You might think you can, but you’re wrong — Hollywood has no Jeremy Lin. When I say star, I mean someone who is immediately recognizable worldwide, draws crowds at the box office both at home and abroad, and who has a plausible chance at industry-wide recognition [read: Oscar]. These are pretty strict standards for any minority group, in fact, and one could argue that even within the African American community, only Will Smith and Denzel Washington really fit the bill these days. Even though she won an Oscar, there aren’t people in Paris anxiously awaiting Mo’Nique’s next movie.

The Asians have nobody to speak of in Hollywood. I thought about it years ago when I first saw The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha, and then again when I heard about the new Hollywood version of the 47 Ronin. If you take The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha as examples of Asian exposure in Hollywood, you come up with a cast of unknowns, a handful of Chinese actresses playing Japanese characters, and Ken Watanabe. He’s one example of an actor some people might call a “crossover” — someone who began working in their native film industry, gained popularity and eventually broke into Hollywood. A true crossover, though, must be someone who can star in Hollywood films on their own without being typecast; Watanabe hasn’t reached anywhere near that point. In spite of his excellent performances in The Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha and Letters From Iwo Jima, those were all typecast roles, and the remainder of his Hollywood repertoire — Batman Begins and Inception — is a result of Christopher Nolan’s good graces. I like Watanabe a lot, so I don’t like belittling him this way, but I have to admit that his Oscar nomination for The Last Samurai was little more than a gesture and he had no chance of winning from the start.

In order for there to be “mainstream” Asian or Asian American stars, there must first be Asian or Asian American roles that can be considered “mainstream.” At this point, the vast majority of noticeable Asian roles in Hollywood can be broken down into simple categories.

For men: martial arts roles, the occasional yakuza or Triad part and historical films with some Asian component — including and especially action/war films.

For women: martial arts roles, historical films, eye candy.

Any two or more of those categories can be grouped together; an attractive female ninja, for example. When it all boils down, the audiences of Hollywood movies [note than I'm not limiting this to American audiences only] are looking for these sorts of things when presented with Asian actors. That’s why the only critically-acclaimed film dealing with modern Asia in recent years — Lost in Translation — was built around two white stars bonding over Japan’s idiosyncrasies. I enjoyed the movie, but what I’m getting at here is, this is the most successful movie about “Asia” in the past decade? What’s wrong with this picture?

Why aren’t there any Asian or Asian-American stars out there? One argument that inevitably comes up is that Asians [and almost any minority group out there] has a serious disadvantage trying to get recognition when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences [those folks who dish out Oscars] is mostly made up of old, white men. The figures are hard to ignore, being that approximately 94 percent of Academy members are white and around 77 percent are male. The problem with this argument, though, is that membership in the Academy is based on merit, and not only on Oscar nominations; many people are invited to join the Academy long before they earn an Oscar, and a plurality of members have never even been nominated. What an actor needs to get in is a solid repertoire in Hollywood, so it turns out that in spite of its lopsided demographics, the Academy is something of a red herring in this case. It’s the studios who really have the power over who gets roles in big films.

Truth be told, I don’t think a studio could just invent an Asian-American star overnight. Stars need to be groomed first and they do need to seem natural in whatever role they’re playing. What needs to happen first is for Asian-American actors to establish themselves as a normal presence on screen. What do I mean? I’ve got a perfect example of how this can work.

The man on the left there is Jeffrey Wright. He’s a talented actor who’s made a name for himself on stage, television and on film. The reason I chose this photo is because it’s from the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, in which he reprises his role as 007′s CIA contact, Felix Leiter. That role was originally played by white actors, but there’s no reason that needed to continue, so it went to Jeffrey Wright on merit. I thought he was excellent. Looking at the rest of his roles, there are very few stereotypes or novelty characters, and the only major role he played that required an African American actor was that of Colin Powell in the Bush biopic W. Although he hasn’t received very many awards for film, his work is widely praised, and he’s been invited to join the Academy. I love that he can just be in movies without anyone mentioning his race.

Asian-Americans need some Jeffrey Wrights. Actors and actresses who can be plugged into nearly any role that isn’t race-specific and do a good job. And studios need to let them give it a go, too.

There are a few examples of this happening now — John Cho appearing as Mr. Sulu in the new Star Trek films, for instance. True, it’s an Asian role, but it’s not a stereotypical Asian role, and racial background has no real influence on the character. Cho has said he’s proud to be playing such a masculine part as one member of a diverse ensemble cast. Of course, he has George Takei to thank for blazing that trail…

Once we see studios start casting Asians and Asian-Americans in dramatic, non-stereotypical roles, the audience will be ready for a dramatic starring performance. It’s a shame that today’s Hollywood is so driven by numbers — the idea that Middle America might not buy into an Asian star is enough to deter them from casting one. With any luck, though, the studios will come around eventually. I’d like to start seeing Asians and Asian-Americans show what they’ve got around Hollywood.

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Update: I want to reiterate that the blame doesn’t fall squarely on American audiences for demanding a certain product. Most modern Hollywood films — including The Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha and even Lost in Translation — earn more than 60 or even 70 percent of their gross outside the US. If studios think shelving Asian actors is prudent, it’s because there isn’t sufficient demand from foreign audiences, either.

I don’t know who made this, but they were right on. I don’t know about the parents photo; by this time next month, both of my parents will have visited Tokyo and seen it for themselves. The rest are all exactly right. Talk to a friend, and I get questions about how crazy Japanese girls are and how strange the fashion is here. When I talk to my friends’ parents or other people from around the world, it’s always, “Aren’t you terrified of the radiation?! How can you drink the water or eat the food without checking it’s not contaminated? I think I’d faint if there was an earthquake!” I try not to talk to anime fans, but when I do, they get all dreamy-eyed hearing about Tokyo. And I do like to think of downtown Shibuya as “where I live” even though I’m a good 15 minutes away in a quiet neighborhood.

Finally, where I actually live. A tiny hole in the wall with room enough for myself and not much else. Check. But I like my tiny hole in the wall.

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The story of the 47 ronin is based on events that actually occurred in 1701. The fictional account, Chūshingura, was popularized as a puppet play and then as a kabuki play during the 18th century and it’s one of the most famous stories in all of Japanese classical literature. Since reading it in translation years ago, it’s been my favorite Japanese story of all, bar none.

As one of the most famous stories in Japanese folklore, there have been more than a few film and television adaptations over the years. Kenji Mizoguchi directed one excellent version that was released in 1941, and Hiroshi Inagaki’s 1962 film was absolutely spectacular. That particular movie featured performances by Toshiro Mifune and Setsuko Hara, the actor and actress who together epitomize the golden age of Japanese cinema. Clearly, the story has some history and importance.

But frankly, my dear, Hollywood doesn’t give a damn. And 2012′s 47 Ronin is coming from Universal Pictures rather than a Japanese distributor. I guess you can’t really expect much in the way of integrity from a company that’s making a sixth Fast and Furious movie.

And that’s what brings us to this horrible state of affairs. The upcoming 47 Ronin film will have a mostly Japanese cast, led by Keanu Reeves. I’m guessing that the working title for that script was 46 Ronin and 1 Cash Cow. I have no issue with Keanu Reeves — he’s generally a decent actor — but he has no place in this film. As it happens, his character was written into the story as a half-British, half-Japanese “outcast” [as to what that means, I have no clue] who joins the ronin in their little vendetta. They’ve taken a character who wasn’t in the story to begin with and made him the main character. It’s the director’s first project ever, and Universal threw him $170 million to make this film, so no pressure. In interviews, they’re comparing it to Lord of the Rings and Gladiator in terms of style and execution. A word of wisdom: try not to liken your nascent bowel movement to multiple Best Picture Oscar winners. It might sound overly….ambitious.

Why is he even in the movie? It’s an American production, so they wanted to start with a marketable face, I suppose. This is the tragedy of Hollywood’s relationship with Japan — there are very few Japanese actors that can take big Hollywood roles. If you get rid of Ken Watanabe, there’s pretty much nobody. This is why you have an $85 million film like Memoirs of a Geisha, with the three female geisha lead roles going to Chinese [Chinese Malaysian, in Michelle Yeoh's case] actresses and Ken Watanabe taking the male leading role.

The reason I dislike a lot of remakes is that rather than drawing attention to the excellent original films, they have a tendency to displace them. American moviegoers of a certain age will know what I’m talking about. When Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) came out, there were throngs of young people going nuts over Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, but not too many of them had ever heard of Gene Wilder. Taking the 2005 phenomenon of Gene Wilder ignorance one step further, there are plenty of people who know that The Producers (also 2005) was based on a hit Broadway musical of the same name, but how many knew that the musical was based on a side-splittingly funny 1968 film? It bums me out when I tell someone I love The Producers and they come back with, “Oh, that Nathan Lane is a RIOT! What? Zero who? Mostel? Who’s that?”

This is like a Chinese film company producing a $170 million remake of The Godfather and writing in a role for Jackie Chan, so that all the movie posters read: The Godfather, starring Jackie Chan. I would expect some response from American film enthusiasts. And you’d die every time you heard a kid say how The Godfather was their favorite martial arts film.

The point is, no matter how good a remake turns out to be, it will become the default for a lot of people, and their opinions of the remake will be projected onto the original. I’ve met a few people who have no interest in seeing the original Star Wars trilogy because they saw one of the new films first and didn’t like it. That’s just a shame.

This film is going to be most Americans’ introduction to the story of the 47 Ronin, and I’d rather it wasn’t a 3D Hollywood production staring an American actor as a character that wasn’t in the original story. I’d rather that they read the play first, or at least watched one of the several brilliant Japanese productions readily available on DVD already. But then, people in hell want ice water. There are other movies that are passable because they’re obviously ridiculous — I actually watch The Last Samurai as a comedy. Unfortunately, Keanu Reeves’ performance as a fake member of the 47 Ronin will probably be prefaced with the words “Based on a true story.” And no, it doesn’t help that he’s part Asian. If he tries to speak Japanese in the film, I might walk out.

Anyway, I hope that this movie doesn’t really stink, because if it does it’ll be nothing more than a $170 million effort to make Americans dislike a gem of Japanese literature. Best case scenario, America likes the story and then gets confused when Keanu doesn’t turn up in the book. And that is why I don’t like remakes.

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Update: I was discussing it with my friend over at the B+ Movie Blog, and he made me think some more about it. This will be a fantasy film, with witches and giants and stuff. They’ve already changed the plot completely and it’s an American film; it now has more characteristics unique to itself than it shares with the original story. So my conclusion is that I would be perfectly content and ready to enjoy the movie if they just changed the title. If it was called “Samurai Vendetta” or “Ronin Revenge” that would be fine. It’s simply that Hollywood decided to drag 47 Ronin into it that bugs me. As my friend pointed out, Hollywood is concerned with the name because of branding. They want something recognizable — although I can’t speak to how many Americans will be familiar with the name to begin with.

This may look like just another company logo in need of some spiffing up, but I thought it was pretty appropriate. The company is Tokyo Electric Power Company [TEPCO], the firm managing the Fukushima nuclear power facilities. TEPCO fell out of favor with the Japanese people so fast it made heads spin. They’re being forced to compensate families that were displaced by the disaster last year and could face losses of over $20 billion for the year. Now, it appears that the Japanese government will be taking a 2/3 stake in TEPCO — the world’s fourth-largest power utility — for $15 billion, in what will be the largest non-banking bailout ever. The slogan to the right reads [slightly cut off] “Toward a Society with a Dream.” TEPCO’s dream has faded, just like the sign.

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The first article, [Japanese] called “Low Academic Performance is not a Student Issue, but a Professor Issue”, was written by psychiatrist and University of Tokyo [Todai] graduate Hideki Wada. He claims that Todai is succeeding in its goal of gathering the best and brightest Japan has to offer; in fact, he claims that they’ve been so successful that a gap has opened up between Todai students and those from other schools. A few generations ago, there was no such thing as a “third rate” university, because just going to college was considered elite. Now that higher education is commonplace, you have to do a little more to distinguish yourself as an undergrad.

Just as modern training techniques have taken professional athletes far beyond the scope of their predecessors, the learning tools available to children now have created a rank of super-students. In order to make the cut and get into Todai — Japan’s most prestigious school — a student has to be brilliant, hardworking and dedicated. Wada states that it’s the students’ abnormally high potential that saves them in spite of Todai’s professors, whom he considers to be sub-par.

Though he makes several more major points, Wada’s final message is that Todai students should empathize a little more with students from other universities. Students from Waseda or Keio, for example, might have missed acceptance into Todai by less than a percentage point on the entrance exam. Even if you can call it fair that half a percentage point on one exam could so drastically alter the course of a person’s life, it’s a bit much to lord it over them. Students at other universities do work hard. Mr. Wada believes it’s time for some noblesse oblige from the University of Tokyo, and for them to acknowledge that the “education gap” is being reinforced by an economic gap. It seems obvious that families with the money for cram school, tutors and extra learning materials have the advantage in this racket.

The second article [Japanese] was a little different, and its focus was my Japanese alma mater, Waseda University. Coming off that last piece, I was feeling pretty good about Waseda; it’s not on the same level as the University of Tokyo, but it’s generally considered one of the top five universities in Japan and often tied for second place with Keio University. But this article seems to have a pretty low opinion of what Waseda’s become, for whatever reason.

The first two pages are about a recent decline in Waseda’s athletic performance. We’ve been weak in road races and rugby the last few years, apparently. I’ll admit, the whole “sports school” thing was wasted on me, anyway. But I grant them that athletics could be better at Waseda. What else?

Well, for one, alumni are concerned that the student body is full of students that didn’t get into the University of Tokyo, rather than Waseda hopefuls. This fits with Mr. Wada’s claims of Todai’s especially elite image these days. This phenomenon exists in the US as well — while Wesleyan had been my first choice, at least half of my friends were Brown rejects.

This is where things get weird. The author cites Waseda’s tactic of attracting bright young women, and notes that the percentage of female students is higher than Keio’s. Is that an issue? Then they come right out with it: too many foreign students. Waseda had 2,900 foreign students while I was there in 2010, and they plan to have 8,000 [approximately 20% of the student body] by 2015. The author laments that the establishment of the School of International Liberal Studies [my faculty] and the resulting increase in foreign students has brought on a “flood of English” at Waseda. The school, they continue, has turned its back on its core demographic, students of the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo. A poll showed that Kanto high school students favored Keio University, although there was no evidence why. Must be those damned foreigners.

There seems to be a general consensus among Waseda’s alumni that increased female and foreign matriculation rates only serve to mask the school’s diminished standing in Japan’s elite university community and that the student body’s identity has suffered for it. One alum says that Waseda students used to be reckless and crazy and that he’d be glad to see more young people willing to go wild and be absurd.

What’s wrong with Waseda students these days? According to a survey, at least 80 percent of students attend 80 percent of their classes.

“They’re paying an expensive tuition fee, so it can’t be said that attending classes is ‘bad’, but nevertheless, diligent Waseda students. You don’t get the impression that they would do anything ‘crazy’ [as in the above example].”

The final page is devoted to sob stories about how Waseda students don’t play mahjong or go out drinking enough anymore. The author interviews the respective owners of a mahjong parlor and a bar in the Waseda neighborhood, who are both in dire straits. “Please,” they seem to be asking, “please stop doing your homework and going to class. Don’t you want to get drunk and play mahjong?“

I’m appalled that this article was considered mainstream enough to print. In summary, Waseda’s going down the drain because there are more female and foreign students, more students speak foreign languages, class attendance is up and general delinquency is down? This is why Waseda is supposedly “losing out” to the University of Tokyo and Keio University? I must be completely insane, because every one of those points seems like a plus to me. Then again, I am an English-speaking foreign student who attended Waseda.

Herein lies a major issue with Japanese higher education. At Tokyo University, students work hard and get recognition; as Mr. Wada points out, there’s a general mentality among Todai students that “you reap what you sow.” That separates university students into ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, or in this case, Todai students and everyone else. Waseda students are expected by everyone else [including our own alumni] to slack off a bit, to not give it their all. This pressure is so strong that there is a conscious resistance to Waseda’s efforts to modernize and globalize its student body and curriculum.

The University of Tokyo may be the top school in Japan for the foreseeable future, but that’s no reason for everyone else to back off. And as much as Todai could do with some humbling, other schools need to earn their reputations through academics rather than partying. It’s about time they got their priorities in line.

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I know I just posted a photo and promised real content soon, but…come on.

Blurry, fuzzy, low-resolution. Still awesome.

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I’m sorry to post two photos in a row, and that there’s been such a break in content recently. I’ll be back to posting soon enough. It’s been pretty busy around here, what with school starting up again, the job hunting season ramping up and people visiting over winter break! Back to reality. This shot’s artsy title is “Two Cats Sleeping on a Maserati GranTurismo MC” and it’s of two cats sleeping on a Maserati GranTurism MC. This car — one of my favorites out there — has been next door for months and I only now just noticed it. The cats like it too.

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So, back in November, a old building next to my apartment building became a new parking lot. This month, an old parking lot next to my building is becoming a new apartment building. What a way to run a railroad, huh? Anyway, they broke ground this morning, shattering what was actually a really nice sleep. Here’s the picture from the top of my stairs after about an hour of work. I always go on about how fast construction happens in Tokyo — let’s put it to the test in real time. I’ll be posting shots of the progress. Maybe I can show them to my new neighbors…who I’m sure I’ll never meet.

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I just said I liked the article…so what’s my issue with it? Well, I like the idea it begins with — that Japan shouldn’t be discounted for “economic failings”. What I don’t like is what it goes on to say — that we shouldn’t discount Japan because it’s doing fine and dandy as it is. It’s already reached a respectable level of wealth, why worry about getting more? All you doomsayers claiming that Japan’s headed for troubles in the coming century are neglecting the fact that world-class wealth and living standards have already been attained! Gosh.

In case you don’t subscribe to the Times or don’t want to read the whole piece, I’ll paraphrase the things Japan’s got going for itself:

1. Japan’s life expectancy is the highest in the world and has grown by 4.2 years since 1989 in spite of worsening eating habits.
2. Japan has remarkably good Internet infrastructure.
3. The yen has risen around 90 percent against major currencies like the US dollar and the British pound since 1989.
4. Unemployment is around 4.2 percent, “about half of that in the United States.”
5. More skyscrapers are being built in Japan than in most other countries.
6. Japan’s current account surplus is growing even as America’s deficit balloons.

It was at this point in reading the article that I noticed who’d written it. It’s Eamonn Fingleton, the Irish journalist who made a name for himself raising doubts about the Japanese real estate market during the 1980s and who then went on to write a book called Blindside: Why Japan is Still on Track to Overtake the US by the Year 2000. He’s a natural contrarian à la John Kenneth Galbraith, and his latest masterpiece contends that we’ll all be speaking Mandarin by 2040. It turns out that on the Japan issue, he’s got some of the right ideas for all of the wrong reasons.

I’ll get it out of the way, then. We should learn from Japan and stop treating it like a failure. Many of the points mentioned in the article are logically sound and commendable. However, Fingleton’s claims that Japan is on the right track and that everything’s peachy are off. Way off. I’ll explain why, but if you want the shorter version, skip down to where I paraphrase.

I’ll take on his point about the strong yen. I’m confused about who’s excited about that. Japan’s current account surplus, which Fingleton lauds, is being eroded by the rising yen; market research found that every one-yen rise against the dollar creates a $417 million loss in Toyota’s operating income. As of this year, nearly 70 percent of Japanese cars sold in the US are also made there. The reason? It just costs too much to make them in Japan. Nothing about a strong domestic currency bodes well for an export economy. And here’s the kicker: a sinking dollar and the euro’s woes mean that the yen is super safe and in demand right now. I doubt it’s going to fall anytime soon.

Japanese unemployment, there’s a good one. Fingleton failed to mention that Japan’s unemployment figures don’t include part-time workers, a huge portion of the workforce comprised mostly of the young, the elderly and women. Those demographics took a huge hit with the global recession, but that’s not unemployment, right? That’s just old people and women. They don’t need to work [Some figures estimate that the Japanese unemployment rate adjusted to include part-timers is quite close to the US rate]. Don’t mind that average wages have fallen over the past three years or that the aggregate number of hours worked has dropped even as the employment figures get “better”. Nothing to see here.

I might add that even if unemployment was miraculously low, that might be because there are fewer people eligible for jobs these days. The dependency ratio [the number of people under 15 and over 65 compared to the number of those in between, who are considered to be of working age] is rising rapidly. Even leaving children out of the equation, it’s projected that by 2050, there will be only 1.2 working Japanese citizens for every 1 person drawing a pension. By that time, nearly 40 percent of all Japanese will be at least 65 years old. A widely-cited UN study concluded that in order to maintain the current dependency ratio through 2050, Japan would need to approve 1 million new immigrants every year, or make the retirement age 77 years. Much like France, Japan is reluctant to alter the retirement age, and as recently as 2009, the government was paying foreigners to go home, so I don’t think they’ll be getting a million per year anytime soon. It gets better and better, Mr. Fingleton!

Since everyone’s so into national debt as an issue lately, let’s talk about that! Japan’s is the largest by percentage of GDP in the world, bar none. As I write this, it’s ticking past 235 percent of GDP, which makes the US’ 95 percent — or even Greece’s 143 percent — seem rather paltry. The reason it’s been allowed to get so big and why nobody’s creating a fuss about it is that the majority of it is held by the Japanese. It’s acceptable to spend money if you owe it to yourself. But the percentage of Japanese debt held by the Japanese is starting to fall off as well. Consider that fewer people are entering the workforce every year, the consumption tax is being doubled over the next five years [and would need to double again by 2020 to fill the deficit hole created by social security] and that debt held in yen is growing in value as the yen climbs against other currencies, the outlook for the Japanese debt problem is bleak. Eventually, Japan will have to answer to foreign debt-holders and the consequences could be catastrophic — even with a trillion dollars of US Treasury bills to cushion the blow.

So, to paraphrase, a meteoric yen is slamming Japanese export performance as more and more part-timers and women are pushed out of work. A declining birthrate and the increasing number of senior citizens drawing pensions and creating demand for healthcare are already contributing to lopsided workforce demographics and adding new expenditures to the budget. The government’s debt level is more than twice as high as some countries that saw violent riots last year, and it’s continuing to rise at a brisk pace even as the population’s ability to buy it up is diminishing. In short, what few facts Mr. Fingleton presented in his piece were either wrong or inconsequential.

I do not believe for even a second that Japan has “failed”. My reasons for thinking that are a bit different from those stated in the article. Eamonn Fingleton has this idea that Japan’s already a great place to live — how could they have failed when they live longer than us, make as much money as we do and still enjoy all the comforts of life? He cites figures and examples from the post-bubble years to convince us that everything’s great; for people living now, it is great. But here’s the catch, Eamonn: the country doesn’t die when you do. It has to keep going. The idea that Japan as it is today has already succeeded will become obsolete when the trends I mentioned catch up with it and things go downhill. For that matter, it can be said that in a world where living standards are all relative, standing still is as good as going backwards. Eamonn Fingleton’s Japan hasn’t “failed”. It’s settled.

A country can’t be personified. There is no success and no failure for a country like there is in human life because it keeps going indefinitely. I believe we have a lot of things to learn from Japan — about healthcare, about business, about city planning, and about a thousand other things — but I recognize that this is a deeply troubled society. Japan’s failure is indeed a myth, but until it gets back in the game its success will be a myth as well.

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Update: Paul Krugman, has weighed in on the article on his blog and we have similar opinions. Mainly that Japan deserves both praise and criticism, and that Fingleton may have overreached.

As of yet, there are no reports of tsunami, casualties or injuries anywhere, but it’s still early. Here’s hoping everything stays normal, and wishing you all a happy New Year.

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