しあわせ

Hiroshima by: John Hershey pub: Penguin

In January I visited Hiroshima. I’m not sure I wanted to. I was going there on a recommendation of a friend to see bugaku at Miyajima shrine near Hiroshima. I was afraid Hiroshima would be too depressing; maybe upsetting; maybe just too macabre to be a tourist at the worlds first nuclear destruction.

In the event, what I found was a vibrant modern city not overly dominated by it’s past. Yes there are memorials, and a museum, but oddly I didn’t find it depressing as I expected. It’s strange knowing what happened, seeing what survived. There’s the famous A-Bomb dome. The bank, and in the grounds of Hiroshima castle, trees.

And people survived.
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There is a short retrospective of Akira Kurosawa films at the Barbican in May, commemorating the 10th anniversary of his death in 1998.

The films are

Rashomon on 4 May
Throne of Blood on 11 May
Seven Samurai on 18 May
Dersu Uzala (this one is in Russian) on 25 May
Kagemusha on 1 June

The only one of these films I haven’t seen is the Russian one, Dersu Uzala.
If I were to only recommend one it would have to be Seven Samurai. This is a rare chance to see these films on a large screen. Although if you miss them you can find them all on DVD as well.

Thanks to Paul-san for telling me about this.

Also at the Barbican next month on the 29 April is the Anime Patlabor2 directed by Mamoru Oshii, better known for Ghost in the Shell. Darker than the original which was apparently even darker than the original TV series. From what I remember my favourite character Noa Izumi doesn’t feature much in this film.

From the 11th March until the 6th April There are two Japanese plays for children at the Unicorn Theatre London. Both these plays are being seen for the first time in the UK

The plays are
Hello Maru-chan UK Premiere
for a younger audience.
From the stills on their site this looks an exciting design. The puppets used seem to have been made in collaboration with the director of the opening ceremony of Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Games, Peter Wilson.

The Twin Stars World Premiere
For older children.
This is from a story by Kenji Miyazawa. (Not the Tanabata story as the title would suggest) It sounds as if it’s worth a look.

On the 22 March (Easter Saturday) there is a special one day event where Southwark residents can see these plays for free and everyone else can participate in workshops and see The Dojo Drummers.

I missed the screening of Sakuran at the ICA last week and that prompted me to check the listings.
(Sakuran is on DVD with English subs in Japan so I’ll probably get it there before any release in the UK)

There are two films screening in the next months.
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The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery published by Vintage Originals

This is a very interesting debut novel by Ellis Avery. What struck me most about it is the author had obviously learnt Japanese and learnt it in some depth. Usually in novels about Japan there are a few tidbits thrown to the reader about Japanese but I often get the feeling that it is so superficial, that the author just did a little bit of research for added flavour. Ms. Avery shows some deeper insight or at least I can identify with her characters struggles in learning Japanese and learning to write.
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