2 posts tagged “japan”
Everyone has their own cultural perceptions and I tend to defend racism to an extent. This being because racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice are there to allow us to identify one another as human beings whether as a warning or out of mere instinct. Otherwise, racism is a disease that when acted upon out of ignorance, hatred and extremism, should be quashed. Having traveled I'm always sure to get both sides, the good and the bad of a country but there is one place that I've struggled with - Japan.
I'm not a fan of anime. There have been the occasional ones like Spirited Away, Doraemon or Cooking Master Boy otherwise, I don't even find Kurosawa intriguing. I've tried watch Japanese films: Ju-On, The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanaii, Battle Royale and Ichi the Killer. For Ichi, there are some things like the writing that I like a little otherwise it disgusts me how perverse, stupid, psychotic, sadism and utter masochism aren't even words enough to describe how painful it is to sit through these movies. Probably because I don't like shock films but I liked Hostel only because it was somewhat believable. Probably that film is somewhat my religion that I believe that movies and the society of its people who made them are interconnected. The fact that everywhere else in the world it's considered wrong to rape and torture people and animals, for someone to enjoy so much of it for entertainment's sake is pretty gruesome. Who am I to say though, I haven't been there. My Japanese friends are nothing like the perception of Japan that I've gotten out from the films so obviously it's not a significant representation of their culture but to what degree is it? I understand distribution, international releases are all based on what they think other cultures stereotypically know them as and shock, snuff films are so far, the most popular Japanese exports.
I like Japan just fine but these films bother me. Japanophiles are quizzical to me. Sure there's a whole other aspect to it that I probably haven't seen and just can't relate to culturally but from what I've seen, whenever I ask people who are Japanese fans about that aspect of Japan, they quietly nod their heads and let it be when this stuff is blatantly obscene and cruel. Obscene and cruel, so is genocide but Japanese people make it look cute? Unfair! If that's a partial representation of their culture, I'll try to understand it, I'm trying but I think it's silly for people to obsess over and romanticise Hello-Kitty-Anime-Pokemon Japan when they regularly have porn and movies that make Two Girls One Cup look like softcore pg-13 porn. Look at Hard Gay or Takeshi's Castle, they're no better than American reality TV but it's okay, it's Japan and no one loves them any less. Every country has their movie, their obsession with shock, crazy fetishes and that darker side of human nature but I have not seen more twisted, perverse, masochistic shit come out from any country than Japan. It's not that they have them, it's that they have so MUCH of it but they get away with it because they're novelties.
The movies have seriously traumatised me and I watch them because I can't stand to be ignorant about that which I don't approve of. Note: trauma leads to association and hey, I'm dealing with it as best as I can. I'm just thinking about the Hello-Kitty-omg-anime-kawaii fans next to Ichi the Killer I'm gonna pierce my eardrums with pointy metal skewers for fun... something's just not right, man. Could someone at least recommend me some contemporary Japanese films that are somewhat normal and bearable for restorative please? Not the classics though, that's different. *sigh. Let's not say that I don't like them. Let's call it a temporary annoyance.
[edited because it's HARD not to sound like a bigot and a fascist when you're not]
It's supposed to be Spring Break but I'm going to be loaded with work. Let's say about six projects of various sorts not including work.
I went to a psychic for a tarot card reading during my weekend at Atlantic City (where I fried and sautéed my brain). I'm still angry at myself for it because I'm definitely more carpe diem instead of carpe futura. She was pretty good on the most part but that's the thing, this ruins my coincidences and turns them into fate. I just screwed up my life events time clock. Other than the love life bladibla which I don't want to hear, she said I won't be going back to Malaysia to work or spend the rest of my life. Hell no. I'll have my fill of the world but I'm not permanently leaving until either I get exiled from that country or die. I have something to contribute and I want to fulfill that. It's not that I'm done traveling or that I can't stand being away from home but god... I miss the sun in Southeast Asia. You've never seen anything so beautiful.
When they were filming 'Memoirs of a Geisha', part of it was shot in
Japan then L.A. and the most beautiful thing was that the lighting
people had to figure out a way to replicate the Japanese sun. It looks
so different. I'm biased, I've lived in Asia for most my life but I
like it humid. I love the sweat, the spice, the smells, the flavours,
the way the sun is like a natural camera filter that visually warms
everything. Things are so dormant without bacterial infestations living
by the roadside like hobos to increase the oxygen cycle with the humans
and the trees. The dirt that gets under your nails from New York is so
inanimate and you never know where it's from but each time I come back
from the city, there they are. Trapped under my nails, so unappetising,
so estranged. As much love as I have to give for everywhere I go, nothing beats warm weather.
