Japanese film and the political right

[Lori Hitchcock]

Hello,

I was interested in the line of consideration of Japan and the recent
"Asianism" that seems trendy among some critics, since this is something
that I'm researching (with a view towards a dissertation?).

Aaron noted that:
> The issue of Asia and the Asian Audience is crucial and I'm glad Gavin 
> brought it up.  I'm a little more skeptical about recent trends: I 
> definitely don't see Iwai as that Asian, although his popularity in Asia 
> is undeniable.  We need to be very careful when we talk about Asia in 
> contemporary Japan, because many conservative politicians have recently 
> picked up pan-Asianism in their own way.  What are we supposed to make of 
> the fact that the "young audience" for _Swallowtail Butterfly_ is also 
> supposedly the same young audience for Kobayashi's _Sensoron_?  Do we 
> make distinctions between Yamamoto Masashi's Asia and Iwai's?  Can we 
> call a consumerist interest in Asia pro-Asia?  There's a lot going in 
> here that needs to be sorted out!

The observation that pan-Asianism is tricky territory is important: at the
same time that critics such as Teruoka Sozo have recently hailed such
films as "Sleepless Town" as indicative of a new "East Asian" cinema,
commentators such as Funabashi Yoichi (former Washington Bureau Chief of
the Yomiuri Shimbun) have, however unintentionally (?), written in
somewhat regretful terms of the failed Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity
Sphere.

I also agree that, to a certain extent, recent excitement over the
popularity of Asian films in Japan is somewhat overstated.  Indeed, a
number of recent Hong Kong/Japan joint-productions have been utterly
disappointing star vehicles: "Moonlight Express," the one (forget the
name!) with Anita Yuen and Katori Shingo, etc.  

Yet, at least in the case of Hong Kong films in Japan, their recent
popularity has not been the work of a few years; in fact, the history of
Hong Kong films in Japan reveals some intriguing currents, not the least
of which is their potential for displacing Western films/stars in the
popular imagination.  As Hong Kong stars have achieved a certain
popularity in Japan (until fairly recently - with the emergence of the new
"Asianism"), they have been consistently compared with Western stars, and
the critical arguments emerging from such comparisons (ie: Bruce Lee is
*no* Alain Delon vs. Bruce Lee represents a new kind of action star)
themselves reveal the push-and-pull attraction of Asian cinema in Japan.  

Moreover, a certain degree of political (or, at least, social) tension can
be found in the fan culture that has, in this case, grown up around Hong
Kong films in Japan.  Specifically, women of a variety of ages have not
only constituted a significant audience for Hong Kong films in Japan since
they became available on video, starting in 1987, but many of these women
actually left Japan for Hong Kong (a trend that has been waning
since the handover, but which doesn't appear to have died), citing their
interest in Hong Kong movies as a starting point.  Many of these women
left well-paying jobs in Japan for low-paying ones in Hong Kong,
based on the higher degree of job satisfaction in HK; some of them have
observed that, whereas average women in Japan cannot hope for much
advancement in a company, in Hong Kong, corporate success is based on
ability, rather than gender or tenure (this may read like a gross
generalization; however, my own experience working in Japan - outside of
Tokyo - rather supports what these women have to say).

With respect to anime and politics, I think there is a lot to be said for
interrogating such seemingly apolitical messages - obscured in pastel
colors and sweet pop tunes (I'm thinking, of course, about Studio
Ghibli-esque anime, rather than the sci-fi ones so popular in the US).
What, for example, is the message behind "Hotaru no haka"?  Is this an
anti-war film, as its protagonists' sufferings (especially at the
hands of *Japanese* neighbors/relatives) suggest?  Or, is the complete
obscuring of a cause for the war, coupled with the obvious locality of the
story's setting (a very identifiable Kobe/Nishinomiya) more insidiously
reinforcing the war experience as one set in a particular point in time
(post-Midway), and of a very specific experience (Japanese suffering)?  
And, of course, the significance of the film's fairly pastel presentation
of wartime suffering, pitched at, among others, a young audience itself
raises interesting questions.

These are obviously just some fairly random observations, rather than a
thought-out thesis.

Best, 

Lori Hitchcock