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To travel deeper and deeper
into the Inland Sea
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00:00:51,428 --> 00:00:54,931
is like traveling
deeper and deeper into time -
3
00:00:55,765 --> 00:00:58,977
into yesterday... and the day before that.
4
00:01:08,695 --> 00:01:11,364
A journey is always something of a flight.
5
00:01:11,448 --> 00:01:13,783
You go to reach out,
but you also go to escape.
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00:01:16,035 --> 00:01:18,288
I'm going to see the islands
and all they seem to promise,
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00:01:18,371 --> 00:01:21,458
but, at the same time,
I am going to escape the mainland
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00:01:21,541 --> 00:01:22,834
and all that I know it contains.
9
00:01:29,507 --> 00:01:33,428
I find less fault with Japan than
with the century that is destroying this country
10
00:01:33,511 --> 00:01:34,929
along with all the others.
11
00:01:36,139 --> 00:01:37,849
Escaping makes me a romantic,
12
00:01:37,932 --> 00:01:40,977
but to be a romantic now
is to be realistic.
13
00:01:41,728 --> 00:01:44,439
Perhaps that is why I chose Japan
in which to live.
14
00:01:44,856 --> 00:01:47,484
In Japan, for the moment,
the past lives on.
15
00:01:52,071 --> 00:01:54,699
My search is for the real Japanese,
the originals.
16
00:01:55,950 --> 00:01:59,037
Somewhere near the sea,
I believe, I will find them -
17
00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,539
the people the Japanese ought to be,
18
00:02:01,623 --> 00:02:03,208
the people they once were.
19
00:02:31,194 --> 00:02:32,612
The Inland Sea...
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00:02:33,613 --> 00:02:38,159
a lakelike body of water bounded by three
of Japan's four major islands.
21
00:02:39,619 --> 00:02:43,206
By Japanese standards, it is big -
or at least long.
22
00:02:44,082 --> 00:02:48,044
Stretched elsewhere, it would reach
from Little Rock to Dallas.
23
00:02:49,212 --> 00:02:53,216
And it's narrow - like Japan -
more a large river than a small sea.
24
00:02:55,134 --> 00:02:57,387
The Japanese call it Setonaikai-
25
00:02:58,179 --> 00:03:00,056
a sea within straits.
26
00:03:01,349 --> 00:03:04,602
It's long been just that,
a mercantile route.
27
00:03:05,603 --> 00:03:08,690
Goods from Kyushu, the southern island,
28
00:03:08,773 --> 00:03:12,110
coming up to Osaka
at the northern end of this sea.
29
00:03:13,111 --> 00:03:16,114
Goods from Tokyo
shipped down to these island shores.
30
00:03:17,365 --> 00:03:20,660
The beauty of this inland sea is famous
but disregarded.
31
00:03:21,995 --> 00:03:25,915
It has always been something to get across
rather than merely to enjoy.
32
00:03:30,128 --> 00:03:34,007
It's been called the Aegean of the East,
but there are differences.
33
00:03:34,090 --> 00:03:38,511
A castaway, given the choice between
a Greek island and a Japanese island,
34
00:03:38,595 --> 00:03:40,221
would choose the latter.
35
00:03:44,017 --> 00:03:46,227
It looks like it would be
a nice place to live.
36
00:03:49,772 --> 00:03:52,817
This islanded sea
is extraordinarily beautiful.
37
00:03:53,276 --> 00:03:55,486
And part of its beauty
is that it is passing.
38
00:03:56,905 --> 00:04:01,701
The modern mainland reaches out and
converts each captured island into waste.
39
00:04:01,784 --> 00:04:03,870
Already fish, once so abundant,
40
00:04:03,953 --> 00:04:07,206
are leaving their annual paths -
maintained for centuries -
41
00:04:07,290 --> 00:04:09,167
and are seeking clearer depths.
42
00:04:09,792 --> 00:04:13,755
The great bridges that will inundate
all the islands with buses and motorcars
43
00:04:13,838 --> 00:04:15,340
are still only on the drawing boards.
44
00:04:15,423 --> 00:04:18,760
But in a few decades,
the ruin will be complete.
45
00:04:18,843 --> 00:04:20,470
But not quite yet.
46
00:05:17,151 --> 00:05:21,739
This temple
is one of the oldest of its kind.
47
00:05:21,823 --> 00:05:31,822
It was built 240 years ago,
and next year it will be rebuilt.
48
00:05:31,916 --> 00:05:41,915
In order to repair the temple,
it will cost almost 100 million yen.
49
00:05:42,343 --> 00:05:52,342
If we spend the same amount,
we can tear it down and rebuild it.
50
00:05:55,940 --> 00:05:58,943
Suppose we destroy the temple.
51
00:05:59,027 --> 00:06:05,742
It's common in Japan for a big machine
to come in and,
52
00:06:05,825 --> 00:06:10,621
in one day, destroy everything.
53
00:06:10,705 --> 00:06:16,961
That's much cheaper than to have
a human being climb on the roof
54
00:06:17,045 --> 00:06:20,757
and save each tile.
55
00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:25,386
Workmen would prefer
to demolish everything,
56
00:06:25,470 --> 00:06:33,811
rather than to take the time
to preserve one thing.
57
00:06:33,895 --> 00:06:39,442
Preservation costs too much.
58
00:06:39,525 --> 00:06:45,198
So now I'm worried about which way to go.
59
00:07:20,691 --> 00:07:29,784
Growing up, I was influenced
by my older sister, who loved movies.
60
00:07:29,867 --> 00:07:35,581
Audrey Hepburn was very popular then,
and I saw about ten of her films.
61
00:07:35,665 --> 00:07:39,085
Funny Face, The Nun's Story,
Green Mansions.
62
00:07:39,168 --> 00:07:43,005
Around that time,I also saw From Here to Eternity,
63
00:07:43,089 --> 00:07:46,634
about Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
64
00:07:46,717 --> 00:07:51,222
After that, I became a great fan
of Frank Sinatra.
65
00:07:52,140 --> 00:08:01,482
I used to listen to "South of the Border"
on the radio.
66
00:08:04,152 --> 00:08:11,659
I like standards the best -
"Yesterdays," "My Way."
67
00:08:11,742 --> 00:08:14,370
I like the older numbers.
68
00:08:14,453 --> 00:08:20,585
♪ The nightingale told its fairy tale ♪
69
00:08:21,252 --> 00:08:25,548
♪ Of paradise where roses grew ♪
70
00:08:27,049 --> 00:08:30,011
♪ Though I dream in vain ♪
71
00:08:32,555 --> 00:08:38,186
♪ In my heart
It always will remain ♪
72
00:08:40,688 --> 00:08:43,649
♪ My stardust melody ♪
73
00:08:44,984 --> 00:08:49,572
♪ The memory of love's refrain ♪
74
00:08:49,655 --> 00:08:53,868
♪ Do-do, do-do, do ♪
75
00:09:15,514 --> 00:09:18,351
I ask a girl if the local shrine is old.
76
00:09:18,851 --> 00:09:20,519
Oh, this she doesn't know.
77
00:09:21,354 --> 00:09:23,606
Naturally polite, she improves on nature.
78
00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:26,025
One should not be too knowing.
79
00:09:26,859 --> 00:09:29,237
The well-brought-up young maiden
insists on this.
80
00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:30,988
I, too, insist.
81
00:09:31,072 --> 00:09:33,074
- Did she ever go there?
- "Oh, yes, often."
82
00:09:33,991 --> 00:09:37,119
Since this question is about herself
and not about the dangerous outside world,
83
00:09:37,203 --> 00:09:39,288
she feels quite free to answer.
84
00:09:39,372 --> 00:09:41,290
"It's just over there, on the hill.
85
00:09:41,374 --> 00:09:43,000
And take care of the big crabs!"
86
00:09:45,253 --> 00:09:46,587
Shrines lie on heights.
87
00:09:46,671 --> 00:09:49,799
You go, up, up, up to worship.
88
00:09:50,508 --> 00:09:53,302
The steps lead into the sky
and are always steep.
89
00:09:54,262 --> 00:09:57,974
The faithful must arrive puffing, gasping,
senses reeling.
90
00:09:58,808 --> 00:10:00,476
This is as it should be.
91
00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:04,939
One arrives as though newborn -
helpless, vulnerable.
92
00:10:06,857 --> 00:10:10,278
A shrine is quiet, quieter than a church.
93
00:10:11,153 --> 00:10:14,031
A church is hushed
because one is made to be quiet.
94
00:10:14,740 --> 00:10:16,742
A shrine is simply quiet.
95
00:10:51,444 --> 00:10:54,822
Shrine prayer is not communal prayer.
It is solitary and spontaneous.
96
00:10:55,865 --> 00:10:58,784
No one says when to begin or when to stop.
97
00:10:58,868 --> 00:11:00,536
You choose your own time.
98
00:11:00,619 --> 00:11:04,040
You speak to the gods as you might
greet your hosts at a party.
99
00:11:07,585 --> 00:11:10,921
Gods like offerings.
The Shinto gods prefer money.
100
00:11:17,511 --> 00:11:20,890
Also, Shinto is nature.
101
00:11:20,973 --> 00:11:22,308
Or perhaps animism.
102
00:11:23,976 --> 00:11:26,896
Shinto is the only
formal animistic religion left,
103
00:11:26,979 --> 00:11:28,606
and it's a true religion.
104
00:11:29,315 --> 00:11:31,442
It has roots deep in all of us.
105
00:11:31,525 --> 00:11:33,694
It inspires that feeling children know
106
00:11:33,778 --> 00:11:37,156
when the wind or a rock
is made god for a week or a day.
107
00:11:37,239 --> 00:11:39,575
Its essence is unknown and unknowable.
108
00:11:39,658 --> 00:11:44,372
Yet this unknown does not exclude us
because we, too, are unknown.
109
00:11:57,218 --> 00:11:59,553
One of the charms of Shikoku's Takamatsu,
110
00:11:59,637 --> 00:12:02,390
to which the boat from Shodo
has now brought me,
111
00:12:02,473 --> 00:12:06,394
is that trees have been planted
and there is a plaza for sauntering.
112
00:12:06,477 --> 00:12:09,105
One rarely finds such a plaza in Japan.
113
00:12:09,188 --> 00:12:11,607
The general idea
is that we Japanese are so busy
114
00:12:11,690 --> 00:12:13,692
that we have no time for strolling.
115
00:12:14,193 --> 00:12:16,904
In the same way,
bars and coffee shops close at midnight
116
00:12:16,987 --> 00:12:20,282
because we Japanese are such early risers.
117
00:12:20,366 --> 00:12:23,327
In point of fact,
the Japanese are almost Turkish
118
00:12:23,411 --> 00:12:25,788
in their love of a leisurely
and aimless walk.
119
00:12:25,871 --> 00:12:30,626
And, in the cities, they also rise later
than any other people I know,
120
00:12:30,709 --> 00:12:33,879
and no one is ready for business
until 10:00 in the morning.
121
00:12:34,672 --> 00:12:38,634
Takamatsu is different only in that it admits
the Japanese fondness for strolling.
122
00:12:50,646 --> 00:12:54,525
And there are the coffee shops -
great harbingers of modern culture.
123
00:12:55,109 --> 00:12:57,695
Here is where one first glimpses
the foreign innovation
124
00:12:57,778 --> 00:12:59,572
that will shortly become Japanese.
125
00:13:11,041 --> 00:13:14,587
In the musical coffee shops,
you first heard Schoenberg.
126
00:13:14,670 --> 00:13:18,507
In the artistic coffee shops,
you first saw a picture of a Giacometti.
127
00:13:20,384 --> 00:13:22,761
Copies of the latest Vogue,
the latest Evergreen Review,
128
00:13:22,845 --> 00:13:25,764
lie scattered in coffee shops all over Japan.
129
00:13:25,848 --> 00:13:27,183
There is no attempt at discrimination,
130
00:13:27,266 --> 00:13:31,270
but many of the pieces of various
foreign cultures are lying there,
131
00:13:31,353 --> 00:13:34,023
all brand new and ready to be put together
132
00:13:34,106 --> 00:13:37,568
like pieces of some giant
and scattered puzzle.
133
00:14:43,342 --> 00:14:45,594
The boat has rounded the spit.
134
00:14:45,678 --> 00:14:51,183
There, on the other side,
is a tiny island - high, a rockery,
135
00:14:51,267 --> 00:14:54,144
the kind of rocks one sees
in Chinese Sung paintings.
136
00:14:55,104 --> 00:14:58,148
At the very top,
surrounded by wind-bent pines,
137
00:14:58,232 --> 00:14:59,650
a small shrine.
138
00:15:00,859 --> 00:15:02,611
The prospect is beautiful.
139
00:15:02,695 --> 00:15:04,446
The scene is made of so little -
140
00:15:04,530 --> 00:15:08,117
the horizon, some rocks,
a pine or two, the sky.
141
00:15:09,952 --> 00:15:13,414
If I had a picture of it,
I would have said it was "pretty" -
142
00:15:13,497 --> 00:15:15,749
a postcard view, typical Japan.
143
00:15:15,833 --> 00:15:19,253
But coming upon it in a boat
under a summer morning sky,
144
00:15:19,336 --> 00:15:22,214
I was startled into beholding its simplicity.
145
00:15:24,216 --> 00:15:27,428
It's difficult to believe
or remember or admit
146
00:15:27,511 --> 00:15:30,306
that the greatest beauty
is always accidental.
147
00:15:30,389 --> 00:15:35,561
And this accidental quality is to be captured
only if the full context is shown.
148
00:15:37,313 --> 00:15:39,356
Japanese scenery is like Japanese poetry.
149
00:15:40,232 --> 00:15:43,319
Both its meaning and its beauty
depend upon a context.
150
00:15:43,736 --> 00:15:47,615
One observes a relationship
that has hitherto escaped notice
151
00:15:47,698 --> 00:15:50,743
but one which, once seen,
becomes inevitable.
152
00:15:52,995 --> 00:15:54,496
Travelers from the fragmented West
153
00:15:54,580 --> 00:15:58,876
are ravished by a vision of such wholeness,
such natural inclusion.
154
00:15:59,668 --> 00:16:05,674
I sit in the boat, rest against the warm wood,
the sun raining upon me,
155
00:16:05,758 --> 00:16:08,218
and I am happier
than I have been for weeks or months.
156
00:16:09,136 --> 00:16:13,891
I'm happy because I am suddenly whole
and I know who I am.
157
00:16:14,683 --> 00:16:18,896
I'm a man sitting in a boat
and looking at a landscape.
158
00:16:34,662 --> 00:16:37,915
The next day,
I decide to go and see Yashima.
159
00:16:39,083 --> 00:16:41,085
Here, toward the end of the 12th century,
160
00:16:41,168 --> 00:16:44,880
was fought one of the many battles
between the Heike and the Genji clans,
161
00:16:44,963 --> 00:16:48,634
two enormous families that seem
to have spent a third of the century
162
00:16:48,717 --> 00:16:52,179
chasing each other about
in the complexities of Japanese history.
163
00:16:57,810 --> 00:17:00,104
They fought along the beaches
below these cliffs.
164
00:17:00,187 --> 00:17:03,524
The killings must have been dreadful,
but, all the same,
165
00:17:03,607 --> 00:17:06,735
I imagine that the massacres
were held according to rules.
166
00:17:07,986 --> 00:17:10,447
The enemy must not get too far from sight.
167
00:17:11,198 --> 00:17:13,784
Battle lines must be drawn up.
168
00:17:13,867 --> 00:17:16,245
If women and babes in arms
are to be slaughtered,
169
00:17:16,328 --> 00:17:18,539
this must be agreed upon ahead of time.
170
00:17:19,623 --> 00:17:23,252
I cannot imagine the Japanese fighting
otherwise - not among themselves -
171
00:17:23,335 --> 00:17:27,256
just as they cannot drink a simple cup of tea
without an elaborate etiquette.
172
00:17:35,264 --> 00:17:40,477
Ever since my childhood,
I've liked to write characters.
173
00:17:41,145 --> 00:17:46,900
Of course, you can improve your style
with practice,
174
00:17:46,984 --> 00:17:51,363
but some people are born
with a talent for it.
175
00:17:51,447 --> 00:17:55,117
Like singing, for example.
Some can practice forever
176
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:59,705
and still never be able to carry a tune.
177
00:17:59,788 --> 00:18:07,337
Others are born with -
how do you call it? A gift.
178
00:18:07,421 --> 00:18:09,423
Well, the same is true for calligraphy.
179
00:18:09,506 --> 00:18:15,012
The characters take on my style
through practice.
180
00:18:15,095 --> 00:18:19,433
First I just copy.
181
00:18:19,516 --> 00:18:26,857
Naturally, it becomes mine through my mind,
then through my hand.
182
00:18:26,940 --> 00:18:32,070
I don't have to do this for a living.
183
00:18:32,154 --> 00:18:39,620
I do as I please
because I have plenty of time up here.
184
00:19:33,048 --> 00:19:34,591
Always in Japan,
185
00:19:34,675 --> 00:19:38,637
a little scratching under the asphalt highway
or the concrete high-rise apartment house
186
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:40,848
brings history bubbling to the surface.
187
00:19:42,599 --> 00:19:46,728
One little port advertises something
called Thumb Mountain.
188
00:19:46,812 --> 00:19:48,021
And there it is.
189
00:19:49,439 --> 00:19:51,817
Another has an Eight-Man Rock.
190
00:19:51,900 --> 00:19:53,610
This is where, as indicated,
191
00:19:53,694 --> 00:19:57,447
a rock under which eight men
were somehow or other buried.
192
00:19:59,116 --> 00:20:01,743
And somewhere else, Kobo Daishi came
193
00:20:01,827 --> 00:20:04,496
and, since it was windy,
put up a screen break of rocks -
194
00:20:04,580 --> 00:20:06,123
a titanic windbreak.
195
00:20:07,207 --> 00:20:13,797
Or back in Yashima, where its shape
suggests its name - Flat-Roofed Island.
196
00:20:13,881 --> 00:20:17,885
In the waters surrounding Japan,
there are 38 islands named Oshima.
197
00:20:19,303 --> 00:20:22,931
The man who counted them was a priest
with apparently nothing better to do.
198
00:20:23,599 --> 00:20:25,309
He had only a small map.
199
00:20:25,392 --> 00:20:27,936
If he had had a larger one,
he would have found more.
200
00:20:28,395 --> 00:20:31,732
"Oshima" means "big island,"
though most of them are quite small.
201
00:20:33,483 --> 00:20:36,945
The one toward which my boat
was carrying me was one of the smallest.
202
00:20:37,613 --> 00:20:39,156
I missed the boat I wanted to take
203
00:20:39,239 --> 00:20:42,910
and made the one I did not want
and unwittingly took.
204
00:20:42,993 --> 00:20:45,537
So I arrived on an island not on any map.
205
00:20:49,041 --> 00:20:52,294
It was the Oshima National Leprosarium.
206
00:21:24,326 --> 00:21:26,495
From far off, I heard the music.
207
00:21:26,578 --> 00:21:28,956
A concert? A festival?
208
00:21:29,748 --> 00:21:30,791
No.
209
00:21:31,416 --> 00:21:33,251
This was music piped 'round the island
210
00:21:33,335 --> 00:21:36,004
to guide those
whom the disease had blinded.
211
00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:47,432
Lepers are sent to beautiful,
but inaccessible places like this
212
00:21:47,516 --> 00:21:49,142
as if in compensation.
213
00:21:50,602 --> 00:21:54,106
Or perhaps, being sent so far away,
214
00:21:54,189 --> 00:21:58,443
they naturally live where man has not yet
completely destroyed natural beauty.
215
00:22:10,998 --> 00:22:16,420
Several years ago,
there were trees here, weakened by pollution
216
00:22:16,503 --> 00:22:20,507
and infested by pine tree worms.
217
00:22:20,590 --> 00:22:23,427
When the pine trees were
dug up from their roots,
218
00:22:23,510 --> 00:22:26,430
a Japanese sword was excavated.
219
00:22:26,513 --> 00:22:30,934
The Genji and the Heike clans fought
in the place called Yashima.
220
00:22:31,018 --> 00:22:33,854
They mourned their fallen warriors,
right here,
221
00:22:33,937 --> 00:22:36,565
and buried them under the pine trees.
222
00:22:36,648 --> 00:22:39,609
And so, this area is called Pine Tree Tombs.
223
00:22:41,611 --> 00:22:45,115
We see the lights of Takamatsu
every evening.
224
00:22:45,449 --> 00:22:48,076
It's beautiful at night.
225
00:23:43,048 --> 00:23:50,680
My family's been
cultivating seaweed since my grandpa's time.
226
00:23:50,764 --> 00:23:54,017
I am going to make this my life's work.
227
00:23:54,101 --> 00:23:57,104
Since I was a child,
I've had freedom here,
228
00:23:57,187 --> 00:23:59,773
although, because it's the countryside,
229
00:23:59,856 --> 00:24:02,317
there's nothing going on.
230
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:07,239
I'm happy because I do
whatever I like in this job,
231
00:24:07,322 --> 00:24:12,077
and I don't have to answer to anyone
in a big company.
232
00:24:16,331 --> 00:24:19,292
The Japanese are really a sea people.
233
00:24:19,376 --> 00:24:21,044
They are truly islanders.
234
00:24:21,128 --> 00:24:25,507
To see them hedged in their enormous cities
is to see them unnatural.
235
00:24:25,590 --> 00:24:28,927
The sea -
flat, a line between air and water.
236
00:24:29,010 --> 00:24:31,429
This is the true heritage of the Japanese.
237
00:24:31,513 --> 00:24:34,141
Not the ancient castle, not the modern city.
238
00:25:10,260 --> 00:25:13,305
Old travel journals imply the Japanese
were a rough and lively,
239
00:25:13,388 --> 00:25:15,223
lusty, impatient, enthusiastic,
240
00:25:15,307 --> 00:25:17,434
open, loving, hating people.
241
00:25:17,976 --> 00:25:21,771
And so to an extent, they still are,
but history has changed them.
242
00:25:22,772 --> 00:25:26,109
The longest-lasting totalitarian state
in history
243
00:25:26,193 --> 00:25:30,155
turned the people
into something more circumspect,
244
00:25:30,238 --> 00:25:31,865
something more suspicious.
245
00:25:32,532 --> 00:25:35,702
It inculcated in them
perhaps more civilized,
246
00:25:35,785 --> 00:25:38,371
but certainly more stultifying virtues.
247
00:25:40,999 --> 00:25:45,754
I recognize in my city friends
both that earlier and later people -
248
00:25:45,837 --> 00:25:49,549
flashes of enthusiasm,
bursts of generosity.
249
00:25:49,633 --> 00:25:53,220
This is the quality I seek
and, when I find it, admire.
250
00:25:54,012 --> 00:25:56,556
It is more a Mediterranean
than an Asian characteristic,
251
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,226
but it exists in places in Japan
252
00:25:59,309 --> 00:26:02,062
and must have once existed
everywhere in these islands.
253
00:27:01,454 --> 00:27:04,499
The people of the Inland Sea
have been called backward,
254
00:27:04,582 --> 00:27:06,001
and so they are.
255
00:27:06,710 --> 00:27:10,213
Living in island towns,
cut off from each other and the mainland,
256
00:27:10,297 --> 00:27:13,049
they know much of their own island
and nothing of the next,
257
00:27:13,133 --> 00:27:14,718
though it is framed daily in their bay.
258
00:27:19,556 --> 00:27:21,641
A good catch of fish, the spring festival -
259
00:27:21,725 --> 00:27:24,477
such events evoke a feeling and response
260
00:27:24,561 --> 00:27:28,231
with which the mainland city dweller in Japan
is now largely unfamiliar.
261
00:31:23,424 --> 00:31:27,178
Setoda is the main town
on the pleasant little island of Ikuchi.
262
00:31:28,221 --> 00:31:30,390
Its location makes it
a favorite stopping place
263
00:31:30,473 --> 00:31:33,810
for most of the traffic
on this western Inland Sea.
264
00:31:33,893 --> 00:31:36,980
Its cultural importance, however,
is considered greater than its maritime.
265
00:31:37,855 --> 00:31:41,150
For here, every year, some 500,000 tourists
266
00:31:41,234 --> 00:31:45,405
tramp the single lanelike street leading inland
to the massive gate of the new temple.
267
00:31:50,201 --> 00:31:52,704
Here at Setoda, in 1936,
268
00:31:52,787 --> 00:31:57,166
a large hill was leveled by a munitions
manufacturer named Kozo Kanemoto
269
00:31:57,250 --> 00:31:58,876
to make room for a temple.
270
00:32:22,692 --> 00:32:26,321
Mr. Kanemoto's mother had recently died
at the age of 69,
271
00:32:26,404 --> 00:32:28,990
and he had resigned the presidency
of his large company,
272
00:32:29,073 --> 00:32:32,744
let his hair grow long
and become a priest in his own temple
273
00:32:32,827 --> 00:32:35,330
dedicated to the memory of his sainted mother.
274
00:32:35,830 --> 00:32:40,084
His idea - one worthy
of a Frederick the Great, of a Hearst -
275
00:32:40,168 --> 00:32:43,546
was that people had to go too far
to see the treasures of Japan.
276
00:32:46,132 --> 00:32:47,967
Since he could not get the originals,
277
00:32:48,051 --> 00:32:51,220
he would rebuild them on a smaller scale,
but in full detail.
278
00:32:51,304 --> 00:32:53,222
Since the originals were dilapidated,
279
00:32:53,306 --> 00:32:55,642
he would restore them
to their original brilliance.
280
00:32:56,851 --> 00:32:58,478
Rich as this holy man is, however,
281
00:32:58,561 --> 00:33:01,481
he cannot possibly command the craftsmen
necessary for his ventures.
282
00:33:01,564 --> 00:33:03,983
Consequently, there are a few compromises.
283
00:33:05,109 --> 00:33:11,032
The Nikko gate, for example, is fabricated
from plywood, plaster, paint, stencils.
284
00:33:12,659 --> 00:33:15,787
But from a distance, it dazzles,
and this is all that's necessary.
285
00:33:17,914 --> 00:33:21,000
When kitsch becomes this grand,
it becomes art.
286
00:33:21,709 --> 00:33:23,836
Like the Albert Memorial,
287
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,632
it transcends its own triviality
through its size and intentions.
288
00:33:29,842 --> 00:33:32,720
One of these is obviously to make money.
289
00:33:32,804 --> 00:33:35,765
Though the upkeep is expensive,
the intake is equally big.
290
00:33:35,848 --> 00:33:39,435
Further, since this is an accredited temple,
it is tax free.
291
00:33:41,729 --> 00:33:43,731
Another intention is equally evident.
292
00:33:44,649 --> 00:33:47,402
It is that the old man
wanted to make something beautiful.
293
00:33:48,945 --> 00:33:52,198
He has created a world of his own,
a cosmos -
294
00:33:52,699 --> 00:33:56,661
he no less than Michelangelo,
Velázquez, Tintoretto.
295
00:33:56,744 --> 00:33:58,746
The difference is merely one of quality.
296
00:33:59,872 --> 00:34:03,126
His work, like theirs,
obeys its own internal rules.
297
00:34:04,168 --> 00:34:07,088
The old man, quite apart from reasons
of money and mother,
298
00:34:07,171 --> 00:34:09,632
had the true and superb presumption
of the artist.
299
00:34:09,716 --> 00:34:13,010
He has forced the world
to recognize his vision.
300
00:34:13,094 --> 00:34:16,597
He has created,
and he has done so as a Japanese.
301
00:34:17,265 --> 00:34:20,101
He has brought together
in unlikely proximity,
302
00:34:20,184 --> 00:34:21,644
he has combined,
303
00:34:21,728 --> 00:34:25,606
and he has made different - very different.
304
00:34:36,701 --> 00:34:38,494
At times, one becomes lonely.
305
00:34:39,912 --> 00:34:43,332
Usually, I make a distinction between
being alone and being lonesome -
306
00:34:44,459 --> 00:34:47,378
a distinction
Japan both fosters and observes.
307
00:34:49,589 --> 00:34:51,924
Today, however, I welcome loneliness.
308
00:34:52,592 --> 00:34:56,095
At such times, one feels
very much the foreigner in Japan.
309
00:35:00,016 --> 00:35:01,851
I could have spoken
to any number of people
310
00:35:01,934 --> 00:35:04,771
and been again assured of my being alive.
311
00:35:05,396 --> 00:35:08,858
Rather I am silent, do not answer stares,
312
00:35:08,941 --> 00:35:11,194
give way to my emotions.
313
00:35:11,277 --> 00:35:14,155
I want to be unhappy and, naturally, I am.
314
00:35:14,238 --> 00:35:16,574
Yet, if there is one thing
that Japan teaches,
315
00:35:16,657 --> 00:35:18,826
it is to distrust the emotions.
316
00:35:18,910 --> 00:35:21,245
They are, after all, ideas like any other.
317
00:35:21,579 --> 00:35:24,457
You can change your mood
as you change your mind.
318
00:35:34,550 --> 00:35:36,636
There's never enough to do
when you travel.
319
00:35:38,137 --> 00:35:40,640
This must be one of the reasons
why travelers all over the world
320
00:35:40,723 --> 00:35:43,434
are known for their attempts
to pick up other people.
321
00:35:45,228 --> 00:35:48,606
It is not that they want sex
so much as it is that they want something
322
00:35:48,689 --> 00:35:52,652
to fill the emptiness
that their very freedom has created.
323
00:35:53,444 --> 00:35:55,446
And what else can you do
after the coffee shops,
324
00:35:55,530 --> 00:35:58,491
the zoos, the museums
and the libraries are rifled?
325
00:36:00,910 --> 00:36:05,289
Another factor -
there is no more personal undertaking.
326
00:36:05,373 --> 00:36:09,043
One is resolutely oneself,
the person one otherwise left at home.
327
00:36:10,086 --> 00:36:13,798
At the same time, there are few better ways
of learning the language,
328
00:36:13,881 --> 00:36:16,050
of taking the temperature of the land,
329
00:36:16,133 --> 00:36:18,344
of measuring the inner state
of its inhabitants.
330
00:36:19,136 --> 00:36:22,473
Also, there are few
more attractive memories to take home.
331
00:36:23,140 --> 00:36:28,354
Sex makes, in its own way, the ideal souvenir.
332
00:36:28,437 --> 00:36:30,731
I hadn't really enjoyed much sex
on my journey,
333
00:36:30,815 --> 00:36:34,735
but I was thinking of it
in a way common to tired travelers.
334
00:36:34,819 --> 00:36:36,988
I wanted to have had sex.
335
00:37:05,349 --> 00:37:06,976
I once met a group of girls.
336
00:37:08,227 --> 00:37:12,607
They were 15 or so, that age
when they are both adults and children.
337
00:37:12,690 --> 00:37:14,150
And shy.
338
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:18,446
If all girls this age are shy,
then Japanese girls are often more shy.
339
00:37:19,780 --> 00:37:22,283
I asked one
what she'd do when she grew up.
340
00:37:23,701 --> 00:37:25,953
"Oh, I'll get married."
341
00:37:27,038 --> 00:37:29,248
I smiled and said it sounded romantic.
342
00:37:30,416 --> 00:37:34,545
"No, it isn't romantic.
It was decided last year.
343
00:37:34,629 --> 00:37:39,008
The boy's father came to my father.
It didn't even take 15 minutes."
344
00:37:40,301 --> 00:37:41,802
"Do you like him?"
345
00:37:41,886 --> 00:37:43,888
She nodded, looking out at the sea.
346
00:37:43,971 --> 00:37:46,098
"He nice boy. He works hard."
347
00:37:48,017 --> 00:37:50,853
In another ten years,
she would look like her mother,
348
00:37:50,937 --> 00:37:53,105
would have had several children.
349
00:37:53,189 --> 00:37:55,274
She would no longer be what she is now.
350
00:37:55,858 --> 00:37:58,569
She seems to have abdicated already,
351
00:37:59,070 --> 00:38:03,366
just now she's begun to discover
what kind of person she is.
352
00:38:03,449 --> 00:38:06,160
She's abdicated,
but she's not yet forgotten.
353
00:38:06,243 --> 00:38:07,745
She's still whole.
354
00:38:08,537 --> 00:38:10,581
But she will be forced to forget.
355
00:38:11,749 --> 00:38:13,751
She will be only the okasama -
356
00:38:13,834 --> 00:38:17,004
the wife and mother, the person inside
or the person around in the back,
357
00:38:17,088 --> 00:38:18,714
however you translate it.
358
00:38:19,507 --> 00:38:21,175
Her husband will do whatever he likes,
359
00:38:21,258 --> 00:38:24,011
and so will her children if they are boys.
360
00:38:24,095 --> 00:38:26,681
And she will think
that this is somehow right
361
00:38:26,764 --> 00:38:28,182
and that it is always somehow right
362
00:38:28,265 --> 00:38:30,935
that she never gets to do anything
she herself wants
363
00:38:31,018 --> 00:38:33,646
and never again
meets the person she is now.
364
00:38:34,939 --> 00:38:37,900
And soon she will make herself forget
365
00:38:37,984 --> 00:38:41,779
what it was like to be 15
with the whole world inviting.
366
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:32,121
I came to this island as a bride in 1937.
367
00:39:33,330 --> 00:39:39,295
Three from here went to war,
but only my husband wound up dead.
368
00:39:39,378 --> 00:39:44,258
Towards the end of the war, they held
an investigation to try to find him.
369
00:39:44,341 --> 00:39:47,762
And, yes, I went up there
and let them investigate.
370
00:39:47,845 --> 00:39:53,809
I finally found out in 1944
that he was killed in 1943.
371
00:39:56,562 --> 00:39:59,523
After that, I had to feed two children.
I've always had a hard time.
372
00:39:59,607 --> 00:40:02,276
I've been delivering papers for 53 years.
373
00:40:02,359 --> 00:40:04,987
You know, I'd be carrying my child,
374
00:40:05,071 --> 00:40:08,157
then going out to sell fish
up in the mountains.
375
00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:16,665
Carrying my baby on my back,
carrying the fish, going up and down,
376
00:40:16,749 --> 00:40:24,340
and back and forth, and back and forth again
if I couldn't unload it.
377
00:40:24,423 --> 00:40:29,762
I've spent my entire life like that.
378
00:40:33,891 --> 00:40:35,935
Because I don't have a man, you know.
379
00:42:07,234 --> 00:42:09,737
To a Western eye,
a landscape this artful appearing
380
00:42:09,820 --> 00:42:11,822
does not seem quite real.
381
00:42:11,906 --> 00:42:13,824
We speak of postcard views.
382
00:42:13,908 --> 00:42:16,452
It seems, literally, too good to be true.
383
00:42:17,870 --> 00:42:19,663
It's not to the taste of all travelers.
384
00:42:19,747 --> 00:42:24,043
Byron, with his taste for crags and tarns,
would have passed through without a glance.
385
00:42:25,961 --> 00:42:28,130
You either love Japan or you loathe it.
386
00:42:28,214 --> 00:42:32,718
Like Lafcadio Hearn, you gasp and press it
to your heart, for a time at any rate.
387
00:42:32,801 --> 00:42:34,929
Or else, like Bernard Shaw,
388
00:42:35,012 --> 00:42:38,224
the place rubs you so wrong
that you even forget your manners
389
00:42:38,307 --> 00:42:41,477
and refuse to take off your shoes
while treading the tatami mats.
390
00:42:43,854 --> 00:42:45,481
One can imagine, with more pleasure,
391
00:42:45,564 --> 00:42:49,485
what a Henry Fielding or a Jane Austen
would have made of the country.
392
00:42:49,568 --> 00:42:51,195
Both would have criticized.
393
00:42:52,488 --> 00:42:54,573
He would have exposed,
in the midst of laughter,
394
00:42:54,657 --> 00:42:56,450
the most awful discrepancies.
395
00:42:56,533 --> 00:42:59,620
And she would have observed,
with her loving but cutting irony,
396
00:42:59,703 --> 00:43:02,289
many an abyss between intention and fact.
397
00:43:03,165 --> 00:43:05,417
Is this a poem?
398
00:43:05,501 --> 00:43:10,381
This? Oh, no.
It's a sign for the restaurant.
399
00:43:10,464 --> 00:43:15,094
"Seating at the Discretion
of the Management."
400
00:43:19,223 --> 00:43:22,935
They know that only
in appearances lies the true reality.
401
00:43:23,018 --> 00:43:25,229
They would have
seen through the picturesque.
402
00:43:35,531 --> 00:43:38,158
Kure. I awake cold...
403
00:43:39,368 --> 00:43:41,996
the sheet - too hot last night - icy.
404
00:43:42,997 --> 00:43:45,833
I sit up, look out of the inn window.
405
00:43:46,500 --> 00:43:48,294
Autumn has come
406
00:43:48,377 --> 00:43:51,463
with the appalling suddenness
that is its way in Japan.
407
00:43:52,673 --> 00:43:56,093
Those summer insects that sang
beneath my window last night
408
00:43:56,176 --> 00:43:58,178
are now stretched
on the underside of leaves
409
00:43:58,262 --> 00:44:01,807
trying to escape from the cold earth
with feeble claws.
410
00:44:02,850 --> 00:44:04,935
The hot, long summer is over.
411
00:44:06,228 --> 00:44:09,815
You wake up and have winter
as though you awoke and had pneumonia.
412
00:44:42,348 --> 00:44:46,560
My boat moves slowly from one tiny island
to the next, away from Kure.
413
00:44:47,686 --> 00:44:50,189
Some of these islands
were once submarine bases,
414
00:44:50,272 --> 00:44:53,609
cruiser slips,
lighthouse stations, bunkers,
415
00:44:53,692 --> 00:44:55,694
and now they're not often visited.
416
00:44:55,778 --> 00:44:57,404
The boat stops at one.
417
00:45:00,074 --> 00:45:02,659
Ruins. New ruins.
418
00:45:03,535 --> 00:45:06,747
Some of these islands are
warrens of tunnels and stone-ridged cave,
419
00:45:06,830 --> 00:45:10,459
with alleys like trenches
and sunken stone rooms now empty
420
00:45:10,542 --> 00:45:12,544
and so deep they are cold.
421
00:45:12,669 --> 00:45:15,547
It's difficult to imagine
that all of this once had a purpose.
422
00:45:15,631 --> 00:45:18,550
But it did, and the purpose was war.
423
00:45:20,677 --> 00:45:22,679
Here's a bunker for a machine gun.
424
00:45:26,683 --> 00:45:30,521
Once these tunnels led somewhere,
and they were filled with running troops.
425
00:45:32,398 --> 00:45:35,234
Now in ruins, they lie half open.
426
00:45:35,317 --> 00:45:39,279
They're like a pleasure maze,
like the ruins of Knossos.
427
00:45:41,949 --> 00:45:44,410
And there are the names
scratched over the decades.
428
00:45:45,035 --> 00:45:50,457
"Yamamoto Ichiro" - a name like John Smith -
who was a private first class.
429
00:45:51,333 --> 00:45:55,838
"Watanabe Sumire," a postwar schoolgirl.
430
00:45:55,921 --> 00:46:01,343
Some sergeant who came from Council Bluffs.
June 25, 1946.
431
00:46:05,097 --> 00:46:07,099
There are other marks on the walls too.
432
00:46:07,182 --> 00:46:10,686
Here an explosion has torn away the plaster,
exposing the brick.
433
00:46:12,604 --> 00:46:15,732
There is a large red stain, but not blood.
434
00:46:16,525 --> 00:46:19,570
No one has that much blood.
Must have been chemicals.
435
00:46:21,363 --> 00:46:24,992
Some of the walls are marked with fire,
others with boredom.
436
00:46:27,077 --> 00:46:29,121
In some of the rooms, there is seaweed,
437
00:46:29,204 --> 00:46:31,957
now dried, crisp, powdering underfoot.
438
00:46:32,666 --> 00:46:34,626
"Was the water ever this high?" I wonder.
439
00:46:35,919 --> 00:46:38,255
The seaweed festoons the walls.
440
00:46:38,338 --> 00:46:40,007
An underwater ballroom,
441
00:46:40,090 --> 00:46:42,759
the first-class lounge
of some great and sunken liner.
442
00:48:21,858 --> 00:48:23,944
Hiroshima has other things to think about.
443
00:48:27,281 --> 00:48:29,199
The park, the museum,
444
00:48:29,283 --> 00:48:32,703
the memorial statuary,
the ruined Promotion Hall -
445
00:48:32,786 --> 00:48:34,037
they're all there.
446
00:48:34,997 --> 00:48:38,542
But the city is, after all,
the largest in southern Honshu.
447
00:48:38,625 --> 00:48:41,837
It is too important to be merely
a museum and memorial.
448
00:48:44,256 --> 00:48:46,341
It is now many things to many people,
449
00:48:46,425 --> 00:48:49,303
and few indeed must be those
to whom it is just the city
450
00:48:49,386 --> 00:48:51,888
where the Americans
dropped the first atomic bomb.
451
00:48:55,601 --> 00:48:59,062
Life, as the typically Japanese phrase has it,
goes on.
452
00:49:00,689 --> 00:49:04,610
This is also one of the facts of death -
that one forgets it.
453
00:49:05,902 --> 00:49:08,864
One may disapprove of oneself
for forgetting,
454
00:49:08,947 --> 00:49:12,618
may have wanted to keep the fact green,
tended it like a grave.
455
00:49:13,619 --> 00:49:16,121
But it's impossible. Life is too strong.
456
00:49:17,164 --> 00:49:20,334
Death loses on every occasion except one.
457
00:49:34,556 --> 00:49:38,685
I suddenly, and for no apparent reason,
thought of Lafcadio Hearn -
458
00:49:38,769 --> 00:49:42,147
dying, penning a few last bitter pages.
459
00:49:42,522 --> 00:49:46,068
The book was called Japan: An Interpretation,
460
00:49:46,151 --> 00:49:48,362
but he, like all of us who come to this land -
461
00:49:48,445 --> 00:49:51,615
attractive, mysterious
and impenetrable as a mirror -
462
00:49:51,698 --> 00:49:53,325
was writing about himself.
463
00:49:53,659 --> 00:49:58,872
The tender, myopic, beauty-loving Lafcadio
was being finally interpreted.
464
00:49:59,414 --> 00:50:04,002
This disillusioned end I would be spared,
I thought. I hoped.
465
00:50:04,086 --> 00:50:08,131
I would never find them, the real Japanese,
because they were always around me,
466
00:50:08,215 --> 00:50:09,675
and they were always real.
467
00:50:09,758 --> 00:50:15,138
But I might at least decide what my own
real self was and, hence, create it.
468
00:50:16,556 --> 00:50:18,600
Japan allows me to keep my freedom.
469
00:50:19,226 --> 00:50:20,852
It makes no demands on me.
470
00:50:20,936 --> 00:50:23,897
All of us are considered
too much the outsider,
471
00:50:23,980 --> 00:50:27,484
a distinction we owe mainly to our skin,
our eyes, our hair.
472
00:50:28,860 --> 00:50:32,572
I become a one-member society,
consistent only to myself
473
00:50:32,656 --> 00:50:35,534
and forever different
from those who surround me.
474
00:50:36,576 --> 00:50:40,664
Our basic agreement permits me
an amount of approval, some of it mutual.
475
00:50:40,747 --> 00:50:43,750
Our basic difference
allows me to comprehend, finally,
476
00:50:43,834 --> 00:50:47,170
that the only true responsibility
a man has is toward himself.
477
00:50:52,134 --> 00:50:54,761
But not quite yet.
478
00:50:54,845 --> 00:50:56,054
A respite.
479
00:50:57,055 --> 00:51:01,143
In a few days, Indian summer -
false and lovely.
480
00:51:01,226 --> 00:51:03,270
Perhaps lovely because it is false.
481
00:51:07,149 --> 00:51:10,527
At the Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima,
there is no general view.
482
00:51:11,153 --> 00:51:14,906
One can never see it all because it was not
designed to be viewed from outside.
483
00:51:14,990 --> 00:51:18,118
It's like - like Venice,
of which it somehow reminds.
484
00:51:18,201 --> 00:51:20,287
It's not a view. It's an experience.
485
00:51:22,247 --> 00:51:24,374
One is meant to wander,
486
00:51:24,458 --> 00:51:28,211
turning at random
along those straight and open corridors.
487
00:51:30,088 --> 00:51:31,506
There are no walls.
488
00:51:34,092 --> 00:51:38,305
One looks through the shrine as though
through a forest of lacquered trunks.
489
00:51:43,477 --> 00:51:47,314
It is at the end of the Inland Sea,
and it is, of course, very old.
490
00:51:48,523 --> 00:51:52,068
The plan was first laid in the ninth century
was added to in the 12th,
491
00:51:52,152 --> 00:51:56,156
and its purpose remains
this gesture to the sea...
492
00:51:57,324 --> 00:51:58,825
this metaphor of faith.
493
00:52:07,918 --> 00:52:10,003
Japan is truly a sea country.
494
00:52:10,754 --> 00:52:13,548
Many of its most beautiful shrines
face the ocean,
495
00:52:13,632 --> 00:52:17,302
and this, the most beautiful,
opens directly upon it.
496
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:19,513
More. It goes to meet it.
497
00:52:19,596 --> 00:52:23,350
It stretches out like a waiting hand,
both inviting and accepting.
498
00:52:23,850 --> 00:52:28,605
It is like a mudra, one of the positions
of the hand of the Buddha,
499
00:52:28,688 --> 00:52:30,482
himself but one of the gods.
500
00:52:31,399 --> 00:52:35,070
The seaborne pilgrim
is welcomed and enfolded.
501
00:52:38,657 --> 00:52:43,245
Just by turning west and south,
away from Tokyo,
502
00:52:43,328 --> 00:52:46,414
away from the snowbound province of Ohio,
503
00:52:46,498 --> 00:52:50,418
I could continue forever,
following the summer south.
504
00:53:02,013 --> 00:53:05,350
It has now been 30 years
since these words were written.
505
00:53:06,685 --> 00:53:09,604
What is left of the Inland Sea,
you've just seen.
506
00:53:10,438 --> 00:53:12,858
There's been some selective framing,
a bit of shooting around,
507
00:53:12,941 --> 00:53:15,861
but not as much
as might have been expected.
508
00:53:16,570 --> 00:53:20,115
And the things you feel rather than see
are still there.
509
00:53:23,034 --> 00:53:24,286
In only a decade or so,
510
00:53:24,369 --> 00:53:27,038
the Japanese sense of difference
will have perhaps disappeared
511
00:53:27,122 --> 00:53:30,542
and with it will disappear -
along with much that is jingoistic,
512
00:53:30,625 --> 00:53:33,086
insular and certainly xenophobic -
513
00:53:33,169 --> 00:53:35,213
other precious Japanese qualities.
514
00:53:36,673 --> 00:53:39,134
One world is becoming
a hideous possibility,
515
00:53:39,217 --> 00:53:42,596
and I wish to celebrate our differences
for as long as possible.
516
00:53:45,682 --> 00:53:52,522
So I can still say, as I said then -
but not quite yet.
517
00:53:55,066 --> 00:53:56,067
Still...
518
00:53:59,446 --> 00:54:03,116
"I hear they are building a bridge
To the island of Tsu.
519
00:54:04,284 --> 00:54:05,493
Alas...
520
00:54:06,202 --> 00:54:08,705
To what now
Shall I compare myself?"
46868
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