What's real? What's right?
When Australian author Peter Carey invited his manga-addicted 12 year-old son to visit Japan, the boy agreed on condition that they avoided ‘the REAL Japan’. No temples. No museums. No tea ceremony or kabuki. Carey senior accepts this, hoping nevertheless to fan his hitherto reticent son’s interest through the ‘back door’ of its modern youth culture.*
Why, with Japan more than any other nation, it seems, is the question of what’s ‘real’ so vexed? My introduction to the country began in the New York office of a major Japanese trading company. That three-year-and-a-bit experience inspired a lifelong interest. And yet, when I began my formal studies fellow students who had been on one-year high school exchanges delighted in telling me how little it had to do with ‘real Japan’. Likewise, when I moved to crowded, noisy, congested, exuberant Tokyo, I was continually urged, mainly by foreigners, to get out of the city to see and experience the ‘authentic’ culture.
I knew that for ‘authentic’ I should read ‘traditional’. And I was, and am interested in traditional Japanese arts, literature and religion. I am as happy to visit temples there as I am to visit cathedrals in Europe. Ditto museums and castles. I read both contemporary and classic Japanese authors, collect new and old pottery. But for me what was, and always will be ‘real’ about Japan is the modern urban lifestyle shared by 75% of its inhabitants.
As an outsider with an abiding interest and an analytical bent, I cannot help coming to my own conclusions about Japanese national identity and the way the nation’s past informs its present. Indeed, it is a subject of debate among the Japanese themselves. So I was dismayed to read that author Carey’s thoughtful attempts to analyse some of the more popular graphic novels and anime films were often dismissed – politely, of course -- out of hand by the writers, artists and directors he interviewed. But was he really so wrong? Or were they simply reacting in the knee-jerk ‘foreigners are incapable of understanding we Japanese’ mode?
Carey did manage to drag his son to some traditional culture, most notably a long afternoon at kabuki, the description of which made even me restless. But they found their ‘real Japan’ in the lobby of publishing company Kodansha’s head office where they met the transsexual otaku (geek) author of the world-wide bestselling manga series Mobile Suit Gundam. Never mind that s/he pooh-poohed all of Carey’s theories, s/he still embodied some of the best things about Japan: creativity, fastidious attention to detail, and generous hospitality.
*Peter Carey, Wrong About Japan. Faber and Faber. 2005
Published by Elizabeth Saccente on Thursday, Jan 29 2009. Comments (0)
Congratulations to Diane Janes
Many congratulations to Diane Janes who has landed a book deal with Constable and Robinson for her crime novel, The Pull of the Moon. I met Diane at the 2006 CWA Dagger Awards. She had been shortlisted for the Debut Dagger for the second time and her entry was highly commended. She will be the fourth author from the 2001 Debut Dagger shortlist to be published and, if I’m not mistaken, the second from the 2006 list. Diane has been a great source of fellowship and support through our email exchanges and I wish her all the best for the success of her book.
Published by Elizabeth Saccente on Monday, Nov 3 2008. Comments (0)
Samurai and Sushi
Fascinated. Thoughtful. Amused. Surprised. But never bored. That was how twenty-five students, three teachers, and I felt on a rigorous ten day tour of Japan that swept us from the sensory overload of central Tokyo to the serene beauty of Miyajima on a misty morning, from ancient temples and shrines to modern department stores, from the horror of the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima to the technological frontiers of the resurgent industrial giant.
In a trip packed with experiences from the offset, it’s hard to pick one highlight. The students would no doubt say it came on the very last night when they encountered a swordsman in the hotel lobby. ‘Samurai’ Joe Okada, who bills himself as the only and last samurai in Japan, gave our group an impromptu demonstration that put the final gloss on our adventure.
But I have no doubt other moments will linger in their memories: bargain hunting in the alleys of Ameyoko; discussing Japanese religious practices in a quiet corner of venerable Kiyomizu Temple while watching the sun set over Kyoto; a lively karaoke evening in Hiroshima after a sombre day contemplating the impact of the bomb; first tastes of okonomiyaki, tempura, shabu shabu, tonkatsu and even fugu for a few; and, not least, the many times people stopped to wave or say hello.
They admired Japanese fashion, hankered after the latest gadgets and laughed at Japlish. They learned that there was more to Japan than geisha, samurai, and sushi. A lot more.
Published by Elizabeth Saccente on Monday, Nov 3 2008. Comments (0)
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