Design Fest at Tokyo Big Sight May 17-18, 2008

(Image borrowed from Design Festa web page.)

Design Festa, Asia’s biggest international art event, will be held for the 27th time in Japan at Tokyo Big Sight on May 17 and 18. The event, which started in 1994 and is held twice a year, is expected to attract more than 50,000 visitors from 69 countries, organizers said.

Artists from Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America will be exhibiting their works. Members of the public will be able to purchase artworks as well as meet artists of all persuasions, said organizers, adding that some 7,000 artists will occupy 2,600 booths. Design Festa will also feature outdoor and indoor stage performances, visual art, film exhibitions and workshops.

Admisasion is 800 yen per day or 1,500 yen for both days, in advance, or 1,000 yen at the door per day or 1,800 yen for two days. (From Japan Today, 5/6/08)

For further information, visit http://www.designfesta.com.

Lots of potential for visual projects...

Film Examines Japan's Criminal Justice System

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations has produced a documentary film on Japan’s criminal justice system, featuring the acquittal of 12 defendants in an election law violation case in Kagoshima Prefecture, to raise public awareness of the problematic aspects of the legal system.

Read the whole story about "Presumed Guilty—Creating False Confessions" at Japan Today.

Link to "Film Examines Japan's Criminal Justice System"
http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment-arts/view/film-examines-japans-criminal-justice-system

"Yasukuni" Opens Under Heavy Security...

So the film finally opened to the general public in Tokyo with police officers inside and outside the theater. Read the whole story at Japan Today.

Link to "Yasukuni" opens...
http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/yasukuni-opens-under-heavy-security-gets-mixed-reaction

The film will be shown in Osaka from Saturday, May 10 at the Dai Nana Geijutsu Gekijyo in Juso (tel: 06-6302-2073).

UPDATE (Yes, yet another one...) 5/5/08

Two Yasukuni-related stories appeared in today's Daily Yomiuri. The first is similar to the stories that ran yesterday.

Link to Public Interest in "Yasukuni" High
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080505TDY03105.htm

The second story I will cut and paste here in its entirety as it relates to our on-going discussion of photographing in public and getting people's permission to do so. Let's see how this develops...

Shrine wants 'uncleared' scenes cut; director says no

The Yomiuri Shimbun (May. 5, 2008)

Yasukuni Shrine has asked the maker of the documentary "Yasukuni" to cut scenes from the film that they say contain "unauthorized" footage, but the filmmaker is not planning to comply with the request.

In a letter dated April 11, the shrine asked director Li Ying to cut the scene of a ritual at the shrine, saying he was not permitted to film it.

The shrine also asked him to cut scenes showing close-ups of shrine personnel and visitors for which it said the filmmaker had not obtained permission from these people to shoot their images.

According to the shrine, the documentary's production company, Dragon Films, made three requests for permission to shoot footage of the shrine, but on none of these occasions did it specify that the footage was intended for a documentary to be called "Yasukuni."

Kazuo Hizumi, lawyer for Li and Dragon Films, said: "When you see news and other footage of the shrine, it's hard to believe that every single person seen in it has been asked for permission. It's a place that attracts many people and a lot of attention, and I believe members of the public seen there are usually taking images of it, too."

How specific does one have to be when getting permission to shoot a documentary? In early phases of research and shooting, I believe it is quite rare to know the title of one's film and what form the final edited cut will take. On the other hand, can the subject request that parts be deleted after the final cut if they change their minds? For visual anthropologists this is a legal and an ethical question.

*****

Yes, I know it's been a while since I promised to post a set of guidelines for students of visual anthropology to consider when photographing in public. I have not forgot. I have a stack of related books and articles that I have been reading and taking note of on my desk. Unfortunately I also have stacks of papers to grade and lectures to prepare on my desk as well... Someday all will get done...

Tokyo Pop Culture -or- More Weird Japan?

Here's a new documentary for the consideration of visual anthropologists...

TOKYOLOGY is a documentary exploring contemporary Japanese pop-culture.

[T]here's more to Tokyo than crazy nightlife and entertainment: from anime to architecture, political art to gaming, from shopping and style to the Cherry Blossom festival, the city has something for everyone, and its share of surprises, too!

Read more at the Tokyology web page.

Link to Tokyology:
http://tokyology.tv/index.html

There's a different and longer clip available from Boing Boing TV:




The film makes big claims about telling us how it really is in Tokyo, hearing from real people in Tokyo, all in 10 days time... Is this a useful bit about Japanese Pop Culture and/or more weird Japan? Within the realm of cultural representation, is Weird Japan/Cool Japan/Pop Japan a new form of orientalism? Are there similar films about New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, etc. that in effect represent the corresponding city's whole country/culture?

Resource: Japan Society and About Japan

More resources for visual anthropologists, from Japan Society. The first is Japan Society's general web page; the second is a linked and sponsored resource dedicated to k-12 education.

Here is Japan Society's own overview from their web page:

Japan Society is the premier producer of high-quality content on Japan for the United States, offering over one hundred events annually in the performing and visual arts, business and policy sector, and education fields, as well as publications and online forums. Over the course of more than a century, Japan Society has evolved into an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.

Link to Japan Society:
http://www.japansociety.org/

Here is a description for "About Japan" from their web page:

This site provides educators and specialists in Japan Studies a space for sharing, discussing and developing teaching ideas and resources about Japan, especially as they relate to K-12 classrooms. The site features thought-provoking essays; classroom-ready lesson plans; an area for asking and answering questions; resources including historical documents, maps and images; and member profiles. In addition to user-generated content, the editorial team will develop original materials organized around a theme. The first theme is “Imperial Japan.” We invite you to contribute materials of your own and join the discussion.

Link to About Japan: A Teacher's Resource:
http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/index.cfm

Yasukuni, NHK and Documentary Styles

Philip Brasor contributes to the ongoing dialogue about "Yasukuni" in his recent contribution to Japan Focus. He discusses various documentary styles (like we have been doing in class) and their repercussions.

Yasukuni Film and NHK’s Declaration to Promote National Interests. Government Funding, Free Expression and Propaganda in Japan

Here are Brasor's final two paragraphs:

Mori's idea is what connects Komori Shigetaka to Inada Tomomi. Neither of these authority figures trusts viewers to make up their own minds about the information they receive. Komori believes that overseas viewers of NHK World broadcasts will not form a correct idea of Japan's interests unless those interests are conveyed exclusively; while Inada thinks that anyone who sees "Yasukuni" will come away from it hating Japan.

Both of these positions are inherently patronizing, which brings to mind a comment a Japanese friend made after seeing "Yasukuni." She said that all the local reports about the movie stress that it has no narration. Japanese people have been raised on NHK-produced documentaries, which could be described as over-narrated: the visuals and dialogue are reinforced with redundant voiceover that, in some cases, is added for the visually impaired but whose content and tone nevertheless implicitly tell viewers how to process what they're taking in. A 74-year-old man who attended a public preview of "Yasukuni" in Tokyo told the Japan Times that he was bothered by the film because its "message...is not clear." The trouble many Japanese will have with the documentary is not that it brings up difficult issues, but that it doesn't tell them how they're supposed to feel about them.

Link to Brasor's article in Japan Focus:
http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2728

Markus Nornes/ Sato Makoto Film Screenings and Talk

Announcement from H-Japan... I don't expect many of us will be able to travel to Berkeley during Golden Week. But this announcement has a lot of interesting information and issues for visual anthropologists to ponder. And if you can go to this film screening and colloquium, I'll give extra credit for a report...

The University of California Berkeley Center for Japanese Studies Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures Berkeley Film Seminar Program in Film Studies Present ....

In 1992, director Sato Makoto released "Living on the River Agano", a documentary closely examined the impact of Minamata Disease on a rural community in the mountains of Niigata. It was the result of several years spent living with the old farmers in the area. Ten years later, Sato and his cameraman returned to Niigata to renew their friendships with the farmers at least those that had survived in the intervening years, and on this occasion, they made another film "Memories of Agano" (2004).

These two films posed a range of challenges to the subtitler, beginning with the remarkably thick dialect of Niigata. Sato wanted his sequel to steadfastly resist the reduction of these people to the Disease, deciding that his goals could be best served by forcing spectators to listen to how people spoke rather than simply what they were saying.

This posed a novel challenge to the English subtitler. Nornes used Memories of Agano as an opportunity to bring his theorization of an "abusive subtitling" into thorough practice. After screening his version of "Memories of Agano", Nornes will discuss his collaboration with Sato.

Abe Markus Nornes is the author of Cinema Babel (Minnesota UP), a theoretical and historical look at the role of translation in film history. He also wrote Forest of Pressure: Ogawa Shinsuke and Postwar Japanese Documentary and Japanese Documentary Film: From the Meiji Era to Hiroshima (both Minnesota UP). He co-edited Japan-American Film Wars (Routledge), In Praise of Film Studies (Kinema Club), and many film festival retrospective catalogs. He is on the editorial boards of Documentary Box (Japan), International Studies in Documentary, and Mechadamia and has been co-owner of the internet newsgroup KineJapan since its inception.

Sato Makoto Living on the River Agano
1992. 115 minutes
Thursday, May 1, 2008
7 PM-9 PM
142 Dwinelle Hall
Followed by Q&A with Markus Nornes

Colloquium:
Subtitling Can be Disturbing: Memories of Agano & Abusive Translation
with a screening of Sato Makoto, Memories of Agano, 2004, 55 mins
Abe Markus Nornes
Screen Arts & Culture/Asian Languages & Cultures
University of Michigan
Friday, May 2, 2008
2:15 PM - 4:00 PM
142 Dwinelle Hall

Documentary: "Wings of Defeat"

(Image borrowed from "Wings of Defeat" website.)

"Veteran kamikaze pilot" might sound like a contradiction in terms — kamikaze were, after all, the Japanese warriors trained to crash their planes into Allied targets in World War II. Around 4,000 of them died during the war's last days.

But some kamikaze survived, and several of them have been visiting high schools and colleges around the United States. That has led to unusual scenes: classrooms full of teenagers — black, white, Latino, Asian — all teary-eyed from the experience of meeting elderly men once dedicated to fighting America to the death...

The former kamikaze on the schools tour are featured in a documentary called Wings of Defeat, which examines the frantic, desperate nationalism that engulfed Japan toward the end of the war. The film makes clear that the kamikaze corpsmen weren't volunteers. Most were drafted as teenagers, barely able to fly.

The kamikaze were told that they were gods, heroes, divinely chosen to save their country. They were beaten and brainwashed. Wings of Defeat includes archival footage of officers exhorting their young charges to die.

Read the whole story, listen to the whole story, see photographs and video clips from the film at the National Public Radio Website.

Link to "Wings of Defeat": Kamikaze Stories, Told in Person on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89622063&sc=emaf

Get more information about the award winning 2007 documentary film at its website.

Link to "Wings of Defeat" website:
http://www.edgewoodpictures.com/wingsofdefeat/

This film doesn't seem to be generating the controversy that another recent Japanese documentary has been... "Wings of Defeat" was screened at the Japan Embassy in Washington, D.C. with the director and producer available for comments and questions afterwards. And, apparently, the film is available on DVD in Japan under its Japanese title, Tokko.

Resource: Japan Foundation

A recent announcement from H-Japan informed us about the Japan Foundation's new on-line newsletter. The Japan Foundation has a number of scholarships and programs (film, literature, performing arts, etc.) that might be of interest to visual anthropologists. Here is a partial description from their website:

Established in 1972 by special legislation in the Japanese Diet, the Japan Foundation became an Independent Administrative Institution in October 2003. The mission of the Japan Foundation is to promote international cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and other countries.

The Japan Foundation activities, aiming comprehensive and effective development of its international cultural exchange programs, consist of following three major categories:

1) Arts & Cultural Exchange
2) Japanese-Language Education Overseas
3) Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange

The Foundation maintains its headquarters in Tokyo and operates through a network of 19 overseas offices in 18 countries worldwide.

Link to the Japan Foundation Website:
http://www.jfny.org/index.html

(Pre-)Earth Day Activities in Nagoya

This weekend, Earth Day was celebrated in a variety of areas, including locations in Japan. Earth Day, which technically is April 22, celebrates the beginning of the modern environmental movement. The first Earth Day took place in the United States in 1970 amid much political turmoil and pollution that was almost taken for granted as a sign of prosperity.

On April 22 [1970], 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment... Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values. (from Earth Day Network "History" web page)

Earth Day is now an international event celebrated widely around the world. You can read more about Earth Day at the Earth Day Network Web site.

Link to Earth Day Network:
http://ww2.earthday.net/

To be honest, I don't really remember celebrating Earth Day when I lived in America. I do remember friends celebrating a similar occasion on April 20. I have found Japan to be especially socially and environmentally conscious; I beleive this is evident by the increasing number of Japanese people involved in NGOs and NPOs. Here are some pictures of Earth Day as celebrated in Nagoya's Hisayaodori-koen near the Sakae area. How is Earth Day celebrated in your part of the world?

There were a variety of performances. Here, little school children advise the audience via song and dance how to properly recycle and use environmentally damaging appliances.

Other children dressed as "recycling power rangers" - each grappled with a different piece of refuse and taught us how to prepare and stick the item in the correct bin.

There was a variety of international foods available as well as various art activities. Here, people enjoy themselves against the backdrop of the famous Nagoya TV Tower.

There were lots of crafts, healthy food and environmentally friendly product booths; it reminded me of hippies in San Francisco...

On the other hand, there was a booth sponsored by JT (Japan Tobacco) that was encouraging people to purchase the new TASPO card. The TASPO card is an age-verification ID card that lets the over-age-20 user purchase cigarettes from vending machines. The card has proven to be somewhat unpopular and so driver's licenses will also be allowed to be used by people to buy tobacco in vending machines. Should JT really be at an Earth Day celebration?

Many have commented about the lack of trash cans in public in Japan. Here is a rarity, three in a row. But they are closed for Earth Day. Caption taped across the trash can reads: "Today is Earth Day. Let's bring our garbage home!"

There was also a young woman, sponsored by JT, handing out trash bags and tongs, encouraging people to pick up litter. Here she is approaching a young woman while a group of older women enthusiastically look for trash among the foilage.

A nearby man takes advantage of the public art in the park for a nap. His pillow is a bag of aluminum cans.

Near the park, but as a separate event, members of a local political activism group try to garner support for world peace, continuation of the Japanese Constitution's Article Nine and allowing the controversial documentary Film, Yasukuni, to be shown freely in Japanese theaters.

Happy Earth Day! And for my Deaf friends, Happy Eyeth Day. Please do whatever you can to make the world a better place for all people. Peace.