A Local Bon-Odori

By on August 24, 2011 in japan, Photography

I’ll readily confess that I am a matsuri otaku, so it’s no surprise that August is a great time of year for me. Anyone who’s been reading this blog for a few years knows that August in Tokyo is festival time and I’ve blogged about Bon Odori a few times here and here (thankfully I have better video equipment these days).

This upcoming weekend (August 26 & 27) is the awesome Oedo Matsuri Bon Odori taikai (大江戸まつり盆おどり大会), so, if you’re around Tokyo, you should definitely check it out. (Japanese info is here). I shot the video below two years ago, if you’d like an idea of what it’s like (after the intro still shots, there’s live video):

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Anyway, although the Oedo matsuri is “local” (I live in Chuo-ku), our truly local (as in neighbourhood) Bon Odori was last week, so I popped over to shoot a bit and have a few drinks while listening to the music and watching the dancers and, below, are some shots from that evening. It’s always so much fun to go to your local Bon Odori and see the same people over the years (and I’m now getting quite a collection of portraits of some of the real regulars who dance at all the local ones, including the Oedo one).

 

 

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Pale Flower (乾いた花), 1964

By on August 2, 2011 in japan, movies

 

I’ve been on a bit of a Japanese movie kick of late and recently picked up Criterion’s new release of Pale Flower, Masahiro Shinoda’s excellent 1964 yakuza film. I’d never seen it before and really loved it.

If you like arthouse, black & white, and yakuza movies, this is definitely the film for you. I won’t go into a plot synopsis (you can read one on the Criterion site or Wikipedia, etc.), but here are some of the things I like about it: the opening scene is fantastic (as are all the gambling scenes), the main character’s feeling of resignation to his fate slowly growing until it’s palpable, the grainy black and white feel of the whole film, the fantastic character faces throughout (not only in the supporting cast, but also in the crowd scenes shot in Yokohama), and the fabulous last shot of the film.

Also included is a fantastic 2010 interview with director Masahiro Shinoda, who provides great insight into the times, why he chose to film in Yokohama, and the origin of some of the experimental soundtrack. He also talks about how he came to choose Ryo Ikebe (who passed away in late 2010) as the lead and how seamlessly Ikebe slipped into the role.

Another interesting element of the film is that it is based on a story by Shintaro Ishihara, who had fame in his youth as a novelist and story writer. I’m no fan of Ishihara in his role as governor of Tokyo, but seeing Pale Flower has made me curious about his most famous literary work, Season of the Sun, which won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize. If any readers have read it and either recommend it or think I should steer clear of it, let me know in the comments!

The Pale Flower trailer for those who want a bit more:

 

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