Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse: Looking back at the short history of the port city

I was in Yokohama on business in late October. After my business was completed, I left the PACIFICO Yokohama convention center and walked to Aka Renga Soko (Red Brick Warehouse) with a guide map.
     I’m Hamakko, a child born and raised in Yokohama but had never yet visited the Red Brick Warehouse, because it reopened as leisure facilities in 2002, when I was living in Tokyo to go to a university. It used to be a government bonded warehouse until 1989, known as the Newport Pier Tax Keeping Warehouse.
     I had a nostalgic fell when found the twin warehouses, because they were the very buildings what I thought of as Western-style building. There are many Victorian red brick houses in Yokohama and they cultivated my longing for European culture, especially British culture. The Warehouse No.1 was completed in 1913 and No.2, in 1911 under government architect Yorinaka Tsumaki who graduated with a degree in Architecture from Cornell University.
     Noboru, the hero boy of Gogo no Eiko (“The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea”) by Yukio Mishima, is also Hamakko. His mother Fusako runs a luxury shop in Yokohama’s swank Motomachi district, and the shop has enjoyed a reputation for fine quality. Among the clientele are wealthy foreigners who live in Yamate district of Yokohama, dandies, movie people, and buyers form Tokyo.
     I had been none sure of this part of the novel for a long time because many shops in Tokyo had a better selection of products than Yokohama’s. But I could understand the situation within seconds when I saw the Warehouse, stretched to the former Yokohama harbor. At the age of ships were major means of international trade of Japan, the Port of Yokohama was the very base for overseas trade. The freighters imported wool, sugar, iron, and machinery, and exported raw silk, silk product, tea, copper, and seafood. In the novel, whenever a ship docks in Yokohama, an import agent uses his connections to get Fusako and her elderly manager into the bonded warehouse as soon as the cargo had been unloaded. Not only products but a large number of travelers went ashore and left the port. My friend also went to Shanghai on a ferry form Yokohama in the end of the 1980s.
     Each distinctive city has the red-letter year. Tokyo became a capital in 1603 and Kyoto, in 794. Such traditional cities are never conquered easily by newcomers, but Yokohama was a sleepy fishing and farming village. The Port of Yokohama was opened to foreign trade in 1859, after 250 yeas national isolation of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Yokohama grew overnight into Japan’s chief trade center with a large foreign population. Foreign trade merchants or officers and their families occupied Kannai or Yamate district in Yokohama. The residents were British, American, German, French, Italian, Chinese, etc, and the Westerners enjoyed Western lifestyle and horse racing, cricket, tennis, rugby, etc. Between the 1860s and 1870s, Japan’s first English newspaper published, the first ice cream and beer to be produced, and the first gas-powered street lampas and railway constructed in Yokohama.
     Jun'ichiro Tanizaki described Motomachi district in his novella Nikutai (“The Flesh”); “Motomachi, with its heavy traffic of Westerners and shops selling only Western articles, exudes a special atmosphere. The odor of cigars, the aroma of chocolate, the fragrance of flowers, the scent of perfume.” The influence of Western culture in Yokohama was decisive. It was the first love for the land and local people. The culture was Western culture to them. The Yokohama Port Festival celebrates the Port Opening Memorial Day, the 2nd of June.
     But there was a gap between this exotic image and my simple daily life in Yokohama. When I started living in Tokyo, I was puzzled by people’s reaction to my answer to question about my hometown. Because such a sophisticated image only fitted into the surrounding area of the port, Yamate, Motomachi, or Kannai district. I used to live in a newly residential area where developed hills, it was far away from the sea and even the closest bus stop or station.
     Mishima wrote about Center Pier of the port in the above novel; “The sea was responsible for the unreality of the place, for it was to her service alone that streets, the buildings, even the dumb bricks in the wall were pledged. The sea had simplified and abstracted, and the pier in turn had lost its sense of reality and appeared to be dwelling within a dream.” This description also fits into the structure of the city. The port town gave attention to only the sea, and went over the Pacific Ocean and toward the overseas, and the urban function concentrated the surrounding area of the port.
     But in the early 1980s, my geography teacher at high school said “The total cargo volume at Yokohama was overtaken by Tokyo....” The main transportation also changed and the door to the overseas moved to Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture.
     Yokohama shipyard closed in 1980 and was redeveloped as Minato Mirai 21 (future of the port in the 21st century) area. The waterfront area has become a major center for business, shopping, and tourism in Yokohama. Many major corporations locating their headquarters and branches, and about 79,000 people are working in there. The numerous tourists also visiting the area and the Red Brick Warehouse is one of the major tourist spots. The shops, restaurants, clubs, and an exhibition and concert space in it. I occasionally go to the Yokohama Museum of Art. And the PACIFICO Yokohama where I visited in the day is one of the major convention centers in the Tokyo area.
     Yokohama, the second largest city in Japan, towards new urban model where founded on the former international trade center.

“Leonora Martinů Talks Ballet, Drama, and Family” Fictitious interview

The way she comes into the entrance of restaurant, many heads turn. Her silhouette, framed for a moment by the entrance, is a picture, evoking theater posters of Medea or Carmen. The deep blue eyes with black mascara eyelashes, crimson lipstick, and the chic black suits with large white buttons look good on her. She pose with her hands to the side of her head as she looks around room, is exactly the gesture of Giselle's mad scene. Giselle was one of her most successful characters. She is Leonora Martinů, a former principal dancer of the Austrian Ballet Company, famous for her dramatic acting skills, and now a choreographer.
     Guerlain’s “Vol de Nuit” has a light scent when she extends her hand. Her watch is a Bvlgari and her manicured nails pale pink. She smiles when I tell her my first strong impression of her. The line at the corners of her eyes and mouth are deepen. “My mother was a tragic actress but retired young because she became pregnant soon after marriage.” Her alto voice is soft. “She wanted me to become a great actress. So, she made me take ballet lessons when I was 4.” Leonora also took acting, singing, and piano lessons. And her mother always went to the theater with her and visited her former colleagues backstage. The backstage was the little girl’s playground and school. “I was Mum’s dream,” says Leonora.

Let’s Cook and Eat! by "Guri to Gura"

I baked a fruit-filled pound cake on this three-day weekend, because I reread Guri to Gura (Guri and Gura), made me want to cook and eat a cake.
     Guri and Gura are children’s books about two field mice. My favorite story when I was a child was the first one, Guri and Gura: The Giant Egg. The story is that the twin brothers Guri and Gura find a gigantic egg in the woods, and use it to bake a castella, a Japanese sponge cake. They bake the castella on the spot, because the egg is bigger than themselves and they can't take it home. All the animals in the woods gather around to share the delicious-smelling cake. Guri and Gura treat the animals to the giant cake, and they eat up.
     Guri and Gura sing the song, “What do you think we like to do best? Cook and eat. Eat and cook.” Me too. I could almost smell the castella baking and imagine the sweet taste of it. The impression is in the book intense, and I found that I still remembered the scenes of cooking and eating though I had forgotten the details of the story from my childhood reading.
     I went to Books Kinokuniya in Shinjuku to reread this book, and found it in the home baking section! I also found many books in the Guri and Gura series in the children’s books area, of course. Not only have many Japanese children loved these books over the years, but they have been translated into other languages, so countless readers have shared my reading experience across borders and generations!

English is the modern Latin

I reread The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, recently. One of the highlights of this novel is the part where a poor peasant girl sneaked into the kitchen of the Abbey. She was suspected of being a witch by the inquisitor, and couldn’t clear herself of the charge. This was because she could not speak Latin; the common language of the “holy” church, intellectuals and the powerful. “For all her shouting,” Eco wrote, “she was as if mute. There are words that give power, others that make us all the more derelict.”

     This episode reminded me of a scene from a barbecue at the South African Ambassador’s Residence in Tokyo. A lady from that country spoke to me but, unfortunately, I couldn’t speak English well and she left quickly. Nobody else spoke or paid attention to me. “I was like an invisible person,” I was thinking that night. At that time, I was already middle-aged, and had no alternative to “words”; beauty, youthfulness, talent or status...things like that. 

     But then I enjoyed the party in my own way; as an observer. I appreciated a sand painting of a camel rider in a desert, a large egg art―an ostrich eggshell―, the elegant white colonial mansion, the large lawn garden, the beautiful summer night view and the South African families who had a nice chat. The ambassador was of African descent, but almost all the guests were European. Some of their wives were Japanese. I felt like I had slipped into a villa in colonial Africa or India.

     In contrast, Jun, my Japanese friend who asked me to the party, fully enjoyed the “real” party. She talked and laughed with other guests. She wasn’t much different from me, but a good English speaker. (I just recently heard news about her. Our mutual friend Philip, a Scot, said that she married a South African gentleman.)

     It was nearly a decade ago. I’ve gone through similar experiences sometimes. I think that the influence of language is quite similar to the distribution of currency. The languages of countries with political or economic power (in addition to military power, perhaps,) become the common languages. Chinese used to be the common language of intellectuals in East Asia, including Japan. Latin was also the common language of European intellectuals and church for centuries, even after the Roman Empire collapsed. And you have no doubt that the today’s global common language is English―it’s the modern Latin. People who can’t speak English are the same as mute on the occasions of international exchange. Ergo the episode of a peasant girl in The Name of the Rose always reminds me of the summer night when I was “an invisible person”.

「生命大躍進展」国立科学博物館

10日に国立科学博物館の「脊椎動物のたどった道 生命大躍進展」へ行った。金曜の夜にしては意外なほど混んでいた。地球の40億年前からの生命の軌跡を辿るという、実にどうも気の長い企画展だ。生命の痕跡とされる炭素が残る37億年前の化石の展示から始まるので、恐竜の化石に辿りついた時には旧い知り合いに会ったような気がした。一昨年、この博物館で「大恐竜展」を友人親子と一緒に観たのを思い出す。

街中に住み、ペットも飼っていないので、熊や猪のように脅威を与える動物に遭遇することもなく、人間より力の勝る「猛獣」たちは動物園の檻の中で、檻の外にいるのは野良猫や雀の類ばかりという生活を送っていると、人類の優越性を自明のものと感じていたが、トンデモない、ヒトは40億年の間に絶滅と繁殖を繰り返してきた無数の生物種の一つに過ぎないのだ、と謙虚な気持ちにさせられた。

一番印象に残っているのは、二本足で直立歩行を始めた猿人だか原人の足跡の化石のレプリカだ。2､3の猿人が柔らかな火山灰に大小の足跡を残した後、その上に更に降り注いだ火山灰によって残された足跡で、砂浜を歩く親子連れの足跡がそのまま化石化した感じだ。父親と子ども、その少し後を歩く母親の猿人の想像上の復元図が展示されていた。足跡の僅かな痕跡からこれだけの事を推測するのだから、考古学者というのは詩人や名探偵顔負けの想像力と観察力の持ち主だと思い、ゴーチェの『ポンペイ夜話』を連想した。ポンペイの発掘品の黒い熔岩の塊に見事な乳房と脇腹の断片を認めた青年が、古代ローマへタイムスリップしてその胸の持ち主だった美女と出会うという短篇だ（スタイル抜群で顔はイマイチ、という女性だって大勢いるはずだが……）。40億年の歴史を辿って来た後では、ヴェスヴィオ火山の噴火も東日本大震災と同じぐらい最近の出来事に感じられた。主人公の19世紀フランスの夢想家の青年も、古代ローマの美女も、私と同じホモ・サピエンという人類の種の一つに属していることを知れば、人種差別など実に馬鹿げたものだと思った。

今週末の出来事など：印刷会社の見学、最近、鑑賞した映画や小説について

　昨日の土曜日の午後は印刷会社を見学した。５月から受講している出版技術講座の講義の一環だ。光陽メディアという印刷会社で、神楽坂の、こんな街中の建物の密集地帯に印刷工場があるのか、と思われるような地帯にある会社だ。もっともそれは本社で、本格的な工場は埼玉にある。私達が見学させて頂いたのは本社内にある、コンピュータで紙面のレイアウトを組んだり、画像を撮影したりするオペレーションの現場や、オンデマンドの機械などだ。埼玉工場の印刷現場はプロジェクターで観せて頂いた。印刷会社は、本社は都内にあるが、工場は郊外へ移転していく流れのようで、2013年の冬にリーブルテックという印刷会社の埼玉工場を見学させて頂いたことがある。その際も思ったのだが、印刷機器はこれ以上開発しようがないと思われるほど技術開発がし尽くされ自動化が進んでいるが、文化や技術が頂点に達する時には、その技術自体が無用になるような新たな技術や文化が普及するもので、電子書籍の普及はこうした高度な印刷技術そのものを無用にしてしまうのだなぁと思った。
　とは言え、紙の書籍や雑誌はまだまだ作り続けられるだろうし、印刷の仕組みが分かって、この出版技術講座の中でも最も実地に役立つ授業だった。

　帰宅して、「ミラノ、愛に生きる」（ルカ・グァダニーノ監督、2009年）という映画のDVDを観た。ミラノの上流家庭のマダムを主人公に、一見、幸福そのものに見えた実業家の一族が、子ども達の結婚や留学、事業の躓きなどによって水面下の不協和音が次第に露になり崩壊していくというストーリーだ。各種の賞を受賞した作品だが、期待が大きすぎた為か私はさほど面白いとは思わなかった。
　ただ、ふと気づいたのは、最近、観たり読んだりした映画や小説は、ヒロインが自分より年齢や社会階層が低い男性と結ばれて幸福になる、というストーリーが多いということだ。先週末に観た「暮れ逢い」（パトリス・ルコント監督、2013年）という映画も、ダイアン・ハイブリッジ作『あまりに年下の彼』（1998年）という小説もそうだった。私が子どもの頃の女の子のファンタジーは、どちらかと言えば恵まれない環境にいる少女が、年齢や社会階層が自分より上の「王子様」と結ばれて結婚する、というものだった。「ミラノ、愛に生きる」のヒロイン、エンマもそうしたシンデレラストーリーの体現者だったわけだが、イタリア人に、「上流」階級の一員になりおおせるという努力の末に、自分は本当は孤独だった事に気づき、一切を捨てて「年下の彼」の所へ行く、それが彼女にとっての「幸福」なのだ、という結末だ。女性が強く賢くなり、経済的・社会的に恵まれていることと、内面の幸福は必ずしも一致しないという事に気づくようになってきたから、こうしたアンチ・シンデレラストーリーが供給されるようになったのだと思う。
　もっとも私自身は旧い型の人間で、古典的なシンデレラストーリー、恋愛と社会階層の上昇がセットになったファンタジーの方が好きではある。例えば「青いパパイヤの香り」（トラン・アン・ユン監督、1993年）がすぐに思い浮かぶ。1950～60年代のベトナムを舞台に、ヒロインのムイが少女の頃から仄かな恋心を抱いていた青年の家に奉公することになり、主人もムイに惹かれるようになり、裕福な婚約者と別れてムイをパートナーに選ぶという話だ。

「ユトリロとヴァラドン 母と子の物語」展で想ったこと

2015年6月7日（土）

親から愛されなかった子どもほど、親を慕い続けることがある。大人になった後も、老年になってからも。ヴァラドンとユトリロの母子関係はその典型だろう。

私はユトリロの作品は好きではない。嫌いとは言わないまでも、観る者を拒絶する彼の絵が心の琴線に触れことはない。「ユトリロとヴァラドン　母と子の物語」展へ行ったのは、母親のシュザンヌ・ヴァラドンの作品を観るためだ。彼女は人物画が得意で、描かれた人々は実に活き活きとして性格までも顔つきに表れている。「黒いヴィーナス」のような裸婦像は女好きの男性画家が描いたのかと思うほど生々しく、黒人の美女の体温や乳房の重量感、手足の筋肉の逞しさを間近に観ているように感じさせる。ヴァラドンは自分の生を十全に生きた人のようで――本当に「思うがまま」に生きられたのかは本人に訊いてみなければ分からないが――、熱い温かな血潮と大らかな感情が、どの作品からも伝わってくる。美貌と豊満な肢体でルノワールやロートレックなど一流の画家のモデルを勤め、彼らの恋人になったり絵を教わったり、２度の結婚と数多くの情事の中で画家として才能を開花させていったヴァラドンは、育児はほぼ自分の母親に任せきりだった。その寂しさからユトリロが十代からアルコール依存症になり、治療のために絵を描き始めたのは有名な話だ。

ヴァラドンは彼女なりに息子を愛していたし、それだからこそユトリロも母親を理想の女性として慕い続け、彼女の没後は描くより祈るほうが多かったという。ヴァラドンに私生児を産ませて省みなかったユトリロの実父のように、ヴァラドンも息子のことを全く省みなかったら、いっそユトリロは彼女を憎むなり諦めるなりしてきれいさっぱり親離れ出来たかもしれない。魅力的で愛情深く多血質のヴァラドンは恋と画業に心を奪われながらも、自分の母親や息子にも愛情を注いでいた。ただ、その愛情の量が息子にとってはあまりにも不足だったのだ。

出会う人々も出来事も貪欲に消化して自分の糧にしてしまうヴァラドンの作品と、自分の殻に閉じ籠って他人を拒絶するユトリロの作品群は互いに共鳴し合うこともなく、人気の少ない会場は寒々と感じられた。外に出ると雨はまだ降り続いていた。

この２人の母子関係について考えている間、マリア・テレジアを連想した。賢帝として名高く、情熱的な女性でもあり、舞踏会では徹夜で踊り明かしたり、初恋の男性と結婚して夫婦仲も睦まじく、16人の子どもを産み、彼女らをヨーロッパ各国の王室と縁組させてハプスブルグ家の隆盛を図った、公私共に精一杯、十全に生きた女性だった。ところが彼女の子ども達はあまり出来が良くないか、幸せとは言い難い結婚生活を送っていたりする。その典型がマリー・アントワネットだ。あれほど賢明な母親の娘がなぜあれほど愚かだったのか不思議に思うほどだが、あまりに多忙なマリア・テレジアは子ども達を愛してはいても一人一人に十分な愛情を注いでいる時間はなかったろう。もちろん、育児や教育は専属の乳母や教師が十分な世話をしてはいたろうが。結婚して他国に住み、親として君主としての圧倒的な力によって無言の圧力を加えていた母親から離れた子ども達が羽を伸ばして馬鹿な真似をしたくなる気持ちは良く分かる。

子どもを愛してはいても、それ以上に自分の生活を生きるのに忙しく、子どもが望むほどには十分な愛情を注いでやれない母親と、自分や夫の人生には不満足で、自分たちが叶えられなかった夢を子どもに託して過剰な愛情を注いだり、子ども自身の夢の実現を阻もうとする母親よりは、前者の方がはるかに良い親だとは思う。親自身の人生が充実していないと子どもに心理的に依存して、子どもの真の自立を妨げるからだ。ただシュザンヌ・ヴァラドンやマリア・テレジアのような並外れて自我が強く多忙な母親、というより圧倒的に強烈な個性の持ち主は身近にいる人々を何らかの形で犠牲にせずにはいられないのだ。それを「犠牲」とは感じない人もいれば、この人の個性に押し潰されるのはご免だと離れて行く人もいるのだろう。