Nostalgia, Big City<->Hometown

[Melek Ortabasi]

Hi Ken,

As Faith already mentioned, nostalgia (also in 
film) was present before WWII, and encompasses 
both longing for the countryside, as well as 
longing for a more tightly knit village type of 
community in the city. I don't think there was a 
"switch" to longing for the country; I think that 
given the fairly long history of cities in Japan 
that the urban nostalgia you are thinking of was 
probably always a feature that coexisted with 
pastoral fantasies.

I'm more familiar with literature than film, but 
here are some thoughts. I have no doubt that 
Kinejapanners with a focus on the prewar period 
can give more film-specific information.

Being a student of Yanagita Kunio's work, I'm 
more familiar with city/country dichotomies (he 
was definitely more interested in the country 
than the city); from the late Meiji period 
onwards he, and many of his literary peers, wrote 
longingly of the country. Probably the most 
popular novel of 1890 (by contemporary accounts, 
including Yanagita's) was Miyazaki Koshoshi's 
_Kisei_ (Homecoming), which tapped into what was 
already developing into the furusato (hometown) 
idea. So that's way, way prewar. WWII anyway.

For a more urban shitamachi image: Tanizaki's 
_Tade kuu mushi_ (Some Prefer Nettles) springs to 
mind - when the protagonist Kaname waxes poetic 
about his merchant class upbringing in Tokyo. 
There's not a whole lot there, but it's a very 
different Tokyo from the roaring twenties chaos 
we generally think about. So even with a 
"decadent" like Tanizaki we have a nostalgic 
conception of the city. And of course Tanizaki 
got only more nostalgic as he got older;-)

Also as Faith already said, you've got your work 
cut out for you. But maybe the question to ask is 
not, when did nostalgia begin, but rather, how 
has the portrayal of nostalgia changed, even if 
it is still informed by the urban/rural divide? 
Or, maybe focusing only on the shitamachi motif 
might help.

A pastoral film fantasy, just as an afterthought: 
Takahata Isao's animated feature _Omoide poro 
poro_ (1991), where a young Tokyo woman finds 
"home" in the country.

Shitamachi communal ideas pop up in Kitano's 
Kikujirô no natsu (1999): Kitano's character is 
not related to the little boy whom he accompanies 
on a journey to find his mother. It's a 
neighborhood babysitting arrangement that 
accidentally turns into the development of a 
deeper, almost familial bond. The neighborhood 
where they live (don't remember, it's Tokyo I 
think??) is definitely of the shitamachi variety. 
Just a thought.

All right, I really should get back to class prep.

Cheers,
Melek



>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


-- 
Melek Ortabasi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Comparative Literature
Hamilton College
Clinton, NY