Three Photographs of Yellow Ginko Leaves

I had not been feeling well because of tonsillitis for two months. Now that I have gotten much better, I will try to write my first entry since October.

When I walked to the nearest subway station, I found that the morning sunlight was shining on the yellow leaves of a ginko tree. I tried to take a photograph of them with my iPhone.

I wanted to express the contrast between the yellow of the ginko leaves and the blue of the clear sky of early winter. The ginko tree was so big that it couldn't fit on the screen of my iPhone, and I was disappointed with the resulting photograph.

On another day, I went to Kishimojin shrine, which is a ten minutes walk from my house. There was a huge ginko tree full of bright yellow leaves. Of course, I could not take a photograph of its whole tree with my iPhone, so I wondered how I should crop it.

Just under the tree, yellow leaves were spread out like a yellow carpet. I shot a photograph of just the yellow leaves on the ground. I like the contrast between light and shadow on the yellow leaves and between the yellow of leaves and the red of the Shinto gate.



I looked up and I found the sunlight through yellow leaves, and I took a photograph that was full of the yellow.

In the end, I love this photograph best. I realized that when taking a photograph, how you crop an image is most important.

A Great Story, Good Actors and Actresses, but a Cheap Direction: My Impression of the Movie, “The Great Gatsby”

I saw the movie “the Great Gatsby” yesterday.


I love the novel “the Great Gatsby,” so I was looking forward to this movie, and at the same time I felt anxious about it.

Of course, the plot is great, not due to any staff of this movie but to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Gatsby devoted whole his life to Daisy, who wasn’t what she really was but what he believed that she should be. He did anything that he believed that she would love, but actually it wasn’t sure that she would love it. In the end, he was betrayed by the real Daisy, because she wasn’t what he thought that her was.

In this sense, “the Great Gatsby” is tragedy and comedy like “Don Quixote.” Gatsby and Don Quixote lived in their own imagination. All of us also live more or less in our imagination, but we can’t forget the real world at all. Therefore, we look down on them and adore them at the same time like Nick Carter.

Would you like to live your own life at any cost and go to ruin like Jay Gatsby, or to watch someone else’s life from a safety zone like Nick Carter?

Tobey Maguire was adequate as Nick Carter. Although sometimes Leonardo DiCaprio overacted, I can’t imagine that another actor palys Gatsby. Carey Mulligan was cute enough for Daisy who Gatsby loved.

But I was really disappointed that the direction was so cheap.

In my entry “Punk Rock and the Digital Camera: the Impression of the Documentary Movie “Side by Side,” I wrote, “I want to watch a movie made by punk rockers more than by Thomas Edison.” I don’t deny developing of the digital technology, but I just hope that directors would use them effectively.

In this movie, everything in the images was unnatural. If it was a music video, I could say that their images were fashionable, but in this movie they broke my concentration on the story.

Did they use such artificial images in order to express the cheapness of the Roaring Twenties? If they wanted it, it would be successful. In fact, I seemed this movie to be cheap.

I’ll try Robert Redford’s “the Great Gatsby.”

The Meaning of Being Outdated: The Impression of Kazuo Ishiguro's Novel “An Artist of the Floating World”

I've just finished reading Kazuo Ishiguro's novel “An Artist of the Floating World.”

I love his novels, but I'm used to reading them in Japanese translations. I heard that his English was beautiful, so I wanted to read his novel in the original English version. This time, I tried to read “An Artist of the Floating World” in English.

When I read the conversations in it, I felt kind of strange. In this novel, all characters are Japanese, and obviously they speak in Japanese. But Kazuo Ishiguro wrote their conversation in English, because the entire of this novel was written in English.

The first half of the novel is about an arranged marriage of the daughter of the main character, Masuji Ono. I felt like I was reading the English translation of a Japanese novel like Junichiro Tanizaki's "the Makioka Sisters."

His daughter talked to him like this.

"Forgive me, but I wonder if it may not be wise if Father were to visit Mr Kuroda soon."

She denigrated herself to her father very much. I'm guessing that native English speakers don’t talk with their fathers in such a way. This conversation sounds like a direct translation from Japanese to English. I don’t know if Kazuo Ishiguro can speak Japanese, so I wonder whether he wrote this conversation in Japanese first and translated into English, or if he wrote in English as if he were writing a translation.

There appeared many outdated people in this novel.

Masuji Ono was a retired painter. During World War II, he worked for the military, and he drew many paintings endorsing the Japanese invasion of Asian countries. At that time he believed that he was doing the right thing for the Japanese people, but after Japan surrendered, he was blamed for his responsibility in the war, and no one was interested in his paintings.

Ono’s master drew only beautiful women in the red-light district. Although his paintings used to be quite popular, just before World War II people became to think of his paintings as not patriotic.

Ono criticized and broke away from his master, and then he himself also was criticized by younger generation. In the end, everyone became outdated.

Ono’s master told Ono the following:

“When I am an old man, when I look back over my life and see I have devoted it to the task of capturing the unique beauty of that world, I believe I will be well satisfied. And no man will make me believe I’ve wasted my time.”

Kazuo Ishiguro didn’t make clear if Ono and his master was actually satisfied with their lives.

Everyone must be outdated, when they are old. I wonder if I will be well satisfied.

Punk Rock and the Digital Camera: the Impression of the Documentary Movie “Side by Side”

Johnny Rotten shouted, “I wanna be anarchy,” and he broke down the values of music.



When I was a high school student, some of my friends formed a band and played punk rock in the school festival. The reason that they chose punk rock was because they could only play punk rock.

Before the Sex Pistols, music played better technically was better, but Sex Pistols showed that music didn’t have to be played technically well. They democratized rock music.

I watched the documentary “Side by Side” about the transition from film cameras to digital cameras in the movie industry. In this movie, Keanu Reeves interviewed many people: directors, cinematographers, producers, actors, editors, colorists, and so on. Some of them welcomed digital cameras, while others stuck to film cameras.



Digitalization changed movie making in two ways.

Firstly, movie making by a digital camera is far cheaper than by a film camera. Videotapes, which don’t have to be developed, are much cheaper than films, and it is much easier to use a digital camera than a film camera, so they don’t need trained professionals. But the picture quality of digital cameras used to be lesser than film cameras.

Secondary, digital cameras got rid of the technical limitation of film cameras. A film camera can shoot only ten minutes, and a director has to wait for a day to watch the pictures that they take, because films need to be developed. On the contrary, a digital camera can shoot much longer than a film camera, and director can check the pictures that they take simultaneously. The picture quality of digital cameras is getting better and is now comparable to film cameras.

The first way was represented by Danny Boyle and Anthony Dod Mantle, who made “Slumdog Millionaire,” and the second way was represented by George Lucas and James Cameron, and “Star Wars” and “Avatar”.

Dod Mantle worked for Dogme 95 project, in which they used digital cameras earliest to make movies.



Danny Boyle was deeply impressed by his avant-garde pictures and decided to make a movie with him using a digital camera. They used a handy digital camera and expressed the dynamism of Mumbai in “Slumdog Millionaire.”



George Lucas and James Cameron have been developing the new digital technology to make images that they want, and their movies, in which they used these technologies, were quite successful commercially. They are entrepreneurs in the movie industry.

Danny Boyle and Dod Mantel democratized movies by digital camera like the Sex Pistols, and George Lucas and James Cameron industrialized movies like Thomas Edison. 

I want to watch a movie made by punk rockers more than by Thomas Edison.

A Cat in Love on a Spring Night

Last night, some stray cats in my neighborhood were fighting and shouting at each other, and running around on the roof of the house next door.

Each haiku should have a seasonal word, which was called a "kigo" (季語).

"A cat in love" (恋猫) is one of the seasonal words of spring. In spring, tomcats fight over mates.

Shuson Kato, who is a famous modern haiku poet, wrote a haiku about a cat in love:

A cat in love

Licks a dish at once

And goes calling

恋猫の皿舐めてすぐ鳴きにゆく　加藤楸邨

I'm wondering if I will also hear cats in love calling tonight.

A cat in love is

Running through

The dark night

暗闇を駆け抜けてゆく恋の猫　山羊庵

Both Sides of the Same Coin: Haruki Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood” and Hideo Levy’s “A Room Where The Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard”

In 1949 Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto. His father was a high school teacher and moved to a high school in Kobe, so Haruki Murakami was brought up in Kobe. In 1968 he entered Waseda University and moved to Tokyo. Although his novel “Norwegian Wood” isn’t an autobiography, in it he described the student lives in Tokyo at that time.

In 1950 Hideo Levy was born in Berkeley, California. His father was a diplomat, and he was brought up in Denver, Taichung, Hong Kong, Washington D.C., and Yokohama. In 1967 he began to study Japanese at Waseda University, and then he ran away from his home in Yokohama, and moved into his friend’s room and worked at a coffee shop in Shinjuku. He described Waseda University and Shinjuku from the standpoint of a foreigner in his first novel “A Room Where The Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard.”

In the late 1960s student movements escalated throughout the world, May Event in France, anti-Vietnam movement in the U.S., the Cultural Revolution in China, and Zenkyoto movement in Japan. Waseda University and Shinjuku were in the midst of Zenkyoto movement, and Haruki Murakami and Hideo Levy were deeply influenced by it but both of them couldn’t fully get into it.

Haruki Murakami felt something different from Japanese society. In fact he wanted to run away from his parents, so he chose Waseda University in order to move to Tokyo and to live alone. But in Tokyo he still felt something different from students especially who took part in Zenkyoto movement. All of the characters in the novel “Norwegian Wood” more or less couldn’t fit in Japanese society.

Hideo Levy also felt something different from his father and wanted to run away from him and get into Japanese society, but he, as a foreigner, was rejected by Japanese society and people. Of course he couldn’t get into Zenkyoto movement, because he couldn’t speak Japanese and he was a “Gaijin”, which means “foreigner” in Japanese.

“Norwegian Wood” and “A Room Where The Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard” are both sides of the same coin. After that, Haruki Murakami became a world-famous novelist and he got out of Japanese literary society into the world. Hideo Levy began to write novels in Japanese, and got into Japanese literary society, if not fully.

If you like the novel or movie “Norwegian Wood,” I strongly recommend that you read Hideo Levy’s “A Room Where The Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard.” If you have learned Japanese, I suggest you try the original Japanese version of this novel, but you can read it in English translation as well.

All Right, Ben Folds Five, Are You Ready to Change Rock 'n' Roll?

My wife and I went to the live performance of Ben Folds Five at Hitomi Memorial Hall in Sangehchaya, Tokyo, Japan. We really enjoyed it.

Ben Folds Five is an alternative rock band, which has a piano player, base player, and drums player, but no guitar player. They once broke up in 2000, but then reunited in 2012. They are now on the Japan leg of their tour.

I'd like to show you Ben Folds Five before and after breakup.

I have seen Ben Folds' perform solo in Japan before, but this was my first time seeing the band, Ben Folds Five. First of all, I was relieved that the three of them looked like they were getting along well with each other. They enjoyed performing and the audience also enjoyed seeing them enjoy it. Of course their performance was great.

In the entry "Now It's a Bad Time for Music Producers,But It's a Good Time for Listeners,"  I wrote about the recent bad situation of pop music in Japan. Even though, music CD sales have been decreasing drastically for a few years now in Japan, and commercial downloads haven't made up for this yet,

But Ben Folds Five might have little to do with this situation. They are not big stars and they haven't had a big hit, either, but they can do a great performance, and several thousands of fans in Japan, including me, certainly go to their live performance, whenever they come to Japan. At any time their great live performance would help them to keep their musical activities.

I wrote that Kurt Cobain, Ben Folds, and me belong to the same generation in the entry "A Rock Star Was Dead And A Geek Is StillAlive: Kurt Cobain and Ben Folds." I can't even imagine the meaning that Kurt Cobain and I are the same age, when I hear Smells Like Teen Spirit. But I often identify myself with Ben Folds, when I listen to his songs. I understand well the reason of the breakup and reunite of Ben Folds Five.

It is really hard for anyone to keep working with the same member for long time, even if they are getting along very well. Sometimes you need a change circumstances. At one time, I, myself, began to feel irritated with my work and colleagues, and so requested a transfer to another department. I think that my colleagues and I needed to separate from each other at that time like Ben Folds Five. Now I wanted to work with them again. I think that we will now be able to work better together than before, because we've had a lot of experiences and grown up to some degree since then.

I love the early Ben Folds Five's songs, but at the same time recent songs are impressed, too. Ben Folds is trying to make new music, and he has increased the range of his music.

All right, Ben Folds Five, are you ready to change Rock 'n' Roll? I'm ready to change the world, too.

You Must Read "Sunny" As Soon As Possible

I've just finish "Sunny volume 3" by Taiyo Matsumoto, which made my heart ache.

In the entry "Japanese Manga Classics (3): Taiyo Matsumoto "Ping Pong"," I wrote about one of my favorite manga author, Taiyo Matsumoto. "Sunny" is his latest work and I think that it is his best work.

His graphics are artistic and fantastic, and I've been fascinated his graphics. Although manga consists of graphics, story, and dialogue, his graphics are so amazing that he gave too much importance to graphics in some of his work. And his works were sometimes so avant-garde that it was difficult to understand them. I, myself, love these works, but I don't recommend them to somebody else.

But "Sunny" is quite orthodox, and graphics, story, and dialog were integrated into an impressive manga, which must touch everyone's heart.

I was really happy to find English version of "Sunny," and I strongly recommend reading it as soon as possible.

Chinese Characters: De Facto Standard Language for Two Thousands Years in East Asia

Yesterday my wife and I went to Tokyo National Museum to see the exhibition "Wang Xizhi: Master Calligrapher."

Wang Xizhi (王羲之) lived in the forth century, but I didn't find it difficult to read the Chinese characters which he wrote at all. It is really incredible. Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs haven't been able to read for many years, although descendant of people who wrote these hieroglyphs still have been living around the remains where these glyphs were discovered.

Why can I read Chinese characters that were written in the fourth century?

Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs were used mainly for keeping kings' achievements, on the contrary Chinese characters has been used for communication between multiple languages.

Chinese characters were used not only in China but also in the country around China: Viet num, Korea, Japan, and so on. And more, in China many different languages have been spoken. Mandarin is now the standard Chinese language, but in each region each language has been spoken. It is important that they haven't had their own characters. In China and countries around China, although they have been speaking different languages, they have been using common Chinese characters.

Chinese characters are ideographic, so we can read them with our own language. For example, the name "王羲之" was read in Mandarin as Wang Xizhi, but I, Japanese, read it in Japanese as Oh Gishi. In the area of Chinese civilization, we have been sharing the common culture with Chinese characters, even if we couldn't speak Mandarin.

Now, English is de facto standard language all over the world. Chinese characters had been de facto standard language in East Asia for two thousands years.

I Will Just Do What I Can Do

Today, I did "kakizome", which is the first calligraphy writing of the New Year.

I wrote the phrase "性静情逸守真志満"as kakizome in 2011. At that time, I'd like to keep the peace of my mind.

This year I wrote, "I will just do what I can do." After March 11, 2010, I decided that I would just do what I can do. Now I think that I should do what I can do, even if I can't keep the peace of my mind.

I won't forget this phrase.

Heta-Uma (Unskillful but Skillful) and Uma-Heta (Skillful but Unskillful)

There is the word "ヘタうま (heta-uma)" in Japanese, which hardly can be translated into English. Heta-Uma is combined with the two words, "へた (heta)" and "うまい (umai)". "Heta" means unskillful or primitive, and "umai" means skillful or sophisticated.

In the 1980s, Teruhiko Yuasa, a Japanese illustrator, advocated the concept "heta-uma." He insisted that artworks, which were seemed to be unskillful but in fact were skillful, were most excellent, and called them "heta-uma." And he also criticized artworks, which were just quite skillful but not excellent, and called them "uma-heta."

I'd like to show one of his artworks "情熱のペンギンごはん (Passionate Penguin's Meal)". I think that it isn't realistic but quite skillful. At least it doesn't seem to be primitive for me at all, so I'd like to call it "uma-uma" (skillful and skillful).

In the previous entry "I Hate SongsSung by Whitney and I Love Songs Sung by Carole" I made a comparison between Whitney Houston and Carole King. In the words of Teruhiko Yuasa, Whitney Houston's songs are typically "uma-heta." Her songs are just quite skillful but without any substance.

Sony used to be like what Apple is now, but now it lost its luster. Sony invented Walkman, but it couldn't invent iPod, iTunes, and iPhone. It's not only Sony, but most Japanese electronics companies are slumping. Panasonic, one of the largest Japanese electronics companies, released the report about the estimate of huge loss in fiscal year 2013.  I myself don't want to buy products made by Japanese electronics companies, but I actually bought Apple's products, iPod, iMac, and iPhone.

When I compared the specs of electronic products, sometimes I find that Japanese products were best, but they don't make me want to buy them at all. I guess that they resemble to Whitney Houston's songs, "uma-heta" (skillful but unskillful).

The specs of Whitney Houston might be better than most singers, but her songs don't move me at all. Recent Sony's Products don't move me either, but Apple's products touch me.

In the entry "Why Do I Buy AppleProducts?" I wrote "Nowadays the specs on PCs are not different so much, so the feel of them are important for me. In this mean iMac is as same as my Mont Blanc's fountain pen, whose touch is really nice." Apple's products don't seemed to be unskillful, so they can't be called "heta-uma" (unskillful but skillful) but "uma-uma" (skillful and skillful), but it's clear that Apple doesn't pursue specs on the paper. For example, the size of display of iPhone 5 isn't largest in smart phones, because Apple took account of usability.

One of the strangest electronic products that I've ever seen is the PC with an air washer made by Fujitsu, one of the major Japanese computer manufactures. Who wanted to PC with an air washer? It is "uma-heta" (skillful but unskillful), isn't it? No, it is just "heta-heta" (unskillful and unskillful).

Hip Hop and the Death of the Author

My favorite pop music is Rock and Funk in the 1970s.

I think that the 1970s were the golden age of Rock and now it is dead as I wrote in the entry "The Song for All of the Stupid Boys in the World."

I think that rock music isn't contemporary music now either. Hip hop killed Rock music in the 90s, and Nirvana was the last band that created new rock music. And then rock musicians have basically rehashed old rock music, so I mainly listen to rock music from the 60s and 70s.

 

Sometimes I used to try listening to Hip Hop music, but Hip Hop sounded so strange that I couldn't get used to it. Recently I realized that what was different between Rock and Hip Hop and now I enjoy listening to hip hop music.

Roland Barthes, a French critic, wrote about the concept "the death of the author." For the traditional literary critics, literary works were always related to their authors, but Barthes insisted that we should read the texts themselves. Texts weren't creations by their authors, but each text is related to and quoted by others.

Roland Barthes' theory is based on structuralism. Claude Levi-Strauss, one of the most famous anthropologists, studied mythology by applying structuralism. Mythology doesn't have its authors, so it can't be related to its authors. Levi-Strauss focused on the variations of the texts of mythology and revealed the meaning and structure of mythology.

Hip Hop brought "the death of the author" to the world of pop music. Rock music was treated in the traditional way of literary criticism, but Hip Hop music is rather like mythology.

After the Beatles released the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", Rock musicians made many albums, which were thought as art works created by them.

On the contrary Hip Hop music aren't creations of the special authors. In the beginnings of Hip Hop, DJs played pieces of songs with turntables on the street. They didn't create their original songs but just edited and quoted songs, which already existed.

Please watch this video, "Otis" by Kanye West and Jay-Z.

 

Otis Redding's, a legendary soul singer, song was quoted. His voice and shout were reconstructed, and raps of Kanye West and Jay-Z were overdubbed.

Who is the author of this song "Otis"? Otis Redding? Kanye West and Jay-Z?

I realized that I should enjoy the song itself and forget about who was the author. Barthes called this attitude "the pleasure of the text."

In the Hip Hop world the author is actually dead.

 

American Heroes after September 11

I'm reading Kichiro Yanashita's "User's Guide to Pandemonium (新世紀読書大全)". Kichiro Yanashita (柳下毅一郎) is a critic and a translator,and he specializes in so-called subculture, which is called "サブカル (sabukaru)" in Japan. This book consists of all of his book reviews written from 1990 to 2010.

He wrote about American comics in the 1990s and after September 11.

I read American comics most eagerly in the 90s, when the world of American comics was changing dynamically because of the American comic revolution led by Frank Miller and Alan Moore. I had the momentum to read every area of American comics, from leaf to graphic novels.. I read the best works of American comics, for example "The Dark Knight Returns", "Watchmen", and "The Sandman", and I felt certain that American comics were on the cutting edge.
...
September 11 attacks and "patriotic fervor" had great influence on American comics. Hero comics lost their power (there were no meaning of heroes like Dr. Doom who collapsed into tears on terrorists' attack and Spiderman who said "The real heroes are firefighters died in the twin tower."), and comics on newspapers were choked by patriotism.

Ironically, American comics in the 1990s influenced Hollywood in the 2000s. Many hero movies were made, and some of these could be called masterpieces. I really love the movie "The Dark Knight", which was based on the comic "The Dark Knight Returns". I wrote an entry about "The Dark Knight" on my weblog.

In American comics in the 1990s and in hero movies in the 2000s justice and evil became relative with each other and heroes lost their identities. I feel it natural that justice and evil are relative, so I can accept this sense of values and I love these comics and movies. I also wrote another entry about American comics.

I am interested in the raison d'etre of heroes.If there were no evil in this world, we wouldn't need any heroes. Batman's raison d'etre is Joker. If Joker is gone, Batman also should be gone. Joker will never kill Batman and Batman will never kill Joker. Justice and evil are two sides of the same coin.

This is the truth about justice and evil in the world after September 11, isn't it?

Modernization and Indigenous Culture: Hula and Bon Odori

I'd like to write about the book "Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii" again.

In this book he wrote about hula as follows.

At night they feasted and the girls danced the lascivious hula-hula―a dance that is said to exhibit the very perfection of educated motion of limb and arm, hand, head, and body, and the exactest uniformity of movement and accuracy of "time." ...

Of late years, however, Saturday has lost most of its quondam gala features. This weekly stampede of the natives interfered too much with labor and the interest of white folks, and by sticking in a law here, and preaching a sermon there, and by various other means, they gradually broke it up. The demoralizing hula-hula was forbidden to be performed, save at night with closed doors, in presence of few spectators, and only by permission duly procured from the authorities and the payment of ten dollars for the same. There are few girls nowadays able to dance this ancient national dance in the highest perfection of the art.
(pp70-71)

Mark Twain wrote this article in 1866. He always sympathized with Hawaiian culture, but at the same time he described how it had been lost. Now, of course, hula is one of the symbols of Hawaiian culture and nobody would think of trying to prohibit it.

Hula isn't just an element of Hawaiian culture but it spread overseas. For example, there are a lot of amateur hula dances now in Japan . But in 1866, the situation in Hawaii was that "There are few girls nowadays able to dance this ancient national dance in the highest perfection of the art."

This article reminded me of an essay written by Torahiko Terada, who was a famous scientist and essayist born in 1878. He wrote about "Bon Odori" in 1933. Bon Odori is now a very popular dance performed in summer festivals, now.
I wrote about this essay in my Japanese weblog.

I'll try to translate his essay into English.

I saw Bon Odori in a lonely beachside village in Tosa around 1901 or 1902 by chance, and since then I've never seen it again. At that time, I remembered that such a thing was thought to be "a savage and shamful custom that we didn't want Western people watching" and they were prohibited to be performed openly.

I was really surprised to know the fact that Bon Odori used to be prohibited and that Torahiko Terada had seen it only once, because Bon Odori is so popular now that we can't even imagine the possibility of it being prohibited.

I found the 36th (!) Bon Odori Festival 2012 in Malaysia on the internet. Bon Odori isn't as popular as hula in the world, but at least it isn't thought to be "a savage and shameful custom."

Modernization is homogenizing the world, andbut indigenous culture maintains the diversity of the world. Mark Twain knew the importance ofindigenous culture in Hawaii, for example hula, in the middle of the 19th century.

Tradition and Progress: Contemporary Okinawan Folk Music

Last Sunday my wife and I went to the Ryukyu Festival 2012.

Ryukyu is the old name of Okinawa, which is the the southmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Before Okinawa was absorbed by the Japanese government in 1872, it was an independent country called Ryukyu kingdom, (it was occupied by the United State from 1945 to 1972.)

Okinawa has its own culture, which is different from that of mainland Japan. Their language is a dialect of Japanese, but I can't understand it at all. They call their own language "Uchinaguchi", which means our language, and the language of the mainland Japan "Yamatoguchi". "Yamato" is the old name of Japan.

Bali is famous for its performing art, such as gamelan music, and in the same way Okinawa is known for the islands of the performing art, especially music.

In the Ryukyu Festival, six groups of Okinawan musicians ranging from an Okinawan traditional folk musician to a rock band appeared. Their music has great variety.

At the end of the festival, Seijin Noborikawa came up to the stage. I wrote about him in my entry ""Umaku", a Naughty Boy, Seigua(誠小), His Songs and Life". He is the living legend of Okinawan folk music. I was as glad as when I saw a live performance of James Brown.

He is one of the greatest musicians in Okinawa, but his attitude was just natural and simple. When he appeared on the stage, he held his sanshin, an Okinawan instrument like a guitar, on his shoulder and walked lightly. He is a small old man, but he has a great presence. And he is so cute that he makes everyone that sees him happy.

He mainly plays Okinawan folk music, so called "Shimauta (島唄: island songs)". He said that Okinawan musician should play Okinawan folk music in "a proper way", yet he also said that Okinawan folk music wasn't necessarily traditional.

He's studied old Okinawan folk songs, and he plays them "in a proper way". In this sense, he is traditional. At the same time, in his long career, he created a lot of new styles of music. In this sense, he is also progressive. In his music, tradition and progress aren't conflicting, and more progress is based on tradition.

As I wrote, there was a very wide variety of Okinawan music in the Ryukyu festival, yet at the same time they also shared the Okinawan folk music tradition in the core of their music. At the end of the festival, all musicians came to the stage and, they sang and danced classical Okinawan folk songs.

It's quite important to carry on their asset of Okinawan folk music in "a proper way", but if they just performed songs the same way they have been performed in the past, Okinawan music would die. here are many examples of "traditional arts" that died because nothing new was able to be created.

In spite of that, I found that Okinawan music was still alive in the Ryukyu festival. After Seijin Noborikawa is gone, Okinawan music will surely survive.

Haruki Murakami and American Literature

In the previous entry, I wrote, "Haruki Murakami has been deeply influenced by modern American literature, and he translated many of them into Japanese, for example, Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote, Raymond Carver, and Raymond Chandler."

I gave a comment to this entry, "I enjoyed reading Haruki Murakami's novel 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle' very much. ... It didn't feel the least bit "American"."

In Japan, it's the accepted view that Haruki Murakami is influenced by American literature, but in fact I couldn't explain how  "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" was influenced by American literature. I've easily accepted the stereotype about Haruki Murakami and American literature, but I should think about it by myself again.

Most Japanese critics have pointed out that Haruki Murakami was an outsider of modern Japanese literature, and he's wanted to keep a distance from Japan's literary society. He often talks about how he read modern American literature, but he almost doesn't talk about Japanese literature. I know that he loves Scott Fitzgerald and Raymond Carver, but I don't know which author he likes in Japanese literature.

His debut work "Hear the Wind Sing" is almost like a translation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel, and it was clear that Murakami was influenced by American literature. And then he's been building his own style. Actually, I can hardly point out the influence by American literature in the novels "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" and "1Q84".

The motif of his novels isn't "American", at the same time it isn't Japanese but his own one. But his style of writing seems to be like a translation of foreign literature works. When I read Haruki Murakami's translation of Raymond Chandler's "Long Good Bye", I felt that it was almost like Murakami's own novel and this work reminded me Murakami's "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World". The motif of Raymond Chandler's novels is different from Murakami's, but the styles of writing are similar especially in Murakami's early works.

But I found that Murakami used many expressions, which could hardly be translated into English, when I translated his speech at Catalonia. It is the plan fact that he talked in Japanese, not in English.

For a long time I've been wondering why Murakami didn't write a novel in English, if he wanted to write a novel like American literature. He has been misleading me into believing that he was influenced by American literature. Although he likes American literature, his works has his own motif and style, and he's been writing in "Japanese".

I'd like to know how the readers enjoy Murakami's novels. Do you find "American style" or "Japanese style" in his novels?

Sherlock Loved John H.

In order to decide if I wanted to watch the movie "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows", I rent Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" at a DVD rental store.

I enjoyed it very much. The images in the movie were stylish and I laughed at the cynical English jokes.

I love "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch". After he got married with Madonna, well, I don't want to talk about it. And then after he got divorced, he began to make cool movies again.

There are the people called Sherlockian, who study very small details of Sherlock Holmes stories. One of their biggest study subjects is the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Some Sherlockian insists that Dr. Watson is female. I've read the theory that Holmes was female.

But I think that Holmes was gay and loved Dr. Watson, and Dr. Watson was so obtuse that he didn't notice Holmes' love for him. I'd like to prove my theory by analyzing quotes from "the sign of four."

Dr. Watson fell in love with Miss Mary Morstan, and at the end of the story, they were engaged. I'll quote the scene, where Miss Morstan, Dr. Watson, and Holmes rode a carriage by invitation of some unknown person.

He leaned back in the cab, and I could see by his drawn brow and his vacant eye that he was thinking intently. Miss Morstan and I chatted in an undertone about our present expedition and its possible outcome, but our companion maintained his impenetrable reserve until the end of journey.

Dr. Watson fell in love with Miss Morstan at first sight. Holmes must have noticed it, because he was quite sharp. Dr. Watson and Miss Morstan were talking with each other with a pleasant atmosphere, while Holmes was just silently fuming.

You might think that this passage wouldn't be enough evidence that Holmes was angry. How about the next scene?

"Look here, Watson; you look regularly done. Lie down there on the sofa, and see if I can put you to sleep."

He took up his violin from the corner, and as I stretched myself  out he began to play some low, dreamy, melodious air, ― his own, no doubt for he had a remarkable gift for improvisation. I have a vague remembrance of his gaunt limbs, his earnest face, and the rise and fall of his bow. Then I seemed to be floated peacefully away upon a soft sea of sound, until I found myself in dream-land, with the sweet face of Mary Morstan looking down upon me.

Holmes played the violin with heart in order to make Dr. Watson sleep well, but Dr. Watson went to "dream-land" with Miss Morstan. How poor Holmes was!

The next morning, Dr. Watson said to Holmes that he wanted to visit to Miss Morstan!

"Well, of course Miss Morstan too. They were anxious to hear what happened."

"I would not tell them too much," said Holmes. "Women are never to  be entirely trusted, ― not the best of them."

I did not pause to argue over this atrocious sentiment. "I shall be back in an hour or two," I remarked.

"All right" Good luck! "

How obtuse Dr. Watson was! Last night, he fell asleep hearing Holmes' playing the violin, but he had never noticed Holmes love for him at all. If he noticed it and ignored it, he must have been so cold blooded.

Although he would say, "I shall be back in an hour or two," he would never come back so soon when he met with Miss Morstan.

It was evening before I left Camberwell, and quite dark by the time I reached home. My companion's book and pipe lay by his chair, but he had disappeared. I looked about in the hope of seeing a note, but there was none.

"I suppose that Mr. Sherlock Holmes has gone out," I said to Mrs. Hudson as she came up to lower the blinds.

"No, sir. He has gone to his room, sir. Do you know, sir,"" sinking her voice into an impressive whisper, "I am afraid for his health?"

"Why so, Mrs. Hudson?"

"Well, he's that strange, sir. After you was gone he walked and he walked, up and down, until I was weary of the sound of his footstep. Then I heard him talking to himself and muttering, and every time the bell rang out he came on the stairhead, with 'what is that, Mrs. Hudson?' And now he has slammed off to his room, but I can hear him walking away the same as ever. I ventured to say something to him about cooling medicine, but he turned on me, sir, with such a look that I don't know how ever I got out of the room."

"I don't think that you have any cause to be uneasy, Mrs. Hudson," I answered. "I have seen him like this before. He has some small matter upon his mind which makes him restless."

He said, "some small matter"! Your obtuseness was guilt, Dr. Watson.

And then I'll quote the very tragic last scene.

"Well, and there is the end of our little drama," I remarked, after we had set some time smoking in silence. "I fear that it may be the last investigation in which I shall have the chance of studying your method. Miss Morstan has done me the honor to accept me as a husband in perspective."

He gave a most dismal groan. "I feared as much," said he. "I really cannot congratulate you."

I was a little hurt. "Have you any reason to be dissatisfied with my choice?" I asked.

"Not at all. I think she is one of the most charming young ladies I ever met, …　But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest bias my judgment."

...

"The division seems rather unfair," I remarked. "You have done all the work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?"

"For me," said Sherlock Holmes, "there still remains the cocaine bottle." And he stretched his long white hand up for it.

What a tragedy! Holmes knew the end from the beginning, but he couldn't do anything but just saying, "I really cannot congratulate you." And Dr. Watson was happy in an innocent way.

I wrote an entry about "Kiss of the Spider Woman". I think that this novel is one of the masterpieces about tragic love of gay people. But "The Sign of Four" is as tragic as "Kiss of Spider Woman.

At the end of story, only cocaine was left for Sherlock.

"Romeo and Juliet" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman"

Caution: This entry refers to the end of "Kiss of the Spider Woman".

Every love story has the plot of "Romeo and Juliet".

At first, a boy and a girl fell in love with each other. But someone or something disrupted their relationships. In a tragic love story, they died and their love turns to be eternal in heaven. In a comedic love story, they overcame obstacles but their love will not be eternal on the earth.

I love Manuel Puig's "Kiss of the Spider Woman", which is a typical tragic love story.

The main characters are Molina and Valentine. They were imprisoned the same cell, but they were completely opposite in every way.

Molina was a gay. He was arrested for sexual harassment to a boy.

He loved straight men, so his love was always impossible. Sometime he loved an intellectual straight man, who said to Molina that he understood what Molina felt. But he would never love Molina as Molina loved him.

Molina didn't like to meet gay people, because he wasn't interested in gay people but straight men. But he could only be a friend with a gay, because only gay people could share his feelings. So he didn't like to go to a gay bar, but he went to a gay bar.

Valentine was a macho revolutionary warrior.

He lived in the political world. Of course he wasn't interested in a gay at all.

The governor of the prison sent Molina to Valentine's cell as a spy. But Molina fell in love with him. At first Valentine rejected his love, but Molina was so dedicated to him that Valentine became to open his heart to Molina.

Molina wasn't interested in the revolution at all, but he loved Valentine so deeply that he swore loyalty to the revolution. When Molina was set free, Valentine gave him a letter to his revolutionary fellows.

Molina went to give the letter to Valentine's fellows, but he was followed by the police. Valentine's fellows found the police and they didn't trust Molina. And then they shot Molina.

What a tragic love story! Molina got nothing more than Valentine's love (although it was not sure that his love is real) and Molina's love to Valentine killed Molina himself.

This is the modern "Romeo and Juliet" story.