雨の中のリトル東京 - Little Tokyo in the Rain

こんにちわ!

It’s been awhile since I have had time to write something for American Mishima. My contract job at Comcast Entertainment Group has left me little time or energy to be creative but the desire and though involved never tires. I assure you I will find a way to continue writing and not abandon my faithful readers like I have unintentionally done with my cooking blog which at some point I will do my best to resurrect. I have been working on an entry on my recent Shinto Shrine visit but it has been long and coming. So while I was on my way to the Koyasan Betsuin this early Sunday morning, I took note of the light rain that came down over Little Tokyo and took these three images of the newly renovated Japanese Plaza with my new Digital Sony Cybershot camera.

Little Tokyo has a magic of its own and particularly at New Years and Obon. But when the rain comes to the City of Angels, Little Tokyo takes on a more natural setting. In a sense, as if you were somewhere else like it might had been originally intended without leaving Los Angeles.

It is in these images taken outside the newly installed stage & fountain in front of the Nijiya Market you can appreciate the renovations without being lost in the crowd.

Enjoy!

日本映画: ゴテンダ ですか? Sideways Re-envisioned Nihon-jin Style

Here’s a new film where an actor who is engaged and about to be married joins up with an old wine affectionado friend for a one last blast tour before getting married in the California Wine Country. But before you do a double take and spit up your Chardonnay you will know that sounds an awfully a lot like 2004’s “Sideways” starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, the lovely Virginia Madsen, and that oh so Sandra Oh! That's because it is the script from Sideways! OK, well not quite. You'll just have to read on or watch the movie. What we have is 2009’s Fuji TV’s Japanese Sideways (Sidaweizo) shot entirely in California’s Napa Valley with a Japanese Cast starring Oscar nominated actress Rinko Kikuchi of Babel as Mina Parker (in the Sandra Oh character minus motorcycle helmet) Fumiyo Kohinata as Michio Saito (Giamatti’s character Miles) Katsuhisa Namase as Daisuke Uehara (Hayden’s Jack Cole), and Kyoka Suzuki in her first American comedic role  as Mayuko Tanaka who is better known for her work on Otoko Tachi No Yamato and Sengoku Jieitai 1549.

It’s not all so uncommon for American films to remake foreign films for American Audiences like The Vanishing, or my dreaded upcoming 47 Ronin remake with Keanu Reeves, and dare I say a little film I starred in with Robin William & Billy Crystal called Father’s Day. But this is something entirely different. Rather than make a shot by shot remake, Fuji TV loosely adapted the story and the characters which make for a totally different take from the original film. For starters Saito-San (Miles) is not the bitter divorced unpublished writer. Instead his girlfriend has recently moved out and instead of anger he has given into the system by becoming the teacher at a school that teaches screen play writing. OK, it’s still similar to the original character but with a different personality. Michio does not share Mile’s anger but does share his love for wine.

Now if you saw the original Sideways, you’ll remember the larger than life soap opera star character Jack Cole. His Japanese counterpart is the former star of a silly kids TV Action show called Captain Ninja whose catch phrase Goten-da!(Got it!) sticks in your head and has you saying it along with the characters on screen. This leads to some entertaining situations such as the hilarious scene where Daisuke rushes a pharmacy to buy condoms and gets instantly recognized as Captain Ninja by kids in the store and has to run out in embarrassment.

I don’t want to spoil the entire movie for you. The frame work of the original is all here but the plot twists and character differences make this an entirely different film. One Blogger went as far to suggest that something may be lost in translation. We’ll, to a degree one could say that if you are not familiar with Japanese people. But if you are then there is nothing to be explained that you don’t already know such as the corporate culture, overcrowding, customs, etc. What may not be so explained is the cultural differences which ultimately define the characters from their original counterparts as well as the direction of the plot’s resolution.

Fuji TV’s Sidaweizo is indeed a unique adaptation of Alexander Payne’s Sideways. Shot under three million on location in Napa Valley, “Japanese Sideways” features mostly Japanese actors and in Japanese. Paul Giamatti was offered a cameo role but turned it down on the grounds his career had not sunk low enough. Truly something was lost in translation here. I feel he was being a little unfair in dismissing the project and for describing actor Fumiyo Kohinata as an “Ugly Little Troll” playing his part (like Paul could really win any beauty contests - seriously!).
As much as I like Paul Giamatti as an actor I have to respectfully disagree. Kohinata was perfectly cast as a 40 something whose dreams of being a screenwriter had been reduced to giving into the system and becoming an insignificant teacher that has gone out of business due to a corruption scandal. Anyone familiar with NOVA in Japan would be familiar with this. His only unspoiled loves are his love of wine and his one time affection for Mayuko without the snobbery of the original Miles and his distaste for Merlot. This film premiered at the Napa Festival, it also premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Hawaii Film Festival. If you are a fan of the original you may find this a bit bizarre but if you can see past Giamatti’s pass on the film you may find it delightful.

So please enjoy and make like Captain Ninja: Goten-da!   

一日の画像 - きょのしゃしん - Picture of the Day

Photo By Louis Rosas from Niesei Week Grand Parade.

さよなら なつ! - Goodby Summer 2010!

侍冑 Samurai Yoroi – Up Close & Personal

Every August in Little Tokyo Los Angeles brings about another fun filled Nisei Week of festivities that have been going on since the late 1930’s. The streets become alive with traditional dances, Tanabata streamers, parades, martial arts demonstrations (including Shinkendo), Taiko drum performances, and many cultural displays. And regretably I missed this year’s Grand Nisei Week Parade (due to scheduling conflicts), I did manage to catch the some of the always popular Taiko groups and displays at the JACCC center that featured beautiful bonsai trees, Kabuki showcases, and my personal favorite from The Samurai Store, Samurai Yoroi Armor. 

Back in 2007, I had the privilege of meeting some of the exceptional craftsmen of the Samurai Store at the Japan Expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. They were kind enough to even let me try on Ichimonji Retainer styled Yoroi made for the Akira Kurosawa film RAN. Now I have worked in the film business before and have worn everything from elaborate costumes to alien armor but nothing I have ever worked with compares to this. These authentic looking Yoroi is so well constructed you could probably fight in them and survive and that's because they take their work seriously just as the craftsmen did generations ago in Japan.

Well fast forward three years later, these guys still remembered who I was and were kind enough to let me inspect their latest display for this years Nisei Week as well as try out their one Iaito sword. And as student of Shinkendo I can say I was impressed with their well crafted Iaito. I would certainly would like to get one for my own use before moving up to a real shinken for tameshigiri (test cutting). As certainly as I can attest, the Samurai Store produces some of the finest Yoroi you can find without raiding a musuem or an actual castle!

Based in Tokyo, the Samurai Store has been providing quality craftsmanship Samurai Yoroi for Samurai Films, Martial Artists, and Private Collectors. They do make custom armor and nobori to match any Clan replica or display. Of course, owning armor is quite an investment. For those looking swords for display or actual martial arts training, the Samurai Store also makes quality Iaito Swords which are excellent for Shinkendo Tarengata & Iaido demonstrations. So if you are looking for some quality work from Japan or just looking to live out your Samurai dreams, talk to the Samurai Store. Enjoy!

広島記念 Hiroshima Commemoration 2010

Every first Sunday of August and every August 6th since that fateful morning in 1945 people gather to commemorate one of the greatest tragedies (if not atrocities) committed by a civilized nation against a civilian population during a time of war. Well over 166,000 men, women, & children, civilians all, wiped out in a single bright flash and resulting mushroom cloud of ash. And what was even worse, the horrors did not stop there for those who were lucky enough to survive the initial nuclear blast. Every year I write about these things and every year I will get one unapologetic American arguing for the bombings justification for avenging the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 3000 military deaths do not justify 166,000+ civilian deaths in any war or any such instance. Who started the war is not a relevant argument. American history books will tell you The Japanese did at Pearl Harbor. What they wont tell you is how the US imposed an oil embargo essentially bring Japan to it’s knees in 1941 before the Arizona sunk nor will they tell you how American Planes were fighting in China under the guise of the American Volunteer Group weeks before Pearl Harbor. But we can argue about who was right and who was wrong well past the last Hibakusha passes us on and it still will not erase the fact that this great tragedy took place and yet despite it all, what Hibakusha I have met bears no malice towards the nation that wiped out their families and forever left them with scars no American textbook will talk about. It wasn’t that long ago that Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets went on to his grave unrepentant for his actions during that raid. What saddens me is to hear that his 66 year old son is equally unapologetic and very angry that the Obama Administration has done the moral and correct thing by sending the first US Ambassador John Roos since the war’s end to participate in this years commemoration at peace Park in Hiroshima. I would rather see Obama himself attend but this first gesture by a fair and just president is perhaps the first of many steps to true reconciliation that has been long overdue.

It was a year ago that I attended my first Hiroshima commemoration service at the Koyasan Betsuin in Little Tokyo where I had met my first Hibakusha who insisted we call her Oba-Chan. It struck me how happy the Hibakusha were to have so many Americans come to these memorial services and this year was no different. Oba-Chan was happy to see us again and so was this years Hibakusha guest speaker Kaz Suyeshi thanked us for attending this years Hiroshima Memorial service led by Asahi Sensei at the Koyasan Betsuin in Little Tokyo. Each year the Hiroshima Peace Flame is brought out and each participant offers a candle for the victims long past. It is a moving solemn experience that brings the tragedy to life. In school we were taught that this was necessary to end the war and that our government had no other choice. When you listen to the humble words of the Hibakusha survivors they will tell you there was always a choice and I am inclined to agree. I have come to develop strong feelings about this issue. While I will still get criticism from people who claim they had some relative they never knew killed in Pearl Harbor, I now have met people who were just school children who watched the lone silver B-29 drop the single atomic bomb over their city obliterating the world around them. It is hard to hear their stories as you take notice of their half covered scars that they have lived with since that day and yet they say tell it without hatred or resentment. They are a better people than me and that’s one of many reasons I say Nippon wa Ichiban.

Today is August 6, 2010. I was invited to a special Hiroshima commemoration at the Garden of Oz atop Beachwood Canyon in the Hollywood Hills. (Sorry I could not take any photos of this event due to the sign posted.) It was a solemn event that started at 7:55 Am marking the start of the Enola Gay’s approach to Hiroshima. Steven Velez played a moving cello piece while Keiko Nakada Sokei performed a special tea ceremony for the dead in full kimono. The cello continued until 8:15 the minute the bomb was dropped. Hibakusha Kaz Suyeishi rang a Tibetan bowl ten times in remembrance of those lost at that fateful moment so long ago. This was not some random footnote out of a history book. This was real. Suyeishi-San was only 18 years old when she saw the bomb drop. The flash had knocked her to the ground. She had tried to cover her eyes and ears as she had been instructed but could have never imagined what happened after she awoke from her state of unconsciousness. The blue sky had gone and the city was silent. “Yare itai!” went the cries of her in the distance as she lay there with third degree burns under the wooden pilings of what was her house. It’s difficult to imagine being there with her at that moment yet there she was all these years later sharing her experience with us as tea and dove sweets from Kyoto was served to all who joined to pay their respects for those who had suffered so long ago. As repeated from Sunday’s service at the Koyasan Betsuin last Sunday, Suyeishi-San asked us to pledge to love and understand one another and that there be no more Hiroshima’s, No more Nagasaki’s, no more war. Once again I thanked Suyeishi-san for extending the invite to the beautiful Garden of Oz Contemplation of Compassion Hiroshima ceremony. As I left the ceremony I took notice of a single plague at the gate to the garden which read:

Cherish the sun for those who no longer can not’

09.11.01.

Koyasan Betsuin 08.01.2010

神 Kami の Rainier-Yama?

It is often said in Seattle Washington, that Mount Rainier is known as the ever disappearing mountain. Seriously! Up until now, I had not much interest in seeing Mount Rainier or never considered Mt. Rainier’s similarity to another famous mountain Fujiyama, but there we were on the deck of a tour boat starring at this majestic sight that slowly emerged from the haze of Puget Sound. Neither, Tinahime or I had ever seen such a large volcano before and were instantly awestruck by its massive scale and beauty. What a sight indeed in all its natural wonder and majesty! Seeing Mount Rainer’s 14,000ft snow capped peak in the middle of July from the Seattle Waterfront, one could not be remiss without recalling that first image of Fujiyama in the 2003 American film epic The Last Samurai. Despite this not being Tokyo Bay, I could not help but be mesmerized by the power of this towering volcanic peak.  Mount Rainier does not share the romantic smooth slopes of Mt. Fuji but it does have a beauty all its own.

Awe and natural wonder aside, this was just the start of where our troubles began. You see Tinahime and I had come to Seattle to visit the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America located just north of the city in Granite falls to study Shinto and participate in Shinto ceremonies there. In by doing so I had come to recognize the Kami and their ever present nature around us. Call it crazy, but I started to think of Mount Rainer in such a fashion. I had recalled that scene in the German film Kirschbluten-Hanami playing in my head where Rudi travels to Fujiyama in hopes of seeing it but is repeatedly daunted by Fujiyama’s repeated disappearing acts into the haze and cloud cover. Rudi goes as far as to rent a room at a Ryokan with a view of Fujiyama so he can open his sliding shoji door and see if Fujiyama is there. He of course opens it and finds clouds over and over again until finally one morning the powerful Fujiyama stood before him starring right at him in all its magnificence!

Perhaps I had become carried away or dialed-in to my experiences at the Tsubaki Grand Shrine, but in any case I got into this habit of calling Mount Rainier “Rainier-yama.” And very much like Rudi, I found it frustrating to get a clear view of it. It was on our second day there that the sun cleared the sky of the clouds and revealed this incredible sight of this massive snow peaked volcano overlooking Seattle. Now to try to get a picture of it! Or at least try.

We had previously tried to get a good view to take a picture of Mt. Rainier two days earlier when the volcano first appeared. We had set out in our Avis rental car and started driving down the 5 freeway to get a better glimpse but the closer we would get something kept drawing us to keep driving even closer to it. Suddenly, I was really feeling like Rudi on his quest to see Fujiyama and going far off the beaten trail to get close to the towering volcano. Either I had gone insane or there indeed exists Kami there for as I endearingly mentioned the name Rainier-yama I got this amusing thought shouted back in my head in a Japanese accent from a distance yelling: “I’M NOT FUJI-YAMA!” Ok, I know I’m a bit eccentric and in tune with the nature of things but this started to get amusing and a bit weird if I may say so! But it didn’t stop there!

We kept on driving and damned if it was coincidence or this volcano’s Kami was seriously messing with me. It was like a game. Each time we lined up a good photo while driving the mountain would disappear! Ok, not really! Or did it? The road took dips and turns and then out of nowhere sprang tall trees and magnifcent forests and if that were not enough, hills just popped out of nowhere! It’s like the mountain was having a hysterically good time sticking its tongue at us and having a ball at our expense. Tinahime was like “What is going on?” It became unreal as now we were both hearing “I’M NOT FUJIYAMA!” It wasn’t a mean or scolding voice shouting in anger but more like something out of a crazy comedy sketch but we were still driving and it didn’t end there. We put this out of our heads for awhile and concentrated on why we were there in the first place. We toured Seattle one last time on our last day there and paid this no mind until it seemed the mountain was literally peaking around a building to see if we were paying him attention. Oh boy! The game was on again and there we were trying to catch a photo of this elusive mountain whose Kami was having a good time playing with us.

I am sure some people who will read this will relegate this as whimsical nonsense. It’s ok. You don’t have to believe in Kami (Shinto expression for natural things and godlike spirits that inspire awe in nature) to find this story amusing. But there at last we had boarded our Virgin America flight back home to LA when we noticed out of our window was that mountain again literally grinning at us in the beautiful red skies we had not seen before. “Remember now, I’m not Fujiyama,” went the Kami much like in the way Walter Matthau once repeated “I’m Not Rappaport.” It seemed the mountain had fun with us as we did on our crazy adventure with the mountain. And as an added bonus or a final farewell, Mount Rainier presented us with the most spectacular view from the air. I swear if that thing had arms it would have been waving bye to us as we waved back and bid Sayonara. It was something else!

Mountains can truly inspire as do many things in nature. The Native Americans recognized this and very likely had their own tales of Mount Rainier. Perhaps we caught Rainier on a good day for it has been known to be both a powerful and dangerous mountain particularly to the brave climbers who face death on its slopes. So powerful, I can feel it’s Kami from here in LA as I write this. And though it was not my beloved Fujiyama, Mount Rainier's Kami-Sama definitely left us with a lasting impression we will never forget and will always treasure for the rest of our lives.

Arigatou' Gozaimashite’

To find out more about Mount Rainier

Please visit:

Mount Rainier National Park

Enjoy!

すごいい! Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa: Up Close and Personal

It has been over 65 years since Japan's catastrophic defeat at the end of the Second World War. During the war, thousands of fighter aircraft were built for Japan and fought throughout the Pacific Theater. Many planes were lost in combat and many more survived to the August surrender of 1945, yet so few of those surviving planes exist today. So when I discovered by chance there was a surviving Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa “Peregrine Falcon” fighter of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, I jumped at the chance to go see her in person.

You see, when I was growing up we all watched television and movies about the war usually filmed with models dangling from visible wires. In other cases, American A-T6’s were used to double as Mitsubishi Zero’s such as the Baa-Baa Black Sheep Squadron series which I used to see being filmed out of the Oxnard Airport by where I lived as a child in the 1970’s. I was disappointed back then to know there were no real Zero’s. There were plenty of original F-4U Corsairs for the show but no real Japanese fighters. I was seriously bummed. It would be some thirty years before I learned the real truth of the fate of the surviving planes.

If any of you have seen the recent Japanese film Ore-Kimi you will know that the American conquerors of Japan deliberately destroyed 99% of the surviving aircraft to prevent Japan from breaking the peace. From the standpoint of an aircraft history buff, I found that move to be as tragic as the entire war itself. But fortunately some planes do survive in museums thanks to the dedicated work of skilled restoration specialists such as GossHawk Unlimited of Casa Grande, Arizona who helped recreate this Hayabusa in 2008 from the wreckage of four planes that were based in the Kurile Islands.

The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa served the Showa Emperor from late 1941 to the end of WWII. Close to 6000 of them were built and is said to have been more maneuverable than the famed Mitsubishi Zero. She was 29ft in length with a ceiling of 37,400 ft, and a range of 1,320 miles. Her cruising speed was 275 mph but suffered from the same problems of inadequate armor and firepower which cost the lives of many brave men who flew them. This plane bears the markings of the 3rd Chutai, 54th Sentai assigned to protect Hokkaido from attack from the Aleutian Islands.

In examining this Ki-43 up close, what struck me was how cramped the cockpit was. Even more so how small the flight suit was. The average pilot must had been no more than 5’8 to have fit in this thing! The restoration is flawless! My thanks go to Doug Champlin for finding the parts to restore her and to Col. Hiroo Murata of the JASDF for their dedication to this plane’s restoration. It is really worth seeing in person which stands as a living testiment to the men who flew them. This plane can be found at the Museum of Flight in Seattle Washington. 

To find out more about the Ki-43 and other great warbirds please visit:

 The Museum of Flight.