Irony in Japan

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

On a film discussion list, there's been a small discussion on irony and 
cross-cultural issues, and someone made the following remark:

>I know little about Japanese literature, drama or film, but am I to
>understand that nowhere in them could we find the kind of tragic irony
>that
>underpins, say, the Oedipus cycle? If so, it seems this would be an
>amazing
>discovery, valuable in its own right. If not so, however, I suggest
>locating an example of this type of irony in Japanese popular culture
>and
>comparing it to the examples you mention.

I was wondering what people felt about this, especially in relation to 
Japanese film, TV, or other pop culture texts.  Are there cases of tragic 
irony in Japanese film, or other important uses of irony? Can people cite 
some examples or comment on why not?

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
KineJapan list owner
For list commands: send "information kinejapan" to 
listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html