From the first human footfall on the Japanese isles millennia ago, the earliest settlers must have felt they had stepped onto an angry land.
Ishigaki's location is actually a bit misleading; though it belongs to Japan, it sits just off the east coast of Taiwan, making it considerably warmer than other Japanese isles.
Ancient Japanese swordsmiths used to apply folding techniques similar to origami to create the ultra-strong yet flexible weaponry that earned the Empire of the Rising Sun dominance over the Japanese Isles for centuries.
Once in New Spain, Alonso Muños met with the Viceroy Luis de Velasco, who agreed to send an ambassador to Japan in the person of the famous explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno with the added mission of exploring the "Gold and silver islands" that were thought to be east of the Japanese isles.
Anderson is a white, non-Japanese director, but had he not been interested in the power dynamics behind translation, and instead made a twee fever dream imitating Japanese aesthetics, "Isle of Dogs" would have looked and sounded a lot different.
Japanese Americans: Uh... Walked out of Isle of Dogs, made me so uncomfortable.
Hong Sang-soo's "Claire's Camera," featuring dialogue in Korean, English, and French, opening this weekend (and Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs," in English and Japanese, coming March 23rd), got me thinking about other movies that feature multiple languages.
"Isle of Dogs" doesn't draw upon Japanese history, doesn't delve into Japanese politics, doesn't consider the present-day specifics of Japanese society.
Visually and thematically, Isle of Dogs is steeped in contemporary Japanese pop culture and futuristic iconography, but it also draws on traditional influences – not least in its witty allusions to Hokusai and other classic art.
I saw it as someone who, upon hearing that name, is forcibly reminded of Oni-ga-shima, the isle of demons where Peach Boy, a hero of Japanese folklore, fights evil with his canine band of brothers.
A week ago, I saw Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs," or "Inu-ga-shima". I saw it as someone who, upon hearing that name, is forcibly reminded of Oni-ga-shima, the isle of demons where Peach Boy, a hero of Japanese folklore, fights evil with his canine band of brothers.
