"O-Shinobi" お忍び

On Monday, March 27, I had the most amazing opportunity to meet, shake hands and speak with the emperor and empress of Japan! The emperor Akihito and his wife Michiko-sama visited Sokendai University this week on what is called "O-Shinobi" (お忍び) in Japan. According to my favorite on-line dictionary, this expression means "incognito." Thus, for the emperor and empress, the visit was unofficial, there were no press corps, and there were fewer guards and police than if the event had been official.

Apparently the emperor and empress were interested in talking to young grad students. My professor, Sharon Traweek, and I speculated on why they visited Sokendai in particular. What we came up with was: a) Their vacation home, known as Go-Yotei (御用邸) is in Hayama, the same town in which our university is located. So getting here was pretty convenient for them - we're only about a ten-minute drive up the road. b) The emperor's second son, Prince Akishino, graduated from Sokendai with a PhD degree in biology. c) Sharon speculated that, like many parents, the couple must be interested in seeing where their son went to school. Furthermore, she thinks the prince is scheduled to start a project here at Sokendai in the fall. It must be pretty hard for the imperial couple to simply show up to check out a place. This might be the way they decided to handle the situation. d) We also heard that the emperor and empress are friends with Professor Takahata, one of the prince's advisors when he studied here, and one of the acting directors of Sokendai. I heard that Takahata-sensei plays tennis with the couple sometimes on the Sokendai tennis courts. (The imperial vacation home apparently does not have its own tennis courts, so if the royal couple want to play, they come up here!)

Whatever their reasons for visiting, the couple arrived here at 11:45 am. I posted pictures of their entourage of cars on my flickr site. I was able to take pictures of the arrival from my dorm room window. After arriving, the couple went inside to the cafeteria to have a normal lunch with everyone. Some of my lucky colleagues got the opportunity to sit next to the couple and converse with them during lunchtime. One colleague, Yokoyama-san, said they talked mostly about science as the students at the table were physicists or biologists in-training. Apparently the couple knew many things already and asked extremely intelligent and thoughtful questions.

After lunch, the school director, Kodaira-san directed the imperial couple over to the table where my colleagues and I were eating. He wanted to introduce the emperor and empress to the visiting foreigners at Sokendai. I was lucky in that I happened to be standing closest to them, so I was the first one they talked to. Sharon thinks they showed a surprising amount of interest in my answers to their questions about my research. I think the reason they talked to me for so long was simply because I was first in line and they didn't want to be so rude as to move too quickly on to the next person.

In any event, we had the conversation in Japanese. At first, I did not feel shy at all and said "Good afternoon, it's a pleasure to meet you!" (Konnichi-wa, hajimemashite) in a confident voice. They said very little in the usual return, but they asked me pleasantly where I was from, if I spoke Japanese, and what type of research I was conducting. When I said "history," they asked what time period, and I answered "Meiji." They replied that this was a very interesting period to be studying, and I agreed!

Then the empress wanted to know what I thought of Sokendai and if I had made any friends at the university. When she asked me this, she made a gesture to the other Japanese in the room as if to suggest, "are these (Japanese) people here treating you hospitably." Of course I said "yes" (okage-sama desu), and I told her I thought Sokendai was a beautiful place. The empress agreed with me that the scenery was beautiful and the university was situated in a lovely, natural setting.

After this, the emperor asked me what, specifically, I studied about the Meiji period. I was worried about this because most Japanese people rarely understand my answer "treaty ports" (kyou ryuu chi), so I thought there was a good chance the imperial couple would not either. (Because most people don't understand me, I am usually paranoid that my pronunciation is completely off) But the emperor did not even blink, and responded, "Oh, such as Yokohama and Nagasaki," to which I responded "Yes! Yes!"

At this point in the conversation, I was starting to feel extremely awkward. I was worried that my Japanese was terrible, and that I was not speaking politely enough. In Japanese, there is an honorific form (keigo) which I never learned very well and so avoided using on Monday. The more I talked, the more self-conscious I became about how improper my Japanese must be. Sharon told me later that my voice got smaller and smaller, to the point where she could barely hear me anymore. (Another Japanese friend told me later though that she heard everything I said and that my Japanese was polite and proper.) Yokatta! In any event, as I said I was feeling extremely self-conscious and started simply answering questions (that I don't remember anymore) with just "yes," "yes" and even "excuse me, I'm sorry" (sumimasen, sumimasen- which literally means, "sorry for exceeding what is proper behavior"). At this point, the school director started to encourage them away toward the other foreigners. (Pheewww!)

The emperor and empress next talked to Brien Hallet, a visiting scholar from U Hawai'i, and then Sharon, my professor, in perfect English. Here, there was an interesting exchange when Sharon explained that she was a Historian of Science. The empress looked to the emperor and said, "My husband is interested in history of science. He has published an article on this topic." The emperor was very humble about this and was trying to make it seem like no big deal.

Sharon looked up the article later and sent us the following links and notes:
The article appeared in the journal Science as part of a special issue on science in Japan: "Science in Japan: A Historical Viewpoint - Early Cultivators of Science in Japan", Science Vol. 258, No. 5082, 23 October 1992, pp. 578-580.
http://www.jstor.org/view/00368075/di002185/00p00744/0

The article is mentioned on the Kunaicho [Imperial Household Agency of the Japanese government] English webpage:
http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e03/ed03-01.html

It was reprinted in the Japan Echo, vol. 27, no. 1, 2000, with a commentary in that issue on the imperial tradition of research by TAKASHINA Shuji, Director General, National Museum of Western Art
http://www.japanecho.co.jp/sum/2000/270103.html

Apparently the emperor has published many articles and books, and he is an avid ichthyologist. The official web page on "Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress and other Members of the Imperial Family" describes the emperor's works in more detail.

"O-Shinobi" お忍び (Continued)

O-Shinobi
Originally uploaded by annmerry.

A picture of lunch with the imperial couple.
For more pictures, please check out my Flickr website.

The Masters' Gaze on Women in Hanamachi巨匠が描いた花街の女たち

From March 17-19, I attended the Japan Foundation Film Series (Part 5) held by the Japan Foundation Forum, Akasaka. I wanted to write about it here as a way to recollect what movies I saw, and to add some of my thoughts and ideas on the event.

Here is the list of movies and a lecture I saw. I'm planning on posting my own thoughts and comments, bit by bit, by the title of each movie:

March 17 (Fri.)

19:00 YOSHIWARA THE PLEASURE QUARTERS
妖刀物語　花の吉原百人斬り by UCHIDA Tomu, 1960

This movie didn't really make a big impression on me, although I enjoyed it a lot. One reaction I had was that this is not a realistic portrait of Yoshiwara - something about the costumes and sets seemed too fake - kind of like watching the set of a US sitcom.

I went to this movie with my friend Koichi, who made a good comment - and I agree. The movie portrays focuses on the greediness, ambition, and mercenary characteristics of BOTH men and women. A husband and wife couple own the ageya (~pleasure house) and work together to take advantage of Jirozaemon, a naive customer who has fallen in love with Tamatsuru, the house's ambitious geisha.

Tamatsuru is an interesting case too. She is also greedy and quite mercenary in her relationship with Jirozaemon. Knowing that her client's obsession with her is her only potential tool for gaining access to the prestigious position of taiyu, she plays with Jirozemon's emotions in order to bleed him dry of all of his savings. In the end, when Jirozaemon experiences temporary financial straits, she and her brothel owners not only shun him, but feel no compunction in taunting and abusing his worth and self esteem.

By the end of the film series, I came to question how much agency the women of the pleasure quarters seemed to exhibit in each of the movies. In Women are Born Twice, for example, the main protagonist, Koen, seems to be in charge of her actions. It is her decision to leave the ageya to work as a hostess at her friend's cafe. She also tends to decide when to take vacation, with whom, and whom to see as her lover. By contrast, the women in The World of Geisha not only seem trapped in their line of work, but abused, sexually and psychologically. In one scene, we see the madame of a brothel practically raping a new apprentice.

In any event, with Tamatsuru in Yoshiwara we see more of a nuanced tapestry of agency, abuse and imprisonment. Tamatsuru is smart enough to figure out how to manipulate Jirozaemon, and to her credit, she does so skillfully and adeptly. Nevertheless, she is abused by her colleagues for having a history of working as a mere "street whore," before having been arrested and indentured to the ageya. At the end of the movie, Tamatsuru attains the coveted position of taiyu based primarily on her own cunning and resolve. Having achieved such success on her own merits, her character seems to announce that despite their hard lives, prostitutes and geisha can command their own destinies, albeit within the narrow and marginal walls of the pleasure quarters. However, in the last scene, screenwriter YODA Yoshikata reproaches the viewer for succumbing to this false sense of power and achievement with a one final, dramatic blow: Jirozaemon is witnessed stabbing Tamatsuru in the full splendor of her debut as the grand taiyu in a parade on the streets of Yoshiwara.

March 18 (Sat.)
13:30 WOMEN ARE BORN TWICE
女は二度生まれる by KAWASHIMA Yuzo, 1961

15:15 LECTURE: "Women in Hanamachi—Seen through the Japanese Cinema"
Lecture by TSUNEISHI Fumiko, Film Curator, National Film Center








18:00 THE WORLD OF GEISHA
四畳半襖の裏張り by KUMASHIRO Tatsumi, 1973
Starting in 1971, Nikkatsu film studios ("We place a value on Pleasure... More Feeling to More People") concentrated on making "pink films" with big budgets and famous directors. The company used the term "Roman Porno" to describe pink films.

My friends (Kathy and Jackie) and I debated over this movie over coffee as soon after we got out of the theater. Kathy and Jackie were convinced that the film was "porn," while I, on the other hand, was not so quick to agree. True, technically this film is described as an indisputable classic of Nikkatsu 'Roman Porno,'" in the Japan Foundation Forum movie series handout. So maybe I should just give it up, and agree with how other people see it, and perhaps with the genre in which it was probably intentionally created.

Among my reasons for not wanting to call this movie "porn" however were that for one, the acting was quite good - especially the women's acting. I thought that although the movie might portray situations which dehumanize women, this is distinctly different from dehumanizing theactuallyy women who act out the characters in the movie. I wonder, how can a movie dehumanize women if it serves as a showcase for women's skills for nuanced and thoughtful acting.
In addition, I thought the movie perceptively and humorously ribald. M-W defines "ribald" as 'depicting or referring to sexual matters in a way that is unacceptable in polite society,' a definition which many might decide categorically situates the movie in the realm of "pornographic." But I disagree. There are number of movies, songs, and books (i.e. "There's Something about Mary") which reference sex "impolitely" andmischievouslyy, but are not intended to cause sexual excitement.

March 19 (Sun.)
13:30 THE WOMAN OF THE RUMOR (aka The Woman in Question)?
噂の女 by MIZOGUCHI Kenji, 1954

15:30 UNDER SILK GARMENTS
偽れる盛装 by YOSHIMURA Kozaburo, 1951

18:00 NIHONBASHI
日本橋 by ICHIKAWA Kon, 1956

Of all the movies, I liked this one the least. But honestly, I was pretty tired of watching endless dramas (melodramas?) about poor, abused women at this point. This was the third movie of the day, and the only way I could face it was by downing a quick jug of beer across the street at Pronto during the hour intermission.

Jackie, my new friend, also saw the movie and agreed; the movie was overly dramatic and after the first 60-70 minutes, one found oneself wondering when the movie was going to end. Another reason I thought the movie was worse than the others was that the acting was pretty pitiful, and the sets reminded me more of sets from the theater. Backgrounds, such as cityscapes, were simply created by hanging pastel posters behind the actors and a few maginal props.

Another thing that I was tired of at this point was the overriding theme in these Japanese movies that people's lives were destined to misery. Perhaps that is the central and realistic theme of the Yoshiwara, but in these movies there was an added element of practically choosing the most miserable - self-flagellating? - destiny utterly possible.