Sandakan No. 8

Sandakan No. 8 or Sandakan hachibanshokan bohkyo (1974)

           

Director: Kei Kumai, original book by Tomoko Yamazaki and screenplay by Sakae Hirosawa

Studio: Haiyu-Za Film Production Company Ltd. and Toho, Co., Ltd

Release date: June 23, 1974 in Hungary, late 1976 in US

In color, aspect ratio of 2.35 : 1, running time of 120 min.

Genre: drama, history, war

Keiko Mitani (played by Komaki Kurihara): young female journalist researching prostitutes in Asian brothels in early 1900s
Osaki Yamakawa (as old woman played by Kinuyo Tanaka): tells her life story through flashback

Sandakan No. 8 fits in with regards to this course, because it is a historical drama that documents wartime atrocities in Japan. This theme was apparent in Seven Samurai and strongly alluded to in Godzilla. However, unlike The Burmese Harp and the other wartime films we watched, Sandakan No. 8 focuses on the experiences of Japanese women in war time. Although we have not watched a film directed by Kei Kumai in this course, we saw Kinuyo Tanaka’s moving performance as Takai (the young adult sister) in Sansho the Bailiff (1954).

Tanaka began starring in films at 14, and the Japanese studio system allowed her to act in many films; she became an international legend (Fujiwara).Tanaka actually became a director herself, a daring venture for a Japanese woman at the time. She directed six films in her career. After taking a trip to the US and seeing Hollywood, Tanaka was given a 16mm camera and film stock as a coming home present.  Like Sansho the Bailiff, Sandakan No.8 addresses the enslavement of the Japanese peasant class in order to bolster the empire’s economy and expansionist desires. In Sandakan No. 8, Tanaka plays the old karayuki-san, Osaki Yamakawa.

The sex trade and enslavement of women was a taboo subject in Japan, and Tomoko Yamazaki’s book entitled Sandakan hachiban shokan: teihen joseishi josh, opened up the subject for discussion. The recruitment of young, poor girls from their villages taken under false pretense of domestic work occurs all over the world; hence the book and film have international significance. Currently, 27 million people are enslaved, and the sex trafficking industry grosses $32 billion dollars a year (love146.org). According to Warren, “Sandakan Brothel No. 8 provides both a trans-historical and trans-cultural face for analyzing prostitution and trafficking in women and children, especially in the Asian-Pacific region at the end of the 20th century” (16).

In the previous century, Japan’s main exports were silk, coal, and women (Warren 4). Yamazaki’s book presents a personal account of a Japanese peasant girl who went to work in Sandakan, on the east coast of British North Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia today) (Warren 1). Girls sent abroad became sex slaves in the empire’s hope that these women could infiltrate foreign lands. The girls were told that it was their patriotic duty to remain in Borneo and/or the Asian mainland. Many sent money back home to support their poor families. In Yamazaki’s story, Osaki is forced into prostitution at age 13.

Warren states that Yamazaki’s 1972 book was awarded the Oya Soichi Prize for Non-Fiction Literature (2). The book quickly became a national best-seller, establishing Yamazaki as a leading writer on women’s issues. Her book depicts the ordeal of the Karayuki-san abroad at a time when the “flesh trade” was flourishing (Warren 2). The film version, Sandakan Brothel No. 8, was produced by Kumai Kei, and was nominated for an academy award in the Foreign Film category (Warren 2). Derus Uzala, by the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, won the Oscar that year as the Soviet Union entry (Malysia.Dreab 4) In the 1975 Kinema Jumpo Awards, Sandakan No. 8 won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for Kinuyo Tanaka (Malaysia.Dreab 4). Tanaka also won the Best Actress Award at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival, and Kumai received a nomination for Best Director at the festival. Though the book was eventually translated into English, Sandakan No. 8 has not been commercially released on DVD in the U.S. (Malysia.Dreab 4). For its trans-national significance on sex-trafficking, which is a major issue abroad and in the U.S., I think that the DVD should be more accessible to non-Japanese audiences and students.

Keiko Mitani is a married woman researching the history of Japanese women who were forced to work in Asian brothels during the early 20th century. She happens upon Osaki Karasawa in a café and realizes that Osaki was a karayuki-san. Keiko decides to stay with the old woman, in the hopes of hearing her story. At first, Osaki is reluctant to share story. That is until a neighbor man sneaks into their house naked, and Keiko gets a small taste of what it is like to be violated. “You can’t trust men. Don’t fall in love, no matter what. When you’re in love you’re blind. All men are the same,” Osaki tells Keiko. The only audible sound is that of the wind howling, and Osaki begins to tell the story of Sandakan.

Attempting to raise money for her poor family, Osaki takes a jobs as a maid in the port of Sandakan at the prompting of Tarozo, a rich business man in all white suite, top hat, walking stick, and mustache who appears quite menacing (Malaysia.Dreab 1). The house is actually a brothel called Sandakan 8, the eighth out of nine brothels in the port. Osaki works for two years as a maid, but is forced by Tarozo to become a prostitute.

Before she leaves, Osaki’s mother sews her a kimono to take with her. Osaki ends up taking apart the kimono to make a mattress; the same one Keiko sees her use as an old woman. The object takes on a presence, its significance reminiscent of the objects in Ozu films that appear to gaze upon the actors. Ozaki’s pipe is also of significance throughout the film. Her leaving it in a café is the incentive for Keiko to walk with her. Furthermore, the old woman smokes it throughout the telling of her story. Both the kimono and the pipe serve to link cuts between the past and the present, providing some form of continuity to Sandakan No. 8.

Eventually, Osaki falls in love with a young, kind, handsome Japanese rubber farmer who was also lured to Borneo for work. Osaki even ends up paying for him to stay the night with her. When a Japanese warship anchors in the port, this means big business for the brothel. The troops literally storm Sandakan No. 8, saluting to the woman and yelling, “I’m first.” Afterwards, Osaki is traumatized, cannot look at her lover, and he deserts her. Soon thereafter, the Showa era begins and Japan becomes increasingly modernized. The karayuki-san business dwindles as human trafficking is banned by the government. Osaki then returns to Japan, only to have her brother say that having karayuki-san in the family is considered shameful. Though the brother’s house was built with the money Osaki sent home, she has not rights to it and leaves.

Upon leaving Japan, Osaki goes to Manchuria and marries a Japanese man. Unfortunately, they lose all their property during WWII and the husband dies. They have one son who sends Osaki away, because he is ashamed to introduce her to his bride. After hearing Osaki’s story, Keikyo must leave and return to her husband and daughter in Tokyo. She tries to give Osaki money, but Osaki asks for her towel as a token to remember her by instead. This reminds me of Noriko’s gesture to her mother-in-law in Ozu’s Tokyo Story. It is also an inter-generational offering with the understanding that the pair will most likely never meet again. As her final gesture to Osaki, Keikyo visits the cemetery erected for the Japanese women who died in Sandakan. The scene is shot with still images of the gravestones. This is followed by black and white, blue-tinted still frames of Sandakan being destroyed during the war and bodies piled on the ground. The brush is cleared, and Keikyo sets up a memorial for the women definitively deciding to publish Osaki’s story.

The cinematography at the beginning of the film shows East Malaysia as modern place, with airports, automobiles, and a high rise building where the brothel used to be. Typically, the room is lit by a single electric hanging bulb, then in Osaki’s brothel room by the lone kerosene lamp. There are certain reoccurring shots throughout the film: profile two shot of the two women, tracking aerial shots of women walking outside, slow zoom in on women seated indoors. The most innovative shots are those with a blacked out background and a close up on one woman’s face while she speaks.

The film’s editing transitions from the present day to about 50 years ago through the use of flashbacks. One of the very first shots is that of a plan landing in Malaysia. Like shots of trains in the 1950s, the plane and cityscape shots are symbols of modernity. In contrast, the flash back scenes appear more indoors, in a stage-like setting. The camera slowly zooms in on the characters in darkly lit scenes, making the flashbacks seem dream-like. The shots of modern Malaysia are contrasted by the mise-en-scene of Osaki’s dingy, falling apart house filled with stray cats contrasted by the lush greenery that surrounds it.

The acting in this film is very much about the dynamic between the two women. There is narration by both Keiko and then Osaki, making Sandakan No. 8 a story within a story. Kurihara plays Keiko in a very sweet and polite manner. Though she grimaces at the bugs in the house, she plays with the cats lovingly and is always extending a hand to help Osaki. She is from Tokyo, and this is evident by her modern clothes and hair style. On the other hand, Tanaka plays Osaki as a worn out old woman by hunching over, wearing less modern clothes, and being very polite in her gestures. However, the old woman shows exuberance and delight over Keiko’s interest in her story. She is more fidgety, rocks back and forth, and devours her food. She literally hops up and down and rolls on the floor when Keioko helps fix up the house. At the same time, Osaki often has a far off look, like she is trying not to think about her past. Close ups on the women show a variety of facial expressions, small “tells” of how Keioko and Osaki relate to one another.

Sound-wise, the film takes a conservative approach. Only in flash-backs is there non-diegetic music. It is usually light, swelling orchestral arrangements. Otherwise, there is only the voice-over narration and sounds from the environment like cats meowing and the bell tolling. In regards to the audience, the attention is not focused on what one hears, but the facial expressions and postures of the two women as they navigate through the story and grow in their friendship.

            The scene I found most cinematically important was when Osaki becomes a prostitute for the brothel. At first Osaki refuses to “pay her debts” by selling herself, but Tarozo slaps her with the back of his hand several and chases her around the house, tearing at her clothes. Tarozo grabs a stick and the two of them disappear behind a wall. The next shot is an aerial view of a dark, empty staircase. The shadowed figures of two women appear. The next shot is of Osaki dressed in white make-up and a colorful dress, ascending the stairs as an karyuki-san. Osaki stops mid-way, as if she cannot physically move, but she is led up the stairs by the hand for her first night. When she is placed in a room, Osaki’s face lifts up slowly, and the light is completely blacked out around her. What she was looking at is the following shot: the camera begins at the feet of a man and follows him as he stands up and unfolds his arms, revealing muscles and many tattoos. There is a close up of his eyes, and soon he forcefully throws her on the bed. The only sound the audience hears is of the coins he pays her with rattling to the floor. As the man rapes her, the sole noise comes from key to the room that the man wears as a necklace. The key jingles and swings in Osaki’s face. The lights go dim, and orchestral music begins, followed by an upside down shot of her tormented face. Orchestral music is now playing in full force. This is followed by a shot of the pouring rain outside. Osaki collapses in the rain, draped in her robe. The beginning of the subsequent scene is Osaki in her plain clothes again, lying curled up, exhausted and drained on the floor. Tarozo comes in to tell her that prostitution is her only viable option. His final gesture is to rip off the shirt sleeve of Osaki’s precious kimono.

            Overall, Sanadakan No. 8 enlightens its audience on a hidden part of culture and Japanese recent past. If the extent of sex trafficking is not researched, how can it be stopped, prevented, and reparations given to the victim\? Many call Yamazaki a feminist writer, but I certainly did not see the film as having a feminist agenda. The blame was not put on the patriarchal society and Japanese government, rather the susceptibility of impoverished families to give up their children into forced labor. The critique on Japanese culture comes mainly in the banishment of these women when  they tried to return to the homes that sent them away in the first place, the homes they supported with their wages. Though Sandakan No. 8 is not a pleasant film to watch, the message is of grave importance, told in a respectful manner that does not blame or degrade the exciled karayuki-san.

For more information on sex trafficking and how to help to end it, visit http://love146.org/

Works Cited

Warren, James F. “New Lands, Old Ties and Prostitution: A Voiceless Voice. A review essay of Sandakan Brothel No. 8 (book).” Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 4 (September 2000).  http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue5/sandakan.htmlMalaysia.Dreab. http://malaysia.dreab.com/p-Sandakan_No._8

Fujiwara, Chris. “Love Letter: A centenary valentine to Japanese screen legend Kinuyo Tanaka.” Museum of the Moving Image (October 2009). http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/love-letter-20091023

Women in Glasses, Japanese Films from 1953-1954

In McDonald’s book on understanding Japanese film, he lays out this cinema’s defining characteristics: onnagata (female impersonators), benshi (commentators), and center-front long shots following strict continuity (2). Much like other national cinemas, female actors were not equally represented at the inception of film. For Japan, this seems to be more out of cultural norms for performative theater rather than discriminatory intentions. The onnagata continued kabuki tradition from the early Edo period when, in 1629, the Tukugawa shogunate banned women from any kind of theatrical performance (McDonald 2). It was not until 1868 (the time of Meiji restoration) that Japan was brought into the modern world with regard to the treatment of females (McDonald 2). Then, the shingeki (New Theater) movement in 1916 called for technical innovation and more realist acting (McDonald 3). This meant that females were now expected to play the parts of women. The first time actual female actors were used on-screen was in 1920 for the film, Island Woman (McDonald 3).

Throughout the US occupation of Japan (1945-1951), many Japanese films dealt with women’s new roles in society and their need to become more assertive in order to rebuild Tokyo and the nation as a whole (McDonald 7). The first female director was Kinuyo Tanaka who made six films from 1953-1962 (McDonald 244). Shindo’s films in the late 1960s and 70s had a theme of women using their sexual prowess to challenge Japan’s feudal structure, like The Villain (1965) (McDonald 109). In his films, Shindo tapped into the dramatic potential of female sexual frustration. In the 1980s, Higashi portrayed women as victims in Japanese society (The Rape, 1982) (McDonald 233). By the 1980s, films like Ryoko’s A Taxing Woman (1987) showed Japanese women’s double burden of “proof”: upstanding character and worthiness in the job market with predominantly men (McDonald 167).

Post-occupation, Japanese films began to seriously question women’s place in society.Though Mizoguchi portrayed women’s lives in his films, they had less to do with redefining women’s roles and more to do with the struggles of womanhood in Japan. He depicted women as geishas and courtesans who were forced to earn money using their youth and beauty (McDonald 170). Mizoguchi showed women in trouble, and they were his most prominent and passionate subject (McDonald 17). In his films, Mizoguchi showed women’s age old struggle between conformity (giri) and rebellion (ninjo) (McDonald 17).

In Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi, 1954), Anju and her brother Zushio are sold into slavery and separated from their mother. While Zushio becomes a cold-hearted young adult man who brands a fellow slave, Anju shows compassion. She takes care of an older, sickly woman and exhibits a certain degree of concerning her brother’s actions. Anju wants to escpae, believing their mother is still alive. When a young girl comes to the Bailiff’s grounds, Anju hears her singing a song of longing. Anju soon recognizes that this song was written by her mother and pleads with the girl for information of her mother’s whereabouts. She relays this to Zushio, and the two begin seriously considering running away, though the punishment if caught is torture. When the time is right, Zushio begs Anju to run with him, but she is more concerned for her brother and dying friend than herself. This selflessness is above and beyond human compassion, and Anju is painted by Mizoguchi as a saint-like character in the midst of her suffering.

When Anju decides to take her own life, she is filmed in a near reverent manner, with the camera showing her full, upright and calm body, rather than her facial expressions. She is seen placing her hands together in what is most likely a prayer. Unlike the young peasant girl in Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954) who is seen by her father as simply a vessel for the men to take advantage of, the focus on Anju is never her young, slender body or inner turmoil. Rather, it is her steady strength, resolve, and self-sacrifice that take center stage.

In this time frame directly following the US occupation, Japanese main stream films were finally able to comment on the events of WWII and the effect firebombing/destruction had on the common people of Japan. From 1953-1954, considered the Golden Age of Japanese cinema, these issues were addressed in an artistic and allegorical fashion. Ozu, considered one of Japan’s greatest directors, often portrayed the Japanese family in their post-war reconciliation of traditional families values and reformed ideas of wives’ duties and motherhood.

In Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953), Noriko is the daughter-in-law of the Hirayamas. Her husband, who fought in the war, is at this point presumed dead. In Japanese culture, the wife of the son is adopted into his family, while leaving her own family ties behind. But since Noriko has no children, her link to the Hirayama family was severed with her husband’s death. In the film, Noriko, played by the beloved actress Setsuka Hara ( a favorite of Ozu), is also portrayed in a saintly manner. She is all smiles throughout the film, and seems more caring towards the parents than the Hirayama's biological children. Noriko takes in the mother and even gives her money. Even so, Noriko is portrayed as a modern woman through her dress and hair style. She also lives in Tokyo by herself and works in the city. She is self-supporting and misses her husband dearly.

This is certainly a departure from Ozu’s earlier film I Was Born, But… (1932) where the mother, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, never seems to leave the house and is always preparing meals or helping her husband dress. She has very little sway in disciplining her two young boys, and can only comment discreetly to her husband when she feels he has stepped out of line. She is shown in traditional clothing, and gets few point of view shots. From behind her glasses, it is hard to tell what she is feeling, as her acting is not as expressive as Noriko’s performance in Tokyo Story.

The war certainly changed the cultural landscape of Japan, and women were no exception. Gojira (Honda, 1954) is in part a commentary on the horrific devastation the Japanese people faced during and in the wake of the nuclear bombs that paralyzed their ability to continue fighting in WWII. The film's leading lady is the young Emiko Yamane who is in love with Ogata, despite a hinted at arrangement with Serizawa. Emiko is very tender. She dresses Ogata’s wound after a fight with Serizawa and attempts to be the peacemaker in arguments. Her actions are all out of love, not self gratification. Throughout the film, she plays a middle man of sorts between her father and Ogata. However, she remains in the background while the men make the final decisions. She knows her place, but tactfully uses her sway with the men in her life in order to share her views on what should be done about Gojira.

Emiko shows a wide range of emotions throughout the film, from love to heavy sadness. She cries over Serizawa’s decision to use the oxygen destroyer, and her acting posture mirrors Kabuki melodrama tradition. Noriko is portrayed as an intelligent, head strong woman who understands the gravity of the situation in Tokyo. She also wishes to marry Ogata for love, despite the intentions of her father and the cultural precedence of parent-arranged marriages, which were remnants of the feudal system in Japan.

As with Anju and Noriko, Emiko’s body is not sexualized. This respect for women is not seen in other national cinemas during this time like Hollywood films during 1953-1954, such as Gentleman Prefer Blondes with Marilyn Monroe and Rear Window with Grace Kelly, which mostly reduced women to the place of ideal lover or homemaker. This tendency of male-driven became so apparent, it sparked the famous essay by Laura Mulvey in 1975, the thesis of which states that the gaze of the camera is male and objectifies women. While women are certainly not treated as equals of men intellectually and authoritatively in the Japanese films, the respect for women by the camera’s gaze and the plot’s understanding of their stuggles is apparent. Even with the love story that takes place in Gojira, these young women filmed in the 1950s showed a strength in the femininity of Japanese youth, which the country most certainly needed to see images of in their post-war society.

Works Cited

McDonald, Keiko I. Reading a Japanese Film: Cinema in Context. USA: University of Hawaii Press, 2006.