Congratulations to Alice Munro on receiving this years Nobel Prize in Literature. I must admit that I'm not too familiar with her work. I've been hoping Cormac McCarthy will take the prize some day soon. But I know a lot of people here in Japan and abroad are championing for Haruki Murakami (村上春樹).
I'm not sure if it is careful planning or prescience from Murakami, but last month he released a collection of short stories from various international authors including one story from Alice Munro, Koishikte (恋しくて) - Ten Selected Love Stories, which I'm sure will charge back up the best sellers list this week in Japan. Murakami is a prolific translator of English literature, and he receives a lot of recognition for his work as a translator, which highlights the big difference between the valuation of translators in Japan and the second rate status they are afforded in English translations.
Yumiko Kotake (小竹由美子) is another translator who has translated a lot of Alice Munro's work into Japanese, including Too Much Happiness (小説のように), The View from Castle Rock (林檎の木の下で), and Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (イラクサ). She has also translated works from John Iriving and Paul Torday.
Most of the people who stumble across this article are probably going to be more familiar with Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人) than I am. I don't read much shonen manga, but this is a series that has really gained a lot of attention and success over the last few years.
I picked up a new Sony PRS-T3 e-reader this week, it seems to have come under the radio without much fanfare. It's only an incremental update from the T2, but a big improvement from my old PRS-650. It included a few vouchers for the Sony e-reader store, so picked a few manga that I've been eyeing for a while, Attack on Titan was one of them.
Written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama (諌山創), the first volume was released 4 years ago, in October 2009. I'm really impressed with the novelty of the setting, it makes a change from ninjas, pirates, and giant mecha, but I'm having a hard time really caring about the one dimensional characters. There is a common trope in lot of shonen manga, anime, and JRPG, where the teenage protagonist saves the world. Although to be fair, it's not a trope limited to Japanese culture, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game suffers the same limitation. Adult characters are shown to be useless, incompetent fools who interfere with the potential of the youthful protagonists. In Attack on Titan, I have found myself cheering for the muted lumbering giants, because I feel like the characters Erin, Mikasa, and Armin are just bidding their time until they can fulfill their destiny and save the human race. Let me know if one of them gets eaten. That's a twist in the story that would increase my interest.
With several games, a spin-off manga series, it was really the anime that brought wider attention to the series. It was published by Wit Studio, a new animation studio formed in 2012, and directed by Tetsuro Araki (荒木哲郎) who worked for 10 years at Madhouse where he directed the anime adaptation of Death Note. For me, the marauding giants are the focal point of the series, and I feel that the anime is a successful adaptation of the source material, and even does a better job of capturing the giant's menacing and foreboding presence on the landscape.
I blogged about Lee Sang-il's (李相日) Unforgiven (許されざる者) a few weeks ago, but I thought I'd add my thoughts now that I've actually seen it.
Ken Watanabe (渡辺謙) does an amazing job filling Clint Eastwood's shoes in the main role, and is supported well by Yuya Yagira (柳楽優弥). Young Yagira plays a young alcoholic Ainu bandit, and outshines Jaimz Woolvett as the young side-kick from the original Unforgiven. I don't remember many other prominent Ainu characters or representations of Ainu culture in Japanese cinema. A similar but now extinct ethnic minority, the Emishi, were featured in Princes Mononoke.
Koichi Sato (佐藤浩市) is also mesmerizing as the power hungry law man, set on eradicating the 'outdated' rule of the samurai. He channels Gary Oldman's classic role from Leon, and I expect him to do well come award ceremony season.
The film's soundtrack by Taro Iwashiro (岩代太郎) also deserves some attention. The son of a songwriter, Iwashiro is known for his work with TV dramas, but recently moved in to the film domain. The western is a genre in that has had a huge impact on movie composers, largely thanks to the work of Ennio Morricone, the soundtrack acts as an additional role. So I was looking forward to a similarly distinguished soundtrack. Although some of the music in the early scenes were a bit distracting, I was really impressed with the music during the final act, I've been trying to track it down all week.
An all star cast re-enacting a highly well loved western classic, Unforgiven is bound to pick up a few Japanese Academy Awards, but it is sure to face some stiff competition from Hirokazu Kore'eda's Like Father, Like Son (そして父になる), and Hitoshi Matsumoto's R100.
As I find myself drawn toward translation theory, specifically Japanese literature and it's interaction with English, there are a few websites that I've begun to thoroughly enjoy.
Asymtote is a quarterly journal that focuses on contemporary world literature and translation. I stumbled across the interview with David Mitchell discussing his translation of the Naoki Higashida's the Reason I Jump. I've mentioned this work in an early post, and it's definitely worth checking out for anyone with an interest in Autism.
But what brought me back was the translation of selected text from Ramo Nakajima by Sayuri Okamoto and Sim Yee Chang. And for those interested in digging a bit deeper, Asymtote also provides the original Japanese. Whilst I'm not familiar with Ramo Nakajima, this translation has definitely whet my appetite for his work, and the Naoki Award winning The Night of Human Models has been added to my to-read list. Asymtote is a quarterly journal. The next edition should be available in October.
The other site recently added to my bookmarks is Three Percent, a website from the University of Rochester for readers, editors and translators interested in international literature. It features reviews of a wide range of literature and translations, and is a great place to search if you are looking for great world literature.
The fourth movie directed by comedic icon Hitoshi Matsumoto (松本人志), R100, hits cinemas in Japan next month.
Nao Omori (大森南朋) is a furniture salesmen who seeks a bit of adventure in his life. After joining a enigmatic bondage club, he realizes it is not something that he is too interested in. But the club refuses to cancel his yearly membership, and he finds himself pursued by a series of increasing persistent dominatrix.
This week also marked Matsumoto's 50th birthday, and he has stated in interviews that he has become increasingly aware of his advancing age. He has even questioned how long he can continue with the wildly popular slapstick of the yearly Gakki no Tsukai (ガキの使い) TV specials. This week was also the final episode after 8 years of the TV series Lincoln (リンカーン), a vehicle for Matumoto and his Downtown partner Masatoshi Hamada (浜田雅功), and their friends. It's definitely worth checking out some of the best of clips of Lincoln if you can, especially their sports carnival specials:
The latest collection of Peeping Life (ピーピング・ライフ) shorts are a collaboration between creator Ryoichi Mori (森りゅういち), Tetsuka Productions (手塚プロ), and Tatsunoko Productions (タツノコプロ).
Founded by Osamu Tetsuka, the home of Astro Boy, Black Jack and a mountain of animation that has influenced Japanese children for generations.
Tatsunoko Productions are equally a massive force in Japanese animation. Western audience will know them through Speed Racer, Gatchaman (which has recently received a live action remake), Samurai Pizza Cats, and Robotech. They also provided animation assistance with the original 1995 series of Neon Genesis Evangelion and 1998s Akira.
This collection of shorts delves into the back catalogue of both production houses to provide a hilarious new look at some beloved anime classic. From Testuka Productions there are appearances from a rebellious teenage Astro Boy who dyes his hair and complains about his iconic but unfashionable choice of clothing, and from Black Jack who finds that his lack of a medical license is not too reassuring to potential patients, Princess Knight, Ambassador Magma, Triton of the Sea, and The Three-Eyed One.
From Tatsunoko Productions there is Casshan, Yatterman, and The Genie Family.
If like me, you're not to familiar with some of the earlier anime from the 60s and 70s, here is a collection of clips from the various anime.
Yurusarezarumono (許されざる者) is a remake of the Academy Award winning 1992 Clint Eastwood classic, Unforgiven.
The movie gives some completion to influence that Japanese cinema has had on the Western genre. Starting with Akira Kurasawa's (倉澤明) Yojimbo (用心棒) that was adapted by Sergio Leone in A Fistful of Dollars staring Clint Eastwood. Samurai films had a huge impact in shaping the Western genre, specifically the work of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood, who both have left a lasting impression on the history of cinema. Eastwood's 1992 masterpiece, which he directed and starred in, was dedicated to the memory of Sergio Leone. And now completing the cinematic mobius strip, Unforgiven has now been remade in Japan as a period samurai drama.
Directed by Lee Sang-il (李相日), award winning director behind 2010's Akunin (悪人), and 2006's Hula Girls (フラガール). Starring Ken Watanabe (渡辺謙) in main role as a retired samurai who has given up his brutal past as a government swordsman looking to live a peaceful life in rural Hokkaido. It also stars veteran actor Akira Emoto (柄本明), young rising star Yuya Yagira (柳楽優弥) who won the Best Actor award at Cannes for 2004's Nobody Knows, young Sydney born Shiori Kutsuna (忽那汐里) who I know from the movie adaptation of the Beck manga and My Back Page with Kenichi Matsuyama (松山ケンイチ), and Eiko Koike (小池栄子) who appeared in the acclaimed Youkame no Semi from 2011.
The excellent casting is matched by the scenery of Hokkaido which makes a beautiful backdrop befitting the story. I'm expecting this movie to clean up at the Japanese Academy Awards this year. Definitely one to check out. Yurusarezarumono will be shown this month at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and is to be released in cinemas in Japan on September 13th.
