Sunday, August 10, 2003
Iām in my last few days of living here in Kumamoto. On Tuesday or so, Ruriko and I are heading to the bright lights and big-city bustle of Tokyo where Ruriko is finally going to shoot the bulk of her thesis. Yesterday, before Chakko returned to Fukuoka with her mom ö Rurikoās aunt ö she gave me a picture book that cataloged every weird ghost and spirit in Japanese mythology including a ghost for umbrellas that have been around too long, a disembodied horse leg that whacks unsuspecting victims in the head, and a truly bizarre ghost called a meoshiri which has a big round eye in its backside. In return, I gave her a couple tapes of my movies. Chakko also has a four-year daughter named Sakura who is the most relaxed, poised four-year old Iāve ever met. Rurikoās mom tells me that kidās preternaturally good disposition is because all the brown rice Chakko when she was pregnant with her.
Anyway, during some of the slow days at BIG ö when everyone was planning shoots instead of doing them ö I sometimes would take the company digital camera in hand and troll the city looking for things to shoot. The dangerous thing about digital cameras is that there are no worries about taking a bad picture. If you donāt like it, erase it. I ended up taking something like 400 pictures of things like street lamps, vending machines and ugly buildings. I donāt know why, but when it comes to photography Iām really not all that interested in shooting people; itās architecture and physical space that really does it for me. Iāll spare you those pics, but I assembled a few photos that would give you, the loyal reader, a sense of my life here in Kumamoto. First the touristy stuff·
This hereās Kumamoto castle. As I noted earlier in this blog, this castle was used in Kurosawa Akiraās Kagemusha. The original burned down in 1868 during a final desperate stand against the Meiji restoration. The battle was famously bloody and at its conclusion there was much mirth and beheadings to be had. The castleās painfully detailed reconstruction in the 1960s is limited to the exterior. The inside looks like an East German municipal hall. But the really remarkable thing about this castle is that stonewall in the foreground, which is original. They are designed so that a gullible invading army might be able to scale half way up the wall before it curves up at a deceptively steep angle leaving flaying soldiers open for all sorts of missiles, boiling oil and the like. The castle apparently took 20 years to build and when it was done, warlord Kato Kiyomasa killed the architect and everyone involved with project to keep them from leaking its weaknesses to enemies. I suppose itās only a matter of time before Halliburton adopts a similar policy.
This is the international headquarters of BIG. Actually, BIG takes up only part of the second floor ö next to an acupuncturist ö and part of the third. The landlord lives on the fourth floor with a dog that yaps incessantly.
And hereās a shot of me that Horita took during the Anesis shoot in June. Thatās Miyazaki in the background checking his cell phone and that guy in the back is Fujita, Yamano-sanās assistant. I think Yamano was off smoking a cigarette or something. We were all waiting for the sun to set. That intense expression on my face is not because of my concern for anything going on in the shoot, but rather a profound concern that I would make an ass of myself because of some half-understood command.
Alas, I have no still shots of the Touro maidens from my Yamaga shoot, but I do have this reasonably scenic shot of the town. Along with hot springs and pink clad women with funny lanterns on their heads, Yamaga is famous for making shochu and most of the buildings on this stretch of road are actually old distilleries.
Closer to home, this is Hachi, the Sumiās emotionally needy dog. Rurikoās parents are more camera-shy than she is, if thatās possible. But I was allowed to shoot pictures of Hachi with impunity. He doesnāt really bark so much as howl as if your removing his hind leg with a butter knife. This is especially the case when he senses the slightest whiff of abandonment, such as going to the store or the bathroom. Today, I went shooting a bit in the morning with Rurikoās camera. When I return, Hachi wouldnāt stop smelling my feet. He wouldnāt wait until I sat down either so I kept tripping over him. Anyway, strange dog.
This here is Ruriko, who is currently curled up asleep on the tatami mat behind me. I like this picture not only for the color composition, but also because itās one of the very shots I have of her where she doesnāt look embarrassed or annoyed that Iām pointing a camera at her.
And finally, Iām including some examples signs I found while walking hither and yon in Kumamoto·
I donāt know it thatās the name of the proprietor or the proprietorās appraisal of his customers·
I hate it when I get hair giggles·
And Iām just being silly here·
Anyway, during some of the slow days at BIG ö when everyone was planning shoots instead of doing them ö I sometimes would take the company digital camera in hand and troll the city looking for things to shoot. The dangerous thing about digital cameras is that there are no worries about taking a bad picture. If you donāt like it, erase it. I ended up taking something like 400 pictures of things like street lamps, vending machines and ugly buildings. I donāt know why, but when it comes to photography Iām really not all that interested in shooting people; itās architecture and physical space that really does it for me. Iāll spare you those pics, but I assembled a few photos that would give you, the loyal reader, a sense of my life here in Kumamoto. First the touristy stuff·
This hereās Kumamoto castle. As I noted earlier in this blog, this castle was used in Kurosawa Akiraās Kagemusha. The original burned down in 1868 during a final desperate stand against the Meiji restoration. The battle was famously bloody and at its conclusion there was much mirth and beheadings to be had. The castleās painfully detailed reconstruction in the 1960s is limited to the exterior. The inside looks like an East German municipal hall. But the really remarkable thing about this castle is that stonewall in the foreground, which is original. They are designed so that a gullible invading army might be able to scale half way up the wall before it curves up at a deceptively steep angle leaving flaying soldiers open for all sorts of missiles, boiling oil and the like. The castle apparently took 20 years to build and when it was done, warlord Kato Kiyomasa killed the architect and everyone involved with project to keep them from leaking its weaknesses to enemies. I suppose itās only a matter of time before Halliburton adopts a similar policy.
This is the international headquarters of BIG. Actually, BIG takes up only part of the second floor ö next to an acupuncturist ö and part of the third. The landlord lives on the fourth floor with a dog that yaps incessantly.
And hereās a shot of me that Horita took during the Anesis shoot in June. Thatās Miyazaki in the background checking his cell phone and that guy in the back is Fujita, Yamano-sanās assistant. I think Yamano was off smoking a cigarette or something. We were all waiting for the sun to set. That intense expression on my face is not because of my concern for anything going on in the shoot, but rather a profound concern that I would make an ass of myself because of some half-understood command.
Alas, I have no still shots of the Touro maidens from my Yamaga shoot, but I do have this reasonably scenic shot of the town. Along with hot springs and pink clad women with funny lanterns on their heads, Yamaga is famous for making shochu and most of the buildings on this stretch of road are actually old distilleries.
Closer to home, this is Hachi, the Sumiās emotionally needy dog. Rurikoās parents are more camera-shy than she is, if thatās possible. But I was allowed to shoot pictures of Hachi with impunity. He doesnāt really bark so much as howl as if your removing his hind leg with a butter knife. This is especially the case when he senses the slightest whiff of abandonment, such as going to the store or the bathroom. Today, I went shooting a bit in the morning with Rurikoās camera. When I return, Hachi wouldnāt stop smelling my feet. He wouldnāt wait until I sat down either so I kept tripping over him. Anyway, strange dog.
This here is Ruriko, who is currently curled up asleep on the tatami mat behind me. I like this picture not only for the color composition, but also because itās one of the very shots I have of her where she doesnāt look embarrassed or annoyed that Iām pointing a camera at her.
And finally, Iām including some examples signs I found while walking hither and yon in Kumamoto·
I donāt know it thatās the name of the proprietor or the proprietorās appraisal of his customers·
I hate it when I get hair giggles·
And Iām just being silly here·
