{"id":7492,"date":"2020-03-16T17:03:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T08:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/?p=7492"},"modified":"2020-03-16T17:03:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T08:03:04","slug":"report-on-matsumoto-seicho-media-adaptation-and-middlebrow-literature-international-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/news-en\/2020\/03\/16\/7492\/","title":{"rendered":"Report on \u201cMatsumoto Seich\u014d: Media, Adaptation, and Middlebrow Literature\u201d international symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">UCLA-Waseda Yanai Initiative International Symposium<\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>MATSUMOTO SEICH\u014c-MEDIA, ADAPTATION , and MIDDLEBROW LITERATURE<\/em><\/h4>\n<p>On February 14 and 15, 2020, the symposium \u201cMatsumoto Seich\u014d: Media, Adaptation, and Middlebrow Literature\u201d took place at UCLA. The symposium was planned by Michael Emmerich (Professor, UCLA), Yukari Tanaka (Professor, Nihon University), and Hirokazu Toeda (Professor, Waseda University). The varied event program consisted of a film screening, readings, and nine research presentations.<\/p>\n<p>On the first day, Michael Emmerich described the program, and then Hirokazu Toeda started off the research presentations with a talk titled \u201cThe Highs and Lows of Matsumoto Seich\u014d: Japan\u2019s High Economic Growth, the Mass Media, and Literature.\u201d The presentation provided a macroscopic overview of the societal background (Japan&#8217;s period of high economic growth) against which Matsumoto Seich\u014d\u2019s literature was written and read. Emmerich also described the various adaptations (in film and on television) of Matsumoto&#8217;s works that accompanied the development of mass media, employing concrete statistical materials such as graphs, and provided an overarching framework for the symposium.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7486\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-7486\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01649.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"519\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01649.jpg 5472w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01649-610x407.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01649-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01649-940x627.jpg 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 519px) 100vw, 519px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u5341\u91cd\u7530\u88d5\u4e00\u6559\u6388<br \/>Prof. Hirokazu Toeda<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Next, Kaoru Tamura (Independent Scholar) employed a writing by Mori \u014cgai as a key to discussing Mori&#8217;s influence on Matsumoto&#8217;s works in a presentation titled \u201cSeich\u014d\u2019s Historical V\u00e9rit\u00e9 Analyzed in the Context of Mori \u014cgai\u2019s Essay \u2018History as It Is, History Ignored\u2019.\u201d Deanna T. Nardy (Graduate Student, Columbia University) used her presentation, \u201cThe Representational Politics of Black Occupation Soldiers in Matsumoto Seich\u014d\u2019s \u2018Kuroji no e\u2019,\u201d to attempt to tackle the problem of Matsumoto and race, analyzing the contradictory paradigm (a black occupying army) present in the representation of black people in Matsumoto\u2019s titular short story. In his lecture \u201cWho is the <em>True<\/em> war criminal?: Reading Matsumoto Seich\u014d\u2019s <em>The Court Built on Sand: A Novel of the Tokyo Trial<\/em>,\u201d Kim Young-Long (Assistant Professor, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study) commended Matsumoto for posing new issues in the debate over the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal through the artful exploitation of the methodological similarities between mystery fiction and historical fiction.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-7492 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/news-through-2023\/2020\/03\/16\/7483\/attachment\/dsc01668\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01668-360x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-7487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01668-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01668-720x540.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-7487'>\n\t\t\t\t\u91d1\u30e8\u30f3\u30ed\u30f3\u8b1b\u5e2b \nAssistant Prof. Y.L.Kim\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/news-through-2023\/2020\/03\/16\/7483\/attachment\/dsc01672-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01672-360x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01672-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01672-720x540.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>After the research presentations and the lively discussion period that allowed the audience to participate, there was, starting at 8:00 pm, a screening of director Yoshitaro Nomura&#8217;s 1958 Matsumoto film adaptation <em>Harikomi<\/em> (also known in English as <em>The Chase<\/em> and <em>Stakeout<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7488 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01675-e1584095916951.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01675-e1584095916951.jpg 3648w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01675-e1584095916951-610x915.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01675-e1584095916951-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01675-e1584095916951-940x1410.jpg 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The morning of the second day continued on with three research presentations on Matsumoto and cinema. Ku Minah (Foreign Research Fellow, Meiji Gakuin University) focused on the 1950s and 1960s, when numerous movies based on the works of Matsumoto were produced, and discussed the \u201cSeich\u014d Boom\u201d from the perspective of the film industry of the era in a presentation titled \u201cThe Birth of \u2018Seich\u014d Pieces\u2019 in the World of Japanese Cinema: The Case of Shochiku.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Miyoko Shimura (Associate Professor, Tsuru University) compared Matsumoto&#8217;s 1956 short story \u201cThe Voice\u201d and its adaptation <em>Voice Without a Shadow<\/em>\u2014a Nikkatsu production directed by Seijun Suzuki two years later\u2014tackling issues of original works and cinema in her presentation \u201cWhen A Heroine Is Brought to Life: On Adapting Matsumoto Seich\u014d&#8217;s \u2018The Voice\u2019.\u201d In her presentation \u201cThe Meaning of Tachikawa and Pan-pan Girls in <em>Zero Focus<\/em>,\u201d Ayako Saito (Professor, Meiji Gakuin University) compared Matsumoto&#8217;s original novel <em>Zero Focus<\/em> and Yoshitaro Nomura&#8217;s movie version, discussing the meanings given to Tachikawa (a city in Tokyo Metropolis that is home to an airfield that was then controlled by the US military) and \u201cPan-pan girls\u201d (a term for sex workers who serviced US military personnel after World War II). Saito also considered the issue of Matsumoto and the immediate post-War era.<\/p>\n<p>The afternoon portion of the symposium started with a presentation by Yukari Tanaka (Professor, Nihon University) titled \u201cThe View of Language of the High Growth Period as Reflected in Matsumoto Seich\u014d&#8217;s <em>Suna no Utsuwa<\/em> [Inspector Imanishi Investigates].\u201d Tanaka described how <em>Inspector Imanishi Investigates<\/em> is a work that reflected views of language among Japanese-speaking society during the time when the novel was published (Japan&#8217;s high growth period). She posed numerous novel questions from a linguistic perspective, such as that of the types of language put in the mouths of the characters in the work. C\u00e9cile Sakai (Professor, Universit\u00e9 de Paris \u2013 Paris Diderot) introduced the works of Matsumoto that have been translated into French and then presented broad frameworks\u2014the issue of the construction of realism in Matsumoto&#8217;s works, crime and society, the mundane and the unusual, and reality and literature\u2014to further inquire about the significance of re-examining Matsumoto today in her presentation \u201cThe Challenge of the Criminal Case: Matsumoto Seich\u014d&#8217;s Complex Realism.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7489\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7489 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01697-610x407.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01697-610x407.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01697-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DSC01697-940x627.jpg 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sakai\u6559\u6388\u3068\u7530\u4e2d\u6559\u6388<br \/>Prof. Sakai &amp; Tanaka<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Finally, Louise Heal Kawai (Translator) read from her own translation of Matsumoto\u2019s <em>Kikanakatta Basho<\/em> [A Quiet Place]. Yukari Tanaka read from the original Japanese text, as Heal Kawai did so with the English translation, allowing the audience to a get a feel for the world of Matsumoto\u2019s works based on both the original text and its translation.<\/p>\n<p>The two days of detailed research presentations and active participation by members of the audience made the symposium an event rich with ideas, confirming that <em>media<\/em>, <em>adaptation<\/em>, and <em>middlebrow literature<\/em> are effective concepts for re-evaluating Matsumoto Seich\u014d&#8217;s body of work.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u25a0Schedule\u25a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7491\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Schedule_Matsumoto-Event.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1007\" height=\"1003\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Schedule_Matsumoto-Event.png 1190w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Schedule_Matsumoto-Event-610x607.png 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Schedule_Matsumoto-Event-768x765.png 768w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Schedule_Matsumoto-Event-940x936.png 940w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Schedule_Matsumoto-Event-290x290.png 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1007px) 100vw, 1007px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UCLA-Waseda Yanai Initiative International Symposium MATSUMOTO SEICH\u014c-MEDIA, ADAPTATION , and MIDDLEBROW LITER [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[97,111],"class_list":["post-7492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-en-gj","tag-report-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}