Kevin Heis, EPJF Short Version

8/14/2019 Kevin Heis, EPJF Short Version

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This paper discusses how environmental perspectives are shown through Japanesefilm. Environmental perspectives include pollution, nuclear topics, humans and technology,and Shinto and environmentalism. Japanese films include Princess Mononoke, Dreams, Black

Rain, Godzilla, Akira and many others.

21 pages, 9237 words, 7283 words without sources used or footnotes, with 65 sources.

............................................................................................................................ The Japanese Environment

........................................................................................................................................................................Films 5Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (, 1984) 5

Himatsuri (, 1985) 6

Laputa: Castle in the Sky (, 1986) 8

Akira (, 1988) 8

My Neighbor Totoro (, 1988) 10

Black Rain (, 1989) 11

Dreams (, 1990) 11

Princess Mononoke (, 1997) 13

Blue Submarine No. 6 (6, 1998) 15

Charisma (, 1999) 15

Spirited Away (, 2001) 16

.......................................................................................................................................................Conclusions 17

.....................................................................................................................................................Sources Used 18

Heis, Environmental Perspectives in Japanese Film 2


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Challenges await those who make films with environmental themes. Critics can say thefilms message was patronizing, or too subtle; some will call environmentalism a cheap shot tocreate emotion. Also there are governments and corporations, including film distributors,who may not be happy to see environmental wacko filmmakers criticize corporations ingeneral for putting short-term economic interests ahead of long-term sustainability. Some on

the political spectrum could accuse the production of thefi

lm of using a surplus of gasoline orother natural resources. Taking all of these criticisms into account however, many Japanesefilmmakers find putting environmental themes into their films worth the risks. This paper, withthe backdrop of some of Japans environmental concerns, will investigate the reason for whyJapanese filmmakers pursue it.

I first want to discuss the state of the environment and environmental perspectives inJapan... before diving into the main course on Japanese film and other media. I am focusingon what environmental issues are presented in Japanese film and other media. I have comeup with four categories for this: pollution, nuclear weapons, war, and energy, the role of

technology and humans in the environment, and Shinto and environmentalism.Shinto is often referred to as an animist religion, where every animal, plant, and stone

has a spirit or kami.1 From a chapter by Sonoda Minoru in the bookShinto in History:[Shinto fables] may serve as an example of how the people of antiquity, as theyreclaimed paddy fields along water systems, regarded animals living in the wildas kami endowed with spirits and worshipped them.2

In terms of nuclear energy, according to Barretts 2005 Ecological Modernization andJapan, Japan has 53 commercial nuclear power reactors and another two under construction.They generate 34.6 percent of Japans electric power.3 This trend seems like it will continue infavor of more nuclear power according to a 2005 article written by W. Conard Holton thatstates that rising concerns about the cost and security of energy supplies and global climate

change will lead tomore nuclear power plants in the future.4Most readers will be familiar with the fact World War II ended largely with the atomic

bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, and that the bombs claimed the livesof about two to three hundred thousand. So I would like to focus on the health andenvironmental impacts of the bombings, particularly radiation. The book Radiation andHealth discusses these things:

The people who survived the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have beenused in studying radiation-induced cancer. [...] In another more recent study ona group of 42,000 with an average dose of 300 mSv, 80 cases of leukemia and260 other cancers were found, yielding a radio of 3.25 to 1.5

To compare the average dose of 300 mSv, the World Health Organization takes action when

radiation exposure goes over 20 mSv; several times less the amount.


1 Bruun, Ole, and Arne Kalland. Asian Perceptions of Nature. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1995. pp 192-193.

2 Breen, John, and Mark Teeuwen, eds. Minoru, Sonoda. Shinto in History. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000.

3 Barrett, Brendan F.D. Ecological Modernization and Japan. New York: Routledge, 2005. pp. 161.

4 Holton, W. Conard. Power Surge: Renewed Interest in Nuclear Energy. Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 113, No. 11. (Nov., 2005), pp. A742-A749.

5 Henriksen, Thormod, and H. David Maillie. Radiation & Health. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2003. pp 139-140.


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Given the backdrop of industrialization after World War II, Japans environment wasexposed to massive amounts of pollution. Brendan F.D. Barrett writes in his book EcologicalModernization of Japan, In the 1960s and 1970s, Japan was certainly notorious around theworld for its pollution crisis with names of pollution related disease like Minamata and itai itaiingrained on the psyche of generations of Japanese.6 Unfortunately, despite the pollution

problems in Japanese industry, according to Broadbents Environmental Politics in Japan, theJapanese did not want to complain about pollution in the environment until the media,public intellectuals and the government started to make it acceptable to complain, though, awave of pent-up worry quickly burst forth as formal complaint, and then as overt protest.7

This protest, caused by media and social acceptance of environmental protest, led theJapanese industry to take action to reduce pollution: between 1970 and 1980 the Japanesesteel industry cut air pollutant emissions by 30 to 80 per cent, producing steel with 40 percent less energy expenditure than the United States.8 Many authors suggest that while Japanhas made great progress towards a pollution-free environment since the industrialization inthe sixties and seventies, it still has a long way to go and the scene is far from perfect.9

Throughout my research, I found that scholars tend to describe the Japanese people as

either fully respectful of nature or completely disowning of it. The reality is somewherebetween. I found an example of this contradiction:Given the heighten media attention to the issue, it is hardly surprising to findthat often there was a discrepancy between the image of environmental carewhich certain institutions sought to promote, on the one hand, and any actualsteps taken to protect the environment, on the other. The Ministry ofConstruction, for example, displayed its devotion to nature by sponsoring theInternational Flower and Greenery Exposition in Osaka in 1990, at the sametime as planning the construction of an airport on Ishigaki Island which wouldlead to the destruction of one of the last healthy coral reefs in Okinawa. []ecology excels as a style, apparently detached from the problems that had

given birth to the trend.10

So how exactly did it come to be that the Japanese went from being completely respectful oftheir environment to being somewhat two-faced about it? There is no way here to makegrand generalizations about all of Japanese society, as there will always be counterexamples.An opinion of an author saying things about this contradiction, this time from AsianPerceptions of Nature is presented here:

The Japanese have, like most other people, an ambivalent attitude towardnature, in which their love of nature is only one dimension. But they also fearnature. They have learnt to cope with natural disasters [] It is in this latterstate [of a tamed nature such as in the arts] that nature is loved by mostJapanese. [] One important lesson we can learn from this is that there is


6 Barrett, Brendan F.D. Ecological Modernization and Japan. New York: Routledge, 2005. pp 12.

7 Broadbent, Jeffrey. Environmental Politics in Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. pp 109.

8 Barrett, Brendan F.D. Ecological Modernization and Japan. New York: Routledge, 2005. pp 130.

9 Kerr, Alex. Dogs and Demons. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001.

10 Skov, Lise, and Brian Moeran. Women, Media and Consumption in Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1995. pp 170-171.


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hardly any direct relationship between Japanese sensitivity to nature and theirenvironmental behavior.11

However, things are now likely not as dark for the role of Japanese people andtechnology in their environment, as economic interests have begun to translate intoenvironmental interests:

Japan is building a sustainable economy for the 21st century while every othernation on the planet builds non-sustainable economies based on the economictheories and conditions of the 1950s. And while Japan, like other developedcountries, enjoys enormous imports of natural resources, particularly oil, effortsare being made to reduce these dependencies and it is obvious that if currentpopulation trends continue Japan's "ecological footprint" will decline.12

So now that I have introduced the state of the Japanese environmental perspectives,lets move on to films.

I would like to make it clear before I begin the discussion of specific films: most, if not

all of these films, cover subjects and themes other than environmental perspectives. Some ofthese films are devoted heavily to environmental things; some only provide a few scenes orexamples of it. In all cases, the importance of these films does not lie solely in theirenvironmental perspectives. I am not suggesting these films were created simply and only forenvironmental reasons. Moving on.

I may be criticized in my selection of films and other media, in that I am selectingmostly films that are mainstream, sold well, and are popular to outsiders of Japan just as muchas they are in. I have a counter of this criticism, and that is the issue of influence. I do not see apoint in writing about documentaries and other, non-mainstream, films that have not had thesame level of cultural influence. I am very aware they exist. A lack of inclusion does notsuggest a lack of environmental perspectives or importance.

The films will be discussed in chronological order, since most of them contain severalof the four areas presented in the first section about the Japanese environment.

So with that, lets begin.

One viewpoint that will be repeatedly visited is that Miyazakis films are influenced byenvironmentalism. This is logical, as reforms would have just begun in the early 1980s tochange Japans pollution situation. In fact, a specific case of pollution was inspiration forNausicaa:

However, the one big event, in the directors own words, that sparked hisimagination and fuelled his desire to create Nausicaa was the pollution with

mercury of Minamata Bay, as a result of which thefi

sh stocks left untouchedas they would evidently be inedible adjusted to the uncongenialenvironment by learning how to absorb poison and indefatigably continued toreproduce. The Minamata Bay fish are unquestionably the real-life correlatives


11 Bruun, Ole, and Arne K alland. Asian Perceptions of Nature. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1995. pp 244-255.

12 Caldararo, Niccolo. The Concept of the Sustainable Economy and the Promise of Japan's Transformation. Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 76, No. 3. (Summer, 2003), pp.

463-478.


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for the immensely and ingeniously adaptable fictitious plants portrayed inMiyazakis film.13

Miyazaki is rather pessimistic about the state of the environment in Japan, and Miyazakisown words: The Nature of Nausicaas world has absorbed the poison man created and isadapting to it and getting on with the business of living.14 The book Atomic Bomb Cinema

paints a picture of the world of Nausicaa: The story takes place one thousand years after industrial society has collapsedunder the burden of a polluted ecosystem and constant wars wages withthermonuclear monsters that had set fire to the world. In the aftermath, a fukai,or poisonous sea of rotten vegetation, threatens to engulf the world anddestroy all humanity.15

Clearly, we can place Nausicaas world as an extrapolation of our own, and perhaps we canlook at some modern figures as we do the role of Nausicaa: Nausicaa herself, conversely, isstaunchly opposed to any plans geared towards the attainment of a tyrannical control of theenvironment, seeking instead to achieve an ever deeper understanding of nature.16

Establishing Nausicaa as an environmental hero, one with some vulnerability, sets up

quite nicely for the dramatic ending with a clear message: In thefi

nal scene of thefi

lmNausicaa sacrifices herself only to be reborn as the possible savior of the world.17 Cavallaroalso examines the rebirth of Nausicaa in the ending, saying nature rewards her efforts bymeans of the Ohmu themselves, by making the carapaced and multi-eyed creaturesresponsible for saving the princess and returning her to the people of the Valley. 18

So what does this story say about the environment? The story rewards Nausicaa for herenvironmental leadership, asAtomic Bomb Cinema states: The film then ends with scenes of aworld reborn: the fukai is no longer poisonous, the valley is more verdant than ever before,Naushika and Prince Asbel still play together, and the winds have returned.19

If anything can be said about Nausicaas meaning, Cavallaro sums it up, saying Man isoppressed by a nature gone mad by his own madness, but he doesnt realize that this

oppression is temporary.20

Much, much more can be looked into for environmental issuespresented in Nausicaa, but there other films to discuss.

Himatsuri, or Fire Festival, is another Japanese film that strongly investigatesenvironmental perspectives, this time from the Shinto angle listed above as well as pollution.

The fact that these strongly environmentalfilms are beginning to surface at this point in timecan be easily traced to the social movements against pollution occurring simultaneously.


13 Cavallaro, Dani. The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki. Jefferson: McFarland, 2006. pp 48.


15 Shapiro, Jerome F. Atomic Bomb Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2002. pp 267.


17 Napier, Susan J. Anime from Akira to Howls Moving Castle. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. pp 168.





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A reviewer for the Boston Globe calls Himatsuria fiercely passionate lament for ourself-exile from nature.21 The film is:

Inspired by an actual incident, set in a small, deceptively modern-lookingcoastal village in southwestern Japan. The region is the cradle of Shintoism,Japan's national religion, which involves notions of sacred times and spaces

and the belief that the spirit of a god can manifest itself in trees, rocks, streams-and in fire, the element of purification.22

The main character, Tatsuo, is described in a review:But now on that very spot a marine park is in the works, much to theconsternation of a husky lumberjack who innately and unthinkingly resistschange while, ironically, scoffing at tradition-constantly breaking the ancienttaboos that linger in the daily life of the fishing and logging community. He's aman in easy, joyous harmony with nature[...]23

Himatsuriis largely set out in nature, but juxtaposes modernity with the natural environment:[the film] moves through some mild satire of the corruptions of civilization, the best of whichis a scene with three kids dancinboom box, which provides a counterpoise to the scenes

where nature stands daunting and unknowable.24

Tatsuo is against the building of a park,and:In fact, Tatsuo is so doggedly opposed to the park that when it's sabotagedwith thick black oil, suffocating the fish, fingers point at him. Almostoffhandedly, the film builds toward the "himatsuri," or fire festival, a purging ofthe evil spirits that introduces, in this case, a shocker of a conclusion. [...] One ofMr. Yanagimachi's most powerful sequences shows this change in Tatsuo takingplace very visibly as a violent storm causes him, quite literally, to embracenature.25

So this transformation, purification of a man who learns to embrace nature, is curious.What does it all mean? Scott Nygren gives a look into this films meaning saying Tatsuo is

identified with ecological resistance to overdevelopment.26

So we can look at Tatsuo as asource of inspiration, a figure who represents the environmental progress happening in Japanat the time. The film looks deeper at the issue, implying industrial development, intimacywith nature, and the flow and breaking of desire are left to be mutually and multiplydetermining, rather than being fixed within a psychology or a sociology.27 Another New York

Times reviewer addresses the meaning of Himatsuri from an environmental context: Though centering on a lumberjack by the sea who defends his land againstdevelopers, ''Himatsuri'' is really about the gods that live in nature - theirspiritual forces pervading these incredibly beautiful surroundings -and aboutthose who serve the spirits purely or else betray them through the


21 Carr, Jay. Boston Globe. Boston: Mar. 14, 1986. p.3

22 Thomas, Kevin. Review: Himatsuri: A Born-Again Shintoist. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles: Nov 16, 1985. p.5

23 Thomas, Kevin. Review: Himatsuri: A Born-Again Shintoist. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles: Nov 16, 1985. p.5

24 Attanasio, Paul. Himatsuri. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Sep. 19, 1986.

25 Maslin, Janet. Himatsuri, Problems of Change. New York Times. New York: Oct. 3, 1985. p.C.24

26 Nygren, Scott. Time Frames: Japanese Cinema and the Unfolding of History. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007. pp 205.

27 Nygren, Scott. Time Frames: Japanese Cinema and the Unfolding of History. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007. pp 205-206.


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encroachments of civilization. The camera infuses the mountains and thewaters with a personality that is both welcoming and a little frightening.28

Hopefully this film serves as a nice break into live action films, as the next four films are allanimated. What is unique about this is how close in time all of this environmental films,particularly animated films, are being made. It makes sense from a historical standpoint. The

nextfi

lm is yet another from the master of environmentally friendly animatedfi

lms: Miyazaki.

It is difficult throughout this film to find environmental perspectives, up until the end wheremain characters actually find Laputa:

Everyone races to get to the abandoned castle of Laputa, which has beenovergrown with vines and plant life. Its only inhabitants are the animals androbots who protect a magical garden. As the different parties fight over whogets to control Laputa, it's up to Sheeta to use her ancient knowledge to save itfrom ultimate destruction.29

Laputa shows a strong image of environmentalism: a futuristic city that has been overrun byplants and small animals. In another article by the same reviewer as the last citation, James

more fully describes Laputa itself:Drawn in a dazzling range of jeweled but subtle colors, the film is always a joyto watch. When Sheeta and Pazu reach Laputa, they find a deserted butmagnificent place, with giant metallic robots, furry fish swimming in an azureunderwater city, lush indoor gardens and an underground maze constructed ofmysterious, inscribed black cubes. In ''Laputa,'' a space battle is apt to createsmoke screens in delicate rainbow colors of blue, green and purple.30

It is clear that Laputa can be placed in the category of humans and technology in theenvironment. Reviewers are of course likely to stop short of disclosing what happens in theend of the story. But since this paper is far from just being a review offilms, its safe to look intothe ending of the film for more environmental perspectives. Muska, the bad guy of the story,pursues the central power of the Laputa complex. In order to stop him from using Laputaspower, the two children, Pazu and Sheeta, end up destroying Laputa instead. This is part ofthe dialogue towards the end of the film, right as they are about to destroy Laputa:

Sheeta: Take root in the ground, live in harmony with the wind, and rejoice thebirds in the coming of spring. No matter how many weapons you have, nomatter how great your technology might be, the world cannot live withoutlove.31

No comment required. Perhaps there is not as much to pursue from Laputa as there was inNausicaa, but there is plenty of examples of environmental perspectives in the next film,which is widely considered to be one of the greatest Japanese films ever made.

Akira is a difficult and complicated film to summarize, and is better to watch than to try


28 Holland, Bernard. New York Times. New York: Aug 30, 1987.

29 James, Caryn. Castle in the Sky: review. New York Times. New York: 1986

30 James, Caryn. Review: Animated Adventure Fantasy from Japan. New York Times. New York: Aug. 1989. p. C.18

31 Laputa: Castle in the Sky.


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to fully explain. The film has been reinterpreted so many times that frankly, I had difficulty inselecting which interpretations to include.

Im not satisfied with any of the plots summaries I found in journal articles and reviews,so I will provide my own. Tetsuo becomes a lab rat for a government project in creating childweapons who can alter physical things with their minds. Kaneda searches for Tetsuo at this

time. In the book Hibakusha Cinema, Freda Freiberg describes the environment in Akira:Certainly the recurrent imagery of cascading rocks, fissures in the earth, fire and flood in thefilm Akira suggest the last-mentioned common experience of natural disaster as much asdamage wrought by military bombardment.32 Then, Tetsuo meets other children who arevictims of the experimentation. They first present themselves in a playful way, by wrappingthemselves in stuffed animals to form the shape of toy-like monsters:

The "toys" are actually representatives, both literally and figuratively, of themutant children, but their manifest narrative function is less terrifying thantheir subliminal one. To any older viewer, the attack of the cute toys beloved ofyoung Japanese even, in the case of girls, into adolescence and beyond,suggests a potential arrogation of power by "children," by a generation very

diff

erent from the one currently in control.33

Many authors and reviewers suggest that these toys turning into monsters is a reflection ofcurrent Japaense society, that this cuteness often found in Japanese toys and media is reallyleading to Japans undoing.

Between meeting the other child victims and feeling inferior to Kaneda, Tetsuopursues ultimate destruction and the child who wiped out Neo Tokyo 30 years prior, Akira.Akiras destruction of Neo Tokyo, and a later scene with Tetsuo, certainly look like atomicbombings. Kaneda for the rest of the film is searching for ways to stop Tetsuo from destroyingmore than he already has.

When Tetsuo finds the remains of Akiras body hidden away, he goes on a rampage.Eventually, he uses his mind to collect scrap metal into his body, and turns into a colossal

biomechanical monster. Tetsuos metamorphasis is one of the most famous scenes inJapanese film. The bookHibakusha Cinema describes this scene:

When Tetsuos body expands and mutates into a horrific pulsating mammothwhich is part animal, part vegetable, part metal, and which engulfs andthreatens to strangle the life out of the only two people in the world that heloves, the unleashing of his ultimate power, nuclear energy, is frightening butcathartica release and a relief from all his torment and suffering.34

With Tetsuo nearly wiping out the entire city, the other child victims sacrifice themselves toend Tetsuo... or not?

Akira ends with a beginning. Tetsuo ultimately mutates into a new being,perhaps even a new universe. Neo Tokyo is largely destroyed by the powers

unleashed by Tetsuo, although some survivors, including Kei and Kaneda,


32 Broderick, Mick. Hibakusha Cinema. London And New York: Kegan Paul International, 1996. pp 96.

33 Napier, Susan J. Panic Sites: The Japanese Imagination of Disaster from Godzilla to Akira. Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2. (Summer, 1993), pp. 345.

34 Broderick, Mick. Hibakusha Cinema. London And New York: Kegan Paul International, 1996. pp 100.


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remain. The film ends with the new entity that is Tetsuo intoning thethreatening words "I am Tetsuo."35

Tetsuo releases nuclear power, dies and is reborn... is this a statement about Japan? That is aquestion that many, many reviewers and authors have asked.

There is one thing that is very much connected with environmental perspectives when

looking at Akira: destruction -- and Akira has plenty of it. Napier says: Focusing on one of thefilms dominant themes, metamorphosis, Akira can be looked at on two levels; as a freshexpression of an alienated youths search for identity and as a cyberpunk mediation onapocalypse.36 Napier comparesAkira to previous films, noting:

The other pattern is what might be labeled an ideological change in terms ofboth the presentation of disaster and in the attitudes inscribed within the filmstoward disaster, from a negative portrayal of disaster in Godzilla and Nipponchinbotsu, toward a virtual celebration of it in Akira.37

Further writing on destruction later in the article:Out of Akira's orgy of destruction arises a new world, but this too is notreassuring. The film's postmodern refusal of traditional narrative closure,

combined with the insistent absence of traditional Japanese culture, brings usback to one of the central questions of this article: the role of history in modernJapanese society.38

Between the polluted post-apocalpytic world, the nuclear bombing-like explosionswiping out Neo Tokyo, the religious undertones throughout and strong at the ending, andvast amounts of destruction and chaos, it is fair to say that Akira falls into every category Imentioned at the beginning of this project. I would love to write more about Akira, but SusanNapiers article and book dive more deeply into the film than I would ever be able to do, andseeing the film is more useful than any book or article. But, for environmental perspectives,there are other films to discuss still.

The icon of Studio Ghilbi is Totoro. Totoro is a large, fluffy, and cute bear-like kami thatdrives the curiosity of two young girls who struggle with a mother facing serious illness. Sowhat does Totoro represent? A beautifully written explanation of what Totoro represents fromKeiko McDonalds excellent, and refreshingly indepth, bookReading a Japanese Film:

Totoros place in nature is affirmed by the umbrella Satsuki offers him. Rain iswetting him, like them, yet she has to show him how to take shelter under thishuman artifact. His response is telling, too. He gives the girls a packet of seeds.

Thanks to Totoros magical powers, the girls are put in touch with afreewheeling fantasy mix of nature and divinity. They plant the seeds he gavethem and then wait, as children will, impatiently. The camera hovers, offering afaithful record of their nave anticipation and anxiety. Finally, the seeds sprout.

The long wait yields a dramatic highlight as Totoro and tiny furry creaturesappear, unfolding a musical spectacle rich in effects of sympathetic magic.







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2. The Peach Orchard - a peach orchard that was chopped down3. The Blizzard - a group of mountaineers traveling up a mountain4. The Tunnel - an army officer who sees his fallen soldiers5. Crows - the work of Vincent Van Gogh6. Mount Fuji in Red - a nuclear plant melting down and killing all of Japan

7. The Weeping Demon - the surviving mutants of a nuclear tragedy8. Village of the Watermills - a visitor travels to a very old style village, ending with a happyfuneral

So looking at the eight dreams, it is very obvious that Mount Fuji in Red and theWeeping Demon are well in the category of nuclear topics. In reality, every single one of thesedreams is somehow connected to the environment. Kurosawa even encountered someenvironmental difficulties while attempting to shoot the dream Crows:

The cities and countryside are so changed that it is difficult to produce a filmwith a beautiful backdrop, which Kurosawa complained about in his last days.When he directed the van Gogh episode in his Dreams, he had to scour theentire country to find a site with no modern buildings or electric pylons where

he could reproduce a French cornfi

eld.44

The first five themes all connect Shinto to the environment, the first two the most obviousconnection between the two:

In the first three episodes, we encounter some elements of animism: foxes thatserve as the assistants of kami (a god or goddess), live dolls and spirits of peachtrees, and a Snow Woman who is the incarnation of snow. According toanimism, the universe and all things have spirits, . . . and nature is sacred andworshipped. But ghosts and spirits of ancestors too are part of nature and ofanimism, and therefore it is not surprising that in the fourth episode the ghostof a dead person appears in the dream.. . . Thus, the first half of the film presents four variations of the spiritual rapport

between humans and the natural world. At the beginning, this rapport can beseen as a paradise, but sometimes nature's reaction to human beings can bedifferent from the gentleness of a mother. According to Sate, the fifth episode,"Crows," serves as a transition between the two parts. He enters Van Gogh'spaintings, where he encounters Van Gogh himself. Sato perceives Kurosawa asexpressing here his lament and discomfort that adults are incapable of enteringthe animist world.45

Serpers article does much more to link Shinto and environmentalism in Dreams. The last threedreams however are of great interest to the subject of this project, connecting Shinto, nucleartopics, pollution, and humans and technology in the environment all at the same time:

In the Mount Fuji in Red sequence, Japans scandalously incompetent nuclear

power industry causes a catastrophic meltdown, and throngs of panickyJapaneseubiquitous in kaiju eigaleap to their deaths like lemmings []And the Weeping Demon sequence, global nuclear war strips away the humanfaade of Japans corrupt ministerial industrial complex and reveals its denizensto be the demons they are. [....] In the final sequence or coda, Village of the


44 Kerr, Alex. Dogs and Demons. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001. pp 330.

45 Serper, Zvika. Kurosawa's "Dreams": A Cinematic Reflection of a Traditional Japanese Context. Cinema Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4. (Summer, 2001), pp. 82.


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Watermills, a hiker wanders into an anachronistic village. There, an old man, theLuddite voice of the film and presumably the director, lectures the hiker on theevils of technology and losing the old ways. [...] This what makes Yume sodisturbing is that it first shocks the audience with images of how science andtechnology create massive destruction, then reassures the audience that

somewhere there is furusato, or native place, where the wellspring ofJapaneseness continues to flow free and pure.46

Serper also provides analysis of the second half of the film:The second half of the film constitutes a clear protest against the destruction ofnature: the meltdown of Mt. Fuji follows the explosion of a nuclear power plant,a meeting occurs with a human being who became a demon after theexplosion, and a meeting takes place with an old man who talks about thedestruction of nature and the possible harmonious coexistence of humans andnature.47

I highly recommend, to those interested in more about this very unique film, to read Serpersvery indepth article in Cinema Journal. This film is one of the greatest examples of

environmental perspectives in Japanesefi

lm.

Princess Mononoke, along with Spirited Away, is considered to be one of Miyazakisgreatest achievements. Although a seemingly simple film, it is actually quite complicated.Mononoke heavily focuses on the role of humans and technology in the environment. Thebook A Century of Popular Culture in Japan has a very indepth view of the film PrincessMononoke, written by Melek Ortabasi, to which I will be referring extensively in this section.

The chapter discusses many more issues than environmental ones, but this project, of course,has its focus.

The films conflict is the rivalry between Eboshi and San, with Ashitaka, who representsthe viewer of the film, is stuck between aiding humans (Eboshi) or aiding nature (San):

All three of the main characters demonstrate a crisis in representation. Ashitakabecomes unwillingly involved in the conflict, which is initiated by Eboshi. Hergoal is the killing of the forest gods, whom she sees as obstructing humanprogress. Her efforts are resisted by San, the savage princess of the films title,and some of the gods themselves.48

Particularly of interest is the way in which Miyazaki portrays nature as a spiritual,beautiful being, its icon being the shishigami, the greatest god of the forest.

The sacred forest in Mononoke is stunning in its visual depth and beauty. Therealist quality of the mossy rocks and gently reflective water powerfully conveythe forests vitality. Though the forest is neither sentient nor affective in itself, itlooks more alive than the animated characters that move within its palpablygreen and moist space. Rather than being the theme of the film, the forest ismore like its protagonist: no simple backdrop should take so much attentionaway from the story. Before the forests horrific spiritual death, its awe-inspiring,



47 Serper, Zvika. Kurosawa's "Dreams": A Cinematic Reflection of a Traditional Japanese Context. Cinema Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4. (Summer, 2001), pp. 82.

48 Slaymaker, Douglas, ed. A Century of Popular Culture in Japan. Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen, 2000. pp 209.


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breathing presence strongly suggests the symbolic immanetism said the be thefoundation of native Japanese religion.49

So why did Miyazaki represent nature in this way? Susan Napier gives the reason:Miyazaki believes that these vanished forests still exert a spiritual pull on theaverage urban dweller, and it was this that he attempted to dramatize in his

creation of the forest of the shishigami. [...] Miyazakis super-naturalization ofthe natural is a deliberate de-familiarization strategy offering an alternativevision to the conventional Japanese view of nature, which, whileacknowledging the wildness of nature, prefers to view it as something that canbe tamed and cultivated. In the film nature is beautiful, sacred, and awesome,but it is also vengeful and brutally frightening.50

Other authors have also suggested this idea that the Japanese tend to view nature as onlybeautiful in a context that it can be tamed, as I wrote in the beginning of this project, so it isfascinating to see that this exact idea is being countered in a film, an icon of culture.

Much happens throughout the plot, a war erupts between the humans and the gods,plenty of people, animals, and gods die, and Ashitaka is witness to it all. I would love to write

about every single little detail of thisfi

lm and how it relates to the environment, but I havemany other films yet to cover, so Ill skip to the ending of the film:In the films apocalyptic climax, Eboshi, along with samurai and priests from thecourt, battles against all the creatures of the forest and succeeds in cutting offthe head of the shishigami. This action sets off the destruction of the entireforest, shown through images of the earth turning brown and cracking openand the forest spirits dying, while the immense shishigami, barely alive,searches helplessly for its head. Eboshi has promised the head torepresentatives from the Yamato court, who intend to take it back to theemperor, but in the films climactic scene, San and Ashitaka unite to seize thehead and return it to the shishigami. The film ends with the apparent

restoration of nature and harmony as the world turns green again, but theambiguous currents remain beneath the surface.51

So what does all of this represent? Susan Napier looks at it from the perspective taken bymost western film reviewers: It is a wake-up call to human beings in a time of environmentaland spiritual crisis that attempts to provoke its audience into realizing how much they havealready lost and how much more they stand to lose.52

The film represents the past, in the form of nature, struggling against change, in theform of industrialization; the ultimate statement is that nature will dominate and destroythose who work to change against it, but rewards those who can both change and adapt.Additionally, Ashitaka is the viewer of the film, San is Miyazaki, and Eboshi is modern society. Isay this from some of the interviews that Miyazaki has given. The following is his own words:

I want to see the sea rise over Tokyo and the NTV tower become an island. I'dlike to see Manhattan underwater. I'd like to see when the human population


49 Slaymaker, Douglas, ed. A Century of Popular Culture in Japan. Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen, 2000. pp 213.

50 Napier, Susan J. Anime from Akira to Howls Moving Castle. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. pp 242, 244.




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plummets and there are no more high-rises, because nobody's buying them.I'm excited about that. Money and desire--all that is going to collapse, and wildgreen grasses are going to take over.53

Anyone that would argue that Shinto has no influence in modern Japanese society can lookto Princess Mononoke: Miyazaki must have known very well that the images of gods of the

forest would conjure up in the Japanese mind at least some desire to return to these,respectful of nature, roots.

The story ofBlue Sub is, like more recent Japanese animated film, a seemingly simplestory that is really quite complicated. Set in the close future, the oceans have risen to a levelcausing the cities to be flooded, and the survivors are traveling on boats and submarines. Theflooding has been blamed on a scientist, Zorndyke, and his creations of mixed species.Humanity is in a war with Zorndykes creations, and nuclear weapons are coming intodiscussion. The film focuses on a particular soldier and the submarine he drives. The plot isfilled with action... and those interested can watch the film to find out what happens in themiddle.

The soldier, Hayami, finds out Zorndykes true plan: to have humans nuke his creations,thus changing the magnetism of the planet, would turn the planets rotation and kill allhumans, who are causing the planet to lose all of its other species. After a confrontation,Zorndyke commits suicide or otherwise dies, and this ends the war between humans andZorndykes creations.

This film has very clear examples of humans and technology in the environment, aswell as the negatives of the use of nuclear weapons. Particularly of interest is the manner inwhich the film portrays extreme environmentalists as being a hindrance to fixing the truesource of the environments problems: the attitude of the human race towards theenvironment.

The next film, after this series of animated films, is a live action film.

I actually found a review of the film, Charisma, that is useful for the look ofenvironmental perspectives. I would have had more to say on this project, but the reviewerprovides a better analysis of the environmental perspectives better than I can:

Charisma is a highly allegorical, complex piece of cinema. The film seems towant to explore the nature of individuality by using the tree as a metaphor ofthe individual in modern society. The other characters represent the competingviews on the possible deterioration of society due to the rise in the exercise ofindividual rights. Kurosawa [not Akira Kurosawa] is implicitly intent in showingthat the concept of Western individualism can only exist in conflict with the

more Eastern concept of duty, a core belief in historical Japan. The director wasinitially drawn to the subject matter by the politics of environmentalists, but hisaddition of human drama has created a hybrid genre piece: part horror movie,part detective story, part cautionary tale. This mixture is extremely effectivewhen the characters' motivations are justified by what they repeatedly say is"natural." The characters can be seen as part of a human ecosystem; they


53 http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/hayao_miyazaki.shtml
http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/


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compete and cooperate with each other for survival. Everything they do affectsthe others around them, but they fail to understand this or even theimplications of their actions. The film's final shot emphasizes anenvironmentalist belief that everything is symbiotically linked, both the forestand the human ecosystem. Nothing exists in isolation.54

Yet another Miyazaki film for this project? Of course. Miyazakis most recent work,Howls Moving Castle, is not particularly strong for environmental stuff. Spirited Away,considered to be tied with Princess Mononokeas Miyazakis greatest work, is not as oriented tothe environment as much as it is about childhood and growing up. I am not, unlike some ofthe other films, going to summarize the plot at all, but there is a character in Spirited Awaywho vividly demonstrates Miyazakis environmentalism:

Okutaresama is the one with the most urgent message. He is the spirit of theriver, and his body has absorbed the junk, waste and sludge that has beenthrown into it over the years.55

Miyazaki, in an interview, gives the inspiration of Okutaresamas story:

There is a river close to where I live in the countryside. When they cleaned theriver we got to see what was at the bottom of it, which was truly putrid. In theriver there was a bicycle, with its wheel sticking out above the surface of thewater. So they thought it would be easy to pull out, but it was terribly difficultbecause it had become so heavy from all the dirt it had collected over theyears. Now they've managed to clean up the river, the fish are slowly returningto it, so all is not lost. But the smell of what they dug up was really awful.Everyone had just been throwing stuffinto that river over the years, so it was anabsolute mess.56

The book, The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki, provides an analysis of the River Spirit:Chichiros reactivation of a submerged early-childhood memory will enable herto remind Haku of his true identity as the Kohaku River Spirit prior to hissubjugation by Yu-Baaba. The situations and events that unfold within Yuyarepeatedly allude, more or less explicitly, not only to the issues of consumerismand materialism but also to environmental depletion and societal atomization.[...] The River Spirit: a once noble and pure creature transformed into a slimy,fetid monster by its unintentional absorption of heaps of junk metal ofprecisely the kind one would expect to find at the bottom of many of todaysstreams. A succinct but visually evocative allusion to the problem of pollutioncan also be found in the image of the bath house chimneys discharging blacksmoke into the surrounding blue sky.57

Five recent years pass here, and strangely I have looked for Japanese films made in thistime with environmental perspectives, and have failed to find any. Perhaps they exist and notmuch has been written down yet.


54 Shapiro, James Emanuel. Charisma Review. http://www.reel.com/ accessed July 27, 2007.

55 Ebert, Roger.

56 http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/hayao_miyazaki.shtml

57 Cavallaro, Dani. The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki. Jefferson: McFarland, 2006. pp 139,141.
http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/http://www.reel.com/http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/http://www.reel.com/http://www.reel.com/


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There are three questions that need to be asked of this project:

What solutions are offered in Japanese films?

Is this causing the Japanese to be more environmentally aware?

What relevance does this have to Americans and the Western world?The first question can be answered by reviewing this project and by watching the filmsin this project. If there is one thing I can say after reviewing all of this, it is the message: whatneeds to change to save and protect the environment are not so much individual policies orparticular actions, but that the attitudes people have of the environment.

The second question.... it would be fantastic if I had a survey that compared what filmsdifferent Japanese people have seen and how environmentally aware they are; if anything isclear from my writing style it is that I am no hardcore scholar or researcher. Any volunteers?

So I dont have that information. One of the books I read for this project has thisstatement, which is now very relevant: Studies do report that the mass media can instigatewaves of public concern over issues, despite no real change in the incidence of the

problem.58

So how has environmental awareness changed in Japan?People watch films, people see fake problems in films, then people look at reality and

realize those problems are actually happening, people complain, people organize,organizations lobby politicians, politicians take action. Is film influencing the Japanese peopleto be more environmentally aware? Perhaps.

If it works for the Japanese, then that would answer the third question. What relevancedoes this have to Americans and the Western world? Simply put, Japanese films are becomingmore and more popular in the States, and as that happens, these environmental messagesend up influencing Americans and otherwise Western people as well. Also the fact that theenvironment is truly shared by the world, and if even one country becomes moreenvironmentally friendly, in this increasingly international world, it improves the environment

for everyone.Turning back to how I started this project, many reviewers have criticized these

Japanese films that have environmental themes. But these films, and other media, are usingtheir cultural force to actually try to improve something significant. That alone is worth theeffort.


58 Broadbent, Jeffrey. Environmental Politics in Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. pp 109.


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Akira. Dir. Katsuhiro Otomo. 1988. DVD. Toho.

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Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. 1986. DVD. Ghilbi.

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