Nostalgia, Big City<->Hometown

[Ken Shima]

Greetings all,

With the recent passing of Showa Day here in Japan I've been thinking  
about the portrayal of nostalgia and how this is dealt with in  
Japanese cinema, particularly in terms of the hometown(kokyo) and  
urban city contrast. I'm looking for films, books or articles in  
Japanese or English that deal with 'returning home' or 'leaving home'  
and idea of creating of collective nostalgic experiences.  
Psychologically, socially, how are these feelings of nostalgia  
created, particularly when set in the  increasingly distant Showa  
period. For example, from the 1950s onward we see popular novels and  
films that portray a more communal 'shitamachi' urban environment of  
Osaka in Toyoda Shiro's "Myoto Zenzai", or Tokyo in the Tora-san.

More recently, the hugely popular "Always 3-chome" films have  
established the Showa 30s/1955-65 as a popular site of nostalgia  
created by filmakers who never experienced this period themselves but  
nonetheless create an period depiction appealing to a surprisingly  
wide range of ages, a nostalgia that 10 year olds and 70 years olds  
can enjoy (weep) together.

I am curious about the history of this "community now forgotten"  
theme, does it begin before or after the war, and when, if ever, do  
things switch from longing for the upward mobility of the city to  
longing for the simplicity and community of small town life? I would  
greatly appreciate any recommendations not only related to urban  
nostalgia but also dealing with how the hometown/urban contrast was  
used to emphasize the sense of the fading forms of culture and  
society in film, art, and literature.


Thank you for your help,
Ken Shima