Bullfight

Another title to add to the list of books to look out for next year is Inoue Yasushi's Bullfight/Togyu, a notable novella as it in turn won Inoue the Akutagawa Prize. Translated by Michael Emmerich the book is due to be published by Pushkin Press in August 2013, more details and confirmation of course when Pushkin Press release their 2013 catalogue.

non-fiction for 2013

Like my previous post on forthcoming titles I thought I'd begin to compile a post of some noted non-fiction titles due in 2013 that seem to be grabbing my attention at the moment, no doubt I'll add to this initial list as time passes, but thought I start with four titles from Columbia University Press - due in August is Donald Keene's book on Meiji era poet Masaoka Shiki entitled The Winter Sun Shines In, then in July, (apologies for doing this in completely unchronological order), comes Michael Emmerich's huge tome - The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization and World Literature, an in depth re-examination of this landmark work, also in July is Burton Weston's translation of the Nihon ryoiki - Record of Miraculous Events in Japan, a book originally dating back to the eigth or ninth century. Lastly from Columbia University Press due in June is The Border Within - Essays by Kobo Abe, translated by Richard F. Calichman,  collecting twelve of Abe Kobo's essays, really interested to read a copy of this when it appears. Due in March from Minnesota University Press is Jeffrey Angle's translation of Hikikomori - Adolescence without End, by Saito Tamaki. Moving into the cinematic, Daisuke Miyao's The Aesthetic of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema  due in March from Duke's University Press looks like it'll make  fascinating reading. An intriguing title due at the end of this year from Merwin Asia Publishing is Modern Japanese Women Writers as Artists as Cultural Critics a collection of essays by three authors translated and discussed by Michiko Niikuni Wilson. An initial list that I'll probably and hope to add to over the coming months.


Modern Japanese Women Writers as Artists as Cultural Critics, translated by Michiko Niikuni Wilson, Dec 2012
General Will 2.0: Hiroki Azuma, translated Naoki Matsuyama - due March 2012
Hikikomori - Adolescence without End - Saito Tamaki, translated by Jeffrey Angles - due in March 2013
The Aesthetic of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema - Daisuke Miyao, due March 2013
The Border Within - Essays by Kobo Abe, translated by Richard F. Calichman, due June 2013
The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization and World Literature by Michael Emmerich, due July 2013
Record of Miraculous Events - Nihon ryoiki, translated by Burton Weston, due July 2013
The Reason I Jump - Naoki Higashida, translated by K.A Yoshida and David Mitchell, due June 2013
The Winter Sun Shines In by Donald Keene, due August 2013
Cinema of Actuality: Japanese filmmaking in the Season of Image Politics - Yuriko Furuhata, due Sept 2013
Decadent Literature in Twentieth Century Japan by Ikuho Amano, due December 2013
Public Properties: Museums in Imperial Japan by Noriko Aso, due December 2013



Whilst compiling this list the thought came to me that it's surprising that there hasn't ever been an appearance of an anthology of translated essays of Japanese writers or social critics, it could make an edifying portrait of Japan if say a collection were made up of essays taken from each decade of the twentieth century, (obviously it could also be dated by each of the years of the relevant era, Meiji, Taisho, Showa, etc), leading up to the present day. Which leads me to thinking which essays could be included. 

Kotoko

Kotoko directed by Shin'ya Tsukamoto won the best film Orizzonti Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, the film exhibits some of Tsukamoto's trademark techniques, shaking camera work, the soundtrack, kaleidoscopic, assists in breaking down the barriers between the viewer and the experiences of the central character Kotoko, - a mesmerising performance given by singer/actress Cocco. It could be said that the two concerns the film focuses upon are the pressures of single motherhood and also that of violence within society, and the way individuals react and respond in being exposed to it, these internalised fears of Kotoko manifest themselves into more of a destructive physical realm, the threat of violence intrudes into Kotoko's imagination through her fraught state of mind. The film opens with Kotoko stating that she sees double, we're momentarily tempted into thinking that the movie may take the route of depicting the good and the bad in the characters that Kotoko sees, but it becomes apparent that this double vision that she suffers from  could  stem from the anxiety and fatigue of being a single mother. In a series of powerful hallucinogenic scenes Kotoko envisions her young son, Daijiro, involved in accidents, and telling herself over and over again how dangerous it would be if she were to loosen her hold on him, and as she is standing on top of her apartment building she finds herself actually letting go, screaming for someone to call an ambulance as she runs down the stairway but she finds that Daijiro is actually safe in his room. The power that Tsukamoto brings in conveying Kotoko's imagined mental world is palpable, and as we begin to assimilate ourselves into her world, the T.V in her apartment repeatedly reports news of various violent crimes, violence in the film appears to be of a pandemic nature, insinuating anxiety, apprehension and uncertainty.

Daijiro is taken to Kotoko's sister's to be looked after, Kotoko sinks lower, she falls into self harming, cutting herself, into the mirror we see her pointing at her reflection with bloodied arms repeating, Ikiru, Ikiru, watching the disturbing scene you can't help but feel that Japanese cinema has turned, or is turning full circle. Midway through the film Tsukamoto appears himself playing Tananka, a prize winning novelist who has become fascinated with Kotoko after seeing her singing on the bus, he begrudgingly admits to stalking her, we learn that when she sings her double vision recedes and she sees the world as one. At first she tries to fend his attentions away by stabbing him in the hand with a fork, something that she does to another man who tries it on with her earlier in the film, but Tanaka is determined to help her, or in the least we think to attempt to understand her, he prevents her from cutting herself at first by letting her take out her inner anguish on him, but she falls back into inflicting cuts on herself, a particularly moving scene is one in which Tanaka tries to calm her. He moves in with her, but when a letter eventually comes saying that she has rehabilitated and that Daijiro can return Tanaka disappears, was he after all just a figment of her imagination?.

The movie is on the whole a gruelling one to watch, and it is to a degree reliant on its shock value to deliver its punch, although the observations it's making about violence and it's malignant influence on society give the impression that it could have quite easily have been produced at any point over the last twenty to thirty years and for all it's unflinching depictions of violent scenes there are at times some very moving scenes to witness within the film, one in particular is when Kotoko sings for Tanaka, when she comes to the end of her song we get the impression that Kotoko has finally arrived at a balanced place, but she still lacks the power to step out of herself, the sense of wretchedness at the end of this scene is something to experience, near the film's end Kotoko watches as Daijiro walks away from visiting her at the hospital, throughout the film she appears to be immobilized through the love she has for her son and it is forcibly felt in this scene. Although the film is shocking, this value accentuates the themes it forces us to consider.

Kotoko at King Records

Kotoko at Third Window Films