Mozu Furuichi Kofun Group

 This week I took a deep dive into the an aspect of Japanese history rather than focusing on the modern culture as I have done in weeks past. More specifically I looked into the Mozu Furuichi Kofun Group located on the Osaka plain. The Kofun group served as a burial tomb for the elite leaders of Japan around the 4th century, and were created over the span of decades of work amongst thousands of individuals. I first learned about the group, consisting of 49 individual burial locations, as it has been designated by UNESCO as world historical site.

                             

     Due to the specific nature of the site, I viewed two videos to further me knowledge of the tombs, one in Japanese which I will be first to admit gave me benefit in understanding the tombs and their purposes. While I was able to understand from the visual narrative depicted in the video, it was the shorter video in English proposed to UNESCO that gave me my best understanding of  the tombs themselves.

Why Not Dance? Awa Odori Festival

 Why Not Dance? serves as a unique look into the Awa Odori Festival, a music/ dance festival that highlights traditional music and dances of Japan. The festival is the largest dance festival in Japan, attracting over 1.3 million tourists every year, and served as a unique exploration of the traditional garb and cultural representation that is no longer prevalent in typical Japanese lifestyle.

 

The video served as a way to acquire greater insight into one of the largest festivals of Japan, as well as a cultural depiction of dance that highlights sound and visuals. The festival consists of dances through the streets, typically accompanied by the shamisen lute, taiko drums, shinobue flute and the kane bell while the performers wear traditional obon dance costumes.

Daiki Tsuneta Tokyo Chaotic

 Continuing with the ideas of Japanese documentaries and the world of popular Japanese music, this week I took a look into the Netflix Documentary Daiki Tsuneta Tokyo Chaotic. The film follows the process of music creation behind one of Japan's most influential music producers in the form of Daiki Tsuneta. Most famous for his founding of the group King Gnu, his new project has begun to adopt his varying backgrounds and instrumental prowess in the creation of a blend of various genres to create a  unique "collage". Unlike other traditional forms of music, especially present in the Jpop music scene, the new group Millennium Parade takes a mixed media approach to its representation, adding in visualizers and street art to create a more enthralling atmosphere for the audience.

The documentary was interesting, with a different approach to the aspects of Japanese culture that it explores. Due to the specialized nature of the documentary, the technical terms relating to music were new additions to my vocabulary, though I was surprised by my ability to comprehend general conversations based on verb structure and the video context clues.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

 Jiro Dreams of Sushi serves as an interesting look into pinnacle of sushi, that of restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro, the first sushi restaurant ever to receive the honor of earning three Micheline stars. The film itself was similar other food documentaries that I have seen, going over the inter workings of the establishment, its sources, as well as other aspects that differentiate them from others. Some of the ways in which the film were unique were its inclusion of Japanese familiar expectations and traditions, including the ideas of the oldest son taking over the family shop, the creation of an apprenticeship in order to hone ones skills and the Tsukiji fish market that I learned about in the other mini documentary.

 

The documentary was fun and relaxing, giving me a crash course on how sushi culture has changed as well as invoking a craving of nagiri or makizushi for myself. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I understood, including the ability to follow events over peoples timeline(as they mention their age), as well as going about their daily task.