SENSORON AND JAPANESE VIEWS ON WAR AND MASCULINITY

Japanese masculinity is polarised in popular culture in a variety of ways. In particular, there are the archetypal old school yakuza hardmen played by actors like Sugawara Bunta and Takakura Ken and then there is the wistful vagabond Tora san played by Atsumi Kiyoshi in the movie series Otoko wa Tsurai Yo which obsessed a nation from 1969 - 1995. (For those looking for alternatives to these traditional forms of masculinity there is a rich tradition to be found in the androgynous male characters in 'Boys Love' manga as well as the novels of contemporary writers like Yoshimoto Banana. The looks of British musicians like David Bowie and David Sylvian and movies like Another Country all resonated strongly with younger Japanese women in the 1980s. Then there are the evergreen worlds of female cross dressing featured in the Kansai-based Takarazuka revue and camp celebrities such as the enka star, Mikawa Kenichi).

The first kind of traditional masculinity peaked during World War Two but was buried again in the aftermath of defeat. In its place, an army of salary-men emerged to continue the drive to modernise and win glory for Japan. In this way, whilst the cult of masculinity celebrated by the military was ditched, traditional Japanese masculinity itself was rebooted. Reference to the war was limited to prayers for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and, to the frustration of neighbouring countries like China and Korea, Japanese right wing nationalists managed to circumvent any mention of Japanese war crimes in favour of discussion about Japan being the first victim of the Atomic Age.

In more recent times, however, it appears that young Japanese men are being encouraged to throw off the yoke of victim-hood and instead flex their muscles dressed in battle fatigues. In the manga series Senso ron they are encouraged to see their grandfather's generation as having been betrayed by the politicians. Their grandfathers, they are being told, were noble soldiers just doing their duty. And young men today are being told that they have the right to honour the memories of their grandfathers. It is a development that will fuel anti-Japanese sentiment. The re-emergence of the Japanese military as a guide to masculinity will bring back bitter memories of the war and Japanese atrocities. Denial in Japanese school textbooks is one thing, a change to the constitution and a manga series that glorifies the war is another.

Interestingly, the idea that the soldiers of World War Two were betrayed by the politicians maybe is just another version of the Japan-as-Victim story. Except foot soldiers are now the main focus rather then the nation. It is interesting that in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, movies like Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and The Deer Hunter depicted the plight of the grunts. Sensoron serves a similar function. Kobayashi Yoshinori, the creator of Sensoron, has a much bigger agenda. he denounces the brainwashing of Japanese children at Peace Museums and clearly wants young Japanese to feel proud about wearing the uniform.

When it was first published Senso Ron posed the question, "Will you go to war, or will you stop being Japanese?" on the front cover. Whilst a manga, it features a lot of text addressing issues such as the 'comfort women', the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, A-bombs and the Nanjing massacre. Kobayashi is a patriot. And the lens through which he views the war is one in which Japan fought a war of justice, aiming to liberate Asia from Western imperialism. He argues that the Japanese people who challenge this viewpoint today have been brainwashed by the Americans. Senso Ron is such a success that Rumi Sakamoto argues that it challenges the mainstream interpretation of history, It is, however, Sakamoto argues, focussed solely on a Japanese perspective and therefore is "closed off" and "simply unacceptable".

ISHII SOGO AND EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN

In 1994 Japanese film director Ishii Sogo (now Ishii Gakuryu) made the film Angel Dust. Set in a futuristic Tokyo, it is the demented story of serial killing and religious cults. Wind back the clock to 1984 and there is the satirical film The Crazy Family in which an outwardly normal, stereotypical middle-class family are pushed to the edge and consumed by a plethora of neuroses buried just below the surface of the veneer of what passes for family life. In 1985, Ishii Sogo filmed the German industrial band Einsturzende Neubauten while they were on tour in Japan. In particular, he shot the band performing live in an industrial building that is easily accessed on youtube. Their recent performance in Melbourne show the incredible staying power of a band that, in 1985, seemed to have come from another planet. Nick Cave in his book King Ink writes that when he first saw Blixa Bargeld performing live on the television all the notions of music that he had held so precious "were obliterated". Watching this video it is easy to see why. Cave went on to describe Bargeld as "the most beautiful man in the world. He stood there in a black leotard and black rubber pants, black rubber boots. Around his neck hung a thoroughly fucked guitar. His skin cleared to the bones, his skull was an utter disaster, scabbed and hacked, and his eyes bulged out of their orbits like a blind man's..." It is easy to see why Ishii Sogo would have been attracted to this project. 

GEORGE OHSAWA: A HOPELESS IDEALIST

Nihonjinron theories of Japanese uniqueness found expression in a favourite book of mine Jack and Mitie in the West by George Ohsawa. First published in French in 1956 by the Ohsawa Foundation in Paris it was published in English by the George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation in California in 1981. This book looks at the disease of the West and offers solutions that are to be found in the Orient. In this book Ohsawa casts two primitives, Jack and Mitie, whom find themselves in the jungle of civilisation. Here Jack ponders the civilised mentality and its inability to conceive of the infinite whilst Mitie is shocked by the naked cadaver on the cross that is worshiped in the Christian churches. Having taken it upon himself to enlighten the West, Jack is of the view that theory without practice is useless and practice without theory is dangerous. Throughout the book Oriental wisdom is privileged at the expense of Western science. The grandeur of the infinite and eternal universe in the East is compared to the world of the West which is enclosed by walls of lead called time and space. What is hard to believe is Ohsawa's persistence in characterising the Japanese tradition as being one that is peaceful and at harmony with the world. The battle of Sekigahara alone is testimony to the bloodletting nature of Japanese history. In more recent times there are, of course, the war crimes committed by the Japanese during World War two. Murakami Haruki has written powerfully about this in The Windup Bird Chronicle. And, presently, there is the push by the Abe government to change the constitution to rearm Japan whilst allowing the American military to override the wishes of local residents to relocate the Futenma air base in Okinawa. George Ohsawa was an eccentric with interesting views about macrobiotics but a hopeless idealist when it came to writing about the history and culture of Japan.

PUSSY, CUNT, CLIT, VAGINA: A HOMAGE TO ARAKI NOBUYOSHI

Nurse Meryl had turned and fallen in love with another woman. Her world had been turned upside down by the pudenda of another woman. Being a school nurse she had a very impressive bag of tricks. As well as packs of condoms she also had a variety of different coloured dildos for the students to use when they practiced putting on the condoms. The students loved them and it was rare for the classes to be unresponsive. With her bag of tricks Meryl was the life of any party. At the pub she was just as likely to display her wares on the table in full view of the bar staff (and other patrons) whilst laughing raucously over a joke that most likely she had told. With nurse Meryl there was no holding back. She held life by the scruff of the neck and she wasn't letting go.

Nurse Meryl would have loved the Japanese photographer Araki Nobuyoshi who has devoted a lifetime to photographing genitalia both male but, especially, female. As well as genitalia he has also photographed plastic dinosaurs, stains on the bitumen, stains on the bed, flowers, old buildings in the back-streets of Tokyo, women eating bananas or sometimes women sucking penises, There women are sometimes by themselves, in pairs or sometimes with men. Many of his photographs are of his wife whom he photographed right up until she was in her coffin after her tragic death from cancer. Because of the explicit nature of the photographs the women are never, however, on their own. Their relationship with the camera is an intimate and shared one. They dare the viewer to see what they want them to see. This relationship between subject and object is essentially theatrical, and, to quote the novelist Patrick White, "theatrical gestures only convince when you can share them with an audience."

Being Japanese, Araki often chooses to photograph his subjects dressed up in kimonos and tied up with ropes in various poses with their their genitalia exposed. In one photograph a woman has her legs spread wide and held in place with thick heavy ropes whilst being suspended from the ceiling. Because she is facing the camera, her kimono is wide open and falls behind her to the floor. In this way the genitalia is accentuated because her legs are not beneath her but stretched out wide. This is a very carefully constructed image. And the face of this woman, like all the others, is looking directly into the camera. This is an act of self-expression. Whilst Araki experiments with various combinations of ropes and kimonos and locations such as local parks with their children's playground equipment, it is the women who are in control. Desire is referred to rather than deferred to. Whimsical little man that he is, Araki's photographs allow the women to express themselves and to call the shots. These are powerful images of powerful women even though they are tied up. Nurse Meryl would surely approve (and have a laugh at the melted wax, the ropes and the bare feet!)

Words like accusations are dissociated from their objects,

They hang suspended like the bodies of the women so artfully trussed and undressed -

The eyes demanding you connect their owners with the body on display.

'RYUZO AND HIS SEVEN HENCHMEN': THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015

Ryuzo and his Seven Henchmen (Ryuzo no Shichinin no Kobuntachi) is the story of an ageing group of yakuza who come out of retirement to reclaim their turf from a younger group of extortionists with no time for the old ways. Written, directed and produced by Kitano Takeshi it is It is easy to see why the yakuza embrace Kitano the film-maker whereas they clashed violently with Itami Juzo. Whilst Itami mocked and ridiculed them in his satirical comedies, Kitano is more respectful and is careful to laugh with them not at them. And this film is no exception. Ryuzo is played by Fuji Tatsuya who, whilst acting in gangster films earlier in his screen, is best known for his performance in Oshima Nagisa's erotic Ai no Korida. An attempt to extort money from Ryuzo fails when the young man sent by the gang is taken aback by the old-school antics of Ryuzo and one of his henchmen. Ryuzo threatens to cut off one of his fingers to make amends for the alleged loss of company money by his son. Word gets back to the gang's leader and so starts a turf war that brings Ryuzo's old buddies out of retirement (and nursing homes) in order to teach the young men some respect. The world, however, is a very different place and when Ryuzo visits a nightclub and goes home with the madam all of the street walkers they pass who are 'Lady Boys'. To Ryuzo's chagrin (and the audience's delight), Ryuzo has to hide on the bathroom and then walk home in her dress after his rival turns up with some of his henchmen! Comedy abounds in this film as age provides a reality check for the old men. Mac, who has an obsession with Steve McQueen, can no longer hold his gun still so he shoots off target. But they prove more than a match for the young gangsters led by Yasuda Ken, the Keihin Rengo boss. Overseeing all of the action as the turf war escalates is a detective played by Beat Takeshi. At first, he takes a hard line against Ryuzo and his henchmen but this changes as the young gang becomes increasingly desperate and resort to violence in order to protect their extortion racket. When Mokichi, the former boss, storms into the offices of the racketeers he is quickly overpowered and beaten to death with a baseball bat. Stealing the hearse Ryuzo and his henchmen plan a revenge attack which includes an assault by air. The pilot, however, changes course and lands on an American aircraft carrier in Tokyo Bay instead driven by an unrealised fantasies to be a kamikaze pilot. Ryuzo goes ahead with the attack anyway and he and his henchmen are forced to hide behind the dead Mokichi, whose corpse they use to use to shield themselves from attack. Yielding the battlefield to Ryuzo and his henchmen, the Keihin Rengo gang members make their escape only to be pursued through the backstreets of Tokyo by Ryuzo and his henchmen in a bus they have commandeered. Finally, they are all surrounded in a car park by the police and, as they are led away, the retired gangsters tally up their latest  crimes in order to see who has the most points and will be the next boss. Young or old, no-one beats the system!

THE KRAIT: A NATIONAL TREASURE

The attack on the Japanese in Singapore Harbour by members of Z Special Unit under the cover of darkness in 1943 has been shrouded in secrecy as were the subsequent beheadings of seven of their members in a second raid designed to build on the success of the first raid. Today the Krait is on show at the Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney, but there are hopes to build a new space for it in the museum and take it out of the water so that it can be preserved forever.

Originally called the Kofuku Maru, the Krait was built by the Japanese as a fishing boat and had been confiscated by the British during World War Two. During Operation Jaywick it was used by to get commandoes into position for the attack on Singapore Harbour on the night of 26th September, 1943. The commandoes managed to sink two ships and damage another five. The Japanese were totally mystified by what had happened never suspecting the attack to be the work of enemy soldiers. They interrogated and tortured locals for many months, instead, in an attempt to discover the identity of the perpetrators. Survivor Douglas Herps has been leading the charge to have the boat preserved as a war memorial in memory of the 'bravery and loyalty shown by all Special Operations men, not just those who served on Operation Jaywick'.

MACH PELICAN AND THE MEANIES SUPPORTING C.J.RAMONE AT THE BENDIGO HOTEL

It was hot and sweaty on the street let alone in the Bendigo Hotel. The hotel with its impressive collection of skulls and voodoo sticks in the front bar was the perfect venue for what was to be a high energy crusty punk extravaganza. The Meanies took to the stage and a rapturous crowd were out in force... The woman with the Sherlock Holmes hat and fan, the man with the huge Mohawk, the bearded men out to do some serious stage diving and the women with their tattoos on show.

"Sorry but I'm going to let the guts out" Link Meanie informed the crowd as he took off his t-shirt. "It's fucking hot up here." Apart from the crowd favourites there was also some material from a new album that would be out soon.

"What the fuck were you doing?" asked Link of Wally the bass player after one song. "You changed the lyrics."

"Freshening it up for the fucking cunts" Wally replied.

"One more time" Link asked.

"Freshening it up for the fucking cunts" Wally obliged, singing the new words to the song. The grinding onslaught continued and Link was suddenly borne on high above the crowd before thrashing his way through then mosh pit. Cameras were pointing in every direction trying to keep up with him.

After a short break it was on with the show and before Mach Pelican could play a note the crowd were already in full voice complete with whistles and a bicycle horn:

"Let's go Mach Pelican

Let's go Mach Pelican

Walking along

Singing a song..."

They played one song after another without break... The crowd surged forwards and backwards from the stage in time to the music. 'Don't Leave Me Alone' and  'You Suck' were two of the songs they played. Halfway through they set they stopped to tune up and the crowd were at it again with their chants, whistles and bicycle horns: 

"Let's go Mach Pelican

Let's go Mach Pelican

Walking along

Singing a song..." 

K Rock had his microphone set low so that he could look right into the eyes of the audience as he sang. The guy with the huge Mohawk stood right in front of him lapping it up. The end came almost as suddenly as it was quick. Mach Pelican finished with a short, sharp rendition of the Ramones' classic 'Rock and Roll High School' and then they were done for the night and unlikely to be back on stage for the foreseeable future. Atsu and the boys were back into retirement. Grimshaw and Sally made their way out to the front bar for a beer and then went back inside for C.J.Ramone. It is hard to say, however, whether the legacy of the Ramones is in good hands with C.J.. He and the band played the songs and the crowd sang along but compared to the Meanies and Mach Pelican the energy levels in the room had fallen dramatically away. The Meanies and Mach Pelican had owned the stage.

Walking through the back streets of Collingwood to Fitzroy, they left behind the pounding of live music from the Tote and the Bendigo Hotel on Johnston Street. The streets were quiet and there were the odd spots of rain in a sky heavy with moisture after the heat of the day. Most of the restaurants were now closed except for the Turkish kebab shop up on the corner of Smith and Gertrude Streets. A group of women slumped to the pavement outside Trippy Tacos, presumably waiting for a taxi.