pink eiga - My observations
Christian Morimoto Hermansen
c.morimoto
Fri Nov 10 09:02:38 EST 2000
I would like to second Aaron in his emphasis on the need to look at any
culture, including the Japanese, with much attention to nuances. As to the
image of a "hedonistic" Edo-era, and the idea that nudity was only frown
upon after the arrival of Victorian foreigners in the 1850s, a city
ordinance issued in Osaka 1842 that forbad 'bad or improper behaviour'
(furachi) such as joined bathing of the sexes in bathhouses, certainly
contradicts these perceptions. Again, the authorities in Osaka, and
probably elsewhere in early modern Japan, fought against un-licenced
prostitution, at least in their legislation. Then as now there was a
discrepancy between the letter of the law and reality--just take a stroll
in Osaka's Tobita quarter--and that confirms the need for any observer to
pay attention to nuances.
_______________________ooo_____________________
Christian M. Hermansen
Dyssevaenget 55,1
2700 Bronshoj, Denmark
NB: Send e-mail with Japanese characters to morimoto at get2net.dk please.
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