What does Japan want us to see?

So far all these clips and pictures (with very few exceptions) have been meant to be seen or experienced by Japanese people. So what then are people outside of Japanese culture supposed to see?

Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Sasuke videos of course……

This is a short film made with the intent to make an American audience find Japanese-esque comedy funny. The style is more American than what Matsumoto Hitoshi is often seen using in other comedy projects. In this film, Matsumoto portrays a ninja hired to baby-sit a rather obnoxious “American” child. It was taped in the United States and screened before an American audience. Let’s watch…

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

From this it can be discerned that ninja can transform into lawnmowers or cartoon cutouts, flip out and try to kill things when frightened, commit hara-kiri when sad, generate Okinawa music when happy, and command giant robots. This seems contradictory to the last post I made. As serious as I always want martial arts to be, it seems the message is clear. Have fun with it, and if you can, make money off of it. Martial arts were once used to unite a country through force; now it’s used primarily to promote items or ideas.

Edit: It seems these videos didn’t go with Youtube’s policies *cough* google buyout *cough* so it has unfortunately been pulled, and the person who posted the videos has been suspended from Youtube. Although I can no longer prove it on this blog, the video was actually funny if somewhat simplistic at times. If anyone knows where a copy is still up, I’d like have a cop… see the video one more time for research purposes.

Alright first to get some quick historical facts out of the way: 1) A ninja is a human being (sorry ninja turtles). 2) Ninja were very good a being stealthy in several respects, but this does not mean he/she was invisible or could really do magic. 3) Ninja didn’t always wear black, and ninja absolutely did not wear bright Power Rangers colors... ever (sorry キューピー, but as for Power Rangers Ninja version they should have known they had this coming).

It’s only natural that something secretive like a ninja would have several stories about how or why they did work, but a subculture that was supposed to be hidden a whole lot of people know about them. Ninjas have been included in every form of entertainment I can think of from video games and anime to books and medicine.

Apparently Kouka ninja were involved with delivering medicine, or the flyers in the museum would lead you to believe that at least.

I expected to see ninja related things during the trip to Kouka Ninja Mura in Shiga prefecture, but the level and spread of ninja like things was astounding.

There were challenges for ninja “training”

Actual historical artifacts,

And also chances to wear replicas of historical artifacts. And just as with the samurai helmet area, near the ninja for a minute room was a big poster advertising the 2005 movie SHINOBI (trailer). Seems between all the training, killing, and CG effects, ninjas still have time for romance.

Ninjas even have their fair share of bumbling moments according to certain commercials.

Way to bring them down a notch! “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down,” as the saying goes. What I didn’t expect was seeing ninjas pop up in places like near Nara Koen.

Or maybe more interestingly in the Kansai Airport.

Then again that could be the whole point of the ninja, to be where you least expect even if that means everywhere.

Samurai: Those that serve (our need to laugh at other’s expense)

One of the very first things that you can think of when mentioning Japan (just after Godzilla) is the word samurai. This word has come to embody a spirit of loyal, courageous, strong warrior that has a lifestyle that people can come to envy and respect. Yet, not everyone knows or they often forget that the word samurai really means “to serve.” At certain points in time before Nobunaga, Toyotomi, or Tokugawa, samurai had the ability to sustain themselves and enjoy some freedom reminiscent of European knights. Yet soon enough, they were held in place by several factors including no longer being allowed to own land for themselves. While the samurai is undoubtedly a symbol of the past, as proved by several museum exhibits to this effect, the image pervades into popular culture and media even now. Behold the mighty warrior looking to serve a new master:

It kinda makes you feel kind of sad for the guy, all he wants is a little attention. But back to the matter at hand, the image of the samurai is often glorified to extremely high expectations. Everything about him had to be perfect from his attitude to his attire. In a desperate situation, such as imminent defeat, the samurai was expected to either charge forward to his death or bring about his own death by way of seppuku (ritual suicide). Hollywood made a good (if slightly embellished) example of this with Last Samurai.

The final fight scene of this movie was inspired by a real conflict between approximately 300-400 samurai led by Saigo Takamori and 300,000 imperial troops. About here the truth blurs into the fantastic. 1) There was no foreigner fighting in that battle in any active roll. 2) Saigo Takamori (Ken Watanabe’s character Katsumoto) wasn’t opposed to all Western ideals, in fact he often wore French military uniforms and had a part in creating the conscript army he is so opposed to in the movie. 3) While the samurai did charge into cannon fire with no hope of winning, they weren’t all killed on the spot and Takamori actually committed seppuku after the battle hidden in the woods. It’s not quite the same idealized spirit as in the movie just like these commercials you may or may not have seen:

Osaka-jo castle has examples of the types of weapons and armor that samurai wore during their time.

They also have a bit more lighthearted section promoting a movie about samurai that was being released to DVD. On the 4^th floor of the castle for a small fee, you can try on armor and take pictures.

…whether it fits or not. I have no idea how they were able to fight anyone with stuff like that on their heads. What does stand out more than the crazy helmets usually are the katana, considered by some to be the most perfect type of sword made. Japanese TV shows miss no chance to examine this claim by making a really nice sword and testing the sharpness in a very dramatic way.

Sumo: National Sport, Environmental Issues, Pocky…..

Sumo is one of the oldest sports recorded in Japanese history. It is notably mentioned in the Nihon Shoki (the second oldest book of Japanese History) as a Shinto ritual to make a request to the kami-sama of the area. Even now, sumo can be seen as somewhat religious. During the creation of the ring, a Shinto priest is present to purify the clay and other materials used. The sumo wrestlers purify the ring by spreading salt, washing their mouths out with water to purify themselves, and clap or stomp to scare of demons.

Thanks to several daimyo, shogun, and emperors throughout Japanese history, sumo was able to carry on from its early roots into today’s world. It is definitely different now, since foreigners are allowed to compete and can actually attain high ranks such as Yokozuna. The reason sumo was able to continue on is because the important people in history liked the entertainment. Figures such as Oda Nobunaga had sumo bouts to entertain important guests and for general leisure. Sumo wrestlers became a major part of Japanese culture as celebrities; and like most celebrities, they can be found doing commercials. Some have messages have some moral meanings like…

…and then there are others…

I admit it’s entertaining to a degree, but I don’t have the urge to eat anything after seeing nearly naked men shuffling to promote pizza flavored cracker sticks.

Beginnings

This blog was made to try to display some of the (mis)representations of Japanese-born martial arts in Japanese entertainment and the often comedic undertones. I find it interesting that a culture can often be so concerned about being misrepresented in other parts of the world, yet clearly skew some areas of their own history and culture rather frequently in their own media usually for a laugh. While it’s good to have the ability to laugh at one’s self (it proves you have a healthy sense of humor), there has to be a line somewhere...right?

A major factor in my being in “Beautiful Japan” at all is my interest in martial arts. In the United States, I was often angered to some degree when anyone decided that Kung-fu and Karate are the same thing, or better yet, ninjas do magic. Upon arriving in Japan, I hoped to have left those silly imaginings behind. Unbeknownst to me, the Japanese media has other plans. After a few hundred smacks over the head with strange adds, TV shows, attractions, and store displays showing off Japanese martial arts in exactly the way I attempted to convince people that it wasn’t, ninjas flew everywhere while samurai stopped bullets. For the sake of this project at the very least, I’m letting my guard down a bit and just enjoying the entertainment aspect that seems to be so much more important.

I’m a person who prefers the hands on approach to learning as opposed to most other methods. As such, I took it upon myself to experience the lighter side of things while taking a few pictures for entertainment (and every so often tearing apart certain inconsistencies when I just can’t take it anymore). Putting myself in the pictures had the double-edged effect of removing some of the moral issues of taking pictures in public places, but taking a little away from the overall effect of this being about Japan.