As Typhoon No 14 lashed past central Japan plains glancing past Tokyo the winds here were still strong enough to give me one of those Stormriders hairdos as I struggled to get to school today. On my way home as I got off the train station I was greeted with a quaint and nostalgic sight; in the far distance the setting sun has spilled a wondrous palette of reds and oranges reflecting off the voluminous clouds, framed by the distinctive silhouetted rooftops of Japanese houses and cascading cables that stretched from post to post. A beautiful sight by any other day, but more significant today because I had created an exact image of it a full 6 years ago for my final year animation project.

Truly, this is the Shinjuku Dreams.

A half-reluctant 3 days holiday trip to Yamanashi Highlands had me reliving the forgotten horrors of an organized group tour. Sponsored by a certain Rotary Club, whose members have affliations with my former Japanese language school, I had fatally commited my name a month ago, thinking perhaps I could meet up with some of my old friends, most of whom didn’t turn up anyway. So after checking into the hotel the “program” started as we were ferried from place to place, touch and go travelling, stopping at one souvenir town after another till I was sure I won’t survive till day three.

And what’s with the incessant photo taking ?? Sure, I mean if the scenery’s justifiably beautiful and all, but the crazied lot were snapping everywhere they went, outside a cliched souvenir shop, front of the roadside, long as they could find a place to stand. This lady, seeing me grieving in pain outside the souvenir shop, came up and asked : ” Say, you don’t like taking pictures ? ”

Silence.

No more group tours for me.

An invitation from my good friends Takeshi+Kojima for a summer vacation in Takeshi’s hometown Gunma ( a largely rural prefecture north of Tokyo, very Riri ShuShu-ish. ) was an excellent way to kickstart the vacation, although temperatures there soared to a searing 37.1 degrees as we arrived, threatening to set my short crop on fire. This time round armed with a video camera documentation was high on the tasklist, and the highlights certainly had to include a drive up mountain Akagiyama ( home to the manga and film Initial D, although the drive up the winding roads gave me none of that “need for speed” gusto but a splitting headache instead. ), as well as the annual Takasaki summer festival, complete with fireworks and folkdances.

Two production stills from a short film production “Hanako to Taiichi” that just wrapped last Sunday. The story entails a girl set on suicide that receives some pretty stylized divine intervention. I was covering lighting on set and will also be doing a cut of the film soon. Shooting on location the view and backdrop from the rooftop was simply fantastic, and very…well, Japanese. If you’ve seen the film Tokyo Sora, you’ll know what I mean.

In one of the ending sequences from Iwai Shunji’s Hana and Alice, Alice, one half of the film’s 2 main protaganists, turns up for a teenage magazine covergirl audition. Having been scouted by a talent agency early in the film but with several botched auditions so far ( including an excruciatingly hilarious Kitkat CM screentest ), she attends unenthusiastically, nonchalant at best. As her turn arrives she is quizzed on by the young hotshot director ( a cameo neatly performed by Osawa Takao, star of Sekainochushinde, aiwosakebu )about what she can do, but is quickly dismissed after replying “ballet”.

Unbeknownst to herself, she quips : ” Can I dance for real ? ” Taken aback by her spontaneity the director nods, and she arabesques away, the audition long forgotten as she lost herself in her own world of ballet. This burst of creative emancipation reminds me fondly of my own interview ( with a panel of 10 judges ) during my scholarship selection, for when quizzed on matters of filmmaking I had started out quivering but was soon taken over by a true sense of affection for the subject, and it can be truly wondrous to care passionately about something. Well, so I think.

Respect I believe, is the appropriate word of the day for Mr Nolan, wtih 3 features to his credit, the latest impressionable Batman Begins, Insomnia, and Memento. Did anyone mention he’s 35 ?

That said, perhaps there’s still time to rethink my silly filmmaking antics and seriously consider lifelihood as a Char Kueh Tiao hawker.

Anyway, go here for a decent review of Batman Begins : http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/2005_07/batman.php