Kita no Kuni Kara

[John Dougill]

William Penn's column this week in the Daily Yomiuri (Feb 10) which took up
the work of So Kuramoto and Kita no Kuni Kara was very topical for me
personally since I've just worked my way through the first series of the tv
dorama from 1981 - only another 8 to go!  Before giving my impressions, I'd
like to recommend this to all language learners on the list.  The scripts
are available in 9 nicely-produced hardbacks (or in one comprehensive
volume of series 1-6) from Riron-sha.  The ISBN for the first series is
4-652-07105-1 and for the second 4-652-07106-X at Y1300 each.  The videos
must be available just about anywhere judging by the popularity of the
series.  My local Tsutsuya for instance has two copies of each of the 30 or
so tapes, and surprisingly for a dorama that started nearly 20 years ago
now, the tapes are often 'rentaru-chuu'....Unlike many doramas, it makes
for great conversation too because I haven't found an adult Japanese yet
who hasn't seen at least part of the series and not been affected by it.

When I started watching, I expected a Japanese equivalent of the Waltons,
but I soon found the series was far superior in terms of psychological
depth and human empathy. It centres around a father named Goro who takes
his two children from Tokyo back to his childhood home in the wilds of
Hokkaido following the discovery of his wife's affair. There he is joined
by his wife's sister, fleeing an unhappy love affair. There is nothing but
a broken house, but Goro is determined to build a new life, which he does
by sheer hard work, a good heart and a strong will.  Yet he is far from
being just a simple stereotype hero, for he is bad at words and bad at
human relations (the Japanese say the two go together) and on occasion does
dishonest things like deceive his own children and refuse to let them meet
their mother. It is symptomatic of the very human types the dorama creates.
The effect of the divorce on the children and of the adult relationships
around them is also made abundantly clear. Unlike many doramas, it is a
complex rather than a simplified world that is evoked.

The prominent features of the series so far are the recreation of the
Hokkaido frontier spirit, both in terms of the 1980s but also cleverly
through family history and memories of the previous two or three
generations to the time of the earliest pioneers.  Living close to nature,
Goro and his children learn quickly about plants, wild animals and the
changing seasons.  For modern urban audiences it's a learning experience
too.  Also of special interest is the character of the narrator - Goro's
eleven-year old son, Jun, who comments in a voice-over on his experiences.
This allows for a childlike sense of wonder and innocence, while at the
same time providing a note of amusement at his childish interpretation of
events, for scandal and gossip are rife in the rural community.  The
complications of the human emotions are too rich to go into detail here,
but the first series has already woven together a rich tapestry of
relationships involving love and enmities and childhood frictions. There
are also some touching emotional highlights involving snowstorms and animal
mishaps which are almost guaranteed to produce tears.

Part of the fun of the series is in spotting the stars.  Jun's sister is
the sweet and endearing Hotaru played by Nakajima Tomoko.  One of Japan's
top actresses Harada Mieko (who won fab raves last year for her
performances in Ai o Kou Hito) plays the village schoolteacher.  Kumagaya
Miyuki plays a jilted lover called Tsurara (Kumagaya later became the wife
of film star Matsuda Yusaku and mother of his son, Youhei?, currently
starring in the film Gohatto).  And amongst the others appearing in the
first series are director Itami Juzo and his wife Miyamoto Nobuko,
indicative of the strength of the cast. Put together with firm directing
and a touching theme from Sada Masashi and it makes for a rich emotional
mix.  The dorama was unusual in appealing to Japanese of all ages, and it
is easy to see why with its themes of past and present and its rich mix of
generational topics.

Now starting on Series Two so watch this space....
JD
Kyoto