Earth in My Window

EARTH IN MY WINDOW Takashi Murakami ALE iranslated by Linda Hoaglund) Figure fa.1 Little Boy 1. ‘Little Boys Howl and Sophie, from Howl’s Moving Castle ONTO MDE OUVOLEY J4t-3 2004 The scent of summeris a kamikaze [divine wind] BOs Wie LTC pm Animated film; director: Hayao Miyazaki “Avanished future dreams of tomorrow MARARM RASRCRit ©296 Niwa -GHODOT Gleaming wings, a terrified profile HOW RARER Feigning blissful ignorance when weall know ASABLT BARMOTHSE An historic first, a midsummer memory eRHO BBORUH Don't ever forget, proudly beaming BRBWNT BB® Struttinglike a star; can you soar through the big summer sky? AF-FROT HOKLBAS AW? “That you may never have a second chance BOWES =ScmURE We really hope,we'reall praying REMSk HABTHSTSE int ever forget, by the way, we're BNBWT SRHICRS Japanese, too, for better or worse BRAEE WUNsmus ‘Swingit from your hands, proudly underthe big summer sky FOFERS EC BOKPMERH Figure 1a.2 under the midsummer sky Enola Gay Farewell to arms, RELA5if BBOee LID-94 Pato: onve € Staley, National Air und Space Museum ts smile in a corner of the room RVELES BROMT Sithecnian instnution(1 9-4 10's that staring, who's that hiding there? CDSEATWS TTICMNTUSOMLM? £EnkKTORLT Ae Bee Bier (Kieell, "Enola Gay,” 2004; lyrics and music (FEISS - 94) HERRHEE perianioot JABRAC byTakefumi Tsujimura)* 20044)" 3,ons On August6, 1945, for the first time in actual warfare, 19454F8A6H. AMPLY. ABORT an atomic bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy,” exploded over SW Little Boys MABOHOL CHALE the city of Hiroshima(pl. 6). Three days later, on August (pl. 6)TORRICHA ORFAAR 9, a second atomic bomb, nicknamed “Fat Man,”hit Mi" FatmanAYESNAHZ DADATS| Nagasaki. Together, the two bombskilled more than 210 (REEADSE3THAL SEONTS) thousand people; when survivors afflicted by the after- ROBRBURIEMATT APT HORE effects of the bombsare included, the figure rises to SSSUCHRROS OE some 370 thousand.Afterthe tragic explosive-destruc- Wo HBHORICA LY VOOROBE GEORGE OR\ tive-Whiteout! of the bombs, only burned-out rubble AoRERRAGABOBICRRICROE remained: wasteland upon wasteland, utterly vacant (CRD EDtee land. After the blinding white light, a conflagration of BEBAERAFERL, SFICSLIA orange ... and then, instantaneously,a torrent of pitch- SEREDL feo black rubble and mangled body parts actually rained on the people on the ground. 2005.HOOF.BNOBA, Palle. Shortly thereafter, Japan surrendered unconditionally, UPUBARICEMRSTHIERAIVTS. bringing the fifteen-year Pacific Warto an end. ET DBDLWHEMRICSBORD RUREDOA, BBSOWESS ES, 2005. Sixty years after the war. Contemporary Japanis RYT APONIWYREALORELG Figure 1a.3 at peace. BARAOEROLOMBRHESHER George Orwell 1984 (cover) But everyone wholives in Japan knows—something AF4 FORBAMEICDBWWIYI "19B4,(8i8) is wrong, Still, it's not worth a second thought. Young AVY Y AYOXMDICERIRESECOME sic, 1990) girls butchered; piles of cash donations, scattered MERAH) OEPIAT YA—-RERO, ip (USA), ne 108 recklessly on foreign soil; the quest for catharsis EATU—e through volunteerism; a brazen media prepared to swallow press restrictions in support of economic AAHRORRDS LNB.E UTBS growth. The doorways of passably comfortable @OwxltSuperflat. one-room apartments, adorned meaninglessly with HASMBSEMSKLE. TATHBR amulet stickers from SECOM,a private security RTH. company. Safe and sound,hysteria. PPWUIbeMA So THT CIEL, Japan may bethe future of the world. And now, Japan FHROKETVNSHCRAOMBORS 7 is Superflat. VILA TITOBMSIIE IT CRS BES From social mores to art and culture, everything is MPLS St. HSTCOBRPE. super two-dimensional. Ya—P-A—F z IVAWANIB4 Oks BRM?NCSFNA-KE7HSE Kawaii (cute) culture has become a living entity that IDEARC INY E-THL ONT ELCE pervades everything. With a population heedless of the HORSES SERS.EROLRM cost of embracing immaturity, the nation is in the throes THAIBRO'RES WUCBEOT of a dilemma: a preoccupation with anti-aging may LORReHOLE SLE. conquer not only the humanheart, but also the body. RAEBOZOE. PXUNOMERHEN It is a utopian society as fully regulated as the RIEL HeelRITALTORR science-fiction world George Orwell envisioned ZORROMBOHCES SAMICSDMD in 1984: comfortable, happy, fashionable—a world nearly KS.SRSA MNBWEAKY).t0 devoid of discriminatory impulses. A place for BREE < TOIT. HRPM BLS EIEML people unable to comprehendthe moral coordinates PORBTAERME LT. AYE A—-F— of right and wrong as anything other than a rebus for [CAZU—VFSESICMIIOIAYE “| feel good.” SRWMBLIT. ENS DIY E DEAE Figure 1a.4 The Seven Samurai CADE Film; director: Akira Kurosawa ‘©1964 Toho Cin, Ltd Al Rights Rapered These monotonousruins of a nation-state, which SUCRMICRACARORICES—HO arrived on the heels of an American puppet government, ROME, ENS EFMDY ICRROWRE have beenperfectly realized in the nameofcapitalism. DLEMNEBETHES. Those who inhabit this vacant crucible spin in endless, TDPATHSUE PSII — inarticulate circles. In order to solve the puzzle KRERMERR< Co TORUAVSLE SM Japanese culture today, let us view it through BICRIDSLEHROALSMRLT individual windows, whether images, songs, or some DC SRBEDICAMI< FE.TEDHS expression or behavior, as though screening them on a EBA)OBRER, SEMA WHSIM computer. Guided by the fragmentof a soul visible at the BUC. SHSTICHSL EOI, RRE instant those windows coalesce as one, we will draw FRURS SHEROISROURSET IE. the futurea little closer. FROBMORICBFEMBRI SESICR Whenkawaii, hetare (loser), and yurui(looseor lethar- ASHRFRAOEMEORE IC BSA gic) characters smile wanly or stare vacantly, people Ald Little Boys ="5 3b pRFHZOK around the world should recognize a gradually fusing, Reo happy heart. It should be possible to find the kernels ‘of our future by examining how indigenous Japanese 2. HREOF, AAORB imagery and aesthetics changed and accelerated after PAEHORMADS)(RIPE forms, (d. WANEBAC.2HOE he war, solidifying into their current 195445) ‘We Japanesestill embody “Little Boy,” nicknamed, Y NERS Lie. SM2Z7RORMATE. HH) the atomic bombitself, after a nasty childhood taunt. DOBRA SREBSRMOMAEL. ZO ARUBA IE BBR LeMRC lk Ge RF . Japanese Film in the Sixty Years After the War FRERRBFR SRB. TXVATUX— kira Kurosawa’s undisputed masterpiece, The Seven PENBEENNICRBWT 7 UBBW.T rai (1954), a lengthy entertainment running three OffGils 4OGREEBMS Ices S, its and twenty-seven minutes, was released nine MELIEUPUALAOWEERERELL ars after the war, and becamea record-breakinghit Tio F—VISAM OES SIR. BLA, japan. Upon its release, long lines snaked outside RSH. ORR ARTMCWSETSIL rs in Japan, and the film rapidly achieved inter- F—-ORMRE MSBOLEMHCEE itional popularity; it won the Venice Film Festival's OPEDRAFUO RCHTHEE rer Lion in the same year. Remade abroad,it has SS.EABRR, EERESOUOTH countless Japaneseandinternationalfans. With DES SMABBEMS BOK D I. Figure ta.5 its relentless pursuit of realism, the film broke Re FMORBMERTTRA CPMRRZ How! and Sophie flying, from Howl's Moving Castle new ground among samurai films, dealing with such FDIC TWEABRAK EST. BOS (AP1LOm <ED themes as human resilience, poverty, hunger, pride, RERGINDLEYI 1-1 AINE UTMABEL LTORAP, 2004 loyalty, the futility of Japan's feudal hierarchy MBEANSAMOBROMEWERT Animatedfilm; director; Hayao Miyazaki (warriors/peasants/artisans/merchants), and the folly MBOBKAZOSOL SEAS. HRA of strife. The world may be a complex place where BAKACH sh. ELTARMRMB happiness eludes many, yet humanssurvive. The Seven totes Samurai was a hymn to the triumphantright of the PRORB CHICLYY—F4AYbOR peasant or the commonman tolive. EDS. Although the Japanese had achieved a miraculous 2005, +. SAOMRABID,2 postwar revival and no longer scrambled for food, AUS AISY UND ILORY< it) (CNB8E20048 hunger wasstill an indelible memory, tinged with H)tEs nostalgia. As they searched for self-respect while BITcFBOL)CA, SBSH acknowledging defeat, The Seven Samurai was no mere CERRARA—MOSPRENSUTE costume drama:it was their own struggle. The film RAUBER C LCRICHEDIEENTU, defined the Japanese people. SBREWOCONFLAMANZCUES, With the changing fortunesof the years, the coordi- WABRERYTS.OMBTH nates of entertainmentalso shifted. DBRAMAERDTW SOM, OBAME Nowit's 2005. What film defines the Japanese BANTHWSUTE. ZOREVS DME today? Without question, it is Howl's Moving Castle, RWTHES. released in Japan in late 2004. EARORKOFY 71 —[k 18th. PIA Hayao Miyazaki, a nationally beloved director whose wHeGRELS 20neMMOA—Oy! new works are eagerly anticipated, achieved an DESHHROE TDBAERSRORE, unprecedentedfeat with his previousfilm, Spirited Away, ERORLSMSE SIC MBIT SL the highest-grossingfilm in Japanese screen history. UTWS.Y 714 —-i85 SBMCRRON His latest film, Howl's Moving Castle (in current NIWERESAMEBOATWSSLW felease), is overwhelmingly popular. This film should WHEY 74 —EXCRABWEMS. ZL Provide a snapshotof what Japanese people want TRAEOMEWICMET SZ, today. Let us analyze several ofits key components, TORY I 4 —lt, MORALERE The young protagonist, Sophie,is eighteen years old, BRVCRUEHUSh cOmOeBIcwE Itis the dawn of the twentieth century, an era of RASBNTLKSBBROR< Bokvr ‘unsurpassed nationalism, somewherein a faintly TTBAR DENS NGILOM < Sih KY Alsatian cornerof the world. Soldiersofthe realm head AD. AROYAOREMUTEAAROS ut to battle, One day, Sophie encounters a beautiful BORK BS.NIL Figure 1a.6 PRORZOVL Howl monsterized, from Howl's Moving Castle young wizard, Howl, Fleeing from an unknown pursuer, PML, BODABCHSROBRAILY 2 > ODLOM<0 ‘the young man flies up into the sky carrying Sophie, ‘Pmiceemac Ly Fok, TES EMTHWERAEREHOSS bIC, 2004 ‘who promptlyfalls in love with him. DEMERS LODORDD EARL Animated film; director: Hayao Miyazaki Inw, © 204 Nara -Gnooor

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