wei You’s book, copy paper is recommended
as an economical source, although fancy paper ismentioned too. Curiously, no explanation of grams per
square metre is given.
Finally, I have considered the voice of the author
and if they encourage creativity and suggest otherpaths and sources to follow up. In this regard, thisbook does not include any credits for the creatorsof the models. To be fair, some are traditional, andothers are direct applications of standard papercraft
techniques. However, despite the author’s statedscientific background and interest in geometricorigami (p. 159), opportunities have been missed
to note, let alone explain, some accessible origami
geometry, for example dividing an edge into thirds(p. 57), folding a 60°angle (p. 25) and approximating a
regular pentagon (p. 21).
As seems standard with modern books, this booklacks an index. Another standard is the author directing
the reader to her video tutorials (her YouTube channel
has a playlist for the book that is not accessible

without scanning the QR codes in the book). Anothermissed opportunity is to recommend other resources
such as books, websites and origami societies to help
the reader to build up their knowledge and connect
with other people. For example, origami purists may
prefer books in English such as Home Decorating with
Origami, by Tomoko Fuse (2000), Origami for Parties,
by Kazuo Koboyashi and Makoto Yamaguchi (1987),
Origami for Displays, by Florence Temko (1974), andPaper Home: Beautifully unique origami projects, by
Esther Thorpe (2016). For general papercraft, there aresimilar publications such as The Ultimate Papercraft
and Origami Book, by Paul Jackson and Angela A’Court(1997) or Paper Only: 20 Ways to Kick-Start Your
Creativity, by The Papered Parlour (2014).
Overall, despite some problems with thediagrams, Origami and Kirigami for the Home may
be the best bet for its combination of diagrams andvideos, and for the variety of papercrafts used in its
projects.§

Manga, Murder and Mystery- The Boy Detectives ofJapan’s Lost Generationlate 90s - we are presented with a portrait of a society
coming to terms with a kind of lost innocence.
In this sense, then, the boy detective - ascharacterised here in detailed studies of its
manifestation in Japanese popular culture such as
manga and anime - is a tool to construct a convenientplayground in which youth, crime, notions of‘good’ and ‘bad’, as well as justice and logic cometogether in intricate and often tantalisingly powerfulcombinations. Here, the figure of the boy detective is
not merely a fresh-faced successor to the likes of Enid
Blyton and Arthur Conan Doyle’s protagonists but isalso a mirror held up to Japan working its way throughvarious manifestations of socioeconomic malaise andnational trauma.
Across its six chapters, Okabe’s book offers up a
strikingly informative literature review of the history ofthe detective trope both in regards to boy detectives
internationally, but also the crime genre within Japan.
This then turns to look at manga specifically in the next
chapter, with the works of Osamu Tezuka trailblazing
the aesthetic and archetypes many subsequent series
would follow. These are epitomised in the focus of thenext two chapters, which take Detective Conan (alsoknown as Case Closed) and The Case Files of Young
Kindaichi - arguably the two most famous examplesof the boy detective trope - as models for analysis;
examining how manga might be seen as a crucial

by Okabe Mimi
Bloomsbury Academic (2023)
ISBN-13: 978-1350325098
Review by Laurence Green
Speak of “boy detectives” and British readers may callto mind something of a mid-20th century whiff ofEnid Blyton - quaint, somehow all so innocent thrills
and spills of a particularly youthful nature. Harking
back further, there lie the Baker Street Irregulars, street
boys employed by none other than Sherlock Holmes
as intelligence agents. Suddenly, a whole potential
oeuvre of youthful detective fiction beckons, and as
Okabe Mimi’s exciting new study lays forth, it arguably
finds its nexus not only in Britain, but in Japan.
Contextualising the study against a backdropof the post-bubble economy of late 80s/early 90s
Japan - often called the Lost Generation - Okabe sees
the trope of the boy detective as a powerful reaction
against a creeping social unease that began to arise
in Japanese society at the time. Opening with arecounting of many of the most notorious incidentsof the period - including the horrific murders andsexual assaults carried out by Miyazaki Tsutomu in theLatest reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews/

5response to the failure of Japan’s educational system
to protect its youth. Here, the values of friendship,community and teamwork are held up and ‘reified’ as
key elements of an idealised boyhood; but crucially,as the study moves on to the 21st century, darker
alternatives are also offered. Therefore, in series like
Death Note and Moriarty the Patriot, we see moremachiavellian values rise to the fore, as protagonistsof these series see fit to take justice into their own
hands.
The book draws to a close with a final chapter
putting forth future angles for investigation - hintingthat this study could act as a springboard for a wholefurther field of research; following the figure of theboy detective further and further into the many

manifestations of Japan’s expansive popular media
mix. An academic tome to its core, Manga, Murderand Mystery is nevertheless a thrillingly accessible
read that will delight both fans of its subject matter,as well as those coming to it through a passing
interest in Japan in general, or detective fiction as awider oeuvre. From the likes of Sherlock and Poirot
through to the ingenious youths that populate thesepages, this book’s key takeaway must surely be theuniversality of the genre. The particular resonanceof the stories featured here hold particularly true toJapan’s Lost Generation, yes, but just like the cold,
clinical logic that lies behind many of those very samecases, the thrill of the mystery is ultimately timeless.§

Honeybees and DistantThunder

one competitive character sees the competition as
akin to a sporting event. Another character describes
himself as a family man playing ‘ordinary man music’.
Learning about the different performers, their history
and relationship to music is a particular pleasure of
the story.
This shifting perspective gives us acomprehensive overview of this fictional international
piano competition, providing a deeper sense ofreality. This multiple-view perspective also allowed
me to pick my own favourite competitor and follow
their journey. Without wanting to spoil anything, I will
say that the character I was routing does not win thecompetition in the end!
Although there are many different charactersand performers, an important story flowing alongside
the competition is that of pianist named Jin Kazama,or 風間塵 in Japanese. The author tells us that, rather
ironically, the “Jin” in his name uses the same kanji as“dust” or “rubbish”! Jin is a young and unconventional
performer, whose idiosyncratic style of playing both
impresses and appals the judges in equal measure.
His laid-back attitude and genius act as an interestingcatalyst for book.
Lovers of classical music will surely enjoy thisbook. Characters discuss famous classical piano
ballads and concertos and the author wonderfully
describes the sounds of the pianists. For instance, she
describes one character’s playing as ‘free and easy, so
generous, yet with a haunting insight’. Readers with agood knowledge of classical music will take pleasurein imagining melodies as they read about the different
characters’ styles of playing.
On the other hand, people like me with only
a layman’s grasp of music can also easily enjoy thisby Onda Riku
translated by Philip Gabriel
Doubleday (2023)
ISBN-13: 978-085752795
Review by George Mullins
Over the past month I have had the pleasure of
reading this wonderful book by Onda Riku. Honeybees
and Distant Thunder is a book about sounds, nature,music and inspiration. The story is set around aninternational piano competition and follows thejourney of its competitors.
The story focuses on the fictional Sixth Yoshigae
International Piano Competition, being held in Japan.
We follow the prestigious competition and its groupof international competitors from the entry auditions
to the opening of the contest and all the way until it’scompletion. The book’s chapters are segregated into
corresponding parts of the competition, following
this order: entry, round one, round two, round three
and the finals.
What I found most intriguing about Honeybees
and Distant Thunder is that rather than following
the story from the point of view of one character inparticular, the competition actually enfolds fromthe perspective of many different actors. We startby learning about some of the judges, and then the
personalities of the competitors. We even observe
the competition from the eyes of more minor players
such as the piano turner, a reporter and a competitor’swife. Each performer has their own style andrelationship with music. There are child geniuses, and6Issue 102 Volume 18 Number 2 (October 2023)

book too. The stress and tension of the competitionis palpable and the characters’ (and author’s) loveof music shines through each page, making it avery inspiring read. I found myself sitting on theedge of my seat as I got more and more invested
in certain characters and wanted them to succeedin the competition. The countless references anddescriptions of famous piano pieces also act as a goodspringboard for learning more about classic music.
For example, thanks to this book I have discovereda wonderful piece called Je te veux by a Frenchcomposer Erik Satie.
The author of Honeybees and Distant Thunder,
Onda Riku, is a celebrated writer in Japan. When
this book was first published in Japanese in 2017, it
became a bestseller, selling over a million copies.
It also became the first novel to win both the Naoki

Prize and the Japan Bookseller’s Award. In 2019, thebook was even turned into a successful Japanese film.
The translator, Philip Gabriel, does a great jobon this English translation. He gives us some usefulexplanations regarding Japanese language andculture, helping us understand nuances that can often
get lost in translation. His description of a character’s
name, Aya Eiden, whose last name Eiden, 栄伝, roughlymeans ‘to convey glory’ in English, springs to mind. I
feel that this kind of information allows us to bettergrasp the story and are helpful to anyone interested
in Japan.
I would highly recommend Honeybees andDistant Thunder not only to those interested inclassical music, but also to anyone who has a vague
passion for music, and wants to learn more about
Japan.§

Drive My Car
Directed by Hamaguchi Ryusuke (2021)
Cast: Nishijima Hidetoshi, Miura Toko, Okada Masaki
Review by Michael Tsang
Whether you like Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s 2021 Oscarwinning Drive My Car or not, you at least have to givehim credit for expanding Murakami Haruki’s source
text – a short story of a few pages – into a three-hour
full feature film. This augmentation allows Hamaguchi
to reinterpret Murakami’s story with a different depth
and world view, exploring new themes absent in
Murakami’s version.
Theatre director Kafuku is invited to Hiroshima(note the symbolism of this setting) to direct a
multinational, multilingual production of Anton
Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. He is required to allow thetheatre’s designated driver, a young woman named
Misaki, to escort him off and to work. The driver andthe passenger begin to reveal their stories, with Kafuku
reflecting on his wife’s affairs and then death, andMisaki slowly disclosing her upbringing. Meanwhile,
as it turns out, the actor called Takatsuki who plays themale lead in Kafuku’s production was one of the menwith whom the wife had an affair. When this malelead gets himself into another trouble, Kafuku had nochoice but to play the title role himself.
Veteran actor Nishijima Hidetoshi (as Kafuku)
and popular actors Miura Toko (as Misaki) andOkada Masaki (as Takatsuki) all deliver more thancompetent performances, but the international castof the Uncle Vanya performance also stole the show.
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Nishijima’s looks always have a tinge of melancholy
and is impeccably cut out for the role of Kafuku.
Miura captures Misaki’s blunt and slightly awkward
personality with precision. Meanwhile, Okada’s own
commercial success parallels his character in the film
who is also a popular actor, and he portrays Takatsuki’s
impetuousness well.
7

One main difference between Murakami’s
textual version and Hamaguchi’s filmic version is scale.
Whereas Murakami’s original story mainly explores
heterosexual relationships, Hamaguchi’s scales
up the story to explore national and international
traumas that Japan is involved. The change in settingfrom Murakami’s Tokyo to Hamaguchi’s Hiroshima
is obvious; so is the change from Murakami’s yellow
Saab to Hamaguchi’s red. Red – as in the red dot on
the flag of Japan. Therefore, the film can be read onan allegorical level – the red Saab, Kafuku and Misaki
all representing an aspect of Japanese society – asHamaguchi stealthily embeds a symbolic Japaneseflag in the film’s scenes and aesthetics abundantly.
Examples include an ultra-long shot showing the red
Saab speeding along the highway of Tokyo amidst
its surrounding white buildings, or the car amidst thesnow of Hokkaido, or importantly, in the film’s ending
scene when it is revealed that Misaki is now in Korea
and the red Saab is parked amongst a carpark of whitecars.
But Hamaguchi does not stop there. He further
aggrandizes his exploration to transnational traumas
as well. The Uncle Vanya production that Kafuku
directs in the film features a multinational cast witheach cast member performing in their own language.
Thus the Taiwanese female lead who plays Sonyaspeaks Mandarin Chinese. Kafuku also casts a Korean
actress who cannot speak and communicates withsign language. The celebration of multilingualism
perhaps suggests Japan’s need to embrace diversity
as the viewer is presented with a dissonant harmony
during the rehearsal scenes and the few shots of theactual theatre performance.
Thus, if Murakami’s text mostly explores Kafuku’s
trauma of being betrayed by his wife, Hamaguchi’sfilm adds into the mix national traumas of Japan – bothtraumas that Japan had experienced and that Japan
made other countries or communities experience.
The mute Korean actress for example takes on anallegorical meaning, representing Japan’s neglectof the zainichi Korean population. Although some
may find a muted Korean character in a Japanesefilm problematic, one central message of the film isperhaps that trauma and living come in pairs, and‘how to live on with trauma’ is not something uniqueto Japan.
One may even be tempted to see Hamaguchi
suggesting potential solutions. In Murakami’s source
text, Kafuku being forced to relinquish the driver’s
seat to Misaki allows him to let go of rational control(the steering wheel) in his life and verbalising, in thepassenger seat and perhaps for the first time, his
feelings of being betrayed by his wife. Allegorically,
perhaps it is now time for women and the younger
generation (embodied by Misaki who nonetheless has
her own trauma) to take charge and help the nation
face with its traumas, as Misaki has helped Kafuku.§