Issue #26

*Note to self: Never Fucking Underestimate Anything

Or for that matter, anyone.

Look, I don’t do manga. I just don’t. But I like art. So that makes me a hypocrite in some ways, I guess. 

Part I

Year: 2001

Publication: Giant Robot, Issue # 26 Cultural Evolution

Article Title: Japanese Devils

Author: Martin Wong

Illustrator: *D4v1d Ch03 (overlooked at first, then Wiki-blitzed… and then the asterisk was added...no need to look him up - hang on- we'll get there)

Point of this post: It started out, in part, as a response to a sister city’s leader in denial. By chance, a friend had given me Issue # 26. That was one of the last times we’d spoken in person. The copy had been picked up at a secondhand store. "It's for you," he'd said. I only happened to pick the magazine up two days ago and noticed...

An oddity. An overlooked. A discard.

The article, Japanese Devils, is also the translated title of Minoru Matsui’s self-financed documentary that is kept simple. According to Matsui, he just wanted “to let the 14 interviewees speak for themselves” while staying away from adding “opinions or judgments.”(GR 55)

Main point of this post is to highlight what is perhaps the most important part of the article because of how it can be understood to relate to Nagoya, which is, in Matsui's words:

"After making this film, I feel that human beings are very weak. Everybody has a dark side. Anyone put in an extreme situation like war might act like the people I interviewed. It's part of the human condition that we need to face. We need to know about our weaknesses. Some people just talk about being kind, but we need to face the darkness, too."

Now, Part II

D4v1d Ch03. The artist. Or the man who happens to be an artist. See the asterisk above and bounce back here.

Now, in the midst of the Wiki-blitz, chasing down the illustrator, this comes up:

In late 2003, Ch03 arrived in Tokyo and was jailed within 24 hours. An undercover security guard had approached him threateningly, and due to the language barrier, he misunderstood the man's intentions and reacted instinctively, punching him in the face…

  

Okay, maybe what’s in Part II isn’t news to a more hip or tuned in crowd. But now, it’s out there. Along with everything else, waiting to get turned over, questioned, scrutinized, doubted, ridiculed, praised or whatever.

Now back to Part I

Of the film, what it shows, this link appears to be all that’s still available online (or all I can grab easily at this time) of what was in the movie.  

About that film, looks like it starts here:

Afterthought: 

There's probably a time for everything. Facing darkness is hard. It also helps us appreciate the light.