Dear Friends,
Greetings and I hope that this letter finds you well!
I very much look forward to meeting you, and to sharing in the adventure of what I am confident is the best possible itinerary for a Japan trip. As an experienced Smithsonian Expert, I have come to view taking part in these travels as a type of “post-graduate training,” as I always encounter new things and come away enriched with fresh insights and perspectives.
One unique aspect of Japan, I think, beyond its wabi-sabi aesthetics, sublime art, innovative architecture, superb cuisine, and vibrant contemporary culture, is this: people genuinely appear to take pleasure in keeping the inherited traditions alive. Whether it is joining in festivals, rituals, or rites of passage, whether donning a kimono or viewing Bunraku puppet theater or celebrating the holidays devoted specifically to children, one can sense the joy that people experience at participating in what can only be described as living traditions. Japan’s ancient cultural practices remain vital precisely because people identify with them, celebrating them as a meaningful part of life. This, I think, helps explain Japan’s striking authenticity.
When I first visited Japan as a high school student in 1978, Narita airport outside of Tokyo was under construction and local farmers came out to protest the encroachment on their farmland. The riot gear of the police impressed me; it looked exactly like samurai armor I had seen in Kurosawa films. Years later, my favorite airport is KIX, Kansai International, near Osaka, because it captures a distinctive aspect of life in Japan today: civic thoughtfulness. KIX is built a mile off the Kansai coast on an artificial island so as not to disturb city dwellers living near the airport. I admire its sophisticated design and mega-engineering and the manifest concern for the wellbeing of nearby residents. This type of public consciousness, witnessed everyday in both city planners and citizens, is part of what makes Japan’s capital, Tokyo, the safest city in the world, a remarkable feat for so gargantuan a metropolis.
If you haven’t already watched films by Akira Kurosawa, this is a great treat to look forward to. I would urge you view at least one or two, for their artistic mastery and all-around awesomeness. Also, these films are the product of one of the best Director-Actor teams in modern history (Director: Kurosawa, Actor: Mifune). For Japan, it’s foundational cultural knowledge. But these films are also celebrated internationally and have influenced film making in Europe and North America.
Among my favorites. All set in pre-modern Japan:
Sanjuro A ronin samurai aids a weak clan under attack, through strategic cunning and Achilles-esque martial skill.
Hidden Fortress Not to be missed. Heroic adventure; inspired Star Wars.
The Seven Samurai A classic.
Throne of Blood. Shakespeare’s Macbeth interpreted.
Rashōmon A murder. The truth is hard to know.
Yojimbo Rogue samurai stumbles into a town split by rival gangs.
Stray Dog Detective noir, set in post-war Japan, c. 1946
Kurosawa’s last two epic films:
Kagemusha Deep in the warring state era of the late 16th century.
Ran Retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear.
Japan, as you know, also boasts a rich literature, starting with the early 11th-century masterwork, The Tale of Genji, by Lady Murasaki, which is among the first novels ever written. Japan’s modern fiction is also astonishingly interesting, with work by such writers as Sōseki, Tanizaki, Akutagawa (whose “In a Grove” inspired Kurosawa’s Rashōmon), and Mishima, who committed seppuku after a failed coup d’état attempt against the Japanese government in 1970. I especially admire Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Kawabata’s, Thousand Cranes, for it captures the sublimity of the tea ceremony and the attendant beauty of Japan’s unique culture of ceramics.
However, my favorite is Tanizaki. His Diary of a Mad Old Man and The Key cross lines of decency as Nabokov, his Naomi and Some Prefer Nettles, show the psychological complexity of Dostoyevsky, and his The Makioka Sisters, regarding an affluent Osaka family weathering World War II, is Anna Karenina-esque in scope. But you can’t go wrong with any of this work. Sōseki is considered the master, and Mishima always amazes. Other writers to consider: Kenzaburō Ōe, Kōbō Abe, and Osamu Dazai.
Currently, I am working on a project related to anti-war literature and thus I find Shōhei Ōoka’s, Fires on the Plain, especially compelling. Ōoka was a private in WWII who was captured by American forces in the Philippines, but not before first witnessing cannibalism among the collapsing imperial army. Fires on the Plain (Nobi) was also made into an excellent film.
I am a history professor at the University of Nevada. My B.A. and M.A. are in East Asian Studies, from Stanford University, and my Ph.D. is in History and East Asian Languages, from Harvard University. My research focuses on modern East Asian history, with an emphasis on the history of medicine, disease, and the body in comparative context, and their connection to global forces such as geopolitics. I also have a passion for the art, film, theatre, and archeology of Japan and China.
Even for specialists, the only way to truly know what is going on in Japan is to be there. By the end of the trip, I am confident that you will have gained genuine expertise both on the profundity of Japan’s past, and on contemporary Japan and its dynamic transformations.
I look forward to meeting you.
Yours Sincerely,
Hugh Shapiro
shapiro@unr.edu