しあわせ

This is amazing. Paste or type some Japanese text into the box above. It will take you to Smartlink, a company that makes translation software, and will speak your text in a very natural voice.

Amazing.

Here is a pre-loaded text if you can’t think of anything to write.
But notice that it can’t read 二羽［にわ］in this tongue twister. It reads it as にはね instead.

I think this might even be good enough for listening practice, and shadowing.

Compare the voice to these older voices using MacInTalk.

I’m guessing that this voice is Miyu - 16khz Japanese Female from NeoSpeech. Unfortunately not available on the Macintosh but it will work on Windows.

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.

I found a new (for me, they disbanded in 2006) jPop group called “Zone” while browsing Stage 6 (now defunct). They were a manufactured band from Sapporo, of four high school girls. The idea was that this would be a new genre called “Bandol” — band idol; they’d look good, could sing and dance. Apparently they couldn’t play instruments at first but they learned how.

Japan Teen Idol dodgyness to one side, they had great stylists and amazing energy. This feel good pop is what I like about them. They feel much more fun and genuine than the similar English and American manufactured bands like S-Club, Steps, Spice Girls (ゲッ）or the original boy band The Monkees.

Wikipedia article

The bassist, Maiko, has gone on to be part of a group called Maria,; I must see what they’re like…

めし dir:成瀬 巳喜男　1951

After going to the NFT Naruse retrospective and being dissapointed in the film I saw, I’ve finally managed to see some of his films on Eureka DVD.

めし, made in 1951 is much better than When a Woman Ascends the Stairs.
Visually not very exciting, but this film has more of a sense of place. Parts of it were even shot on location in Osaka. It was interesting to see places I recognised such as Dontonburi, Shin Kabukiza and the Kuidaore Ningyo.

The characters were believable and this time I could empathise with them. Maybe unusually for any film of this period the major characters are women. The men are definitely the supporting cast and apart from the husband character very much in the background. Indeed this is a recurring motif for Naruse.

The story mainly is about a young housewife, Michiyo, who is dissatisfied with her endless lot of cooking and cleaning for her husband. They are not well off and live in a small house. And yet the husband isn’t a bad man. Maybe a bit absorbed in his job and newspaper but not demanding and quite sympathetic and even kind. Michiyo’s dissatisfaction is made worse when a young niece comes to stay after running away from her home in Tokyo. The young girls freedoms (and possible designs on the husband) do not make for a happy household.

It is an interesting period film. I think maybe the attitudes would be unknown and strange to modern Japanese. The resolution I found very Japanese but true to it’s time I’d say.

As usual worth a rental.

花と怒濤　dir:鈴木清順　1964

Suzuki Seijun is best known for a very strong visual style seen in such films as Tokyo Drifter, and Branded to Kill that ultimately got him fired from his studio. And in more recent years has made Pistol Opera and Princess Tanuki, both of which are very visual but fairly incomprehensible I think.

This film is from the period just before Tokyo Drifter and his split from Nikkatsu Studios. It was towards the start of his collaborations with Production Designer Takeo Kimura. Seijun was making an enourmous amount of B movies at this time. Mainly in the Yakuza genre. Essentially these were to Japan what the B Western was to America. He made about 3 a year under an incredible 40 day schedule. (Contrast this with todays films where directors will seldomn make 1 a year and schedules from pre production to post production lasts many months if not well over a year and many millions of dollars)

So on the face of it this is standard Yakuza fare. Love story, gangs, fights, cops, period feel. But something of the director’s talents shine through and you get really interesting visuals and something more than a B-movie.

His later films are much more visual masterpieces but the story in this one is easier to follow. Worth a rental.