Stuff and Nonsense
Originally published at Grasping for the Wind. Please leave any comments there.
I’d like to begin by mentioning the catastrophe that has hit Northeastern Japan.
As you all know, the earthquke and tsunami of March 11 left a swath of destruction unrivaled in Japan since the Second World War. Thousands upon thousands of people have lost their lives, countless others have lost their homes and livelihoods, and of course the situation at the Fukushima nuclear reactor continues to cause concern. In short-none of this is over. The Royal Wedding might start to distract the news cameras, but I assure you that people are still in dire need. So please, if you can, don’t forget about those in need right now, and maybe think about aiding in the recovery. A great way is by buying 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake
.
Thank you.
So now, let’s talk about something completely different.
I think perhaps the best thing, the thing I like most about Japanese entertainment in general, is this: it appears to be perfectly acceptable, in almost any situation, to stop making any sense whatsoever.
Let me explain. I’ve been in Japan for nearly 7 years now. I’ve spent most of that time living with (as in married into) a Japanese family. My private life is lived almost entirely in Japanese. I’m not really fluent in either the language or the culture, but I’ve got a pretty good glimpse into both, and I think I can say with confidence when something actually makes sense in context, or not. And when I say “Makes no sense whatsoever. There are points, or even entire episodes, in all kinds of situations where something happens that makes people stop and say “Wait, what?” I don’t mean “I don’t understand what’s going on.” I mean, no one understands, and that’s ok.
You can see this in the story “Mogura Wogera”, by Kawakami Hiromi, which is available in English in the collection Speculative Japan
(Kurodahan Press). I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say that it’s a story about a mole who works in an Office in Tokyo and collects suicidal humans in his free time. It might be allegory, it might be a morality tale, but really it’s just a bit of ridiculousness…and it works! It’s fun, it’s engaging, and it don’t make no sense.
This is true not only of our pet genres (SF and Fantasy) but in almost anything except somber “Human Dramas” (though exceptions exist even here)
It’s often done for laughs-I hope. This is usually the explanation of Pen Pen’s presence in Neon Genesis Evangelion…
But sometimes it’s just there because apparently someone said “Why not?” (Fat guy in a Fundoshi from Zatouichi, I’m looking at you.)
In general, there is a tolerance for nonsense in Japan that just isn’t as widespread in what I’m familiar with in the US and Europe. If you’ve ever watched any Takeshi Kitano films, you have to have noticed some oddness. The random dance sequence at the end of the previously mentioned Zatouichi. The apparently dead Kitano getting up to have a nice conversation with his wife while he’s bleeding from a gunshot wound in Battle Royale. Utterly random, not based on character or plot, just…nonsense.
Of course, there’s a historical context we should mention here. The fathers of Japanese “genre” entertainment, way back before WWII, often had connections to the “Ero-Guro-Nansensu” (Erotic-grotesque-nonsense) movement of the 1920’s. Writers like Edogawa Ranpo and Unno Jūza, who established traditions of mystery, horror and science fiction in Japanese popular entertainment, were also major figures in this movement. The name, I think, makes the basic crux of the philosophy clear: fiction should be based on the evocation of a response in the audience by appealing to basic impulses. Generating feelings of lust, fear, and humor are the goal.
Most people now focus on the first two elements-Ero-guro is the catchword most often used to refer to the movement nowadays. People point to the extreme acts and eroticized violence of creators like Takeshi Miike (Ichii the Killer) and Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) as examples of the Ero-guro influence on modern Japanese entertainment. However, I would argue that the third leg, nonsense, is actually the far more prevalent in most situations. By liberally sprinkling books, TV programs and movies with stuff that just don’t make no sense, creators are able to add a quick laugh to pretty much anything-and nonsense becomes a daily experience.
So…you might be wondering what led me to write this piece today. It just so happens, the other day I ran across a glorious piece of nonsense that I want to share with the world.
Two words: Death Kappa.
Click to viewOh man…you want nonsense? You got it, baby. Watch it, love it, and whenever something doesn’t make sense just tell yourself it’s just another child of “the prewar, bourgeois cultural phenomenon that devoted itself to explorations of the deviant, the bizarre, and the ridiculous.” (James Reichert, “Deviance and social Darwinism in Edogawa Ranpo’s Erotic-Grotesque Thriller Kotō no Oni,”, Journal of Japanese Studies 27 (2001): 114)
Honorable “nonsense” mention for nonsense goes to Ando of the Woods…
Actually, that might be the winner…