MAKER Montanus
TITLE Iedo
PLACE ISSUED Amsterdam
FIRST EDITION 1671
AREA SHOWN Tokyo
TECHNIQUE Copper engraving

I came across this while browsing old maps for sale online. If anybody wants more info drop me a line.

Riki commented on one of the recent run-downs of Japanese, Korean and other Asian horror movies: “anyone seen The Happiness of the Katakuris? Kind of a horror musical. The Sound of Music meets Takashi Miike, with a bit of clay animation thrown in for good measure.”

It’s true that the original The Quiet Family (1998) was included, but Takashi Miike was almost completely ignored. Which is very unfortunate.

Everyone has seen Audition and Ichi the Killer but Takashi Miike is one of the most prolific filmmakers there ever was, so there are many many more. Here’s a half dozen of the best of them. Maybe you’ve seen some of them before–but each is surprising and often very surprising!

Dead or Alive (2000) Often called DOA. The Tokyo underworld is being torn apart by a turf war between the yakuza gangs and the invading Chinese triads. Ambitious yakuza member Ryuichi isn’t above playing both sides off against each other in his bid for power, while police detective Jojima, himself none too scrupulous in his methods, is out to destroy the gangs. Into this conventional plot framework Miike piles enough warped characters and bizarre, twisted happenings to fuel half-a-dozen Tarantino movies, while cheerfully borrowing–and inflating–key moments from hard-boiled gangster-noirs. [amazon.com]

Fudoh (1996) The young Riki Fudoh is severely traumatized by witnessing the murder of his brother as his father decapitates him in order to please the bosses of the other yakuza families. Riki promises himself to seek revenge on those who ordered the killing of his brother. Ten years later when Riki is in high school he has organized himself with well-trained six-year-old assassins with guns and stun-guns, two lethal high school girls, and a gigantic high school boy that can crush anything with his hands. [amazon.com] Trailer here.

Gozu (2003) Minami, a member of the Azamawari crew, highly respects his senior Ozaki who has saved his life in the past. However, lately Ozaki’s eccentricities have been making everyone wonder about his sanity. Chairman Azamawari is unsympathetic to Ozaki’s little outbursts and secretly orders Minami to take Ozaki to a disposal facility in the city of Nagoya. There, the fate of these two follows a twisted path filled with violence, mother’s milk, strange locals, and ultimately the disappearance of Ozaki’s corpse which Minami now desperately tries to recover. [amazon.com] Trailer here.

Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) The Katakuri family has just opened their guesthouse in the mountains. Unfortunately their first guest commits suicide and in order to avoid trouble they decide to bury him in the backyard. Things get way more complicated when their second guest, a famous sumo wrestler, dies while having sex with his underage girlfriend and the grave behind the house starts to fill up more and more. [amazon.com] Trailer here.

Imprint (2005) “Have I got your attention, mister?” By the time you reach this line in Takashi Miike’s Imprint, the answer will be a resounding, horrified “Yes!” This much-rumored-about episode of Showtime’s Masters of Horror series became notorious as the first installment to be denied an airing. It’s not difficult to see why the network balked. The story follows an American on a journey to a ghostly island bordello in Japan; he’s searching for a girl he lost years before. The prostitute he meets has stories to tell–and they abound in incest, abortion, murder, and one of the grisliest torture scenes ever produced for a mainstream outlet. [amazon.com] Trailer here.

Visitor Q (2001) Visitor Q is one of the most disturbing and taboo-bashing experimental works from acclaimed director Takashi Miike of Audition, Dead of Alive, and Fudoh fame. Visitor Q presents a harrowing absurdist take on the reality TV phenomenon, depicting the chilling disintegration of a dysfunctional family. Starring Kenichi Endo (Dead or Alive 2, Takeshi Kitano’s Violent Cop), Visitor Q seals Miike’s reputation as one of world cinema’s most daring and dangerous cinematic visionaries. [amazon.com] Trailer here.

If you are wondering how the Japanese are viewing the recent Boston Red Sox sweep of the World Series, here is a shot of three major Japanese sports dailies that I picked up at the local train station yesterday.

All three of the papers feature a large photograph if Daisuke (Dice-K) Matsuzaka with the headline Matsuzaka sekai-ichi (Matsuzaka, number 1 in the world!).* The fact that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series is mentioned in small sub-headlines, almost as an afterthought.

Though Matsuzaka performed very well during the World Series, I would hardly say that he won the 162-game season, elimination playoffs, and World Series all on his own.

* In the sake of fairness, I should point out that one of the papers shown above (Sports Nichi) tempers their headline somewhat by saying Matsuzaka sekai-ichi shiawase (Matsuzaka, happiest in the world), noting that Matsuzaka and his wife also are expecting their second child in March 2008. However, the upcoming birth was given a bigger headline than the Red Sox victory.

Preliminary reports coming out of the trial of Suzuka Hatakeyama, the Akita woman who stands accused of killing a neighborhood boy and her own daughter, indicate that she has changed her tune since lawyering up.

Though she has already confessed to the crimes, she now seems to falling on the tried and true, “my past made me do it” defense, telling the court that she was physically abused by her father and bullied during her school days.

During her first questioning session at the Akita District Court, Hatakeyama said, “My parents often fought and my father sometimes slapped me when I was an elementary school student.”

Hatakeyama told the court she was nicknamed “germ” at elementary school and was a victim of bullying. She also said she was sometimes confined in a toilet stall while other students poured water over the partitions.

As for the murder of her daughter, Hatakeyama is now claiming it was an accident. Her lawyers are claiming that Hatakeyama detested physical contact with her daughter, and so when the girl grabbed for her while standing on the railing of a bridge, Hatakeyama tried to “brush her off” and accidentally pushed her into the river below.

News report of residents of Modesto, California turning out to view the annual Ninja Parade. As usual, the ninjas passed by undetected.

Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

While doing some internet shopping, I came across this new product, sold in the USA, called Caress Japanese Exotic Oil Infusions a body wash available in “Moroccan ” and “Japanese” scent.

The label seems to imply there is a smell unique to Japanese or Japan.

Ingredients include the exotic kikui nut oil. Mrs. Hai.Kuoriti, a lifetime expert in cosmetics (purchases¥¥¥) here in Japan, has never heard of this mysterious “kikui” nut.

We hear that protesters at the Burmese embassy were throwing women’s underwear into the yard — scaring the living daylights out of government staff. Talk about non-violent protest… Apparently superstitious Burmese believe that touching women’s underwear will make them lose power. Well they definitely are superstitious and maybe they will.

But all of Asia seems a tad superstitious–there is surely more supersition than medical science behind the idea that electric fans can be criminally responsible for obese drunk guys having heart attacks? So to follow on the recent lists of Japanese and Korean scary movies, here is a sampling from the rest of Asia.

As before, it’s hard to correctly choose just five. I wish The Bride with White Hair (1993, Hong Kong) could be regarded as a ghost story, but guess not. We would never include Windstruck (2004, Korea) as a ghost story, even though it definitely is. Anyway, of the following TXT looks far better than the relatively poor quality trailer suggests and The Maid is definitely a must-see.

A Chinese Ghost Story (1987, Hong Kong) This popular and beloved film is a standout in the Hong Kong supernatural-action genre and spawned many sequels and copycats. A timid and likable tax collector looking for a place to stay the night comes upon a spooky abandoned temple occupied by a tough Taoist swordsman (Ma Wu). Despite his warnings, he stays anyway. Later he encounters a beautiful maiden who he quickly falls in love with. Unfortunately, she is a ghost who is being forced to trap men for an evil spirit who feeds on their souls. Widely praised for infusing the genre with humor, action, romance, and inventive special effects. Cheung and Wang are a likeable romantic pair, and Ma Wu creates a hilarious character who breaks out into song and a martial arts dance when drunk. It’s a must-see for Hong Kong action film fans. [amazon.com]

Ang Pamana: The Inheritance (2006, Philippines / Canada) Johnny and his sister Anna must go back to the Philippines from Canada to represent their parents in the reading of their Lola Nena’s last will and testament. Johnny meets his cousin Vanessa who also has a taste for drugs and trouble. Their first surprise is Tommy, a mentally handicapped boy who is also named in the inheritance. As they explore the property they’ve inherited, strange things occur to make them wonder what secret their grandmother took to her grave. [ClickTheCity] Trailer here.

The Eye (2003, Hong Kong / Singapore) At the age of two, Wong Kar Mann lost her vision. Since that time she has lived with that handicap but now, reaching the age of 20, she has the possibility to regain her vision with a risky corneal transplant operation. After the successfully operation, Mann’s vision is starting to get better and little by little she can almost see perfectly. After getting used to her new situation, Mann has started to notice some really strange effects. It seems that she cans see people that no one else can notice. Are they really ghosts? And who are those strange shadows that sometime come around the living people. With the help of her new psychiatric guide, she will try to solve that problem, which will lead her to a small village in Thailand were the original corneal owner lived before she died. Will Mann be able to find out what happened to the previous dead owner and finally get rid of her curse and live a normal life again? [KFCC] Trailer here.

The Maid (2005, Malaysia) “Every year, for thirty days during the lunar seventh month, the Chinese believe that the gates of hell are thrown open. Vengeful spirits or hungry ghosts wander among the living, seeking revenge and justice before the gates of hell are closed again for another year.” The eighteen years old Rosa Dimaano arrives in Singapore from Philippines to give support to her family working as a maid in the house of the artists of a Chinese opera troupe Mr. and Mrs. Teo on the first day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. She is welcomed by the family and introduced to their friends and their retarded son Ah-Soon. Later, Mrs. Teo advises her about their beliefs and how the dead should be respected and honored along the seventh month. However, Rosa sweeps their offer on the sidewalk breaking a basic rule and offending the spirits, and she is haunted by ghosts everywhere. When Ah-Soon calls her Esther Santos and she finds some belongings of the unknown Esther in the house, she discloses a dark and scary secret about the past of her masters. [amazon.com] Trailer here.

TXT (2006, Philippines) A provocative thriller that will surely raise the fear in you. Proving that no one, not even DEATH can separate us from the living. A story that conquers the old adage “till death do us part”, Roman (Oyo Boy Sotto) dies in a car accident. In a restless and unforgiving state he continues to prove his affection for girlfriend Joyce (Angel Locsin) . He then decides to embark in an intrepid and malevolent journey in order to keep Joyce. Joyce then began receiving hair raising text messages and even gets “death photos” of people close to her, including that of her current beau Alex (Dennis Trillo). She ignores these at first, but when the deaths happen under the exact circumstances at which they were predicted, she realizes she must fight the evil behind all these to protect her loved ones from this supernatural force. [IMDB] Trailer here.

Hong Kong’s first branch of the Toilet Restaurant of Taiwan was opened recently, complete with its toilet-shaped seats, commode-shaped dishes, and urinal-shaped cups.

The photo below shows the restaurant’s most popular item: pork ribs in black pepper sauce.

Via Travellers’ Tales - The FEER Blog

Here is a story that illustrates why Japan is considered to be a con artist’s dream come true.

Recently, a man who works for a jewelry company checked into the Nagano Palace Hotel, carrying a briefcase containing 100 million yen worth of jewelry. The guy goes out for dinner, leaving his briefcase in his room.

But believe it or not, he is not the only dupe in this story.

While he was out, the hotel got a phone call from someone claming to be another employee of the jewelry company, who told the folks at the front desk that a customer of the company would soon be arriving and they should hand over the key to the room to him.

Soon afterwards a man arrived at the hotel and front clerk dutifully handed over the key to the room.

Of course, when the original employee got back from dinner he found his briefcase of jewelry long gone, with no sign of the “customer.”

The meaning of life on a sweatshirt

Japan Talk listener Melissa Pistch, who also lives in beautiful Tochigi Prefecture, writes in to let us know that the warm winter up here seems to have zapped the biological clocks of the cherry trees at the school where she teaches. As strange as cherry blossoms in October sounds, Melissa provides the proof with photos that she kindly sent in.

Further to the recent list of the scariest J-horror movies of all time, Korea has some too. I would like to change a few in the Japanese list and this one isn’t perfect either. But all together you should have no problem finding some horrifying scary movies to watch on Halloween! According to Wikipedia:

K-Horror is a genre of Asian horror that emerged due to the enormous success of the horror films in Japan, which itself was initiated by the film Ringu. This movement in Japan was tentatively called J-Horror. K-Horror features many of the same motifs, themes, and imagery as J-Horror, but set in its own country’s locale and influenced by their own society. A prevailant theme in Korean movies seems to be long, protracted suffering and prolonged scenes of grief and torture. Sure enough, Korean horror movies are almost guaranteed to focus more on the plight and anguish of the characters rather than over-the-top gore effects. Other than this, they are often indistinguishable from J-horror movies.

Tale of Two Sisters (2003) Two young sisters recovering from an unnamed trauma must face a mysterious past in this excellent South Korean shocker. A worldwide hit upon its release and based on an old Korean fairy tale; two sisters come to live with their cold and distant father and turn-on-a-dime stepmother in a house where nothing is as it seems. A wonderfully haunting score, starkly beautiful imagery, and a labyrinthine plot that twists and turns at every dark corner all set the stage for a riveting and often terrifying guessing game of a movie. [Wikipedia]

The Phone (2002)  An investigative reporter, who has recently published a controversial article about sex scandals, begins to receive a series of menacing phone calls. In an effort to escape these calls, she changes her number, but the calls keep coming. When a friend’s young daughter innocently answers the ringing telephone, she begins to exhibit increasingly crazed behavior. As the mystery of the calls is uncovered, a terrifying secret is revealed. Stylish and shocking, Phone is a new entry in the Asian horror genre. [amazon.com] Trailer here.

The Quiet Family (1998) The parents along with their three children and the uncle, buys a lodge in the forest on a mountain, hoping to make a fortune running their own business. After a few weeks they received their first guest but misfortune strike the family as several of their guests are found dead. To avoid the bad publicity of the deaths in their lodge they decide to bury the bodies in the forest. As the body count increases the family seems to get used to their new way of running the business but unfortunately the police take notice that many people have disappeared in the area. [KFCC] Trailer here.

Whispering Corridors (1998) This film shines through the usual glut of glib teenage screamers partly because it works on so many levels: socio-political commentary, an understanding of the natural hierarchical order within schools (all-girls’ schools, in particular), urban legend and even a philosophical look at the nature of friendship. It also works on a purely entertaining level, with a tight script, great quality acting and directing, atmospheric cinematography and, most importantly, a fascinating psychological ghost-mystery-whodunnit-thriller-suspense story, rammed with red herrings and false leads, and also with a sad, moving, and terribly bleak undertone. [Mandi Apple] Trailer here.

Wishing Stairs (2003) In a Korean boarding school, there is a legend about its twenty-eight steps stairway: when the twentieth-ninth step appears, the fox will grant a wish to the climber. The lesbian ballet student Kim So-hee is in deep love with her passive girlfriend and also ballet student Yoon Jin-sung. When there is a competition for a single spot in a famous ballet school in Russia, the envious Jin-sung finds the twentieth-ninth step and asks to beat the favorite So-hee. However, there is a price to pay for the wish unknown to Jin-sung and the consequence is the accidental death of So-hee. Meanwhile, the fat student Eon Hae-ju, who is despised and tormented by her classmate Han Yoon-ji, misses So-hee. When she also finds the mysterious step, she wishes the return of So-hee with tragic consequences. [amazon.com] Trailer here.

Caught TV commercial the other day for kodomo no nomimono (kid’s drink).

Though they call it “kid’s drink,” I think the appearance of the stuff doesn’t leave much doubt about what it is supposed to be.

Language Note
The refrain they are singing in the commercial is Kodomo no nomimono de kampai. It means something like, “Let’s drink toasts with kodomo no nomimono.” Kampai is the word everyone says when drinking a toast to something.

And now for something completely different (as they say)…

Hitotoki: a narrative map of Tokyo.

In case you have not seen this yet, SoftBank will be selling a Sharp phone in Japan that comes with a charger unit/stand shaped like a Gundam Zaku 2 helmet.

Via Akihabara News

This 9-tentacle octopus (which I guess would make it a novempus) that was caught in the Seto Inland Sea and found by a seafood shop manager. According to the man, “In 40 years of handling seafood, I’ve never seen an octopus like this”

Via Pink Tentacle (Of course!)