Eroticism and Sensory Experience: Exoticism in The Gourmet Club

            In “The Gourmet Club,” Jun’ichiro Tanizaki depicts a gluttonous group of men who desire to eat the most delicious and exotic foods in Japan. Their leader, Count G, tired of the ordinary Japanese and pseudo-Chinese food, eventually discovers an authentic Chinese restaurant called Chechiang Hall and adopts their techniques into the Gourmet Club’s own feasts. Tanizaki utilizes food to dramatize the idea of exoticism in regards to two aspects: the undercurrent of eroticism in exoticism and viewing exoticism in terms of sensory experience instead of distance.

            As a decadent novelist, Tanizaki often acknowledges the perverse connection between food and sexuality. In the beginning, Tanizaki introduces this connection through the comparison of paying a “genius of a cook” the same wages as one would pay to “monopolize a first-class geisha” (99). In the Gourmet Club’s eyes, these epicurean pleasures are synonymous with pleasures of the flesh. Accordingly, whenever Tanizaki is describing the food of Chechiang Hall, he uses extremely erotic and feminine language. The first sight of the Chinese food that the Count sees was pigs’ legs, “soft, white and luscious as any woman’s” (114). The erotic language serves to emphasize the extent that that Count lusts and desires the idealized, exotic Chinese cuisine.

            Furthermore, one of the major examples of the sexualization of food occurs in the description of the Ham with Chinese Cabbage. Tanizaki personifies the dish with feminine imagery like the “sensuous swish of silk” and the suffocating “smells of hair oil and perfume” (132-133). The woman’s fingers begin to sensuously massage the diner’s lips, giving sexual pleasure as well as increasing the anticipation of the consumption of food. Tanizaki portrays the men’s appetite as aroused, cleverly hinting at the double entendre of sexual arousal and epicurean arousal.  The explicit sexual imagery of licking and sucking the fluid-emitting “bok choi fingers” serves to enhance the connection that eroticism has to exoticism (136). The taboo nature of the cannibalistic consumption of the woman’s fingers augments the concept of exoticism. The exotic foods of Chechiang Hall satisfy both the men’s hunger and sexual drive.

            In addition, food is also used to dramatize the idea of exoticism in that it clarifies the concept of viewing exoticism in terms of imagination and experience instead of geographical distance. When an object or experience is described as exotic, it usually means that it originates from a culture that exists far away from your homeland. However, in the story, the authentic Chinese food of Chechiang Hall is perceived as exotic, yet it is not geographically distant from Japan. Tanizaki instead emphasizes how distinct and magical the Chinese food is when compared to the Japanese and fake Chinese food they had grown tired of. The cuisine of Chechiang Hall was the “product of utterly different tastes and conception” (131). Because the experience of food is so bizarre and unique, one can consider it to be exotic. In order to truly savor these eccentric foods, the narrator claims that “every part of them had to become a tongue” (131). Tanizaki’s technique of surreal hyper-focalization to describe these sensory experiences stresses the exoticism that is inherent in these types of dishes.

Tampopo: A Celebration in Temporality

Itami Juzo’s Tampopo (1985) is a joyous celebration of food through its many representations in Japanese culture. While in essence, it’s a collection of many seemingly unrelated vignettes, the main plot follows Tampopo in her quest for empowerment, as she seeks to revitalize her late husband’s ramen shop. With the help of Goro, Tampopo rallies up an unlikely team of knowledgeable mentors as she takes on the task to become a bona fide ramen chef in her own right.

Early on, as it becomes evident that Tampopo needs some major help with her soup-making, Goro decides to introduce her to his go-to gourmet, an elderly man who lives in a park with a community of food-loving homeless men. His fellow homeless comrades affectionately call him Sensei, denoting a teacher of sorts. It is revealed that Sensei was once a doctor, but lost everything due to his deep preoccupation with his ramen-making hobby. Despite this tragedy, Sensei, as well as the rest of the gang, appear cheerful and ever-enthusiastic about good food and drink. As sensei accepts the request to help Tampopo with her ramen, the homeless gang gathers together to sing a song of farewell to their beloved teacher. This song happens to be Aogeba tōtoshi, a well-known song that was commonly sung at graduation ceremonies throughout Japan in the first half of the 20th century.

In this long-distance shot, we see the group of homeless men standing on a flight of outdoor stairs in the dark of night. As they sing in harmonious unison, they are facing up towards Sensei, who is standing atop a platform at the top of the stairs, at the very apex of the shot. He is facing back towards them, smiling benevolently. Next to Sensei stands Goro, then Tampopo’s son, then Tampopo, and they watch on sympathetically as the men sing their sincere gratitudes. The lighting highlights the upper-right part of the screen, as though the spotlight is right on Sensei. This particular shot was taken from the end of the song, which is also the very end of the scene. After the men sing the words, “We must part,” there is a poignant pause in the song, and when they resume into the final line, “Goodbye,” the scene diverts away to a medium-range shot of the gangster, who appears to be overlooking the park scene from his hotel room.

I chose this particular shot, specifically with the words “We must part,” because it elucidates a recurring theme in the film: a parting of ways. There are 4 dynamic instances of farewells in Tampopo, each portraying a different type of human relationship as well as a unique association with food. These include the death of the mother (who cooks her last meal), the death of the gangster, and the departure of Goro at the end of the film. The farewell scene with Sensei not only exhibits the gang’s deep respect for the teacher, but also their awareness of temporality, and the inevitability of an eventual farewell. It also seems to foreshadow the parting of ways between Goro and Tampopo, who share a mentor/student relationship akin to Sensei and his comrades. The thematic relevance of ‘parting ways’ is further signified through the use of urban landscape shots that highlight crossroads, intersections, and passing trains. These shots symbolize the constant coming and going, and the contingent nature of any given encounter in the urban macrocosm. It seems that on a deeper level, Tampopo may be a meditation on impermanence, something we must all face as mortal beings. So too is the act of consuming food an exercise in ephemerality, thus by celebrating it, we are celebrating life itself in all its sensual temporality.

Tampopo: The Power of Comfort Food in Forging Personal and Communal Bonds

In the bubble era ramen western, Tampopo, Itami Juzo depicts Tampopo’s journey to have the best ramen shop in the city. The structure of the film is interesting in that seemingly unrelated vignettes related to food are interspersed between scenes of this overarching plot. This screenshot is from the scene in which a husband sees his wife on her death bed. In an attempt to revive her, he orders her to go make dinner for their family. Surprisingly, the wife recuperates and shakily cooks a pot of fried rice. After serving her family, she dies with a smile on her face; glad that her last act was spent satisfying her family’s culinary needs. I believe this scene is one of the most significant because it stresses the power of comfort food in forging personal and communal bonds.

 

A family enjoys the last meal made by their dying mother.

 

Analyzing the mise en scene, the mother is the closest to the camera, signifying her important role in feeding her family. Her family is captured in a medium shot at eye level. This angle allows the audience to sympathize and connect more with the family’s emotions. The family clearly indicates their gratitude, since both the husband and his little girl are gazing at their dying mother in admiration. The scene also features the train motif, which foreshadows the mother’s transition from life to death.

This vignette parallels Tampopo’s story in that they both feature lowly, humble foods. This movie was released when Tokyo was in the process of becoming a global city. This process gave rise to a postmodernism ideology, in which people believed that it was in society’s best interest to constantly throw out old things and focus on the future. This post-modernist perspective was strongly emphasized in Japanese culture. With food, Japan emulated French haute cuisine during this time period. Therefore, Itami chose to feature the lowly ramen and fried rice dishes to enhance the cultural status of traditional Japanese comfort foods and prevent those aspects of their culture from being thrown away. This scene builds upon the idea that beautiful concepts such as love and familial bonds can be produced from humble beginnings.

This scene also highlights Itami’s idea of female social roles in Japan. In Tampopo, he features several women as nurturing, food providers. For example, in this screen shot, the mother is literally on her death bed, yet she manages to recover enough strength to create a delicious family style meal and serve her family. In this final act, she manages to not only nourish her family, but also give them hope that she might survive. The act of nourishing her family also allows her mental state to be at peace with her death. She dies with the satisfaction of knowing she has given her kin the pleasure and biological nourishment that comes with food. The profound, multi-layered sentiment connected to providing food is echoed in Tampopo and the breast-feeding mother at the end of the movie.

Spaghetti Eating and False Perceptions of Western Culture

Taken in three-shot style, The Spaghetti Instructor begins her lesson on how

to properly eat Spaghetti

Jūzō Itami’s 1985 comedy film, Tampopo, contains a volley of scenes which display the clash of culture between the society of the “West” and the society of a modernizing Japan. Within such masterpiece of cinematography, a scene arises in which the classic “how-to” scenario is portrayed with the topic of eating spaghetti. This scene, taken primarily in master shot, exhibits middle-aged Japanese women who seek to be a part of a high society culture, one of which involves knowledge of Western cuisine and etiquette. In beginning her lesson, the course instructor repeatedly emphasizes the need for one to quietly consume their spaghetti.  

 In long-shot method, a European Westerner is both seen and heard to be

loudly slurping on his Spaghetti

Shortly following the instructor’s warning/advice, a loud slurping noise interjects, leading to a camera shift to a single long-shot of a Westerner eating his spaghetti. In doing so, Itami effectively destroys all prior notions of proper Western etiquette. The underlying significance of the scene is revealed to be the disparity of perceptions and reality of the Japanese people. In a larger sense, Itami may be alluding to just how lost and misinformed Japan is; as Japan, as a country, has yet to assimilate to the strength and greatness of Western Society.

In the following scenes, the students follow after the Westerner rather than the instructor as they carelessly slurp their noodles. Itami causes the instructor to seem even further misled and ridiculous as the proceeding shots display several students, one after another, loudly enjoying the spaghetti. The scene, while very comedic, can be seen to possibly criticize Japan’s lack of action and immediacy with regards to the following of the more sophisticated and powerful countries of the time such as France, Great Britain, and Russia. By emphasizing the noise and seemingly barbaric style of eating noodles, Itami can be interpreted to turn his back on much of Japan’s older customs which do not involve such Western styles of dining.

In relating back to Tampopo as a whole, there exists a parallelism between eating Ramen (Japanese Noodles) and eating Spaghetti (Western Noodles). The two cultures hold a similar ground or basis as they both consume noodles, yet at the same time are very different as they have different preparations and etiquette in relativity to their noodles. In interpreting such basis, Itami may be inferring that Japan as a country is actually not that far from the greatness and power of the West. Simple changes in custom and culture could thus allow Japan to rise as a nation to the esteemed superpowers of the time.  

In Wide-angle view, the entire room of Japanese women (including the 

instructor) are loudly slurping their Spaghetti

With the conclusion of the scene, the instructor, herself, follows after the Western Businessman showing a shift in ideals and customs for all the Japanese people in the room (for Japan as a whole). Food, being a cultural capital in such consumerist era, is able to properly display the transgression between Japanese Culture and Western Culture. The final moments of the scene display that the willingness of Japan to assimilate and change shall allow Japan to ascend beyond many of the Asian Countries that were being occupied at the time, as Japan does not preside solely on old customs and culture.  

 

Making a Difference Today for a Better Tomorrow

On February 6, I attended the film showing of Hitomi Kamanaka’s “Ashes to Honey.” This documentary film explores on global nuclear issue and focuses on Iwaishima, an island off of Seto inland sea, and the sustainable practices of Sweden. For 27 years, the residents of Iwaishima have been fighting against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki. The devotion of their activism on the island comes from their love for their island. For some, such as Takashi Yamato, it is the place where he wants to live and stay forever. Nuclear power plant, however, threatens biodiversity and fresh water surrounding the island. Fishing industry and agriculture especially would be hugely affected from the construction because the power plant warms the seas and changes the temperature.

Takashi growing Japanese medlar in Iwaishima, illustrating that agriculture plays a significant role in providing food to the people of the island.

In this scene, Takashi carefully grows the famous Japanese “biwa” or medlar. It zooms in on the passionate face of Takahashi and the ripe fruit. In the background, you can see the island being surround by the beautiful ocean and trees. In order to grow them, it needs to be under a certain condition and it needs the perfect combination of the conditions of the island. It is solely grown by the sun, with no use of technology. This emphasizes that with the power plant, it takes away the chance of being sustainable. With the agriculture and fishing industries, people on the island can live off with just the cultivation of food on the island. By seeing the practice of sustainability of Sweden, it gives Iwaishima and even Japan, on a larger scale, to slowly drift away from the use of nuclear power to clean “eco-labeled power” source such as solar, wind, and biomass. Instead of spending money to build nuclear power plants and killing the agriculture, power can be constructed without disturbing the produce of food. They can self-sustain with agriculture by raising cows and pigs and reusing leftover scraps from food to feed them. It becomes a positive self-sustaining cycle.

Food is a necessity to all of us human beings in order to live. Thus, our priority should be finding solutions to sustain agriculture and think about the future energy. The problem that the island faces today directly influences us as well. Nuclear power plant could be built anywhere. And if we do not stop now, our life is on risk. The angle of the film is from Kamanaka’s perspective and it is recorded from a traveling camera. It is from the angle of the people of Iwaishima Island, protesting against nuclear power plant. Since it is a travel journey genre, Kamanaka travels to places for hints and ultimately tries to find answers to the problem. Her conclusion? We must learn to live together with nature and find new energy sources that will blend both nature and new technology. If there is the smallest and slightest possibilities and chance, we should never give up. From the interviews and even the selections of the songs, this film expresses her passion and motivation for change. The difference that the small island of Iwaishima make today can make a huge change in the future globally. The fight still continues and this problem has become a transnational problem that must be solved, not later, but soon. As the lyric of the song says, “words we speak, electricity we use, food we eat, they are all energy.” We can make a difference with synergy.

Satire and Criticism on the Conventions of Food in Japan

Japan’s culture sometimes dictates strict customs and conventions that seem rather ridiculous to accept. In Tampopo, Juzo Itami heavily uses satire in food to point out the inconsistencies in Japanese culture. Tampopo’s main story follows Tampopo’s quest to make her ramen shop first-rate. The story branches into many different subplots involving food, each of which uses satire to attack traditional Japanese conventions.

One of the restaurant sequences of Tampopo follows the subplot of several businessmen. At a first-class French restaurant, the confused businessmen attempt to interpret the cryptic menu. All the businessmen fallback on the same

Businessmen awed by the culinary knowledge of the lackey

simple dish, but their heads turn when their lackey tells the waiter to wait a moment for his order.  Ignoring the warnings of his superior, the lackey demonstrates highly cultured culinary knowledge and effectively upstages his bosses. Itami satirizes the inconsistency in the business culture through food. In Japanese culture, the social standing of superiors is something to be both respected and revered. Those following orders must act according to their place and respect the wishes of their superiors at all times. Not only does the lackey disobeys the unreasonable wishes of his superiors to simply order the same thing, the lackey shows that he is more cultured and better than his superiors. Itami reverses the social standing of the business corporate ladder; the lackey is the superior to the businessmen.

The second restaurant scene immediately follows. The scene depicts an instructional classes for “ojou-sans” (well-mannered, young ladies). While the instructor informs the ladies that spaghetti should be eaten completely silently like a mouse, a foreigner at the restaurants loudly and obnoxiously slurps the spaghetti in protest of her teachings. The scene immediately breaks down to everyone, including the instructor loudly slurping the spaghetti. Itami satirizes both the uptight “ojou-san” culture of Japan and the Japanese conceptions of western culture. The “ojou-san” culture dictates the lady must act with refinement at all times, no matter what the situation. By degenerating everyone to loudly eating spaghetti, Itami openly mocks the culture as worthless and simply unreasonable. The westerner helps fix the preconceived conventions of the Japanese thought to be part of western culture. Western culture is not as refined as the Japanese think.

Itami even goes as far as satirizing the everyday Japanese family table. A family surrounds an almost lifeless mother on her deathbed. Desperately pleading for his wife to do something, the husband orders the mother to make a meal. Surprisingly, the almost lifeless mother complies and makes fried rice while her family does nothing to help her. She dies shortly after she makes the rice, and the father orders the family to finish their mother’s last meal. In Japanese culture, the

Mother dies cooking meal for family

wife is almost always forced to take care of the meals for the family and her husband coming back from work. The half-dead mother making a meal almost unconsciously despite her condition shows how ingrained the concept is in Japanese culture and how the wife is forced to follow orders no matter what the situation. It doesn’t matter if she is tired or on her deathbed; she will make dinner for her family.

In summary, Tampopo is Itami’s stage to criticize the traditions, conventions, and preconceptions of the Japanese tradition using food.

Feast Suggestions!

Hey, guys! I wanted to start planning our Japanese feast, and I need suggestions. There are many Japanese markets and restaurants in the area, so our options are wide open for specific dishes you’d like to have at our feast. Therefore, I’d greatly appreciate if you all could leave a comment – it can be one word, “ramen,” a long list, or a specific request, “Daikoku ramen with vegetable tempura from Daikokuya Ramen in Little Tokyo.”
We, the feast committee, may not be able to acquire all the dishes suggested, but it will help us tailor the menu to maximize our culinary experience! Thanks, guys!

Good Nom-ing,
Savannah

“Millet Dumplings and Alcohol” by Ryan Chan

Momotaro is widely considered to be a hero featured in traditional Japanese folklore. In Momotaro’s Sea Eagles, the director Mitsuyo Seo has managed to fuse this prominent figure into a World War II setting, while retaining the principles of the original story – Momotaro conquering the demons with his animal troops. So, how did he accomplish the task of implementing such a serious situation into an animation that Japanese children may enjoy watching, while being a propaganda film?

Showing the immediate effect of eating the millet dumplings.

One of the key moments in the film is when the animals ate millet dumplings given by Momotaro. Although this scene lasts no longer than 5 seconds, it plays a significant role in such propaganda. Being a traditional Japanese sweet, it represents its country of origin and distinction from western culture. As the film is directed towards younger audiences, embedding the idea that “Japanese sweets are good” also helps the promotion of nationalism to “the future of Japan”. After consuming the millet dumplings, the animals grew stronger and are capable of fighting off the “demons”. Unsurprisingly, the younger generation may easily relate themselves to these scenes because millet dumplings are ubiquitous in Japan, thus making the animation more approachable to the targeted young audience.

The monkey ready to eat the Kibidango (millet dumplings) before the attack.

Furthermore, the Rising Sun Flag (military flag for Japan) is shown very clearly in these sequences, which highlights the fact that Japanese soldiers are very humble and down to earth — they are depicted as friends instead of heroes to the children in Japan. In fact, children from the broader western part of the world may also recognize this scene as an analogy to Popeye’s spinach-invigoration scene. In spite of different background settings, the concept of “strengthening oneself through consuming nutritious food” shares between the two animations. Here comes the question, is this kind of resemblance merely a coincidence?

The "demons" are trying to escape from the bombing.

Not long after the scene where those millet dumplings are eaten, one of the surprise-bombing scenes in the animation clearly shows how the director would like to portray the “demon”. This Bluto (in Popeye) look-alike depicts the stereotypical American who is obese, alcoholic and simple-minded. In the midst of a surprise torpedo attack, he stayed exceptionally “calm”. He pulled out a bottle of alcohol and drank it, even though his ship is being torn apart and sinking. To a Japanese kid at that period, this may be his or her first impression of what Americans look like. Certainly, this movie has been significant in shaping the younger generations’ view to the United States, but how? To them, alcohol or Sake is an adult-only drink that tastes badly and makes you feel dizzy. Therefore alcohol, when compared to millet dumplings, is something more distant to Japanese children. At the same time, the demons are bulkier and less adorable when compared to the monkeys, birds and Momotaro that are cute and charming. This subtle comparison of what different characters consume in the movie shows that the director has used food as a tool to illustrate the different characters between the two nations’ navies.

Bluto look-alike drinking while their ship is under attack.

Moreover, this food selection might also suggest why the director has chosen to feature the antagonist Bluto but not the more popular Popeye for his portrayal of Americans. For instance, if Popeye were to be the captain of the “demons”, he would definitely gorge his can of spinach and fight back positively, which should not happen in a propaganda film. Popeye the hero has been replaced by Momotaro, who is a charismatic leader and smart enough to sit back and relax, while his fellow troops are bashing the demons.

A cute monkey and a pack of millet dumplings; a huge belly and a bottle of alcohol. Mitsuyo Seo’s spectacular utilization of millet dumplings and alcohol as tools to bring attention to the different characteristics is a wise move. Food and drinks in this animation reflects not only the character of the monkey and Bluto, but also their countries’ image through the lens of the director. As a propaganda film made towards youngsters, it certainly has its comical elements and implications that can be easily understood and be implanted into their minds.