[Series] Wanting to Ride Inamura Jane (2) - In Search of Kuwata Keisuke's "Summer" -
This series celebrates that, and is also a challenge to pursue "the original landscape of Shonan that Kuwata saw."
What is Shonan? What is summer? We hope you enjoy it with a Coke in hand. (Author)
Chigasaki after the end of the rainy season.
In the Kamakura period, it was 4:30 a.m., after "dawn" (the time when it was still dark), which was considered the time when one was closest to the gods and Buddhas.
As if to say, "We've been waiting for this!", the cicadas begin to sing all at once, ready to live out their lives to the fullest.
Many scholars have attempted to answer the question, "Where exactly is Shonan?", but have all failed miserably.
However, as a scholar at the Shonan Culture Research Institute, I cannot avoid this issue.
Yes, he said that in this film he "wanted to depict the true Shonan that resides within his heart."
It's hot again today at Chigasaki City Brandin University.
① There was no such thing as "Shonan"...
Professor: Eboshi's summer is a summer with nothing to do, bang!
Ami: Teacher! Are you okay?!
Oz: Teacher! That's spring in Erimo!!
Professor: Good morning, sorry, I had a major realization and couldn't sleep.
Oz: A realization? You don't mean to think that Professor knows Jane's true identity...
Professor: No, that's wrong. You guys were born in Chigasaki City and Hiratsuka City, right?
Ami: Yes, I crossed the Sagami River again today!
Professor: So, you now know which parts of that movie were actually filmed in the Shonan area, specifically in Chigasaki and Kamakura, right?
Oz: Yes, the part where Eboshi Rock is pictured, the Enoden train, Inamuragasaki...
Ami: Pacific Park also made an appearance.
Professor: Apparently, the scene where the Chinese antique dealer lives in a Western-style mansion was filmed in a real mansion that existed in Kamakura. But actually, most of the filming took place in Izu or on studio sets.
Oz: Huh?! The movie is set in Shonan, so why would they go to the trouble of...
Professor: So, what I mean is, at that time, the environment in the Shonan area no longer had the capacity to recreate 1965, 25 years prior.
[Research Note 1]
Keisuke Kuwata states, "The Shonan of today is lined with stylish buildings and has an ocean view, like Aoyama Street, but in my mind, it's an image of a simple and lonely sea. There used to be a tuberculosis sanatorium near my house... It's changed so much. That's not just true for Shonan, but for the whole country, regional identity has disappeared, and we're heading in a direction that can't be reversed" (with, October 1990).
Kuwata's comments about Shonan during this period are incredibly refreshing and prompt us to reflect on ourselves. For example, there's the aforementioned transformation of the area into "Aoyama Street with a view of the sea" and "Killer Street with a view of the sea," or the image that Tokyoites have of the "blue skies of California" (fm STATION, 1989, No. 6), or "Hayama still has some charm, but Chigasaki has become a mini-Tokyo" (AERA, September 11, 1990)...
He rejects that kind of "Shonan" image, saying that the Shonan he has in his mind isn't that superficial and pretty. He says he has an attachment to a Shonan that was of lower quality, less refreshing, and more exclusive, and that there was a strange melancholy about it.
However, the waves of impermanence were also sweeping over Shonan and Chigasaki without exception. In reality, it was a "longing for Tokyo" as a provincial city and countryside. "I think it's because we long for Tokyo. But if we aim to make it like Aoyama Street with its ocean view, we have to throw away all the good things, like the appearance of the station and the roads, in order to become something new. What we throw away will never come back. That's why when people say Shonan, I feel like Chigasaki and Urawa have all become the same" (Weekly Bunshun, September 6, 1990). In the film, there was a scene in which a Tokyo restaurant company tries to buy out Restaurant Venus.
The Nankoin Sanatorium was established in 1899, and the presence of cultural figures such as Kunikida Doppo and Ishikawa Takuboku, as well as patients from the upper class, contributed to raising the profile of Chigasaki. Furthermore, the establishment of the Chigasaki Station on the Tokaido Main Line the year before the sanatorium's opening led to the development of Chigasaki as a seaside resort area.
By 1956, the year Kuwata was born, the hospital had already become a U.S. military facility camp in Japan, but it was later released from occupation. Even so, the atmosphere of that time probably still lingered in Nanko, the area where Kuwata grew up. However, by 1985, a station building had opened, and chain restaurants such as Red Lobster and First Kitchen had opened in the fishing town. By the time the film was made, Chigasaki was far removed from the original landscape that Kuwata knew.
Professor: People who have lived in the Shonan area their whole lives don't really use the word "Shonan," do they? What do you guys say when someone asks you where you're from?
Oz: This is Chigasaki!
Ami: This is Hiratsuka!!
Professor: Right, but for people outside the Kanto region, I sometimes say, "It's Shonan in Kanagawa Prefecture!" (laughs)
2 people: Indeed...
Professor: That's what's so interesting about people. Until Kuwata entered university, he didn't even know the term "Shonan Boy," and he felt it was wrong to be included in the lineage of Yujiro Ishihara and Yuzo Kayama. Of course, he was humble and said it was an "honor," but I think he also felt the danger of being categorized or grouped together as "Shonan Sound," etc. He felt that his "individuality" would be lost.
Ami: Yujiro's Shonan, Wakadaisho's Shonan, Kuwata's Shonan—each has its own unique charm, doesn't it?
Oz: There's no need to conform to the easily understandable, packaged image of "Shonan"...
Professor: Kuwata-san also says that he doesn't dislike that "It's summer! It's the beach!" thing (laughs). But he says that Chigasaki is fine just the way it is. I agree, and when I see all sorts of merchandise depicting blue skies and seas, white sandy beaches and palm trees, I realize that Chigasaki is ultimately just an illusion. This is a problem that still exists today, and I sometimes wonder if "Shonan" even exists anymore.
Ami: So, Mr. Kuwata tried to portray the "true Shonan" in the film, right?
Professor: That's also a combination of his main profession, music. When we talked last time, the movie "If She Changes into a Swimsuit" was "Front Shonan," but he has declared that he will do "Back Shonan." It's a confrontation with the term "Shonan Sound" that is associated with Southern All Stars' activities. He is an antithesis as a local, and in order to answer that, he wants to portray "truth" in the movie.
Oz: "Midsummer Fruit," or "Truth" for short!
Cicadas: Meeeen-min-min-meeeen...
② Boredom and chance
[Research Note 2]
The following tagline is written on the movie's pamphlets and posters:
"Something was always missing. Young people have always lived in boring, mundane routines."
Keisuke Kuwata described the youth of young people as "boring." Of course, this is not just a question for young people, but a challenge to the way of life of all generations of modern people.
Reflecting on the path he has taken, he said, "We didn't exactly have a glamorous youth either. But with our music, there are things that happen that come about through a series of coincidences, right? It's like a foolish innocence, like just walking down the street and picking up a contest flyer and doing it. So, I want people to believe in things like that" (GORO, February 23, 1989), emphasizing the importance of innocence, such as believing in dreams and coincidences.
There is an 18-year age difference between Yuzo Kayama and Keisuke Kuwata. "I understand that everyone longs for the 'Shonan' that Kayama-san and others created, but back in our day, there was nothing to long for, it was just a vague, undefined era," (Number, September 5, 1990) - this illustrates the difference in how each generation expresses "Shonan." This difference was particularly evident between Kayama's youth and Kuwata's youth.
I'm not an Indian who discovered zero (0), but there is "nothing," yet there is "nothingness." Thrown into this world of "nothingness" ("thrownness," Heidegger, Kuki Shuzo), this Dasein (present existence) has no choice but to live out its possibilities. We are grateful for the fact that we exist despite the possibility of not existing. Perhaps this irreplaceable nature is what leads us to believe in chance.
When asked to describe the movie "Inamura Jane" in one sentence, Kuwata calmly replied, "Ah, Shonan has certainly changed. It used to be poor, but it's a movie that shows the truth behind it." ("Smile," September 15, 1990)
(View of Enoshima from the Pacific Hotel)
(Shonan? No, the fox of Cape Erimo)
Professor: In this film, Kuwata-san wanted to depict a "youth with nothing special about it."
Oz: Oh, so that's why you were singing "Erimo Misaki" earlier, teacher?
Professor: That's right! The music was composed by Takuro Yoshida and the lyrics were written by Osami Okamoto. Actually, when this song was first released, there was an anecdote that the local people were angry, saying, "What do you mean there's nothing there!" Of course, they reconciled after the song became a hit and helped increase the song's popularity (laughs).
Ami: Haha (laughs), but it's difficult, isn't it? When you see "the luxury of doing nothing" in travel brochures and such, I feel like it's meant in a good way, and the term "slow life" is often used to describe the Shonan area.
Professor: That's the uniquely Japanese concept of wabi-sabi. If it's being used to mean that people from Shonan live a relaxed and leisurely life, I'll be angry. I'm poor and have no free time (laughs). But the original meaning of this word is said to have originated from a movement in Italian villages to protect traditions in response to the influx of fast food restaurants, as I mentioned earlier.
Oz: So, in that case... it can also be interpreted as simply affirming that "there is nothing"!
Professor: Yes, think back to your so-called middle and high school years. Was there a big wave of excitement back then?
Oz: Hmm, now that you mention it...
Ami: It wasn't that it was boring, but I might have vaguely thought that it would be nice if something happened someday.
Professor: " Someday something fun will happen, someday I will be happy." That's turning a blind eye to the present moment, to "life" or "existence." I call this "modern nihilism," and it ignores the "ripples" that are always present in everyday life, or rather, it doesn't even register their existence.
Oz: The main characters in the movie say, "It's just like the Master's wave," as a way of denying existence and possibility. So, "nothingness" is simply boring.
Professor: Yes, but I don't think so. It's true that big waves don't come very often. But even though it may be extremely flat, there are always ripples, and every wave is different in color and shape.
Ami: Exactly, the same wave won't come again, and I don't want to let it get away.
Professor: Maybe surfer Johnny was able to ride Jane (laughs). So I think surfers predict big waves by looking at weather maps and feeling the waves with their bodies at that moment in the ocean, and then wait for them.
Oz: It's not like I'm just vaguely waiting, but rather I'm waiting with a clear prediction...
Professor: That's right, it's difficult to put into words, but I wait while thinking with all my heart and soul. And when you live like that, sometimes something called "coincidence" comes along that goes beyond your predictions and intentions. Philosophically speaking,
Ami: Teacher... it's emotional but difficult!
Professor: Yes, even I didn't realize it when I was a student, it was boring (laughs). Now it's August. Use your own antennas to catch the waves! When summer is over, submit a report on the waves of this summer!
Both: Oh, summer homework...
Professor: (I'll do it.)
*This story is a work of fiction.
Written by: Junsei Shaku (Chairman of Shonan Rock 'n' Roll Center AGAIN, Buddhist scholar)
Born in 1989 in Chigasaki City, he specializes in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and the history of Japanese thought. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Southern All Stars, he published "Our Chigasaki Story: The Genesis of Japanese Pop Music - Chigasaki Sound History" from Shinko Music, a book compiling the Chigasaki sound culture of artists such as Keisuke Kuwata, Yuzo Kayama, Kunihiko Kase, and Kiyohiko Ozaki.
Currently, he is the main DJ for "Shonan Rock 'n' Roll Center RADIO" on Kamakura FM every Monday from 10:10 PM.
Official website: https://www.srcagain.com/
Editorial assistance:
Ami Tasaki
Daiki Ozawa
(Researcher at Shonan Rock 'n' Roll Center AGAIN)
Photo credit:
Takuya Saito
Wanting to ride Inamura Jane (1) - In search of Kuwata Keisuke's "Summer" - Click here
Wanting to ride Inamura Jane (3) - In search of Kuwata Keisuke's "Summer" - Click here
