[Leica] IMG: Miyazaki weekend walk

[passaro.vince at gmail.com (Vince Passaro)]

Peter,

That's a beautifully written analysis and testimony. I think, when you speak
of rural Japan, of Eugene Smith in Minamata, often broke, somehow surviving,
which is what he did until he didn't anymore.

Tokyo no Monogatari -- how do you translate that? I agree with all that you
say and add only that on my last viewing, more mature, better educated, and
more sensitive to at least a few of the subtleties of Japanese culture (from
reading and film viewing only) than I had been in my twenties when I'd seen
it first, I was very aware, in almost every scene, of the war, and of Ozu's
sense of how it had destroyed forever the simpler and more profound Japanese
culture that he treasured.  Japan had to modernize to survive but the losses
were enormous, akin to the losses suffered from the war itself.  It is
interesting that the parents' house is very Japanese; the son's house, the
first they visit, is strikingly half-Japanese, half western in decor; and
the daughter's beauty shop and attached apartment are hardly Japanese at
all. The daughter-in-law is a widow of course because their other son, her
husband, was killed in the war although this is hardly acknowledged: it
wouldn't have to be, and was best not spoken of.

Do you like Oe Kenzaburo? He often seems to me a kind of literary equivalent
of Ozu, a maelstrom of complexity beneath a seemingly glass smooth surface
and "simple" style (or so he reads in translation).  Kawabata too is this
way, though very differently.  Kawabata is emotionally complex, sexually
complex: Ozu is these things and philosophically complex as well. Yet their
sentences are declarative and relatively short, indicating one thing or
another, not allusive: stripped down.

Anyway, I love the pictures.  They all seem, in  a not detrimental way, but
an unusually consistent one, just a bit soft in focus; I'm wondering if this
is a stylistic choice, or a matter of the equipment or scanning or some
other factor. It's too consistent in degree to be a "mistake".  It could
just be my monitor or my eyes.

All best,

Vince



On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 10:40 PM, Peter Cheyne
<geordiepete211 at yahoo.co.uk>wrote:

> Thank you for the comments.
>
> It's interesting the photos reminded Philippe of Tokyo no Monogatari.  I
> appreciate Ozu's rhythm and his respect for letting story unfold and
> character develop with minimal editorial and photographic intrusion.  For
> me, that film's theme was that the modern concern to rush on and be busy is
> overtaking our sense of duty and devotion.  The elderly parents take a long
> train journey from rural Japan to modern Tokyo to visit their children,
> grandchildren, and the young widow of their son.  The other children and
> their spouses see the visiting parents as a burden, and prefer to send them
> off to a hot spa hotel for a few days rather than enjoy their presence.  
> The
> young widow, in contrast, is touchingly graceful and goes out of her way to
> ensure that she can enjoy shared time with her respected and beloved
> in-laws.  Perhaps her virtue is somehow not of this world, borne in some
> part from remaining in love with her late husband.  The in-laws urge her to
> remarry, but she just smiles and nods.  Her situation is similar to mine, 
> as
> my wife died too young, to stomach cancer, when our daughter was only 9
> months old.
>
> Much of Japan is very different from the postmodernity of Tokyo or the
> classically beautiful temples and geisha of Kyoto.  Miyazaki, for example,
> has a slow pace of life, the people are known for being kind, and real
> communities exist.  Since a year ago, a strawberry farmer has visited us 
> now
> and again, to give my daughter strawberries.  My daughter started 
> elementary
> school this April, and it finishes a couple of hours before I finish work 
> (I
> teach Philosophy at an international liberal arts college).  For the first
> week she went to an after school club, but she was the only one who stayed
> there a long time, the other pupils only staying 20 minutes or so.  The
> local strawberry farmer, who is a retired firefighter, suggested he and his
> wife collect her from school every day and play at their home with their
> grandson.  So that is now the arrangement.  One of their daughters lives
> with them; their other daughter and firefighter son-in-law visit, bringing
> the grandson, every other day.
>
> That is rural Miyazaki, but the city has the same kind of community.  My
> daughter and I photographed a fruit and veg seller on our photo-walk, who
> then gave my daughter half a dozen bananas.  People tend to watch out for
> one another.   Perhaps that is the side of Japan that Rei's grandmother
> described.  Here is the photo I took of her:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/geordiepete/4614999942/sizes/l/    I didn't
> include it with the others, but apparently it's worth six bananas, which is
> the most I have been paid for a photograph.
>
> Peter Cheyne
>
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