[Series] I Want to Ride Inamura Jane (3) - In Search of Keisuke Kuwata's "Summer" -
This series celebrates that occasion and is also a challenge to pursue "the original landscape of Shonan as seen by Kuwata."
Was your summer hot? Or short? (Author)
Autumn has woken up
Whenever I think of these lyrics, I feel like our summer begins in September. Come to think of it, Inamura Jane was also released on September 8th, 1990. How many times has it happened since that day?
But why does Chigasaki's summer suit autumn so well?
Already in response to the question "Why is Amida Buddha's Pure Land in the west?", the high priest Doshaku Zenji of the Sui and Tang dynasties explained that the west is the direction where the sun sets and the place where it sets is called death, and that the place where death returns is the Pure Land. The overlapping of the end of summer with the end of life may also be the result of human emotion.
Our summer of searching for "Jane," which began on June 25, 2021, is coming to an end.
1) As a theory of others
Oz: It's been a while, Professor! Huh...
Ami: What? Teacher?! Why are you wearing white tights and wearing a swan costume?!
Professor: Yes, I'm thinking about my next job. I want to be an "attention-seeking entertainer."
Ami: Wow, Sensei, that's so emotional...
Oz: (I feel like I've heard that line somewhere before.)
Professor: Okay, guys. Let's check the answers for this summer. Why do you think so many interesting things happen in the daily lives of comedians? The free talk topics we see and hear on TV, the things that would never happen to us, the funny things that happen on a daily basis.
Oz: I guess if you live the life of a comedian, funny things are more likely to happen, right?
Ami: It's like they live in a different world from us...
Professor: Is that really true? I think they just keep their "comedy antennas" up at all times, and are professionals who can pick up on the "funny" in the same world, in the same everyday life as us.
[Research Note 1]
This research (series) began as an attempt to contemplate the waves that are not specifically shown in the film "Jane" and to search for the "summer" within Kuwata Keisuke.
At first glance, this work may seem like a simple film review, but it is not. It is practical research that aims to get closer to the real image of "that summer" that springs from "Shonan," a place and area name that does not have an address, and that is in everyone's heart.
Kuwata states, "There's a scene where she (Namiko, the author) scolds the stray surfer Hiroshi, saying, 'There's no point in floating on a calm ocean, keeping other people at a distance.' Her line is that instead of just floating on small waves and trying to maintain your balance, sometimes you have to catch a big wave, even if it means knowing the risks." (With, October 1990) Thus, she takes on the role of the heroine.
The catchphrase of the main character, Hiroshi, in the film is, "Because we're strangers." Indeed, the key to this film is relationships with "others."
When we try to find ourselves, we cannot confirm ourselves unless there is an "other" there. If I were the only person in this world, would I be able to recognize "me" at that time? (No).
And when we reflect on ourselves, we become pseudo-"others." Just like when we think, "Ah, I want to sleep now," there is a certain distance between the "me" that is the object of our thoughts and the "me" that we are thinking about.
Ami: I guess it means looking at it from a bird's eye view?
Professor: That's right. If we imagine that the comedian we were talking about has a self, I think he looks at the world from a slightly detached, "funny" perspective.
Oz: So... is it okay to say that Jane is an "other person"?
Professor: Yes, that's the first thing I would like to think. Kuwata-san mentions several films when talking about "Inamura Jane," but this is especially clear when you watch Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise" (1984, USA) and "Bagdad Cafe" (1987, West Germany). To me, these films seem to be 90% about relationships with "others." However...
Ami: But?
Professor: There was another film that he mentioned, though not in a proactive way, at the time, and it has stuck with me ever since.
Oz: What do you mean?
Professor: It's the French-West German co-production film "Wings of Desire," released in 1987.
②Gaze from the Other World
[Research Note 2]
When asked what kind of movie he would like to make, Kuwata replied, "I like lazy, low-key things.
"It's in black and white, doesn't have much dialogue, and is a twisted film. It's like the ultimate surf movie with a different perspective." (FM fan, April 1989)
At first, he said, "It was like 'Stranger Than Paradise.' Back alleys, back streets..." (ibid.), and "At first, I was aiming for a modest film like 'The Stranger...'. The main characters wouldn't call each other by their names. Just a slice-of-life film that continued in a monotonous fashion, one scene = one shot" (Weekly Playboy, August 1990), so it seems that he had a highly artistic initial plan in mind.
And in relation to the use of monochrome, one thing worth noting is this comment: "These days, office ladies and students will dress up and go see 'Wings of Desire' on a date. When we were kids, it was 'Joey' or something. That just shows how sharp the viewers' antennas have become." (Can Can, June 1989)
This comment was made in response to "Love Song to the Goddesses (Beyond the Unreported Y-Type (Kei))," asking whether Southern could do something more esoteric, but it is worth noting as it relates to the film production that was already underway.
The film "Wings of Desire" is a worldwide hit that depicts the angelic perspective (the underworld) that humans cannot see in black and white, and the human perspective/world (the visible) in color.
In Japan, the idea of the underworld became clear from the Middle Ages onwards. We humans can usually only see the visible world. However, this worldview holds that there is in fact an underworld, where gods, Buddhas, and the dead inhabit and influence the visible world.
Professor: Actually, a professor in Kobe pointed this out to me this summer.
Oz: Oh, did they scold you for getting too cocky?
Ami: (Oz, that's not okay, the teacher is too sensitive...)
Professor: Wow, that was an eye-opener. I told you that the movie doesn't even show any surfing scenes, let alone waves.
( ※Series 1 ), there is one place.
Ami: What, were there any big waves on camera?
Professor: I quickly checked "Document of Inamura Jane" again, and sure enough, Jane does appear in it. It's a shot of Kuwata himself standing on a swinging crane from the sea side, filming the shore with a camera. So, in other words, we were being shown the shore (this world) from Jane's point of view.
Oz: I see! So Jane did appear, even though it wasn't a picture of a wave named Jane.
Professor: Yes, that's when I realized. Jane was a gaze from another world!
Ami: What do you mean by the other world?
Professor: Earlier you mentioned the word "others," but "others" don't just refer to other people. Although we may not be able to see them, gods, Buddhas, and the dead are also "others."
Oz: I guess it means someone other than yourself.
Professor: Yes, the film "Wings of Desire" is important here. In this film, angels (the dead), who continue to live as eternal beings, stand beside the living, looking out at the world with melancholy expressions. Because angels are trapped in eternity, they cannot experience the "here and now." They learn about the joys and pains of love that were buried and unnoticed when they were alive. Through the eyes of the dead, they teach us about the rarity of each moment, the wonders of this world, and the precious extraordinary. I believe that this gaze from the other world is what Kuwata wanted to show us through Jane.
3. The gap between youth and adults, life and death
[Research Note 3]
Kuwata is said to have said in an interview, "But young people, no matter what era they are in, are always waiting for something. People who have the wisdom to start something on their own are not young." (Josei Seven, September 1990)
When we want to ride a wave, we either notice the wave that arises and ride it, or we have to make waves ourselves. If we interpret Kuwata's previous words, an adult is someone who can make waves with their own power.
As mentioned in the second installment of this series , big waves rarely come in life. And when you're young, you don't even notice the ripples of everyday life. Producer Akira Morishige quotes Kuwata as saying, "Youth is about whether or not you can feel your own wave when you encounter it." (ibid.)
In other words, we live in a boring everyday life, somewhere between youth and adulthood. And as long as we feel the waves, we can stay young forever. 99% of our daily lives are boring, but we can still search for something interesting and keep dreaming.
Jane also teaches us about the coincidences of this moment, the wonder of life. "The ocean is trying to tell me something, an answer. But there's no way I could know that (laughs)" (Heisei NG Diary, June 1992), Kuwata says, leaving the answer up to the ocean (waves). But by encountering these irreplaceable answers (waves) in each moment, the tedious, eternal years of youth are affirmed.
Professor: At first, I didn't understand the meaning of the climax where demons and monsters appear.
Ami: You'd think, "What? Dance!"
Professor: But this summer, I finally came up with my own interpretation. Including the drawing from Jane, there is a gaze from the other world. This is very similar to Zeami's technique. The phase transition in his Noh is called "mai." In technical terms, this is called "riken no ken," and it is the part where the gaze from the other world is entered.
Oz: Hiroshi no longer says, "Because they're strangers," but is instead enjoying the joy of living with others.
Professor: By the way, there is a white sandbar between the Noh stage and the audience seats, and a pine tree is painted on the board (mirror panel) at the back. It's Shonan, isn't it? (laughs) Kuwata said on a TV program that he was interested in the climax, saying, "It's like the Rio Carnival in Japan, I'm interested in the madness that lies between life and death" (Inamura Jane Special! Kuwata Keisuke Speaks - A Story of Wind, Waves and Music), and that because the play is set in Kamakura, he wanted to express "the sense of distance that sometimes affects real life, where supernatural creatures have a certain influence" (ibid.).
Ami: That's the scene where the antique shop owner dies. I feel like the wave of the master's generation subsided after 20 years at that point. And then, should I say, the wave of Hiroshi's generation, who said, "It's the same as the master's big wave," began...?
Professor: The waves that came and went over two generations were Nami-ko, Jane's true identity.
Oz: Well done, Professor! You made it!
Ami: Thank you for your hard work!
Professor: Now, next summer has begun. I'll announce the assignments.
Both: Eh, are we doing something again?
*This story is fiction.
Conclusion: Like Jane, who comes and goes
While I was writing this article, the new departure melody for JR Sagami Line Chigasaki Station, "Umi Sono Ai" (Sea, Love), which was produced by Shonan Rock 'n' Roll Center AGAIN, of which I am the representative, has actually begun to be played on the station platform.
Although it is a song by Yuzo Kayama, thanks to this series I have come to have a new interpretation of the lyrics by Tokiko Iwatani, which begin with "Embraced by the sea."
If we think of the afterlife as the ocean (waves), we can think of it as "all life." "Embraced by the ocean" means that we are alive and supported by "all life" that has existed until now and continues to exist today. And one day, the time will come when I too will return to that great ocean.
It's a story of life, ebb and flowing. I'm grateful to be a part of this unbroken history. It's a miracle that I'm alive in 2021, the year when Yuzo Kayama and Keisuke Kuwata released new songs! It's amazing.
Thank you, Kuwata-san, for letting us, the Heisei generation, watch the movie "Inamura Jane" and for making us say, "It was hot, but it was short, summer!"
Written by: Shaku Junsei (Chairman of Shonan Rock 'n' Roll Center AGAIN, Buddhist scholar)
Born in 1989 at a temple in Chigasaki City. Specializes in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and Japanese intellectual history. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Southern All Stars, Shinko Music has published a book summarizing the Chigasaki sound culture of artists such as Keisuke Kuwata, Yuzo Kayama, Kunihiko Kase, and Kiyohiko Ozaki, entitled "Our Chigasaki Story: The Genesis of Japanese Pop, Chigasaki Sound History."
He currently serves as the main DJ for "Shonan Rock 'n' Roll Center RADIO" on Kamakura FM every Monday from 10:10pm.
Official website: https://www.srcagain.com/
Editorial assistance:
Ami Tazaki
Daiki Ozawa
(Researcher at Shonan Rock 'n' Roll Center AGAIN)
I Want to Ride Inamura Jane (1) - In Search of Keisuke Kuwata's "Summer" - Click here
I Want to Ride Inamura Jane (2) - In Search of Keisuke Kuwata's "Summer" - Click here
