Stimulating Japanese arts/letters?
November 9, 2008 2:35 PM Subscribe
Is there nothing interesting in contemporary Japanese arts/literature?
My song is much too sad to be told / But practically everything leaves me totally cold / I get no kick from jidai-geki/ Mere NHK doesn't thrill me at all / Some get a kick from Oricon charts / I'm sure that if / I heard even one clip / That would bore me terrifically too / I get no kick in a train / Nishimura Kyotaro's mysteries all have the same refrain / They're my idea of nothing to do / So tell me why should it be true / That I get a kick out of _______?
(with apologies to Cole Porter)
Well, here's the rub: I'm fluent in Japanese, but I find that I have almost no occasion to use it for pleasure reading/movies/magazines/audio/etc. I'm unenthused by contemporary Japanese arts and letters, and I'd like Mefites to weigh in with suggestions, because I am plumb out of ideas. There seems to be virtually nothing. I know, I know, there is a ton of stuff going on in pop culture, but to my eye, this is all flash-in-the-pan, genre stuff, and vacuous.
On the other hand, I could go backwards and read classics, and watch early- to mid-20th century movies, but I am holding out a glimmer of hope that there is quality literature, movies, magazines, and radio being produced today.
Literature: Almost all "classic" 20th century Japanese novelists are dead. I don't see that anything has made a splash in recent years. (Decades?) Sure, Murakami Haruki has been a huge cultural export. I've enjoyed his early essays. But is there anything else going on? It seems like genre fiction/historical novels/romance and the like make up a huge bulk of books on the stands, more so than in the West (this may be a result of the smaller initial pool of new books?).
The pseudo-scholarly 新書 churned out by 岩波、講談社、新潮社、PHP新書 etc. are too often forgettable. These seem to prey on ideas in the popular subconscious, with topics like "Why children aren't performing well in schools," "Why Japan is headed for collapse," "The Japanese character," "A leading doctor's tips on how to prevent senility," and so on... I'm sure there is a need for someone somewhere to use these things, but they are presented under the trappings of historical/scholarly inquiry, which is rarely the case, and this is disappointing as hell.
Japanese magazines are well-produced in their ability to jam data and content into a consolidated space, and they are well-researched, be they about fashion or homemaking. But, I can't think of a single one that is seriously devoted to literature, scholarly topics, international affairs, etc. ユリイカ does come to mind, and I remember enjoying it. But where are the analogues to the NY/London Review of Books, this sort of thing?
Essay, however, is one thing that Japanese does extremely well, and I have only positive thoughts about the essay work I've read, most of it with a comical bent. (糸井重里, 東海林さだお, 寺山修司)
As for comics, I'm not really interested. I read the Asahi Shinbun from time to time, but I've no strong interest in following local Japanese politics, so I'm not sure that a newspaper is the place to get my printed matter fix.
Movies: Again, there is plenty in terms of the classics, but modern Japanese film is almost entirely special-effects, horror movies, and technical expertise with a pop sensibility. Have there been some significantly good underground movies that have passed under my radar? I feel that I can say with certainty that this area is slim in terms of cultural exports.
Radio: NHK and talk DJs. Certainly to hope for something as robust as US/Canadian public radio is a bit much, but what's going on here?
I won't touch on music and visual art. As you can see, I'm interested in things that'll be an outlet for reading printed Japanese or listening to it spoken, because I feel like I'm really squandering my talents here, for want of something scintillating.
As an afterthought, I'd be interested to know about any interesting sites/blogs with essays and journalism. The Japanese web seems to be stuck in the 1980s, with BBS culture flourishing and information overload on every site. I don't think I have the emotional fortitude to read 2chan regularly, either. (But it has been good for a chuckle in the past)
So, with all of those caveats, my ears are open to your suggestions. Basically, I want things that are international in scope, cosmopolitan, somewhat scholarly, and with an emphasis on books/magazines/journals/printed matter.
Oh, and P.D.: despite my disparaging of pop, I'd be interested in hearing about some magazines or such that cover contemporary/popular culture from an omnivorous standpoint - like Brutus, which tends to have something for everyone.
Thanks for reading! If you need more specifics about my interests I can provide.
My song is much too sad to be told / But practically everything leaves me totally cold / I get no kick from jidai-geki/ Mere NHK doesn't thrill me at all / Some get a kick from Oricon charts / I'm sure that if / I heard even one clip / That would bore me terrifically too / I get no kick in a train / Nishimura Kyotaro's mysteries all have the same refrain / They're my idea of nothing to do / So tell me why should it be true / That I get a kick out of _______?
(with apologies to Cole Porter)
Well, here's the rub: I'm fluent in Japanese, but I find that I have almost no occasion to use it for pleasure reading/movies/magazines/audio/etc. I'm unenthused by contemporary Japanese arts and letters, and I'd like Mefites to weigh in with suggestions, because I am plumb out of ideas. There seems to be virtually nothing. I know, I know, there is a ton of stuff going on in pop culture, but to my eye, this is all flash-in-the-pan, genre stuff, and vacuous.
On the other hand, I could go backwards and read classics, and watch early- to mid-20th century movies, but I am holding out a glimmer of hope that there is quality literature, movies, magazines, and radio being produced today.
Literature: Almost all "classic" 20th century Japanese novelists are dead. I don't see that anything has made a splash in recent years. (Decades?) Sure, Murakami Haruki has been a huge cultural export. I've enjoyed his early essays. But is there anything else going on? It seems like genre fiction/historical novels/romance and the like make up a huge bulk of books on the stands, more so than in the West (this may be a result of the smaller initial pool of new books?).
The pseudo-scholarly 新書 churned out by 岩波、講談社、新潮社、PHP新書 etc. are too often forgettable. These seem to prey on ideas in the popular subconscious, with topics like "Why children aren't performing well in schools," "Why Japan is headed for collapse," "The Japanese character," "A leading doctor's tips on how to prevent senility," and so on... I'm sure there is a need for someone somewhere to use these things, but they are presented under the trappings of historical/scholarly inquiry, which is rarely the case, and this is disappointing as hell.
Japanese magazines are well-produced in their ability to jam data and content into a consolidated space, and they are well-researched, be they about fashion or homemaking. But, I can't think of a single one that is seriously devoted to literature, scholarly topics, international affairs, etc. ユリイカ does come to mind, and I remember enjoying it. But where are the analogues to the NY/London Review of Books, this sort of thing?
Essay, however, is one thing that Japanese does extremely well, and I have only positive thoughts about the essay work I've read, most of it with a comical bent. (糸井重里, 東海林さだお, 寺山修司)
As for comics, I'm not really interested. I read the Asahi Shinbun from time to time, but I've no strong interest in following local Japanese politics, so I'm not sure that a newspaper is the place to get my printed matter fix.
Movies: Again, there is plenty in terms of the classics, but modern Japanese film is almost entirely special-effects, horror movies, and technical expertise with a pop sensibility. Have there been some significantly good underground movies that have passed under my radar? I feel that I can say with certainty that this area is slim in terms of cultural exports.
Radio: NHK and talk DJs. Certainly to hope for something as robust as US/Canadian public radio is a bit much, but what's going on here?
I won't touch on music and visual art. As you can see, I'm interested in things that'll be an outlet for reading printed Japanese or listening to it spoken, because I feel like I'm really squandering my talents here, for want of something scintillating.
As an afterthought, I'd be interested to know about any interesting sites/blogs with essays and journalism. The Japanese web seems to be stuck in the 1980s, with BBS culture flourishing and information overload on every site. I don't think I have the emotional fortitude to read 2chan regularly, either. (But it has been good for a chuckle in the past)
So, with all of those caveats, my ears are open to your suggestions. Basically, I want things that are international in scope, cosmopolitan, somewhat scholarly, and with an emphasis on books/magazines/journals/printed matter.
Oh, and P.D.: despite my disparaging of pop, I'd be interested in hearing about some magazines or such that cover contemporary/popular culture from an omnivorous standpoint - like Brutus, which tends to have something for everyone.
Thanks for reading! If you need more specifics about my interests I can provide.
Best answer: This is a self-link, but: Néoponisme.
Can you give us a little more specifics on what you actually do like? In terms of fiction, what do you think of the Akutagawa/Naoki/etc. prize selections these days? (That's where the most prominent non-genre "serious" literary fiction tends to come from.)
One quick recommendation -- ケータイ小説的 by 速水健朗.
posted by No-sword at 4:09 PM on November 9, 2008
Can you give us a little more specifics on what you actually do like? In terms of fiction, what do you think of the Akutagawa/Naoki/etc. prize selections these days? (That's where the most prominent non-genre "serious" literary fiction tends to come from.)
One quick recommendation -- ケータイ小説的 by 速水健朗.
posted by No-sword at 4:09 PM on November 9, 2008
I've recently watched two films by Hirokazu Koreeda and I was blown away. "Hana yori mo naho" was the least Samurai-movie Samurai movie ever, very oblique and charming, and "Dare mo shiranai" was perhaps the saddest movie I've ever seen, and I'd say, unique.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 9:21 PM on November 9, 2008
posted by AmbroseChapel at 9:21 PM on November 9, 2008
Response by poster: Hey folks, sorry I'm late.
@sonic meat machine: No, I wasn't disparaging - merely asking, isn't there anyone else? I have a lot of Murakami work. And, Ryu Murakami = hack; Oe = more of a classic, really.
@No-sword: The link is interesting; I'll have to look at it in more detail, because there is a lot of stuff going on there. As for the book awards, well, maybe that's the crux of the problem - I haven't followed Akutagawa/Naoki prizes in a long time, largely because of an ambiguous feeling of disillusionment. But maybe it is time to revisit the lists and work through them.
Unfortunately, I had to define my question in terms of what I am unenthusiastic about because it has been so long since I've actively read Japanese - I've mostly avoided it, as you can see - that I'm not exactly privy to the latest and greatest. I like 寺山修司, 安部公房, and 岡本太郎's manifestoes about art... but this is an absurd cross-sampling of old (or, as the case is, dead) authors.
The way I was attacking the question was from the point of view of "What can I find in Japanese that most closely resembles the Western "Republic of Letters"?" But in retrospect, that may be a short-sighted and insurmountable goal. On balance, I do think pursuing journals and periodicals is the way to go here; I talked about literature, but as an adjunct to that, periodicals could nicely fill this void. I have lukewarm thoughts about Japanese fiction (what I know of it), but my attitude towards periodicals is mostly positive, so I suppose I'll go with that line of attack.
As for your book suggestion, thank you, it piqued my interest. マンガ論 seems passé, but this ヤンキー論 angle is fresh. If you have more cultural criticism recs., post 'em. I'm generally more amenable to Japanese essay/criticism than fiction.
@AmbroseChapel: Don't know the first one, but Dare mo Shiranai I've seen. I thought that the casting of YOU in the part of the mother was a bizarre yet strangely appropriate choice...
posted by softsantear at 7:14 AM on November 11, 2008
@sonic meat machine: No, I wasn't disparaging - merely asking, isn't there anyone else? I have a lot of Murakami work. And, Ryu Murakami = hack; Oe = more of a classic, really.
@No-sword: The link is interesting; I'll have to look at it in more detail, because there is a lot of stuff going on there. As for the book awards, well, maybe that's the crux of the problem - I haven't followed Akutagawa/Naoki prizes in a long time, largely because of an ambiguous feeling of disillusionment. But maybe it is time to revisit the lists and work through them.
Unfortunately, I had to define my question in terms of what I am unenthusiastic about because it has been so long since I've actively read Japanese - I've mostly avoided it, as you can see - that I'm not exactly privy to the latest and greatest. I like 寺山修司, 安部公房, and 岡本太郎's manifestoes about art... but this is an absurd cross-sampling of old (or, as the case is, dead) authors.
The way I was attacking the question was from the point of view of "What can I find in Japanese that most closely resembles the Western "Republic of Letters"?" But in retrospect, that may be a short-sighted and insurmountable goal. On balance, I do think pursuing journals and periodicals is the way to go here; I talked about literature, but as an adjunct to that, periodicals could nicely fill this void. I have lukewarm thoughts about Japanese fiction (what I know of it), but my attitude towards periodicals is mostly positive, so I suppose I'll go with that line of attack.
As for your book suggestion, thank you, it piqued my interest. マンガ論 seems passé, but this ヤンキー論 angle is fresh. If you have more cultural criticism recs., post 'em. I'm generally more amenable to Japanese essay/criticism than fiction.
@AmbroseChapel: Don't know the first one, but Dare mo Shiranai I've seen. I thought that the casting of YOU in the part of the mother was a bizarre yet strangely appropriate choice...
posted by softsantear at 7:14 AM on November 11, 2008
I don't read Japanese and I don't pretend to be an expert but I thoroughly recommend Winter Sleep by Kenzo Kitakata. The translation is billed as hardboiled crime fiction but it's not really that at all. It's a meditation on the nature of creativity and what it means to be an artist. Okay, there's sex and murder in there, but that's not really what it's about.
posted by Kattullus at 1:23 PM on November 11, 2008
posted by Kattullus at 1:23 PM on November 11, 2008
Best answer: Okay, I see. Well, if you're at all interested in new fiction, yeah, the prizes are the way to go. Obviously you're not always going to agree with the selections, but they're usually at least interesting. (This year I really enjoyed Asatte no hito, although a lot of people didn't like it.) Also, since the magazines themselves publish the winners, you can double up and sample the magazine too.
Periodicals... To be honest ユリイカ sounds like it does a lot of what you're after; any reason you refer to it in the past tense? A friend of mine likes Coyote and from the way she talks about it it sounds like you might too. Really I would recommend going to a big bookstore (really big!), finding the section where they put the "literary" magazines, and flipping through a few until you find something that interests you. Not helpful, I know.
posted by No-sword at 2:30 PM on November 11, 2008
Periodicals... To be honest ユリイカ sounds like it does a lot of what you're after; any reason you refer to it in the past tense? A friend of mine likes Coyote and from the way she talks about it it sounds like you might too. Really I would recommend going to a big bookstore (really big!), finding the section where they put the "literary" magazines, and flipping through a few until you find something that interests you. Not helpful, I know.
posted by No-sword at 2:30 PM on November 11, 2008
Gah. I really suck in this thread. "...Not helpful, I know. But that's the Japanese Republic of Letters... the difficulty is finding the approach that works for you." Me, I'm more into books than magazines, hence my vagueness here.
posted by No-sword at 2:42 PM on November 11, 2008
posted by No-sword at 2:42 PM on November 11, 2008
Have you tried reading the Asahi magazine AERA? I remember reading some interesting articles from it back in the day (oh, 3 or 4 years ago), and having it not be quite so news-oriented.
My favorite Japanese author is 星新一. It's lighter reading, but fun--if you like PK Dick, you'll like his work. At least this is true of his short stories (he has two collections under the children's publisher 青鳥文化, but don't be put off by the kid's book designation).
posted by that girl at 5:01 PM on November 11, 2008
My favorite Japanese author is 星新一. It's lighter reading, but fun--if you like PK Dick, you'll like his work. At least this is true of his short stories (he has two collections under the children's publisher 青鳥文化, but don't be put off by the kid's book designation).
posted by that girl at 5:01 PM on November 11, 2008
Response by poster: Good advice. Before I start passing judgment about the quality of fiction, I should at the very least keep it on my radar before throwing stones.
I'll see if I can't be a little more attuned to the prize selections (youre absolutely right -- if anything, the better stuff is going to rise to the top and be here, and not at some point-of-purchase display).
I like the 一石二鳥 idea of checking out the prize selections through magazines; 文藝春秋 prints this stuff, right?
I guess I was referring to ユリイカ in the past tense because I was reflecting on things I used to read. But just talking about it has reawakened my curiosity, so I'll see about making that into the present tense.
Btw, that girl, I had totally forgotten about 星さん - he is indeed the master of the short short.
posted by softsantear at 6:17 PM on November 11, 2008
I'll see if I can't be a little more attuned to the prize selections (youre absolutely right -- if anything, the better stuff is going to rise to the top and be here, and not at some point-of-purchase display).
I like the 一石二鳥 idea of checking out the prize selections through magazines; 文藝春秋 prints this stuff, right?
I guess I was referring to ユリイカ in the past tense because I was reflecting on things I used to read. But just talking about it has reawakened my curiosity, so I'll see about making that into the present tense.
Btw, that girl, I had totally forgotten about 星さん - he is indeed the master of the short short.
posted by softsantear at 6:17 PM on November 11, 2008
Best answer: Néoponisme is pretty fucking awesome. There's nothing else like it. No-sword's blog is also a real treat to read.
Japanese magazines are well-produced in their ability to jam data and content into a consolidated space, and they are well-researched, be they about fashion or homemaking. But, I can't think of a single one that is seriously devoted to literature, scholarly topics, international affairs, etc.
Da Vinci is an excellent magazine about Japanese book culture, and features monthly reviews of new titles. It's a magazine I pick up when in Japan.
I used to read Da Capo before it went out of print last year. I've found Takarajima to be an excellent replacement. Takarajima features a lot of info-rich articles about current events.
I think you ought to reconsider reading manga. I don't read many novels (even in English), and instead prefer essays and books about local history. To get my fiction fix I generally head down to Book Off and search for old omnibus collections of 人間交差点. It can be melodramatic at times, but most of the time is just excellent social realism, and provides an almost anthropological insight into the Japanese psyche.
ナニワ金融道 is also another awesome, awesome manga (the tv show is okay), that is at once a lesson on Kansai dialect and a full-blown course on Japanese small business, finance and organized crime.
Yoshiharu Shige also writes incredible manga (he was strongly influenced by Shigeru Mizuki). His artwork is dark and atmospheric, and surreal, and is really window in time on mid-Showa era Japan.
I'm getting carried away with manga here - sorry.
For movies, have you checked out Hirokazu Koreeda (是枝裕和)? He's probably the most interesting and important filmmaker to come out of Japan in the last twenty years. 幻の光 (Maborsi outside of Japan) is an incredible movie (I lived for a while on the Noto Peninsula, and near Kansai, where it was filmed, and at about the same time, so the movie means a lot to me). Koreeda is really the second coming of Ozu, and I love him because he represents all that is kind and good and humane about the Japanese soul.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:01 PM on November 22, 2008 [2 favorites]
Japanese magazines are well-produced in their ability to jam data and content into a consolidated space, and they are well-researched, be they about fashion or homemaking. But, I can't think of a single one that is seriously devoted to literature, scholarly topics, international affairs, etc.
Da Vinci is an excellent magazine about Japanese book culture, and features monthly reviews of new titles. It's a magazine I pick up when in Japan.
I used to read Da Capo before it went out of print last year. I've found Takarajima to be an excellent replacement. Takarajima features a lot of info-rich articles about current events.
I think you ought to reconsider reading manga. I don't read many novels (even in English), and instead prefer essays and books about local history. To get my fiction fix I generally head down to Book Off and search for old omnibus collections of 人間交差点. It can be melodramatic at times, but most of the time is just excellent social realism, and provides an almost anthropological insight into the Japanese psyche.
ナニワ金融道 is also another awesome, awesome manga (the tv show is okay), that is at once a lesson on Kansai dialect and a full-blown course on Japanese small business, finance and organized crime.
Yoshiharu Shige also writes incredible manga (he was strongly influenced by Shigeru Mizuki). His artwork is dark and atmospheric, and surreal, and is really window in time on mid-Showa era Japan.
I'm getting carried away with manga here - sorry.
For movies, have you checked out Hirokazu Koreeda (是枝裕和)? He's probably the most interesting and important filmmaker to come out of Japan in the last twenty years. 幻の光 (Maborsi outside of Japan) is an incredible movie (I lived for a while on the Noto Peninsula, and near Kansai, where it was filmed, and at about the same time, so the movie means a lot to me). Koreeda is really the second coming of Ozu, and I love him because he represents all that is kind and good and humane about the Japanese soul.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:01 PM on November 22, 2008 [2 favorites]
Whoops, AmbroseChapel beat me to Hirokazu Koreeda. Sorry.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:05 PM on November 22, 2008
posted by KokuRyu at 8:05 PM on November 22, 2008
Response by poster: KokuRyu, thanks for the late addition.
Lots to digest. I (unfortunately?) tend to turn a blind eye to manga, but if the examples you suggest are so important and exemplary then I'll entertain the thought... actually, laugh if you must, but I spent all of my time in Kansai, so Kansai-ben is more of a second skin to me than standard Japanese.
Uh, in any case, I might want to follow up with either of you about these suggestions, in which case I'll take it to MeMail.
posted by softsantear at 10:19 AM on December 1, 2008
Lots to digest. I (unfortunately?) tend to turn a blind eye to manga, but if the examples you suggest are so important and exemplary then I'll entertain the thought... actually, laugh if you must, but I spent all of my time in Kansai, so Kansai-ben is more of a second skin to me than standard Japanese.
Uh, in any case, I might want to follow up with either of you about these suggestions, in which case I'll take it to MeMail.
posted by softsantear at 10:19 AM on December 1, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
Unfortunately, I think Japanese film is in a period of lassitude due to the continuing economic conditions. At least, I can't think of any "great" Japanese films from the last ten years or so, nor does a cursory glance around the Internet find anything promising. This is unfortunate, because Japanese film in the period from about 1940 through 1980 was excellent.
posted by sonic meat machine at 3:40 PM on November 9, 2008