Today is a general holiday, so I am relaxing at home.
I wanted to go to see this "Perfume" but I missed the timing. I read the novel, so I am very interested how they can make it into a movie. The Japanese trailer starts 的n 17th century, Paris was a very dirty and smelly city.・I read it was true and that was the big reason why they have great perfume. Beautiful fashion, nice perfume but smelly bodies. I can't imagine it well :-)
This site has drawings of Japan in the Bakumatsu period (Late Tokugawa shogunate) which were drawn by foreigners. Since it was a time before the Meiji restoration, people were wearing Kimono and there are no Western influence. But it was just 150 years ago. Those drawings are great, but the Japanese people don't look so great. (Nobody smiled actually) But the funny part is they were so clean. Edo had a sewage system and people took baths often.
Hayao Miyazaki's next film is Ponyo on a Cliff. Here is an image. Like I said, I am not a Ghiblie fan, but I will update anything I find later.
Hi I am plan to go to Perfume this weekend.
Posted by: Mari | Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 12:20 PM
Hope you've had a restful holiday and that you leg may be feeling better.
Posted by: Esther | Friday, March 23, 2007 at 12:10 AM
Those images from 1860s are great... I read the novel "Silk" by Alessandro Baricco about Japan around that time, and how intrigued the French were to find such cultural sophistication...
In the 1860s, Herve Joncour makes difficult journeys from France to Japan to obtain eggs for breeding silkworms. Japan is closed to the world, but he manages to negotiate with a local baron to obtain the eggs. While there, he notices a young woman who does not have oriental eyes. Though they never address each other, they conduct a secret affair.
Posted by: Martin F | Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 09:25 PM
That's an interesting comparison of Japan and France.
I like those wood-cut images. I've heard that nobody smiles in early photographs because of the length of time necessary to make them, perhaps the same is true of wood-cut images.
Posted by: Marshdrifter | Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 05:57 AM
Perfume... With the 'Safety' of the Internet. the Most Sensuous Moment of a Lady, is when she glide pass, and leave a magnetic fragrance image behind her.
ps if you want a quiet Keyboard, look around, there are a few cheap, strange branded Made in China ones, that get the job done.
Worst to Worst, Pop by Singapore for holiday, and such a keyboard can be had for less than a lunch ticket in Japan.
If possible, try an Apple Keyboard, Nice Smooth, it's a piece of Art.
Posted by: snowfox | Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 11:28 PM