Coming Out Story (カミングアウトストーリー, 2011)

And in the journal you kept by the side of your bed.  .  . 

Confessing childhood secrets of dressing up in women's clothes

Compulsions you never knew the reasons to

“Searching for a Former Clarity”, Against Me!, 2005

Although there are many manga and anime that feature positive transgender characters, the reality of coming out as transgender in Japan is pretty harsh.  The social pressure to fit into the expectations of the community is so enormous, that most transgender people keep their struggle with their identity a secret for years.  Sex change operations did not even become available in Japan until the late 1990s, and it was only in 2004 that laws changed so that some transsexuals (unmarried, childless) could change their officially registered gender (learn more).

These small, but significant changes are thanks to the hard work of activists fighting for recognition and acceptance of transgender people in their communities.  Kei Umezawa’s award-winning documentary Coming Out Story (2011) follows the story of one such activist: Itsuki Dohi.  Dohi is a middle-aged high school math teacher born a boy in the 1960s who has been slowly making the transition to living as a woman for more than a decade.  Dohi always knew that she wanted to be a woman, but as a child there was no one to whom she could speak to about her feelings and so she kept them hidden until well into adulthood.  It wasn't until a co-worker came out to her as gay and lent her a book that mentioned transsexuality, that she even had a word for the deep truths that she felt about herself.  Before that, she feared that she was "hentai" (a pervert).  Now, aged 49, she is finally ready to go through with gender reassignment surgery.

Umezawa’s documentary is remarkable for its ordinariness.  There are no flashy camera movements or artsy shots.  The focus is simply on telling the story of Dohi, her friends, her community, the other transgender people whose lives she has touched, and her efforts to bring awareness to the human rights concerns of those of varying sexualities/genders.  Many films about transgender people focus on outlandish transvestites or people who have been the victims of hate crimes.  The transgendered in this film are shown to be just regular folks who are active members of their community.  Dohi teaches math and runs a broadcasting club, one of the young people she is mentoring is an out and proud young trans man working in a care home for the elderly, while others are students just barely out of puberty who are just embarking on the path of coming to terms with their true identities.

It is an understatement to say that the journey these transgender people are on is a challenging one.  One of the more poignant moments in the film comes when a friend Dohi has tried to mentor loses his/her grip on reality, dresses as a woman and tries to rob a store.  The resulting newspaper headlines lead Dohi to feel that she could have done more to save her friend.  Although many of Dohi’s friends – mostly women and other transgender people – testify about their experience with her, it struck me that there were no interviews with family members of the transgendered featured in this doc.  Their absence spoke volumes as to the difficulties transgender people face in coming out to their family and friends.  The greatest fear of all is rejection by the people and communities they care so much about.  Films like Coming Out Story are crucial to educating people to love and accept all members of their community without prejudice.


Another great little film about growing up transgender in Japan: the short fiction film Jellyfish Boy

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012

Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (星を追う子ども, 2011)

“.  .  .  it came in a language

Untouched by pity, in lines, lavish and dark,

Where death is reborn and sent into the world as a gift,

So the future, with no voice of its own, nor hope

Of ever becoming more than it will be, might mourn.”

- from “Orpheus Alone” by Mark Strand 

The Continuous Life: Poems

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990

For his latest anime, Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo, 2011), animator Makoto Shinkai delves into legends about the underworld.  In Japanese creation mythology, it is said that the female deity Izanami dies and goes to Yomi – the “shadowy land of the dead.”  The male deity Izanagi goes after her and tries to bring her back to the land of the living.  The tale has many similarities to the ancient Greek tale of Orpheus and his wife Eurydice, and Shinkai draws on the symbolism of both of these tales in this, his most complex animated film to date.

The central character is a lonely preteen girl called Asuna Watase.  Her father died when she was very young and her mother often works night shifts at the hospital which means that Asuna is frequently left to fend for herself.  In addition to her schoolwork she cleans her own clothes, makes her own meals, and does other chores around the house to help out as much as she can.  Although she is doing well in school and seems to get along well with her classmates, Asuna spends a lot of time on her own.  She often sits on the hillside listening to strange music that she can pick up on the crystal radio left to her by her father.

Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo 

(Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below) (Theatrical Anime)"

subs: English/Japanese/Chinese

One day while crossing the rail bridge, she is attacked by a giant, bear-like creature.  A mysterious boy named Shun rescues her and the next day they bond with each other listening to the crystal radio.  Shun tells her that he comes from another land called Agartha and there appears to be a connection between his native land and the music Asuna listens to on her radio.  They promise to meet up again the next day, but Shun has disappeared and is rumoured to have fallen to his death into the river.

Meanwhile, Asuna’s teacher goes on pregnancy leave and is replaced by a charismatic male teacher called Morisaki.  Asuna is fascinated by Mr. Morisaki’s tales of the underworld and visits him at his house to learn more.  It turns out that both Asuna and Morisaki are destined to journey into the underworld (Agartha) together – Asuna is drawn there by her natural curiosity and her desire to be loved, whereas Morisaki has been driven mad by his grief for his late wife and he uses violence to go on his Orphean quest to resurrect his wife.

Makoto Shinkai has admitted in interviews that he has been deeply influenced by the films of Hayao Miyazaki and the influence is very strong in Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below.  Asuna has a little cat-like creature – which the medicine man in the underworld calls a yadoriko – which is very similar to the fox-like creature Teto in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984).  The Quetzalcoatls resemble some of the kami from Princess Mononoke (1997) as well as the stone robots of Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1987). The use of a flying ship – the Shakuna Vimana ark – is also very Miyazaki. 

While the Miyazaki influence is undeniable, I am not one of those critics declaring Shinkai as the next Miyazaki.  First of all, I think that’s putting way too much pressure too soon on a director who has not yet fully matured as an artist.  Second of all, Shinkai’s films have a very different feeling to me than Studio Ghibli films.  Shinkai’s work takes itself much more seriously than a Studio Ghibli film.  A typical Ghibli film is full of visual gags and self referential humour, whereas there are few laughs in Shinkai.  What sets Shinkai apart from his peers is that he is the master of dreamy landscapes.  He uses such a colourful palette – and not just for landscapes.  Some of the interior sequences of the medicine man's home looked as colourful and intricate as a patchwork quilt.  One of the more interesting sequences was the flashback to all the famous world leaders from Caesar to Napolean, from Hitler to Stalin who, according to the legends of the bottom-dwellers – tried to plunder the riches of the underworld.  The sequence was painted like an elaborate wall mural.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below is on the one hand the moving story of a lonely girl’s quest to make sense of the world she is living in.  On the other hand, for the viewer it is a philosophical journey into the realms of the possible.  Although there is some influence of the Orpheus myth, the ideas in this film largely come from Shintō, Buddhist, and even some Sanskrit thought, with the medicine man reminding us that while it is normal to grieve the dead, we should not pity them for the cycle of life and death is a natural one.  Death is not to be feared but accepted.  We need to count our blessings and learn to let go of the past in order to continue on our journey into the future.  

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012

This film screened at:

Japan in Germany 8: Kozue Kodama

Kozue Kodama and animator Atsushi Wada at NC2012

One of the most beautiful and engaging sights at Nippon Connection 2012 was the artist Kozue Kodama (こだまこずえ)  doing live painting.  Dressed in a kimono covered with paint splatters, Kodama spent hours at her canvas every day for the duration of the festival.  At first, the canvas was just black and white, but as she progressed she added more and more layers to the canvas and it soon was awash with bright yellow, pink, and blue hues.  The central image of the painting is a majestic red-crowned crane (タンチョウ/tanchō).  After the festival, the painting was auctioned off and the money raised went to earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in the Tohoku region.

Kodama grew up in Hiroshima and studied oil painting at Hiroshima University.  She is best known for doing paintings on large canvases, but she has also dabbled in acting, animation, and at the Nippon Connection karaoke bar she demonstrated that she has an amazing set of pipes as well.

Some of Kodama’s accomplishments include showing at the Biennale in Venice in 2005, creating concert fliers for the jazz musician Naruyoshi Kikuchi, and a huge 16 meter painting on the wall of a bridge which won her the Design Art Sign Award as part of the project Revitalizing the City of Hiroshima (2008).  Her animated short Suipas Zuirapusa (スイパスズイラプサ, 2009) which she made in collaboration with Yoko Tanabe, was nominated for the NHK Digista Best Selection.  It also featured in the indie film Plum Essence (2009) which Kodama also starred in.

Since early 2011, Kodama has been based in Düsseldorf – the largest centre for Japanese culture in Germany.  Her husband, Seiichi Sato is a professional hair stylist at the chic salon Leo’s Düsseldorf.  Kodama’s next event is another Charity Live Painting.  It will be held at the Tres Chicas Bistro and Café in Düsseldorf next Friday night Friday, June 29th (note the date change!), from 18:00 – 23:00 with all money going to earthquake and tsunami relief.  Learn more about Kodama on her official website and YouTubechannel.

cmmhotes 2012