Akino Kondoh’s Kiya Kiya (きやきや, 2010-2011)

At Nippon Connection 2012, we had the rare opportunity to see the latest animated short by the artist Akino Kondoh.  It took Kondoh more than a year to complete Kiya Kiya(2010-2011), which is remarkable considering that each frame of an Akino Kondoh animation is as highly detailed as her paintings and illustrations.  Kiya Kiya film is about six-and-a-half minutes long with Kondoh creating 15 frames per second.

Eiko, the bob-haired girl with the beguiling smile, sits in a cabinet with a kamishibai (紙芝居) on her lap.  Kamishibai, which translates as “paper drama,” is a traditional form of storytelling that dates back to 12^th century.  It underwent a revival in Japan in the early part of the 20^th century when kamishibaistorytellers (gaito kamishibaiya) would bicycle from village to village with their portable wooden display boxes.  Today in Japan, kamishibai sets are often used in schools in lieu of storybooks as they are easier for storytelling to an audience.  The pictures are on the front of the large cards and the text is on the back for the storyteller to read. 

In Kiya Kiya, Eiko is the storyteller.  As she changes the pictures in her kamishibai, her lips move and instead of hearing her words, cursive script begins to appear in columns as if written by a calligrapher’s hand in the traditional direction of top to bottom, right to left.  At first it appears to be hiragana (the cursive Japanese syllabary which Japanese children today learn first), but is actually illegible.  In an interview, Kondoh explains that she made the script by combining parts of hiragana with four letters from the Latin alphabet.

The illegibility of the text works on two levels in the film.  The first is that it gives the impression of text without allowing words to distract from the animation itself – which is what Kondoh herself has stated as her intention in the aforementioned interview.  The ambiguity of the text is heightened when it metamorphoses into shapes, and then into playful little tailed creatures in blue and red.

The indecipherable text also adds to the illusive character of Eiko herself.  Eiko is a kind of trickster character.  In one moment she charms with her smile, while in the next moment she shocks with a cruel or disturbing act.  The stark blacks and whites of Kondoh’s colour palette also highlight the dual nature of Eiko.  In Kiya Kiya, two more colours are added: red and blue.  In the third section of the film Eiko splits into two and a red Eiko and a blue Eiko chase each other and embrace each other like two kittens at play.  This sequence recalls Kondoh’s earlier animated film Ladybirds’ Requiem (てんとう虫のおとむらい, 2005-2006) which features a sequence in which a red ladybird (or “ladybug” in North American English) with black spots and a black ladybird with red spots embrace and spin around together.

Kiya Kiya is divided into three sections which are indicated by the insertion of title cards.  There is also a short introductory sequence and an upside-down title card before the end credits begin.  When I first heard the title of this film, I thought that “kiya kiya” might be an obscure onomatopoeia (sound word) for the sound made by one of the wonderful insects Akino Kondoh likes to use in her works.  It turns out that the title comes from an archaic expression that Kondoh found in Shojo korekushon josetsu (1985), a collection of short stories about girls by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa – a writer, critic, and translator of French literature (including Jean Cocteau and de Sade) who was close friends with Yukio Mishima.  In the glossary of the Shojo korekushon josetsu, Kondoh came across the expression “mune ga kiya kiya suru” (胸がきやきやする/a “kiya kiya” in one’s chest) which was translated as “a keen feeling experienced after an episode of déjà vu hat is unsettling and disturbing yet also familiar” (source). 

The Japanese language is rich with onomatopoeia which not only mimic sounds (giseigo) but also can describe actions or feelings (gitaigo).  For example, the giseigo “doki doki” is the onomatopoeia for the sound of a beating heart, but when it is turned into a verb “doki doki suru” it is used to describe the feelings one has when one’s heart is racing – such as nervousness or excitement.  “Kiya kiya” may have also at some point have had a sound associated with it, but Kondoh seems to have been drawn to the expression “mune ga kiya kiya suru” because it expresses the feeling of unease mixed with nostalgia that she expresses in her work.

This feeling of unease is amplified in Kiya Kiya by the soundtrack which was composed by the American avant-garde artist John Zorn – for whom Kondoh designed the album cover of The Goddess: Music for the Ancient Days (2010).  The soundtrack is predominantly high female voices and percussive instruments.  Like the images, the music repeats motifs - sometimes so much so that it sounds like a skipping record.  Repetitive images build throughout the film: Eiko lying as if dead in the overturned cabinet, Eiko being strangled by the branches of a tree, Eiko catching the tailed creatures in her hands like she did the ladybirds in Ladybirds’ Requiem.  The images build and build until finally Eiko stretches out naked on her back on a branch over a precipice and she smiles up at us inviting us to both admire and fear her beauty.

Akino Kondoh art comes out of the traditions of alternative manga (Garo, Ax).  In particular, she cites the controversial artist Toshio Saeki as an influence (source).  However, unlike the more exploitative and voyeuristic view of women in Saeki’s work, Kondoh’s work is an exploration of the self.  Eiko is the artist’s alter ego, developed out of Kondoh’s own, often disturbing, childhood memories.  Eiko’s trickster nature means she is hard to pin down, sometimes appearing as a girl while at other times a young woman, sometimes she seems to be the victim, while at other times she is the perpetrator.  Innocent and knowing, kind and cruel, drawing us in and pushing us away – Eiko both seduces and unnerves with her unusual charms.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012

Credits

Animation by Akino Kondoh

Music by John Zorn

Special Thanks to

Emi Nishiwaki

Marc Urselli

Masahiro Katayama

Tomoe Tsusumi

Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan

Mizuma Art Gallery

Pola Art Foundation

To learn more about Akino Kondoh and Kiya Kiya, check out:

Akino Kondoh’s official website

Her profile at Mizuma Art Gallery

My chat with Kondoh at Shinsedai 2010

A glimpse of the studio in Astoria (Queens, NYC) where Kondoh made Kiya Kiya

Kamijo, Keiko.  “Manga x Culture Vol. 1 Akino Kondoh.”  Cat’s Forehead. Trans. Luke Baker, 2011.

Huynh, Matt.  “Q+A with Akino Kondoh.” Yellow Trace. 19 April 2011.

This film screened at:

http://nipponconnection.com/

Kawamoto-Norstein @ Forum des Images, Day 2 (Part I)

Kawamoto-Norstein @ Forum des Images, Day 2 (Part I)

Saturday, March 24, 2012

I rose early on Saturday and hit the streets of Paris on foot to take in the sights before great swarms of tourists descended.  As a cineaste, one feels a sense of déjà vu around every corner in Paris as I recognized landmarks and architectural features from the films of Jean-Luc Godard, Krzysztof Kieślowski, and many others. 

After brunch, I headed to the Centre Pompidou because I had heard from Akino Kondoh (official website) about the event Planète Manga being held there until May 27^th.   The event is great for Parisians, for it means that many wonderful animated films are being screened at the Pompidou this spring from early anime like Kenzō Masaoka’s The Spider and the Tulip(read review) to Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers (read review), but unfortunately for me there was no accompanying exhibition.  I did follow the manga sound effects painted on the floor to have a peek in the Planète Manga salon where a workshop was being held for young people interested in drawing their own manga. 

My trip to the Pompidou was not in vain; however, for the bookstore there had an exciting selection of French releases of manga and anime including everything from Akino Kondoh’s Les insects en moi to a photobook tie-in for the latest Gorō Miyazaki film From Up on Poppy Hilland from Paprika to Winter Days.  There were a load of DVDs that I had to add to my wish list for my budget could not stretch to buying them on this trip.  As the Cinéma du Réel was also on in the basement of the Pompidou, the bookstore had copies of two trilingual (JP/FR/EN) DVDs of the films of Yuki Kawamura (official website), a Japanese filmmaker who is based in Paris.  Rather than buy something for myself, I decided to pick up something for the kids.  I passed on the over-priced Takashi Murakami stuffed toys and went for the Nano Blocks (official website).

 

In addition, the library housed in the Centre Pompidou is running a free exhibition called Art Spiegelman Co-Mix featuring original art by one of the greatest living comic artists.  There was a wide range of illustrative work on display from Maus-related materials (including a long interview Spiegelman did with his father in the 1970s) to In the Shadow of No Towers(post 9/11 theme) and his cover art for The New Yorker.  For those not able to catch this exhibition at the Pompidou library, the next best thing is to purchase the amazing books MetaMaus(includes DVD) and Art Spiegelman Co-Mix.

I skipped the first screening at Forum des Images on this day, for I have both the US and Japanese DVDs of Kawamoto’s short puppet films (see: Kawamoto's Animated Shorts on DVD).  Instead, I took a stroll around the grounds of the Louvre to do a short photo shoot with Sakadachi-kun.  As my long time readers will know, I began writing about alternative Japanese animation upon the discovery of Tomoyasu Murata’s films in late 2006.  Sakadachi-kun (aka Handstand Boy) is the central character in a series of films by Murata, and I have recently started a tumblr called The Adventures of Sakadachi-kun where I feature photographs I have taken of my figurine of Sakadachi-kun as he joins me in my travels.  The titles of each photograph are a parody of the titles of the Sakadachi-kun films. 

At 16:30, I attended the screening of Yuri Norstein’s major works:  The Heron and the Crane (1974), The Hedgehog in the Fog (1975), Tale of Tales(1979) and 30 minutes from The Overcoat(unfinished).  On more than one occasion over the weekend, Norstein voiced his delight in being able to screen his works on 35mm.  He had been told that 35mm films were being thrown in the garbage and he feels that it is the best medium for watching not only his films, but films in general.  In introducing this programme of shorts, Norstein likened our experience to having his whole life in capsule form.

Another theme that Norstein raised over the weekend was the cultural importance of art.  At this screening he said that we are living in very difficult times and that in such times art is what brings people together.  This was certainly true at the Forum des Images where the audiences were really captivated by the films.  There was applause between each film and an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end.  The audience seemed to adore Tale of Tales in particular.

It is truly a magical experience watching Norstein’s films in a cinema projected on 35mm.  It is difficult to find words to describe the different between the colours and textures on film as opposed to in a digital format – for it is a difference that one can not only see but feel.  The only drawback to seeing the works on film was of course the wear and tear of age on the film.  In The Heron and the Crane in particular the white of the background and the white of the two birds washed together as some detail had been lost due to age.  In contrast, The Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales looked amazing on film as one can see the details of the textures and layering very clearly in this format. 

Good Night, Children

Sugar ad

The main programme of short films was followed by the four commercials Norstein did for a Russian sugar company in the mid-1990s and clips from the animation that he did for the Russian television programme Good Night, Children.  Before and after the screenings, Norstein voiced his regret at having to do commercial work to make a living.  He seemed nostalgic for the USSR days when there was a higher regard for the role of an artist in society. 

After the screening, someone in the audience asked him if there is any modern animation that he likes and he replied that nothing really interests him about computer animation.  He did say that he had respect for Pixar, but he seemed to feel that computers were leading the art rather than merely being at the service of art. 

by Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012

PREVIOUSLY: Kawamoto-Norstein @Forum des Images, Day 1

NEXT: Kawamoto-Norstein @ Forum desImages, Day 2 (Part II)

Paradise Kiss (パラダイス・キス, 2011)

Things have been quiet here on Nishikata Film the past couple of weeks because I have been ill.  When I am under the weather and sofa-bound, I turn to what for me is the movie equivalent of chicken noodle soup: romantic melodramas.  2011 has been so jam-packed for me with work that I have not had the free time to indulge in the guilty pleasures of a cheesy romantic drama.

First on my list was the live action adaptation of Ai Yazawa’s popular manga series Paradise Kiss (パラダイス・キス, 1999-2003).  I am a huge fan of Yazawa and have been suffering from withdrawal since she abruptly stopped writing her Nana (2000 – hopefully ongoing) manga series in 2009 due to illness.  Paradise Kiss is a standalone sequel / spin off of Yazawa’s Neighbourhood Story (1995-8).  The manga tells the story of a high school student called Yukari who gets discovered by some fashion students who want her to model the designs of their studio "Paradise Kiss" at their school's end of year fashion show.  Yukari is torn between her desire to give modelling a go and pleasing her mother, who puts a lot of pressure on her to succeed academically and go on to a good university.

Like Nana, the fashion in the manga is influenced by British punk, Vivienne Westwood, and the Harajuku alternative fashion scene.  The character of George Koizumi, for example, is based on the character of Brian Slade as played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the film Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1998).  In addition to the avant-guard look of the manga, the central character has a strong coming-of-age storyline.  Yukari (called Caroline by the Paradise Kiss fashionistas) does not yet know who she is as a person or what she really wants to do with her life and she is struggling not only with the intense pressure her mother puts on her, but is also having to deal with confusing feelings of sexual desire for the charismatic fashion designer George Koizumi.  The manga also has a very strong supporting cast of characters with their own subplots – Isabella, a transgender woman and childhood friend of George, and the love triangle between childhood friends Miwako (whose sister was the central character in Neighbourhood Story), Arashi, and Hiroyuki.

The live action feature film Paradise Kiss (パラダイス・キス, 2011) is adapted from the manga by Kenji Bando and directed by Takehiko Shinjo.  Shinjo is known for directing romantic TV dramas and sentimental feature films like Heavenly Forest (ただ、君を愛してる, 2006) and I Give My First Love to You (僕の初恋をキミに捧ぐ, 2009).  To put it plainly: Shinjo has basically given the story a TV-dorama makeover that guts the original story of its edginess.

To begin with, the feature film is woefully miscast.  In the manga, Yukari/Caroline is taller and more sophisticated than most girls her age and really stands out in a crowd.  While she is undoubtedly a beautiful young woman, actress Keiko Kitagawa is of average height.  Ordinarily, height would not be much of an issue except that Yukari’s height and body type are the reasons why Arashi picks her out of the crowd in the opening scene of the manga.  Kitagawa’s average height might not have stood out so much if it weren’t for the fact that Miwako, played by Aya Omasa, towers over her.  Miwako is meant to be a petite “kawaii” girly girl – so tiny in the manga and anime as to be doll-like.  Also miscast is Osamu Mukai who is much too sweet to play the charming but predatory George Koizumi.    

I knew I was going to be deeply disappointed right from the opening credits, which seemed more like an advertisement for nail polish than the engaging, up-tempo montage opening of the anime.  The music throughout is simpering J-pop ballads, which pale in contrast to the funky up-tempo music of the anime adaptation (IE Tomoko Kawase’s “Lonely in Gorgeous” and Franz Ferdinand’s “Do You Want To”).  I am no fashion expert, but the clothes looked more mainstream than avant-garde – instead of hiring Vivienne Westwood to design the costumes (which would have been a lovely tribute to Ai Yazawa), the clothes seemed calculatedly selected with an eye to fashion magazine and store tie-ins. 

Now I know that practically speaking the limitations of time for a feature film meant that much of the subplots had to be excised.  Even the TV anime adaptation with its 12 episodes found itself scrambling to fit everything in towards the end.  However, the substantial cuts to the subplots in the feature film meant that all the supporting cast were rendered one-dimensional.  Isabella’s gender identity only gets passing references – there is no depth to her relationship with George.  Speaking of which, George’s sexuality is much less ambiguous than in the manga/anime.  Even worse, Arashi comes off as a creeper and Miwako as promiscuous.  

What made Yukari special in the original manga was the fact that her story was messy and complicated.  Her friends also led messy and complicated lives.  There were no simple answers to problems and her romantic feelings towards George and Hiro-kun were confused – just as it is in real life.  By over simplifying Yukari’s story, the filmmakers have just turned it into over-polished Disneyesque schlock for teenaged girls.  I don’t mind a fluffy sentimental romance now and then, but Paradise Kissshould have been more Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink (John Hughes, 1986) and less Sandra Dee circa late 1950s.  This "happy ending" version of Paradise Kiss may have been enough to please the target audience of the film (IE adolescent girls), but to fans of the original manga it is simply lacking. 

Cast

Keiko Kitagawa as Yukari 'Caroline' Hayasaka

Osamu Mukai as Jōji 'George' Koizumi

Yusuke Yamamoto as Hiroyuki Tokumori            

Shunji Igarashi as Isabella

Kento Kaku as Arashi Nagase                   

Aya Omasa as Miwako Sakurada            

Natsuki Kato as Kaori Asō           

Hitomi Takahashi as Yukino Koizumi      

Shigemitsu Ogi as Joichi Nikaido

Michiko Hada as Yasuko Hayasaka

Available from cdjapan:

Paradise Kiss [Regular Edition]

Paradise Kiss Premium Edition [Limited Edition]

In Memory of Masahiro Katayama (片山 雅博, 1955-2011)

Last month the Japanese animation community was shocked by the passing of Professor Masahiro Katayama at the age of 56. Katayama was an animator, manga-ka, illustrator, administrator, mentor, and professor at Tama Art University. 

As a child, Katayama’s love for animation was formed by the work of Walt Disney and other popular American animation that he saw on television. When he later encountered the works of Osamu Tezuka, it was to have a deep impact on his creative career. From about the age of twenty, Katayama began working as a cartoonist and illustrator for newspapers. He was a member of Japan’s Cartoonist Association from 1978 to 1990. 

His activity in animation was quite varied from assisting on productions to organizing events and exhibitions. He directed a documentary film about the career of Osamu Tezuka called Film is Alive: A Filmography of Osamu Tezuka, 1962-1989 (1990) and has collaborated on a number of books about animators for Anido. 

Among Katayama’s greatest accomplishments was his supervision of the New Animation Animation DVD series for Geneon Universal. This invaluable series includes the works not only of key Japanese art animation figures such as Kihachiro Kawamoto, Tadanari Okamoto, Yoji Kuri, Osamu Tezuka and Koji Yamamura, but also some fine DVD collections of world animation figures including Yuri Norstein, Norman McLaren, Jiří Trnka, Frédéric Back, and Aleksandr Petrov. These DVDs and boxsets are all accompanied by informative essays about the animators written by Katayama himself.

Katayama had long been a leader in the animation community heading at one time or another such organizations as Group Ebisen, the Japan Animation Association, and Anido. He also worked with numerous film festivals over the years as either an organizer or a jury member. Festivals that he was closely associated over the years include the Japan Media Arts Festival, the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, the Hida International Animation Festival of Folktakes and Fables, the Tokyo International Anime Fair, and the Laputa International Animation Festival.

As I mentioned in my recent article on independent animation for Midnight Eye, as a professor at Tama Art University, Masahiro Katayama made a deep impact on his students. When I spoke with Akino Kondoh at the Shinsedai Festival in Toronto last year, she told me that Katayama had been the one to introduce her to the world of international art animation. Other top animators who have cited Katayama’s influence include  co-founder of CALF Mirai Mizue, and Kunio Kato who won the Annecy Cristal, the Hiroshima Prize and an Oscar for his animated short La maison en petits cubes (2008).

Masahiro Katayama had a close relationship with Kihachiro Kawamoto, who passed away last year. He collaborated with Kawamoto on a number of projects including illustrating the cover of his book Puppets for The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Anido, 1984), doing the claymation for Kihachiro Kawamoto’s Self Portrait (1988), and assisting with the production of The Book of the Dead (2005) which was shot at Tama Art University. 

I first encountered Katayama's work as an artist on Winter Days (2003), the collaborative renku poem adaptation which he co-produced with Kawamoto. Katayama took a humorous approach to his animated contribution which is an adaptation of a section of the renku poem written by Kakei. He takes the metaphorical arrow of the original renku and renders it in a literal fashion, which of course leads to comedy. 

In Katayama’s vignette, a hidden marksman takes aim at a man being carried on a kago (palanquin/litter). The man’s aim is affected by some reflected light and his arrow shoots over the heads of an array of popular figures from folk legend (William Tell’s son with the apple on his head;  Japanese folktales) and the movies (Toshiro Mifune, John Wayne) before landing in the hat of the poet writting the verse. 

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Masahiro Katayama’s funeral was held on March 12th, on the day after the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Photographs of the packed service can be viewed at Anido.

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011

Related Posts:

Winter Days

Kihachiro Kawamoto’s Self Portrait

An Interview with Akino Kondoh

Kato Kunio’s La maison en petits cubes

Tadanari Okamoto Film Works Boxset

The Keyaki Tree (欅の木 人びとシリーズ, 1993)

Over the past year, I have been making my way slowly through the German editions of Jiro Taniguchi’s graphic novels. Once I start reading a Taniguchi book, it is hard to put down until it is finished. They are quite philosophical and I find myself re-reading many them in order to fully appreciate the nuances of the story and its illustrations. The Carlsen editions are more expensive than your average manga, but they are beautifully bound and look very handsome on the bookshelf.

This weekend I read Von der Natur des Menschen – The Nature of People, which is published in Japan as The Keyaki Tree (欅の木). It is a collection of eight short stories by Ryuichiro Utsumi (内海 隆一郎, b. 1937) which were illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi (谷口ジロー, b. 1947) and published as the Hitobito Series (人びとシリーズ/The People series) in Big Comic magazine between May and August 1993.

Like Taniguchi, Utsumi writes moving stories about the lives of ordinary people. The stories in this collection focus on the sorrow that people feel because of changes that happen in their lives: parents divorcing, children growing distant from their parents, how the death of a loved one affects the family, and conflict between siblings. One of the strongest themes in the collection is the difficulty of balancing societal or family expectations with individual needs and desires.

Readers of all ages can identify with the characters in these stories. They range in age from young children to elderly people, but they all have one thing in common: their desire to be loved and understood by their families. Some of the choices that the characters make and some of the expectations that their families have are rooted in Japanese culture and society, but like an Ozu film there is a universality to each story that we can all recognize. For example, in the third story "Reunion", my natural instinct was to identify with Iwasaki’s ex-wife because of the way he just left her home alone with their young daughter for days on end. However, by the end of the story I found myself so moved by Iwasaki’s personal journey that the final page of the story moved me to tears. Utsumi is known for his ability to write heart-warming tales, but I suspect that Taniguchi’s illustrations are largely responsible for my emotional response to these stories. Taniguchi has an uncanny ability to draw emotive expressions on characters’ faces. Although these stories were not written by Taniguchi himself, their contemplative themes and the foregrounding of nature have much in common with other graphic novels that I have read by him.

The collection includes the following stories:

The Keyaki Tree (欅の木/Der Keyaki Baum)

A couple nearing retirement age buy a older house in the countryside because they have fallen in love with its beautiful garden. Unfortunately, when they move in they discover that the previous owners have taken all their plants and trees with them. Disappointed, they hire a gardener to replant the garden and take solace in the lone Keyaki tree that was left behind because it was too big to transplant. Their new neighbours complain that the tree is a nuisance because it fills their gutters with leaves and they ask the couple to chop it down. The couple are reluctant to destroy the beautiful tree, but at the same time do not want to cause friction with their neighbours. A surprise visit from the previous owner of the house causes them to think about the tree in a new light.

The White Rocking Horse (白い木馬/Das weiße Holzpferd)

The Kinoshitas have gotten used to living alone. Since their children grew up and left home, they only see their children and grandchildren on rare occasions like New Year’s. One day, their daughter Yoshiko asks them to look after her daughter Hiromi so that she can spend some time alone with her new boyfriend. The Kinoshitas decide to take Hiromi to the fair, but Hiromi remains sullen with them and is unwilling to go on any of the rides. Her demeanour only changes when they discover a coin operated rocking horse which finally brings a smile to Hiromi’s face. By the end of the day, the Kinoshitas have begun to warm up to their granddaughter and are disappointed when they return home to find that Yoshiko has come early to pick Hiromi up. As they talk with Yoshiko and her boyfriend, Mr. Kinoshita is shocked to discover the real reason Hiromi didn’t want to go on the rides at the fair. His reaction brings more strain to his relationship with his daughter, but strengthens the bond her is developing with his young granddaughter.

The Reunion (再会/Das Wiedersehen)

While on a business trip, Mr. Iwasaki discovers a photograph of his ex-wife and his daughter in the local paper. His daughter, whom he has not seen since she was a little girl, is celebrating the opening of her first exhibition of her own paintings. Iwasaki takes a painful trip down memory lane, recalling what a terrible husband he was to his first wife, and his shock when she left him to return to her parents in Osaka. He has since remarried and has two sons, but his sons do not share his passion for art. He decides to go to his daughter’s exhibition, hopeful that his middle-aged paunch and receding hairline will make him unrecognizable to his former family. The visit to the gallery turns out to be a much more emotional and rewarding experience than he bargained for.

My Brother’s Life (兄の暮らし/Das Leben meines Bruders)

After the death of his wife, Mr. Sakamoto’s older brother Keikichi has shocked the family by moving out of his son’s house into a pension in Shinjuku. Having recently retired himself and moved into his son’s home, Sakamoto decides to visit his brother to find out why he has broken with family tradition and is living alone. The brothers haven’t spoken in ten years, but they fall into conversation easily. Sakamoto discovers that Keikichi’s pride has been hurt by the fact that neither of his sons wanted to go into the family roofing business. Before visiting Keikichi, Sakamoto had assumed that his brother must be lonely, but he soon finds himself questioning whether he himself is the one who is unhappy with his present situation in life.

The Umbrella (雨傘/Der Regenshirm)

Kyoko Komaki’s brother Shin’ichi is coming to visit her for the first time in twelve years and she is nervous about how the visit will go. Kyoko and Shin’ichi were first separated from each other when their parents divorced. Kyoko was taken by her mother and Shin’ichi was left behind with their father – neither child had a say in the matter. Three years later, Kyoko was sent back to live with her father but she was never able to feel at home with her new stepmother and she and Shin’ichi never bonded again as they had as small children. Kyoko’s feeling of being an outsider led her to move to Tokyo as soon as she could and the only time her brother visited her they got into a bitter argument. After all these years, will brother and sister be able to mend their relationship as adults?

At the Art Gallery (絵画館付近/An der Gemäldegalerie)

Mrs. Otani is under a lot of pressure from her son and his wife to sell her home in Shizuoka and move in with them. Mrs. Otani loves her own home and enjoys her solitude, but she agrees to try spending the summer with them in the city. In the evenings, she escapes from her son’s home to go for a walk in the park. On a park bench by the art gallery, she meets an elderly man and they fall into the habit of meeting every evening and chatting together. Mrs. Otani is shocked to discover that she has fallen in love for the first time in her life, but one evening the man does not appear and she wonders if there is any future for their relationship.

Through the Forest (林を抜けて/Durch den Wald)

Two young brothers named Hiroshi and Yoji are forced to move from a large house into a small apartment with their mother. Their father has left their mother for another woman and Hiroshi is mocked for this in school. Making matters even worse, they have to give up their loving and protective Akita dog Koro because their new residence does not allow pets. Yoji becomes convinced that he can hear Koro barking on the other side of the forest every evening. The boys decide to travel through the forest to see if they can find Koro. Their adventure in the forest tests their loyalty to each other and brings them unexpectedly closer together.

His Hometown (彼の故郷/Seine Heimat)

Noémi is a 19-year-old French artist in Paris when she meets and falls in love with a 29-year-old Japanese man named Haruki. Despite their difference in age and the protestations of both of their families, Haruki and Noémi get married and after a visit to Haruki’s hometown of Nagasaki they settle down together in Tokyo. Noémi’s shyness and inability to speak Japanese leads her to keep to herself and her painting at first, but eventually she comes out of her shell and takes up Katazome and Japanese lessons. When Haruki dies suddenly, Noémi’s world falls apart, but she stays in Japan and after many years she is able to finally make a connection with her distant mother-in-law through her art.

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011

Related Posts:

Quartier Lointain - European adaptation of Jiro Taniguchi's A Distant Neighbourhood

Jiro Taniguchi's A Distant Neighbourhood (1998)

Jiro Taniguchi's The Walking Man (1992)

Distant Neighbourhood (遥かな町へ, 1998)

Since moving to Germany in 2007, it has been a challenge for me to improve my German vocabulary when my reading and movie watching is so biased in favour of Japanese culture. One way I have managed to combine the two is by reading manga in German. At a wonderful manga/comics shop in Marburg last year, I discovered the beautifully illustrated graphic novels of Jiro Taniguchi (谷口ジロー, b. 1947). Many of his best works are published in Germany by Carlsen in elegantly bound editions that easily share a bookshelf with my Random House Vintage Classics editions of Japanese literature.

 My kids posing as Asterix outside the manga/comics shop in Marburg

Comics, Kitsch & Kunst - if they added DVDs

they would be selling everything I could ever possibly want

Originally published in Japanese in 1998 as Haruka na Machi e (遥かな町へ), this graphic novel was published in German under the title Vertraute Fremde in 2007.  In English it has been published in two volumes under the title Distant Neighbourhood. It tells the story of a middle aged architect Hiroshi Nakahara. On his way home to Tokyo from a business trip to Kyoto, he accidentally boards the wrong train and dozes off on it. When he awakes, he discovers that the final station on the route is the town in which he was born: Kurayoshi. Nakahara decides to take advantage of his error by visiting his mother’s grave for the first time in many years. As he prays in the cemetery, a butterfly appears to indicate that a transformation is about to take place and Kurayoshi loses consciousness.

When Kurayoshi awakes, he finds that he has been transported back in time to the spring of 1963. As he readjusts to being back in his 14 year old body, he goes to his family home to find his mother and grandmother alive just as they were in 1963. Most significant is the fact that his father is also there. It is then we realize the significance of the spiritual journey that Hiroshi Nakahara is taking. He has arrived in the past just a few short months before his father will disappear from the family forever without a trace. His father’s unexplained betrayal of his family has haunted Nakahara ever since and he now has an opportunity to find out why his father left. . . and possibly even change the course of history by trying to prevent the inevitable from happening.

The story exposition in Distant Neighbourhood is very compelling and the first time I read it I could not put it down until I had finished it. As an illustrator, Taniguchi’s attention to small details of the scenery and framing is as carefully done as in a Yasujiro Ozu film. During the opening sequence as Nakahara passes through Kyoto station, I recognized the station immediately because the architectural details were exactly as I recall them as I passed through the station myself in 2006. I would imagine that for someone of the same generation as Taniguchi Distant Neighbourhood would be a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The streets of Japanese towns, and even the layout of the countryside has altered considerably over the past four decades. Sights such as the grandmother working away at the loom or kids riding a scooter without helmets have become rare indeed with the passage of time. Subtle details remind us of the time period such as a reference to the professional wrestler Antonio Inoki, who was popular at the time, and a movie poster for the Hollywood film Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962). The story even takes us back further to wartime Japan when Nakahara’s parents met.

Earlier this year, Distant Neighbourhood was adapted into a film set in France by the Bavarian director Sam Garbanski. It is called Vertraute Fremde here in Germany, and Quaritier lointain in French.  I actually do think that the essence of this story could translate well to Europe during the same time period so I am hoping that Santa puts a copy of it in my stocking this year. It also stars one of my favourite French actors – Pascal Greggory – which is an added bonus. When I do get a hold of a copy, you can be sure that I will report my findings here on the blog.

Here's the German trailer:

And the French trailer:


Quartier lointain - Bande annonce FR

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010

Interview with Akino Kondoh

I was delighted to have the opportunity to chat with artist, manga-ka, and animator Akino Kondoh at Shinsedai this year. Her 2004 painting Red Fishes was used as the eye-catching poster art for the festival, and her 2006 animation Ladybirds’ Requiem (Tentou Mushi no Otomurai, 2006) preceded Momoko Ando’s Kakera (2009) at the opening event.

Childhood influences

Kondoh was born into an artistic family. Her father and brother are both architects and her homemaker mother studied design at university. Kondoh was never particularly interested in television. Instead, she recalls enjoying having picture books read to her by her parents and being taken to museums. Kondoh also had little interest in popular manga as a child.  She did; however, discover Garo (ガロ, a monthly anthology magazine for avant-garde manga which ran from 1964-2002) when she was a junior high school student. Kondoh’s own manga art has been featured in alternative manga magazines and one of her striking images adorns the cover of the debut English language edition of AX: A Collection of Alternative Manga. This cover art had previously been used for volume 42 (2004) of the Japanese edition of AX (アックス).

Garo cover art

Kondoh cover art - order here

Insects

I have long been interested in the prevalence of insects in Japanese art and culture. Cicadas, for example, are always used as signifiers in movies to indicate that the setting is late summer. When my children were in hoikuen (nursery school) in Bunkyo-ku, they had a pet kabuto-mushi (Japanese rhinoceros beetle) in the same way that a Canadian Kindergarten might have a hamster. In Kondoh’s art insects like ladybirds (ladybugs in Canadian vernacular), butterflies, and insect larvae play an essential role. When I asked Kondoh about this she told me that insects have long been an object of fascination for her. She recalls playing with insects as a child, so it has been only natural that they have become a source of artistic inspiration in her work.

Introduction to art animation

While a student of graphic design at Tama Art University, Kondoh was introduced to animation in her second year of studies through assignment work. Her professor was Masashiro Katayama (b. 1955), who has enjoyed a long and successful career as an animator and illustrator (see my review of Winter Days, and Kawamoto’s Self Portrait). In her third year at Tamabi, Kondoh made The Evening Traveling (Densha kamoshiranai, 2002), her first animation short. The Evening Traveling won her awards at the Japan Media Arts Festival (2002), the Digista Awards (2002), and the third Yuri Norstein Grand Prix / Audience Award at Laputa Animation Festival.

The use of music in her animation

Kondoh and her brother became big fans of the band TAMA when they were teenagers. Through a fortunate series of events, Kondoh was able to develop a professional relationship with band member Toshiaku Chiku. Prof. Katayama often invited animator Tatautoshi Nomura of ROBOT (the company that employs Oscar-winner Kunio Kato) to guest lecture his class. Nomura is also a fan of TAMA and has often worked with the band for the soundtracks to his animations both as musicians and as seiyū (voice actors). Kondoh was able to get permission from Toshiaku Chiku to use his song Densha kamo shirenai for her film of the same name. (English title The Evening Traveling)  At first, Kondoh explained, Chiku was not really sure about her project, but when the film was a success and won awards at festivals, he agreed to compose an original score for Ladybirds’ Requiem.

 French edition of her manga

Elaborate vision, minimalist style

Akino Kondoh’s art carries us into a complex, dream-like world. Yet while the images she creates are highly detailed, at the same time she employs a very minimalist aesthetic. When creating the images for her animation films, she uses plain art paper. Her tools are graphite and marker. Her colour palette is predominantly black against a white background – as in The Evening Traveling which was entirely monochrome. Filler colours like grey or the brilliant reds of Ladybirds’ Requiem are done with markers. The images are then scanned and edited using Adobe Photoshop and After Effects for Macs.

Prolific artist with an eye for detail

Kondoh’s passion for her craft drives her to put in long hours at the canvas. While some artists prefer to work in the morning hours, or well into the night, Kondoh’s entire day revolves around her desire to keep on creating new work. At the same time, Kondoh is a perfectionist with very high standards. There are actually two versions of Ladybirds’ Requiem. The one that is floating around on various video streaming sites was done as a student work in 2003 and has a running time of 2’50”. Kondoh expressed a deep dissatisfaction with this work and so in 2005 she set out to remake the film. She started from scratch, drawing entirely new images for the animation which was eventually completed in 2006 with a running time of 5’38”. A limited edition DVD of the film (only 12 copies!) was released for sale to her representatives Mizuma Art Gallery and snapped up by high end art connoisseurs. It is this version of the film that played at Shinsedai and at Naomi Hocura’s Seconds Under the Sun screenings.

Kondoh’s fascination with contemporary art

Funding from Bunka-cho (the Agency for Cultural Affairs) allowed Kondoh to do a residency in New York City from November 2008 until October 2009. For that first year in New York she lived in Chelsea. She has now moved to Astoria and is supporting herself through her art. When I asked her “Why New York?”, she responded that she wanted to immerse herself in contemporary art and get exposure to the art community outside of Japan.

Kondoh’s depiction of Eiko, the young woman protagonist at the center of her work, has often reminded me of art deco influenced illustrations that I saw at the Yayoi Museum when I lived in Nishikata. I was also reminded of the unusual world of girls I had once seen at the Collection de l’art brut many years ago in Lausanne, Switzerland. When I described the work to Kondoh, she immediately put a name to the artist – Henry Darger. It turns out that Kondoh shares my interest in l’art brut or Outsider Art and she spoke enthusiastically about the Henry Darger collection at the American Folk Art Museum in New York, which is located near the MOMA.

Future Plans

I was impressed by Kondoh’s high ambitions and passion for her work. She dreams of showing her work all over the world. Among other projects she has currently on the go are collaborations with the New York avant-garde jazz musician John Zorn, for whom she designed the cover art for his CD The Goddess: Music for the Ancient of Days. She does plan to do more animation in the future, and is working constantly on her art. She expressed her enthusiasm by saying: “I want to keep creating” 

 

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010