Oct 7

WIT LIfe #381: Japan’s New PM (plus Shogun and Sunny and Manga, oh my!)

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Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03) presents WIT Life, a periodic series about aspects of Japanese culture such as art, film, food and language. Stacy starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she offers some interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.

Last week was the first in office for Japan’s new Prime Minister, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba. He’s a member of the Liberal Democratic Party but not part of former PM Shinzo Abe’s faction, and his anti-Abenomics proposals like raising taxes and curtailing spending have ruffled some feathers in the party. Ishiba is looking to dissolve Parliament’s lower (but more powerful) house Wednesday ahead of the general election on October 27. In this election the LDP is expected to retain its majority allowing Ishiba to stay on as PM, though opposition parties are expected to pick up seats due to recent LDP political funding scandals.

In cultural news, last month’s Emmy’s gave the Japanese show Shogun a record-breaking 18 wins for its first season. In addition to outstanding drama and directing awards, Anna Sawai became the first Asian actor to win Lead Actress in a Drama Series and her co-star Hiroyuki Sanada took Lead Actor (I personally believe Tadanobu Asano, who was nominated in the supporting actor category for his role as the deliciously demented Yabushige, was robbed). Sawai was also selected for TIME100 NEXT 2024, and Sanada wrote her a lovely tribute in the magazine.

A lesser known but intriguing 10-episode series set in Japan is Sunny (サニー), streaming on Apple TV+ and produced by A24. It’s a dark comedy incorporating sci-fi elements, and is based on the 2018 novel The Dark Manual by the Japan-based Irish writer Colin O’Sullivan. Starring Rashida Jones and Hidetoshi Nishijima (of Drive My Car fame), the story features an American woman named Suzie Sakamoto whose life is upended when her husband and son die in a plane crash during a trip from Kyoto to Hokkaido. Following the arrival of a domestic robot named Sunny made by her husband’s company, Suzie begins to realize that things aren’t as they appear. Her pursuit of the truth leads her down a rabbit hole filled with yakuza, malicious robots and other strange phenomena, a journey accompanied by Tarantino-esque elements and retro Japanese music. Watching it has been a bit of a wild ride and some episodes are definitely more interesting than others, but I look forward to finishing the series to see how they tie things up.

And in local news, for all manga fans out there publisher Kodansha House (Sailor Moon) is currently hosting an immersive pop-up experience called Where Manga Meets. Here you can find a manga library as well as a variety of activities like movie nights, trivia nights, photo ops and author appearances. Where Manga Meets is located at 45 Grand Street and is open Wednesdays to Sundays from 12 pm – 9 pm through October 26 (no reservations required).