Sushi. Sumo. Even Toto toilets. But... cinema?
Maybe not your first association with the land of the rising sun. If you haven't gotten hip yet - you're late to the party.
Stereotypes aside (yolk-soaked cuisine, cherry blossoms, woodblock waves et al.), Japan has been - and remains at - the forefront of cinema. From Kurosawa's hundred-film slap on the medium [where he E. Honda'd that ass from Rashomon (1950) to Dreams (1990)], to Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987), to recent sensations like Hulu's The Contestant (2023) and Netflix's Blue Eye Samurai (2023), obsession with the Japanese screen endures.
My own infatuation began when I was ten, when my grandmother hosted two exchange students from Kyoto. Between their full-time immersion and busy class schedules at UC Riverside, they taught me origami. Cooked me udon. Took me on hikes and trips to the library and showed me Japanese books and shows. Plus they were cute - two tall, dark-haired boys with manners. Inspiration for future lovers...?
My long-distance love affair has continued since: thirty years of Nintendo and the Final Fantasy franchise (featuring unforgettable scores by Nobuo Uematsu), animated epics like Spirited Away (2001) and Howl's Moving Castle (2004), three seasons of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender (and four of The Legend of Korra - neither exactly Japanese, but inspired by feudal Japan and Kabuki theater), and a new show called The Boyfriend (if you loved Terrace House - Japan's endearing, polite version of The Real World - you're in for a gay treat).
Most notably and recently, I crushed hard on FX's Shogun (2024). I remember walking by a billboard off La Cienega last year announcing its premiere. I'm always skeptical of large-scale epics, fearing cheesy CGI and tired storylines. But Shogun blew me away - an instant classic in a similar setting to Scorsese's Silence (2016) with an added bonus: that nostalgic and cravable diagesis of The Last Samurai (2003) and 47 Ronin (2013). The message is simple and timeless: cultures clash. It's up to us to decide if ideas, specifically those purported and heralded by religion, are worth the taking of lives. The storytelling is rich and expressed through breathtaking cinematography and Emmy-winning performances - ones littered with death threats. Literally. The wind blows and these characters will commit.
Seppuku that is. Samurai for sui. Offing themselves like it's NBD.
I think it's time for me to go. To see her. My long-distance lover. Since she reopened her Zenny gates post-Tokyovid Olympics. I've been dying to go.
Haven't you?
xo
-FR
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