Dorama

[John Dougill]

A Japanese friend of mine just back from doing an MA in film studies in the
UK put forward the idea that dorama in Japan occupies a similar cultural
position to films in the West. In other words, it is more central to the
culture than Japanese films.  Since this list covers dorama too, I wonder
if I could share a few thoughts.  Firstly about Eien no Ko, based on a
bestseller, which has just finished, and then about Ai Kotoba wa Yuki
(starring Yakusho Koji) which has just begun.

Eien no Ko surely has to by far the blackest dorama I've ever seen. Not a
single week passed without gruesome sex, suicide attempts, murder, arson,
incest, child abuse, heartbreak, hysteria or breakdown of some kind.  So
the question remains as to why the dorama proved popular and why people
like myself continued to watch it?  Well for one thing, the dorama stars
people of the calibre of Nakatani Miki, Watabe Atsuro, Shina Kippei and
Ishida Yuriko and was filmed in such a way as to make a mystery of the
past, teasing viewers with what exactly happened one fatal day on a
mountain.  It was an incident that affected three young damaged children in
a psychiatric hospital and bound them together as adults.  Nakatani Miki
was particularly compelling as a nurse who as a child had been abused by
her father as a result of which she was unable to form relationships with
men - except for Shina Kippei that is, but he had been physically abused as
a child and is unable to show affection of any kind to the women he is
involved with, one of the reasons which led Ishida Yuriko to want to commit
suicide, which Watabe Atsuro helped her with because it was easier for him
than having sex since he had been put off by his promiscuous mother....you
begin to get the picture!!
	From speaking to my Japanese friends about the book and dorama, it
seems that a strong part of the appeal lies in the current breakdown in
sections of Japanese society and the outbreak of shocking crimes,
particularly among the young, in recent years.  The Aum incident, the Kobe
beheading, the rash of stabbings, the bus hijack and the young guy who
killed someone because he wanted to see how it felt have led to a sense of
bewilderment. People want to understand what's going on, and Eien no Ko
addresses the consequences of inces,  abuse etc not usually thought about
it in Japan - on the contrary, such unpleasantnesses tend to be covered
over.  I would posit that the dorama typifies the loss of innocence that
Japan is undergoing: the Japan of the 1980s where everything was rosy and
people feigned ignorance of problems was a far different place from the
tougher, worldly and increasingly violent place that is the Japan of 2000s.

It's not often that I disagree with William Penn (Daily Yomiuri July 8) but
when he recommends Food Fight and London Boots in the same column I have to
wonder whether he's taken leave of his senses. I mean when you have to rely
on stuffing your mouth full of food and a talking bird for humour, you're
in dire straits aren't you. I've heard a theory on this list that different
people are operating under the same pen-name ('Penn' name), and one has to
wonder if the sudden rush of misplaced enthusiasm from the usually
jaundiced Penn does not betray a substitute.
	Penn writes of 'a bit of comedy with social commentary as it pokes
a critical finger at the ways of the rich and powerful and the abuse of the
weak and powerless' - personally, I would say from the first week's viewing
that this is provided to far greater effect, more thoughtfully and more
relevantly, in Ai kotoba wa yuki. Katori Shingo can outact his Smap
companion Kusanagi any day of the week (compare his country naif here to
the worldly Tokyoite he played in Ai wa Aserazu where Oda Yuji played the
country bumpkin), and compare a film veteran of the ilk of Suzuki Kyouka
('39') with Fukuda Kyoko.  In addition, one has the joy of watching top
film star Yakusho Koji (of Shall We Dance, Unagi etc etc fame) and Goro
from Japan's longest-running dorama Kita no Kuni Kara.  All this and a
script by Mitani Kouki, the creator of Furuhata Ninzaburo. The story is
highly topical and close to Japan's political pulse in concerning a village
plagued by dioxin waste disposal run by tough types with an expensive
lawyer. For entertainment reasons presumably this is watered down with a
little comedy, such that from the first night's viewing the dorama walks a
narrow ledge between serious social commentary and manga style farce. It
does not always come off, but in terms of bringing a fresh topic to the
screen with actors of quality and imaginative directing, this is streets
ahead of Food Fight.  One curious feature is the theme tune - the very
British (some might say nationalistic) 'Land of Hope and Glory'. Quite what
this is doing in a dorama that is so very typically Japanese in setting
(the deep countryside) and themes (political corruption and personal
obligations) is baffling.  It may be of course that it has been chosen
simply for appearance's sake, as much else in Japan ie because it's a nice
tune - in much the same way that one of my female students was wearing a
T-shirt yesterday saying 'Take me to heaven with your blow job'. On the
other hand, one wonders whether one is reading too much Western irony into
things by raising the contrast between the lawyer's speech about 'justice'
delivered by Yakusho Koji (apparently a fake lawyer) and the playing of the
tune with its words - Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free. Perhaps
the makers of the programme are making fun of Japanese justice by this and
contrasting the country with what they believe to be genuine democracy - in
which case Japan has entered a new phase of cynicism which Food Fight
couldn't even dream of.

Yours
JD
Kyoto