About Japan – goinggaijin.com

Shunga

Shunga – Erotic Art in Japan
Rosina Buckland

Shunga, “spring pictures”, are erotic images from Japan – mainly woodblock prints, but also paintings – that had their heyday during the Edo period (1603 – 1868). They depict all forms of love-making among the ordinary people from Japan’s urban centers who were also the main audience for these images. Shunga live not only by their stylized depictions of sex – greatly enlarged genitals, clothing or hairstyles that indicate the status of the portrayed persons – but also by their lively commentary that is included in the picture and lets the viewer listen to the conversation of the couple.

This large-scale book presents a history of shunga in the Edo period while explaining the meaning behind the illustrations that are given. It also lists a number of famous ukiyo-e artists who have produced shunga at some point (or throughout) their career, like Harunobu, Hokusai, Utamaro, and others. It provides a deeper insight into shunga that goes beyond the erotic aspect. The accompanying 140 illustrations are beautifully reproduced pieces taken mostly from the British Museum’s collection. The famous Hokusai print with the woman and the octopus is included, of course.

I enjoyed learning about shunga. It is interesting that the vast majority of these images deal with consensual sex, and when prostitutes are depicted, they are always involved in a clandestine meeting with their secret lover instead of a client. In general, satisfying the woman seems to have been very important in real life too, and female sensual bliss is indicated by her curled toes in the images.

Rosina Buckland is currently the curator of the Japanese collections of the British Museum.

Whether you’re interested in the images or the historical background of shunga, this book is worth it either way. Get it from amazon.

I love Japan!

It seems that the troubles with Covid 19 are not over yet, and as I said in my last post, the state of emergency has just been extended until March 7.

I know that many people had to or chose to leave Japan, some for good. Since I don’t have close family anymore, the thought has never crossed my mind. And even though Japan is not an easy place to live for foreigners, I still love the country. And yet, after all the years I’ve lived here, I cannot tell you what it is exactly that I find so irresistable about it.

Below is a lovely video showing aerial videos of Japan, mostly of the big cities. I can recognise the main station of Nagoya (the largest in all Japan) and that of Kyoto (the second largest). Kyoto’s former Imperial Palace also features prominently, and there is a short shot of Nijo Castle. I don’t know Tokyo well enough to know where this was taken, but the Sky Tree is unmistakable (I love it!). And there’s a short view of Tokyo Tower at the end.

I hope you enjoy that video as much as I do!

The Women I Think About at Night

The Women I Think About at Night
Mia Kankimäki

Say, you’re 40-something, no kids or partner, and a job that’s not getting you anywhere. What do you do? Mia Kankimäki leaves everything behind to travel the paths of her heroines – and the result is this book. A large part of the book details her trip to Africa, trying to get a glimpse of Karen Blixen’s life.

Then she follows other female travellers from the 19th century, among them Isabella L. Bird who in 1878 travelled through Japan. In Italy, Mia looks for the works of female painters from the Renaissance and finds their works tucked away in the back rooms of famous museums. Part women’s biography, part travel diary, and part philosophical musings, this book artfully blends the thoughts of independent women of 3 centuries, and they are not as different as you might think!

This is an unusual book review – since the author is a friend of mine. And not only that, we met when she was in Japan working on this very book! (And I am mentioned in it, actually…) I greatly enjoyed reading about Mia’s trip to Africa, and in some of the passages I recognised my own struggles in creating a new life for myself.

Mia Kankimäki is a Finnish author who gave up her old life to become a full-time writer. Her first book – about Japanese author Sei Shonagon – was an instant success in Finland. This is her second book, which has been translated into more than 10 languages.

I read a preprint of this book that Mia sent me a few months ago, since it will be officially published only next Tuesday. You can order it through amazon already and get it as soon as possible though. I hope you’ll enjoy this book as much as I did.

Eruption

When people hear about a natural disaster happening in Japan, they most often assume that it’s another earthquake. And with an earthquake happening almost every day, they are mostly guessing correctly. What is often forgotten however, is that Japan is also the home of many volcanoes, and most of them are just dormant and can erupt again at any time.

This is just what happened late yesterday night, when Mt. Asama erupted and sent a pillar of smoke some 1800 metres into the sky. Mt. Asama is 2568 metres high and one of the most active volcanoes in Japan; the last eruption was 10 years ago. Since the volcano is on the borders of Gunma and Nagano prefecture, it is a popular hiking spot, but the region is not very densely populated.

Still, the government has forbidden access to the volcano as a whole, and is trying to evacuate all hikers that are in the area. Judging from the youtube video below, taken today, the situation has cooled down a little.

See also this interesting article at Kyodo News, which is relatively level-headed and includes a great map of the many other (and so far quiet) volcanoes in the area and a link to the Japan Meteorological Agency and their volcanic warning page just below the map.

Encounters With Kyoto

I have reason to celebrate: I can now call myself a “published author”. Yay!

As I mentioned before, since last November, I am a member of the group Writers in Kyoto, as the name suggests, a small group of writers who live in (or around) Kyoto or have some other connection to Kyoto and who write in English.

This year, for the third time altogether, the group has put out an anthology to which the members of the group were invited to contribute. There was also a writing competition that was free for everybody to join. About half of the Writers in Kyoto members have sent in short stories or poems or non-fiction essays – and I’m one of them!

And, our book “Encounters With Kyoto – Writers in Kyoto Anthology 3” is now available on amazon in paperback! An e-book version is in preparation and there’s lots of fun stories to read. For example, there is a very interesting non-fiction piece on ropes made with human hair that were used to lift the wooden beams of Higashi Honganji Temple – some of the ropes are still on display there. Or the lovely poems full of childhood memories by a local Kyoto lady. And then there’s my essay about a Japanese garden I was not supposed to enter… My personal favourite is a fun piece on an encounter with yakuza – in the sento to boot!

Last Saturday the group met for the official book launch in Umekoji park near Kyoto station. We had sake and local and international snacks and then some of the authors went on to read their pieces from the anthology. It was my first time at a group meeting, so I decided to read my piece by way of introduction. People seemed to like it, or at least the liked my reading, so we had something to talk about afterwards, thank goodness.

It was fun to meet other English speakers in Kyoto, some of whom have lived here for decades, some of whom have just arrived; some of whom I have heard about from friends, others I would have never known otherwise. And it was fun to meet so many different people – and to find out interesting things we have in common regardless.

I realise that this self-promotion is a bit of an unusual book post for a Sunday, but I really enjoyed working on my essay and reading the other contributions. If you’d like to check it out – and I promise there are better writers in it than me – as I said, it’s available internationally on amazon.

Return to Tsugaru

Return to Tsugaru
Osamu Dazai

Tsugaru is the old name of the northernmost peninsula of Honshu, which today makes up part of Aomori prefecture. The people in Tsugaru have always been poor and, as the part of Japan from which to set sail for Hokkaido, has had a reputation of a certain backwardness in cities like Tokyo.

Osamu Dazai, considered among the foremost Japanese authors of the 20th century, was born in Kanagi, a small town on the Tsugaru peninsula. In this memoir from 1944, he takes us on a trip to his hometown and nearby places, like the castle town Hirosaki, the village where he went to school, etc. Travelling chiefly on foot, he pays visits to family members and relatives, as well as old friends, where he is always welcome and served sake and crabs, his favourite food.

This book is part travelogue, part history – both of Tsugaru and his own family – part commentary on current events and the wartime of 1944. Throughout the book shines Dazai’s deep love for the land and the people living there.

Osamu Dazai was the pseudonym of Shuji Tsushima, born in 1909 as the eighth (surviving) child of a man from humble origins who eventually became a respected local politician. From an early age on, Shuji wanted to become a writer, and he eventually moved to Tokyo as a student of French literature. Aged only 26, he was nominated for the very first Akutagawa Prize, and although he did not receive it, his reputation was made. His most important works were published after WWII. Always the family’s enfant terrible, he finally committed suicide with his mistress in 1948, at only 39 years of age.

This book is a classic, and after all these years, it is still available on amazon.

Reiwa

Japan is moving into a new era – quite literally – with the abdication of the current emperor on April 30th and the ascension to the throne of his son on May 1st. The preparations for this enormous event must have started a long time ago, but most of them are done in private, so that the average Japanese is not aware of all that’s going on behind the scenes.

Yesterday, however, the first big official event took place: The reveal of the new era (gengo) name. Each reign of a Japanese emperor is associated with an era name, and while an emperor is never called by his given name during his lifetime, his era name will be used to refer to him when he is dead. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, there were four eras: Meiji (1868 – 1912), Taisho (1912 – 1925), Showa (1925 – 1989) and Heisei, the current one. Before the Meiji Restoration, the era name could change more frequently. Often, a new era was begun to give the nation a symbolic fresh start, after a natural disaster, or a number of deaths in the imperial family, for example.

Anyway, the new era that we in Japan will live in from May 1st will be called Reiwa. The two kanji were taken from the Manyoshu, one of the oldest collections of Japanese poetry, compiled in the second half of the eight century. Like many characters, these kanji have different meaning. The first one – rei – has a meaning of to rule, to order, but can also mean elegant, fine, beautiful, or auspicious. The second character can mean peace, calmness, harmony.

There are two interesting articles on how Japanese era names are chosen in the modern era.
This one is about the forthcoming one, Reiwa:
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904020020.html
And this is an interview with one of the people sitting on the committee for the current one, Heisei:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/nhknewsline/backstories/insiderexplains/

It is interesting to note that the term Reiwa itself has no meaning as a word, it is more a concept that is open to some interpretation (just like Heisei, by the way). Prime Minister Abe explained that Reiwa signifies “a culture being born and nurtured by people coming together beautifully.” We will see how this will work out. For now, however, the Japanese seem to be pleased with the new era name. Friends have told me that they sound is good. Let’s hope the era itself will live up to the “good sound”.

Looking for the Lost

Looking for the Lost – Journeys through a Vanishing Japan
Alan Booth

The perennial classic “Looking for the Lost” tells about rural Japan as the author retraces the steps of famous people before him on three different journeys.

The first journey “Tsugaru” describes Booth walking in the steps of Dazai Osamu, in a journey back to the writer’s home in Aomori prefecture in Northern Honshu. Dasai had walked there for three weeks and described his impressions in a book with the same name. The second journey follows “Saigo’s last march”, as Japanese hero and commander in the Satsuma rebellion, Saigo Takamori fled from surrender and returned to Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu to make a final stand there. The third journey “Looking for the Lost” starts out from Nagoya and moves northwards through Gifu prefecture in an attempt to trace possible descendants of the clan of the Heike who were all but wiped out in the middle of the 12th century.

Throughout the book, Booth mixes historical facts with his observations about contemporary Japan and muses about various subjects. On all his journeys he is walking through the countryside, obstinately refusing any other means of transport. He mostly stays on small roads and often stops for a beer or two at local liquor stores. Talking to the locals and staying at traditional ryokan provides him with new friends as well as unique opportunities to broaden his knowledge of Japanese life outside the big cities.

Alan Booth (1946 – 1993) was born in London. Throughout his life, he was interested in theatre, and moved to Japan in 1970 to study Noh. There, however, he soon began writing and worked for Macmillan Press. He wrote numerous articles and two books about his hikes through Japan, “Looking for the Lost” being his second book. He died from colon cancer in 1993.

Although more than 20 years old, this book is a classic and a must-read for everybody interested in the “real” Japan. You can get it from amazon!

Abdication?

The reigning emperor of Japan has given a 10 minute speech on television yesterday. He states in ever so many words that he is now 80 years old and he feels his strength diminishing. He wonders whether there could be a way to move forward for an ageing emperor, and whether a regency is indeed such a good idea. Interestingly, he states in the beginning that these are his own, personal thoughts rather than that of the emperor, and never and nowhere does he use the word “abdication”.

You can watch the video (in Japanese of course) below or read a full translation of his speech, courtesy of the BBC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syYc1RWylPo

Now of course the discussion has started. Not so much among the common people, a majority says that they are fine with the emperor retiring and a new one taking his place. Even though he still is a, if not the main, symbol of Japan, he is 80 years old, an age where even the average Japanese thinks about retirement and taking it easy and enjoying a sunset.

Even Shinzo Abe, the current prime minister, says that he is taking the emperor seriously, and that one should start thinking about what to do regarding his age. However, other members of his extremely conservative party are objecting to an abdication of the emperor. Mostly because “but, this is unprecedented!!” which is not entirely true if one goes back in history long enough. Another reason is “but, we’d have to change the constitution!!” which cannot be such a great deal either since they are at least very big on reinterpreting the thing as they see fit. The deal breaker however, is the last reason: “but, but… what will it be next? Women on the throne???” which is just…

Oh well, I will lean back and enjoy the show. I don’t expect any kind of movement here for the time being since the Japanese are very good at sitting things out, especially unpleasant ones.

Hiroshima Notes

Hiroshima Notes
Kenzaburo Oe

At 8:15 in the morning of August 6th 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, immediately killing about 100000 people. Twenty years later, from 1963 to 1965, journalist and writer Kenzaburo Oe travelled multiple times to Hiroshima where he visited hospitals, talked to survivors, and witnessed first hand the ongoing struggle of all Hiroshima people to deal with the aftermath of the bombing. Hiroshima notes consists of seven essays written in these two years. Oe talks about such divers topics as the fighting between different Japanese charities dedicated to help the victims; the marginalisation of the survivors suffering from radiation sickness; their own shame and guilt of being sick; but also the dignity these people are exhibiting regardless, up to their very last days.

This book is one of the few where a Japanese view on the Hiroshima bombings is exhibited, and with only 20 years after the facts it is a relatively early account. Although Oe should be one to understand the sentiments of the people he is talking to, one can feel that he is struggling greatly with what he hears and how he should interpret it, how he should make sense of it all. It is not an easy book to read, especially for somebody who is not familiar with Japanese culture, but still, if you are ready to delve into a book that will certainly provoke mixed feelings, it is worth it.

Kenzaburo Oe was born in 1935 in a small village on Shikoku. When he was 19, he started to study French Literature at Tokyo University, and in 1957 he began publishing his own stories. In 1994 Oe won the Nobel Prize for Literature, as the second Japanese citizen. He is still writing – his latest book was published in 2013 – and he is now active in pacifistic and anti-nuclear movements.

Check out the book on amazon