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

[cubitt.livejournal.com]

That's it. Your posts are amazing, and your pictures great. I looked up your page at allmusic.com, and if those really are all your influences, I'm going to seek out your music.
I'm a big Morrissey/Smiths, Bowie, and Gainsbourg fan.

Your Discography with ratings (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=SUB010407281939&sql=11:hxkmikbhbb29~T2)

Such good scores... aw man, and I saw the Hippopotamomus vinyl at my local record store too.
I wonder if it had the "Michelin Man" track?

[cubitt.livejournal.com]

I have a quick question, what do you think of the work of Falco?
(notice the icon)

[seanthesean.livejournal.com]

you didn't ask me, but falco's einzelhaft is one of my favorite songs EVER. i love falco and have since 1984!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

You're asking a man who wrote a song called 'Folk Me, Amadeus' what he thinks of Falco?

[seanthesean.livejournal.com]

nope, cubitt was asking you... i was talking about my favourite falco song... which album is this folk me amadeus track on?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

'Folktronic', 2001.

[cubitt.livejournal.com]

Hehe, as you can see, I'm not completely familiar with your work.

Good to know!

Perhaps I'll pen a song as well, 'Pop Me, Amadeus'.

one from the heart

[(Anonymous)]

Allmusic thinks Momus is dead.
"Momus was the alias of Nick Currie..."
Or perhaps he has, in secret, gone on to become one of those sentiment-a'gushing singer/songwriter types who drop their pseudonyms for greater for a greater sense of "authenticity": the real reason he has stopped posting mp3s.