Ainuville

[imomus]

The Fukagawa Edo Museum is one of Tokyo's lesser-known attractions; a bit hard to find (you take the Hanzomon line from Shibuya to Kiyosumi, head for the top of Kiyosumi Park, then take a left along a lovely tree-lined traditional street) but well worth the trek. It's also within walking distance of the Saga district, where you'll find Tokyo's best contemporary art galleries, Koyama and Ishi.

You pay 300 yen and head down to the basement. Suddenly an underground village appears before you -- a detailed reconstruction in darkened wood of an entire early 19th century Edo shitamachi district. It's as if the inhabitants have dropped everything and left. You're free to wander through their houses and examine their lives; the rice and rapeseed oil they're preparing, the heaps of Japanese radish they're buying and the sukiyaki they're eating, the shinto totems lying casually about tiny rooms with elevated tatami floors, pots of green tea stewing in the central, rectangular hearths, a fishing boat moored in the rushes next to the fire lookout tower. The lighting and sound effects are haunting: when I arrived a nocturnal thunderstorm was in progress, then the cries of birds filled the air, then shutters in the glass roof opened and sunshine flooded the village. Cats meowed, dogs barked, and I followed a ghostly street cryer around the place without ever quite catching up with him. If the people are absent, they've left their voices behind.

The effect brings to mind the scene at the beginning of Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away', when the family discovers the abandoned village, or perhaps a Japanese version of Lars Von Trier's 'Dogville' set. (And did I mention that 'Dogville' is my favourite film this year?) Welcome to Ainuville!

Comments

[in-dig-ent.livejournal.com]

And did I mention that 'Dogville' is my favourite film this year?

yeah, it pretty much blows everything else out of the water this year so far, don't it? and closing the flick to bowie's "young americans"... brilliant. i know you appreciated that.

[charleshatcher.livejournal.com]

There's some mirthful posting about the film's supposed disparagement of America going on over at the IMDB Discussion Boards. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276919/board/nest/6950603)