Furansu-za & French Film About Kitano

[Michael McCaskey]

Yes, I think Furansu-za basically means "France/French Theater." Back in the 1920s, I think, there was a sort of mini-Eiffel-Tower in Asakusa, and people liked to think of it as a sort of Artists' Quarter of Tokyo. The area has had variety theaters going back to then and well before, though I'm not sure whether the Furansu-za existed back then. The whole area, except for the Asakusa Kannon Temple, was pretty much destroyed in the bombing in WWII.

I think the Furansu-za idea relates to a Parisian theme and the Folies Bergere (hope I spelled that correctly) and the like. There was also a Broadway musical, Can can, back in the 1950s, I think made into a movie, with Parisian musical numbers and songs that rekindled interest in the notion of traditional Parisian music halls in Japan.

There was a major Japanese writer, Nagai Kafu (1879-1959) who was a great admirer of Franch literature and culture, who chose to live in Asakusa, and who perhaps helped to create a sort of French mystique connected with Asakusa.

There are lots of Japanese-French connections, going back to the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. But they are not very prominently presented in English-language sources.

There is also a French film about Kitano and his work, 68 min., Takeshi Kitano l'imprevisible, by Jean-Pierre Limosin, done in cooperation with Kitano and Office Kitano in Tokyo--DVD 2005 MK2 S.A.Paris, ISBN 2-35136-002-8. It was 25 Euros when I got it a year ago. This film is also useful for the study of Kikujiro:

"Jean-Pierre Limosin filme son ami Takeshi Kitano au moment ou celui-ci termine son 8eme film L'ete de Kikujiro. Limosin provoque notamment la rencontre entre Kitano et Shigehiko Hasumi, president de l'Universite de Tokyo et grand cinephile, l'un des premiers a avoir decouvert le cinema de Kitano."

Maybe not everyone would agree with everything in the last sentence. You can find this DVD via www.mk2.com. The mk2 series includes many DVDs relating to directors, films, etc.

Michael McCaskey

----- Original Message -----
From: bird at ca.inter.net
Date: Thursday, August 10, 2006 8:43 am
Subject: Re: Kitano/Kijujiro/Buffoon--Addition re Furansu-za

> Just a brief interjection - sorry for interrupting the 
> conversation - is that "furansu-za"
> as in "France"? 
> and why the French connection?
> 
> Lawrence Bird
> PhD candidate, McGill university
> 
>   
> 
>                               	> It may be useful to point out 
> that the contemporary 
> writer Inoue Hisashi, like Kitano,
> also hung around the Furansu-za, while he was a student at 
> Jochi/Sophia Univ., and also
> learned some of his comedy-writing skills there.
> > 
> > The Furansu-za was a fairly free-form place, where one could 
> hang around without being
> hassled by the management--I am afraid I used to go there myself, 
> too, now and then,
> though if I ever encountered Kitano or Inoue I wouldn't have known 
> who they would become.
> I'm not sure whether Inoue and Kitano ever met there.
> > 
> > Inoue Hisashi (different from Inoue Yasushi, and far more 
> interesting, in my opinion)
> has
> written many plays and successful film scripts and scenarios, not 
> all comedies. One
> particularly fine tragic film closely based on an Inoue Hisashi 
> play is Kuroki's Chichi to
> Kuraseba, about the atomic bombing and its aftermath in Hiroshima--
> a film which is part of
> Kuroki's WWII Film Trilogy. 
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Michael McCaskey <mccaskem at georgetown.edu>
> > Date: Thursday, August 10, 2006 9:45 am
> > Subject: Re: Kitano/Kijujiro/Buffoon
> > 
> > > Dear Lorenzo,
> > > 
> > > You may well already be aware of this, but Kitano began his 
> career 
> > > as a comedian, and still does comedy routines in his films, as 
> in 
> > > Takeshis' which is I think pretty much completely a comedy--
> though 
> > > others might disagree.
> > > 
> > > There was and is a theater in Asakusa called the Furansu-za, 
> which 
> > > had and has several shows going at the same time at different 
> > > levels, perhaps including films. It featured and now features 
> live 
> > > variety shows, musical shows, etc. I use the past and present 
> > > because the theater became defunct for a while, but has been 
> > > restored in recent years. It is the theater across the street 
> from 
> > > the cafe Kikujiro and his wife have in the film. Kitano goes 
> over 
> > > and looks at the posters.
> > > 
> > > I think Kitano was involved in the restoration of the theater. 
> The 
> > > kabuki actor who plays the onna-gata role in Zatoichi put on a 
> big 
> > > musical show there a year or two ago.
> > > 
> > > When Kitano was starting out, after a fairly unsuccessful 
> attempt 
> > > at a regular bourgeois college education (his brother is an 
> > > academic), Kitano got a job at the Furansu-za, as an elevator 
> man, 
> > > taking customers to the upper show level. He hung around the 
> > > theater, and over time learned comedy routines by watching the 
> > > shows and getting tips from variety show comedians. The 
> sequence 
> > > in Kikujiro where there is a sort of fantasy with traditional 
> > > comedians appearing in various outfits may be a tribute to the 
> > > Furansu-za and its performers back when Kitano worked there.
> > > 
> > > Another theme in Kikujiro is that the kid really has few or no 
> > > adults to rely on, until he connects with Kikujiro, the 
> traveling 
> > > writer, and the Gothic Bikers--all played by old Kitano 
> friends. 
> > > The same way that perhaps Kitano himself found a substitute 
> family 
> > > and support group at the Furansu-za in his early days.
> > > 
> > > In the film, Kitano sort of plays himself back when he worked 
> at 
> > > the Furansu-za, wearing the same wooden "beach clogs" he wore 
> > > then. The kid plays Kitano when he was a child, and used to go 
> to 
> > > Asakusa and hang around, since his own home life was pretty 
> grim, 
> > > and his father was very abusive.
> > > 
> > > The man Kikujiro meets at the deserted bus stop who seems so 
> > > irritating is actually a comedian Kitano worked together with 
> for 
> > > years, as the Two Beats. I think he worked with him back at 
> the 
> > > Furansu-za too. This man now has retired and owns a restaurant 
> > > somewhere, but made a guest appearance in the film as a 
> memento of 
> > > the old days.
> > > 
> > > You can read about Kitano's early days at the Furansu-za in 
> > > Asakusa Kid, by Kitano. There is a French translation, Asakusa 
> > > Kid, ISBN 2-84261-279-5, Paris: Le Serpent a Plumes, 2001.
> > > 
> > > Kitano has written a long series of autobiographical books and 
> > > many, many essays about himself and his work. Unfortunately, 
> as 
> > > far as I know, almost none of this small library of writing by 
> > > Kitano himself is available in English, and only bits in French.
> > > 
> > > The two books in English now available that may be helpful to 
> you are:
> > > 
> > > 1) 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano, ISBN 0-9527951-1-6, London: Tadao 
> Press 
> > > 1999--a collection of essays, trans. from Japanese--you may 
> esp. 
> > > like "A Comedian Star is Born," by Machiyama Tomohiro, pp. 104-
> > > 113, which has more information on what is in this e-mail.
> > > 
> > > 2) Beat Takeshi vs. Takeshi Kitano, by Abe Casio, trans. from 
> > > Japanese (1994), pub. in English New York: Kaya Press, 2003(?)
> > > 
> > > Aaron Gerow will soon have a definitive book on Kitano 
> published--
> > > Gerow is the leading US authority on Kitano. His book should 
> fill 
> > > the gap that exists now in English re Kitano and his work. He 
> will 
> > > have the best information about Kitano's career as a comedian.
> > > 
> > > With Best Wishes,
> > > 
> > > Michael McCaskey
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Lorenzo Javier Torres Hortelano <ljth2006 at gmail.com>
> > > Date: Wednesday, August 9, 2006 3:42 am
> > > Subject: Kitano/Kijujiro/Buffoon
> > > 
> > > > I'm writng an article about the the buffoon figure or 
> concept 
> > > (jester,> clown) created in Kitano's "Kikujiro no natsu". I've 
> > > have arrived 
> > > > to some
> > > > questions I can't resolve by myself and would like to share 
> it 
> > > > with all of
> > > > you:
> > > > 
> > > > 1) Could be found a cultural tradition of the buffoon in 
> Japan 
> > > > similar to
> > > > that of European Courts in the Middle Age?
> > > > 2) Could Kitano be considered as a buffon in the 
> contemporary 
> > > > Japane popular
> > > > culture?
> > > > 3) Do you know any term in Kabuki related or similar to the 
> buffoon> > > character?
> > > > 4) Would you agree that Kitano is a comedy actor and that in 
> > > > "Kikujiro" he
> > > > acts, besides, as a buffoon?
> > > > 5) Do you konw about any terms in contemporary popular 
> culture 
> > > in 
> > > > Japan to
> > > > tell the difference between comedy actor and buffoon?
> > > > 
> > > > Any bibliograhic reference about the subject will be very 
> welcome.> > > 
> > > > Thanks in advance!
> > > > 
> > > > -- 
> > > > Lorenzo J. Torres Hortelano
> > > > Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
> > > > Madrid, Spain
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
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> 
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