3 January, 2007
We were blessed with a reprieve on this day, because class started at the more decent hour of 0900. When we all stumbled into the conference room, we began to drink the coffee and eat the ice cubes that were so graciously supplied by the hotel staff, and then proceeded to begin the lecture of the day. Today's topic was the Japanese.
After hearing several lectures, we we're informed that today was movie day, and we were ecstatic, like a bunch of little children when they see what the Fatman left them under the tree. Of course we did not know that we were going to be watching a strange movie made in the dreaded decade known as the 80's. Of course we were all (well, I say all, though Roger can have an asterisk next to his name on this one) born in the 80's, but that only proves that the decade was not all bad.
The movie was some strange incarnation of a Japanese family living life, a sort of precursor to the Mad Real World. The movie was strange and laced with arsenic, and the strange climax was something bordering on Biblical in it's proportions. Once this was over, the family all went to sleep due to one of the children either leaving the stove on, or passing tremendous gas, I'm really not sure which it was.
After the movie, we were all feeling fatigued, so we were loosed out into the streets and foraged for our lunch. Once this was done, we returned to meet up for another field trip. This time we were going to see a Shinto temple and a masterful recreation of the Byodo-in temple in the conveniently named Valley of Temples.
The Shinto temple itself was quite interesting, and enjoyed by many since they handed out Saki, enjoyed by everyone who was willing to accept the free booze. I for one, being of an open mind to other cultures, gladly accepted the free liquid refreshment, and then gathered with the others. While waiting for everyone to regroup, we saw a sight that was indeed shocking, and was nearly a crime against humility. Indeed, what we saw was some sort of transgender street-walker out selling whatever it had. Which was quite strange considering it was 1:30 in the P.M., and families and such were out. But then again, there's no rest for the wicked.
We then proceeded to drive deep into the savage heart of Oahu and found the Valley of Temples. There we saw the beautiful sight that was the Byodo-in Temple and the serene sight was indeed a marvel. After examining the massive gold encrusted wooden Bhudda and the large bell, we again left the area, but not before feeding the imprisoned fish like creatures.
Once back at the hotel, we watched another movie, this one about a family in the early 90's and the Nagasaki bombing. The movie was interesting, especially the strange green swamp creature that appeared halfway through the movie. My hypothesis is that the creature was some sort of mutant created by the radiation from the bomb. Or, it could have been one of the children wearing leaves on his face, but I'll let you decide.
Again, class was early in the morning, so we watched more Dog the Bounty hunter before the ravages of sleep took over.
Prompt Amswers:
Prompt 9
1. The movie The Family Game portrays the Japanese family as being an odd unit that reacts to one another in a strange fashion. The purpose of the movie was to show the awkwardness in the in the old customs as compared to the modernization of the Japanese culture. Getting an education was shown to be one of the more important things to do in an adolescent’s life. It appears that one must go to the best schools to become higher placed in society.
2. Throughout the movie, there seem to be many interpersonal strategies that are going on, mainly between the family unit. One such was between the wife and husband.
3. The purpose of the young wife was to show the social taboos of their culture, and to show how strange the family unit was behaving.
4. The end of the film was meant to show that the structure of life that the movie was mocking should die.
Prompt 10
1. It would appear that the Japanese do not like to bring up Nagasaki around Americans because it would make the American feel uncomfortable about the bombing. In the movie, the people act as if the subject should not be talked about among their American relative because it might make him want to stay distant from them.
2. The views among the Japanese were drastically different among the generations. The oldest remembered the bombing but keep it to themselves, the middle generation seems to want to forget it, and the younger generation believes that it was a travesty. What I find interesting is that several Japanese people I know do not know anything about what the Japanese army did during the war, namely the attack of Nanking, so the Japanese people’s view of the war might not be filled with everything that happened, therefore they do not have a complete understanding of why things were done.
3. It is possible that they feel that Pearl Harbor was just another attack in a long war.
Prompt 12
1. Japanese aesthetic sensibilities are inseparable from their religious ones because they are one in the same.
2. This was observed at the many different sites that we visited, but considering that every place we saw was a Japanese temple, it is hard to say that there was a separate view of Japanese aesthetics in their civilian buildings and their religious ones.
3. There are many differences between the Japanese and Christian ideas, mainly because the Japanese ideas are syncratic with other religions, but the Christian views are very much so a standard, and do not allow for adaptation.
Prompt 13
1. I think that the poem is going for some sort of Zen-like statement, much like “what is the sound of one hand clapping?”
2. I think that the double meaning is that the boy is pure of evil thoughts and corruption.
3. I guess they are representative because they show a duality of nature, and are meant to make the mind think instead of just easily giving away the meaning.
We were blessed with a reprieve on this day, because class started at the more decent hour of 0900. When we all stumbled into the conference room, we began to drink the coffee and eat the ice cubes that were so graciously supplied by the hotel staff, and then proceeded to begin the lecture of the day. Today's topic was the Japanese.
After hearing several lectures, we we're informed that today was movie day, and we were ecstatic, like a bunch of little children when they see what the Fatman left them under the tree. Of course we did not know that we were going to be watching a strange movie made in the dreaded decade known as the 80's. Of course we were all (well, I say all, though Roger can have an asterisk next to his name on this one) born in the 80's, but that only proves that the decade was not all bad.
The movie was some strange incarnation of a Japanese family living life, a sort of precursor to the Mad Real World. The movie was strange and laced with arsenic, and the strange climax was something bordering on Biblical in it's proportions. Once this was over, the family all went to sleep due to one of the children either leaving the stove on, or passing tremendous gas, I'm really not sure which it was.
After the movie, we were all feeling fatigued, so we were loosed out into the streets and foraged for our lunch. Once this was done, we returned to meet up for another field trip. This time we were going to see a Shinto temple and a masterful recreation of the Byodo-in temple in the conveniently named Valley of Temples.
The Shinto temple itself was quite interesting, and enjoyed by many since they handed out Saki, enjoyed by everyone who was willing to accept the free booze. I for one, being of an open mind to other cultures, gladly accepted the free liquid refreshment, and then gathered with the others. While waiting for everyone to regroup, we saw a sight that was indeed shocking, and was nearly a crime against humility. Indeed, what we saw was some sort of transgender street-walker out selling whatever it had. Which was quite strange considering it was 1:30 in the P.M., and families and such were out. But then again, there's no rest for the wicked.
We then proceeded to drive deep into the savage heart of Oahu and found the Valley of Temples. There we saw the beautiful sight that was the Byodo-in Temple and the serene sight was indeed a marvel. After examining the massive gold encrusted wooden Bhudda and the large bell, we again left the area, but not before feeding the imprisoned fish like creatures.
Once back at the hotel, we watched another movie, this one about a family in the early 90's and the Nagasaki bombing. The movie was interesting, especially the strange green swamp creature that appeared halfway through the movie. My hypothesis is that the creature was some sort of mutant created by the radiation from the bomb. Or, it could have been one of the children wearing leaves on his face, but I'll let you decide.
Again, class was early in the morning, so we watched more Dog the Bounty hunter before the ravages of sleep took over.
Prompt Amswers:
Prompt 9
1. The movie The Family Game portrays the Japanese family as being an odd unit that reacts to one another in a strange fashion. The purpose of the movie was to show the awkwardness in the in the old customs as compared to the modernization of the Japanese culture. Getting an education was shown to be one of the more important things to do in an adolescent’s life. It appears that one must go to the best schools to become higher placed in society.
2. Throughout the movie, there seem to be many interpersonal strategies that are going on, mainly between the family unit. One such was between the wife and husband.
3. The purpose of the young wife was to show the social taboos of their culture, and to show how strange the family unit was behaving.
4. The end of the film was meant to show that the structure of life that the movie was mocking should die.
Prompt 10
1. It would appear that the Japanese do not like to bring up Nagasaki around Americans because it would make the American feel uncomfortable about the bombing. In the movie, the people act as if the subject should not be talked about among their American relative because it might make him want to stay distant from them.
2. The views among the Japanese were drastically different among the generations. The oldest remembered the bombing but keep it to themselves, the middle generation seems to want to forget it, and the younger generation believes that it was a travesty. What I find interesting is that several Japanese people I know do not know anything about what the Japanese army did during the war, namely the attack of Nanking, so the Japanese people’s view of the war might not be filled with everything that happened, therefore they do not have a complete understanding of why things were done.
3. It is possible that they feel that Pearl Harbor was just another attack in a long war.
Prompt 12
1. Japanese aesthetic sensibilities are inseparable from their religious ones because they are one in the same.
2. This was observed at the many different sites that we visited, but considering that every place we saw was a Japanese temple, it is hard to say that there was a separate view of Japanese aesthetics in their civilian buildings and their religious ones.
3. There are many differences between the Japanese and Christian ideas, mainly because the Japanese ideas are syncratic with other religions, but the Christian views are very much so a standard, and do not allow for adaptation.
Prompt 13
1. I think that the poem is going for some sort of Zen-like statement, much like “what is the sound of one hand clapping?”
2. I think that the double meaning is that the boy is pure of evil thoughts and corruption.
3. I guess they are representative because they show a duality of nature, and are meant to make the mind think instead of just easily giving away the meaning.
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