This Time Japanese Culture Wasn’t Lost in Translation
Japanese culture is a curious beast. Last weekend I showed my husband the Bill Murray/Scarlett Johansson film Lost in Translation
I don’t profess to be an expert on Japan by any means - it’s a complex place. I lived there for a couple of years and have a lot of Japanese friends, but I don’t think that even many gaijin (foreigners) who live there for a lifetime ever really understand the Japanese culture accurately. But I do remember what it’s like as a foreigner to discover and attempt to categorise the many varied aspects of daily life in Japan and quite a few scenes in Lost in Translation brought these experiences back to my vividly.
Japanese Entertainment and Pop Culture
Where can I begin! When the characters of Lost in Translation head out into Tokyo for entertainment, the flashing lights might be blinding but the snapshots of Japanese culture are there for all to see. Take the game parlours for a start, where playing a game that’s something like Guitar Hero has been a merry pastime for a lot longer than we’ve seen this game on the hypermarket shelves. You can see one local playing a game that involves some kind of taiko, the large drums often used in traditional parades. I confess to loving that game and playing it in the mall under the Fuse train station in Osaka more than a handful of times.
Then there’s pachinko, the gambling game that’s not gambling (because it’s illegal - but they get around it somehow). Pachinko machines are full of tiny, shiny ball bearings that come crashing down and sometimes out of the machine, if you’re lucky. The noise is horrendous. When I lived in Osaka I walked past a pachinko place every morning and there was usually a crowd of people waiting for it to open. One of my ex-students lived above such a place and worked there, and I wasn’t surprised that his personality was a little odd.
And then there’s karaoke. Here in Australia, I think it’s misunderstood: people think it’s about showing off your voice and prancing around on stage in front of strangers. In Japan, it’s the perfect evening out, sharing a small room with close friends, picking your favourite songs and singing away without a care for what your voice sounds like, simply because singing is a whole lot of fun. Lost in Translation has some great late-night karaoke scenes that reminded me of long karaoke sessions with friends in Osaka.
Beauty and Modernity Don’t Clash in Japan
Somehow when you’re in Japan, it doesn’t seem odd that a sweet old temple is stuck next to a monstrous glittery skyscraper. Someone told me once that it’s all some kind of zen thinking about seeing beauty in small things. That means that if there’s something beautiful in the area, that’s what you see, to the exclusion of anything unattractive.
It seems to work. You might remember that Scarlett Johansson’s character takes a day trip to Kyoto and visits some incredible temples and shrines; they’re beautiful, and it doesn’t matter what surrounds them. And I think that’s a really lovely philosophy to take with you anyplace, not just in a crowded land like Japan.
And the Verdict on the Movie?
As my husband rightly said, nothing really happens in Lost in Translation. I was curious about how he’d enjoy it, because I know my attention is fully absorbed by the many glimpses of my old life in Japan, a sentimental journey dragging me back a few years. My husband already has an interest in Japan, although he’s never been there, so perhaps he’s naturally drawn to the film too. I think it’s a fair portrayal of what Japan feels like to a foreigner who visits. And it inspires me to try to get back to visit Japan as soon as I can.
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