Exploring Nationalism at the Height of Japan’s Globalization through Yosuke Kubozuka Film KYOKI NO SAKURA
凶気の桜 Kyouki no Sakura (tn: Madness in Bloom ) is a 2002 film by Sonoda Kenji depicting the Japanese youth nationalist group Neo Tojo and their seeming affiliation with right wing Japanese yakuza groups, who fight to control Shibuya.
Susumu Yamaguchi is your typical not-so-typical gang member. The group Neo Tojo consists of Yamaguchi and friends who act like Neo-Nazis, walking around and terrorizing whoever they please with bats and metal poles.
The film is an expository of the rise of Japanese nationalism as a reaction to a more globalized and open Japan. The message is one of ideology and traditional values in the face of change. It’s worth noting the backgrounds of each character.
The predatory nature of Japanese gangs on boys from broken households is a clear theme through the latter half of the film.During a heartfelt round of drinking, Yamaguchi explains to the yakuza boss Aota Shuzo that he was raised fatherless by a single mother in the household of a violent uncle who would frequently brandish a knife at him in fits of anger.
When Aota asks why didn’t run away from home, Yamaguchi simply states that it’s because he’s fond of his uncle. However an audience that is familiar with domestic violence might infer that 1) Yamaguchi has no where else to flee to, thus he stays at his family home and 2) fleeing the household means leaving his mother alone with an abusive uncle.
Cool is relevant to this film because it’s the very thing that Neo Tojo seems to be against. In Greg Gutfield’s book, Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War he states
“Because, when it comes down to it, being cool means not caring. And not caring means inevitable decline.” ( Pg 16 )
The characters in the film are united by their ideology: protect tradition Japan against erosion of morals. The scene on the train illustrates just principle.
The lead girl is on the train with her friends when she seems a mother struggling to hold her baby and stand. When she asks a Japanese salaryman to give up his seat, he promptly ignores them despite the polite struggle of the mother. She says aloud, “Japanese people are rotten, aren’t they?”.
The film explores the seeming erosion of traditional values through scenes like this. In relation to this idea, Gutfield states, “The after effects of the cool revolution can be felt everywhere and are reflected in everyday behavior. We used to consider the right thing to do; now we consider the cool thing to do. In fact, the stuff we were once expected to take part in suddenly becomes cheesy, a waste of time. We’ve abandoned veterans’ parades for divestment sit-ins and courtship for hanging out. Pop culture has replaced principle.”
The Gutfield’s book and the film have one thing in common: a fear of change. Whether that be Westernization, new definitions of cool, or changing ideologies on race and gender, both mediums illustrate the adverse fear reactions to changes. This misplaced anger and ideology is seemingly illustrated through violence against locals on the street, or the trans girl in the club rather than the upper class elite who are increasingly promoting Japan’s westernization.