The Third Suspect: A glimpse of Japanese culture from Hirokazu Koreeda’s films
What do you think of first when you mention Japanese movies? Some people may be the first to think of Doraemon, others may think of it, and of course, it is not excluded that some people will think of Japanese adult action movies that are popular all over the world.
What I bring to you today is a talented director who is called "the closest master in contemporary Japan". His previous works are mainly based on modern Japanese families, looking for the taste of life from daily family chores, and then understanding the truth of life. Because he was a documentary director, his works have a strong and distinct documentary style and the language characteristics of restraint and forbearance. Appreciating his works can feel a shock that penetrates people’s hearts. Yes, he is Hirokazu Koreeda, an outstanding representative of the new wave of Japanese movies. As a native Japanese director, Hirokazu Koreeda’s works are also deeply imprinted with the brand of Japanese nation, society and culture. Now let’s get a glimpse of Japanese traditional culture through his lens.
Japanese philosophy of life and death
Death is a common theme in Hirokazu Koreeda’s films. However, in his films, we will never see the scene that "the characters in the play are heartbroken because of where will you go". In Chinese, Hirokazu Koreeda used the narrative method of Japanese traditional literature to tell a warm and sad story about life and death carefully and objectively, quietly and introverted. This is inseparable from the concept of death in Japanese culture. As we all know, Japan is a narrow island country with poor natural resources, frequent earthquakes and difficult survival. This makes the Japanese feel that life is short, good things will eventually disappear, and death is also a very natural thing. Haruki Murakami once wrote in Norwegian Forest that "death is not the opposite of life, but exists as a part of life." Therefore, it is not a terrible thing to die in the hearts of Japanese people, and we should treat each other with equanimity. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to understand that after the memorial meeting of Fujii, relatives and friends can immediately make wine and drink; A film that reflects the theme of death can be filmed with such tenderness; And why there are some quiet and solemn cemeteries around the noisy residential areas in Japan.
Looking at Japanese Dining Table Culture from Family Eating
In Hirokazu Koreeda’s family ethics plays, there are often scenes of a family eating around the table. In fact, dining table culture is an extremely important part of Japanese traditional culture. In Japan, colleagues and friends rarely visit at random, and they usually choose the meeting place outside their home. Therefore, daily family meals have a certain sense of family and ceremony. Japan is also a country that attaches great importance to etiquette and aesthetic form. The arrangement of dishes, drinks, soup, rice, bowls and chopsticks on the table before meals, the greetings before and after meals, when to move chopsticks during meals, and the placement of hands should be meticulously and conscientiously implemented. Because in the traditional educational concept of Japan, the completeness and rigor of the ceremony directly reflect the importance of family values. Through a group of eating scenes, we can see the general situation of this family.
Male Patriarchal Culture in Japanese Society and the Dissolution of Hirokazu Koreeda
In traditional Japanese society, strict patriarchal system is implemented. Patriarchal culture can be seen everywhere in Japanese family ethics dramas. The father is the head of the family and has absolute control over his wife, children and house. However, Hirokazu Koreeda’s films downplayed the image of his father. No one knows there is no father role at all, and the father’s sense of existence is extremely weak. The unique growth experience seems to make him intentionally or unintentionally dissolve the traditional male patriarchal culture in Japanese society. "Now is not the era when the father is the pillar of the family, and the values of the patriarchal center no longer exist. So, this is the end of the story, and there is no need to force it deliberately. On the contrary, I think it is better to have no patriarchy. The family is still more peaceful with the mother as the center. " Hirokazu Koreeda said.
Looking at Japanese Culture from Husband’s Cheating
Japan is the most open country in the world. Even many Japanese institutions of higher learning have experts and scholars who specialize in erotic films. In their view, sex is an endless love affair that has nothing to do with reproduction, and it is a communication from the sacred lust inside the human body. Men and women construct the undifferentiated relationship between themselves and others through sex. It is because of sex that love presents a pleasant taste of lewdness. Sex is the most essential, sincere and pure thing in the world. Therefore, in the films directed by Japanese directors, the open love scene is an unambiguous expression. Yoshimitsu Morita’s Paradise Lost tells a desperate sex story with aesthetic sentiment. Jiumu and Rinzi couldn’t stand all kinds of social pressures because of their extramarital affairs, and took drugs to commit suicide in the north where snowflakes were flying.
In Hirokazu Koreeda’s films, we often find the image of the father who is having an affair (Diary of the Sea Street, etc.), which is actually a true portrayal of Japanese society today. In 2016, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun organized a derailment investigation, and even 49% of Japanese women who have always given people implicit responsibilities admitted that they had an affair. The average Japanese think that sex and love are separate, and love is something in the spiritual world. Therefore, there is a popular legend in Japanese society that "both men and women accept each other’s physical infidelity but don’t allow emotional infidelity". In Japan, many boys may still patronize custom shops and seek excitement after reaching the legal age. Even after marriage, they may still patronize, and many Japanese women choose to acquiesce when they know it. Perhaps as Hirokazu Koreeda himself said: "I don’t think that a father will have an affair, but I can only say that such a person is around." It is also in the name of "sex" that Japanese society even staged astonishing phenomena such as family incest and intercourse between man and beast.
Cruel social pressure and weak interpersonal relationships forced the Japanese to constantly explore ways to make a living. Yamato has always been a nation that respects the strong and is good at thinking. Hirokazu Koreeda, who specializes in the creation of family ethics, also made a bold transformation in 2017, shooting the first unconventional suspense film in his life. "I have been filming family themes for more than ten years, and I have tried a breakthrough in this film, hoping to expand the audience’s attention to their own films and turn their attention to social and times issues." What attracted him was "Is the court the place to decide the truth?" He said: "It is a legal psychological film. This time, my idea is not to make a reasoning story, but to describe the confusion that a lawyer has when he faces a completely unpredictable murderer and feels him." Seeing is believing. Just earlier this month, Hirokazu Koreeda’s new film was first shown in Chinese mainland. Take your precious time and visit the cinema in person.





















