Formula 1 and the Japanese Grand Prix

By Louis Walker

Since 1976, there have been 36 Formula 1 World Championship races held in Japan, 30 at Suzuka, 4 at Fuji Speedway and 2 at Okayama International Circuit (as the ‘Pacific Grand Prix’). As the event typically takes a spot towards the end of the season, it’s had its fair share of championship deciding moments over the years, with 13 champions being crowned at the event. It’s no surprise then that the Japanese Grand Prix is a firm favourite among dedicated fans of the sport. Here are some of the most memorable races held in the country.

1976 - Fuji Speedway:

The first ever Japanese Grand Prix proved to be a nail biting end to an eventful season which saw Niki Lauda (Ferrari) leading James Hunt (McLaren) by 3 points, despite Niki missing 2 races after a near fatal crash at the Nürburgring earlier in the season. If you’ve seen the film Rush then you’ll already be familiar with this one (and if you haven’t seen it then you certainly should!). Despite torrential rain and fog making conditions treacherous, the race took place despite complaints from some of the drivers. With the trauma from his Nürburgring accident still fresh in his mind, Lauda would pit at the end of the first lap to retire the car, as he preferred to walk away with his life than risk the conditions again. This left Hunt needing fourth or better to win the World Championship. Hunt led most of the race comfortably before a drying track caused him to lose places (with Mario Andretti’s Lotus eventually winning the race). Then, on lap 64 of 73, Hunt suffered a puncture, with the required pitstop dropping him to fifth. However, on lap 71 he would overtake both Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni, bringing up to third and winning the World Championship by just a single point.

1989 - Suzuka:

Another championship deciding race, this time between the McLaren duo of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. With Senna on pole and Prost second on the grid, Senna needed to win the race to keep his championship hopes alive ahead of the final round in Australia. However, a poor start meant that Prost instantly took the lead, and the pair would stay like this for the first 46 laps. Then, on lap 47, after getting a run on his teammate through 130R, Senna dived down the inside at the Casio Triangle (a slow speed chicane at the end of the lap). Prost however, had other ideas and turned into the corner as if Senna wasn’t there, with the two of them colliding and grinding to a halt. It seemed to be all over as Prost climbed out of the car, but Senna, not one to give up, managed to get the marshals to push his car so he could bump start it. With a damaged front wing, he had to drive a full lap before being able to pit for repairs, dropping him to second, five seconds behind Benetton’s Alessandro Nannini. It would only take two laps before the McLaren had the measure of the Benetton, and Senna would cross the line in first place. It seemed confusing then when it was Nannini who took the top step of the podium for his first Grand Prix victory, with Senna nowhere to be seen. He had been disqualified for cutting the chicane after rejoining the track following his collision with Prost. Despite both Senna and McLaren appealing the decision, the disqualification stood, and Prost was crowned champion under controversial circumstances.

1990 - Suzuka:

This race would be the mirror image of the previous year’s events. With Prost now at Ferrari after leaving McLaren at the end of 1990, it was he who had to beat Senna to keeps his championship hopes alive before Australia. Senna would again get a poor start from pole and allow Prost into the lead at the start. Neither driver would make it past the first corner though, as another daring move up the inside from Senna would cause both to crash again, this time with terminal damage to both cars, crowning Senna champion on the spot. It was another controversial end to a championship between two bitter rivals. With those two out of the picture, Benetton would once again win the race finishing both first and second with Nelson Piquet and Roberto Moreno behind the wheel. Aguri Suzuki would also put his Lola-Lamborghini into an unlikely third place, becoming the first Japanese driver to score a podium in an F1 race.

2005 - Suzuka:

If there was any doubt as to whether Kimi Räikkönen was a capable driver, this race certainly proved that he was. With mixed conditions leaving the title protagonists at the back of the grid, with Kimi starting 17th, it was always going to be an interesting race. It would be the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher that led the field at the start, but it wouldn’t be long before the safety car was deployed. Takuma Sato and Rubens Barichello collided at the first corner, giving Barichello a puncture. On the exit of the final corner Montoya attempted to go around the outside of Klien, the Canadian pushing the Colombian off the track and heavily into the barriers. Lap 20 saw Alonso drive around the outside of Michael Schumacher at 130R, a highly daring move that paid off for the Spaniard. Räikkönen meanwhile was picking off cars left right and centre, making up five places on the first lap alone. After all of the scheduled pitstops had taken place, he was up to second and gaining on leader Fisichella. Then on the final lap of the race, Räikkönen would drive around the outside of the Renault driver into turn one, taking the lead and going on to win the race. This was arguably Kimi’s greatest race in his career and a fine example of never giving up.

2007 - Fuji Speedway:

The first race to be held at Fuji Speedway since 1977 would prove to be similarly treacherous to its’ inaugural running in 1976. Such were the conditions that the first 19 laps were held behind the safety car. When racing finally got underway, there were many collisions, with Nick Heidfeld’s BMW-Sauber and Jenson Button’s Honda colliding almost immediately. Alex Wurz and Felipe Massa would collide shortly after, with Wurz’s Williams retiring on the spot. Reigning champion Fernando Alonso would also suffer a heavy accident in his McLaren, blaming aquaplaning for his crash. Bizarrely, there would be another crash during the safety car while Alonso’s McLaren was cleared away. Third place Sebastian Vettel rear ended Mark Webber as he slowed behind the leading McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. The crash saw Webber immediately out and Vettel coming into the pits to retire the car. Webber was suitably unimpressed by the incident, especially considering he had been driving the race with food poisoning, even vomiting into his helmet during the initial safety car at the start of the race. Hamilton would eventually go on to win the race with a thrilling duel on the final lap between Massa and Heidfeld deciding fourth and fifth places respectively (if you haven’t seen this footage look for it on YouTube).

2012 - Suzuka:

This last race is included in the list because as of January 2022, it was the last time a Japanese driver stood on the podium in F1, with Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber finishing an impressive third place. Aside from a chaotic start at the first corner which saw Romain Grosjean collide with Mark Webber, with several other collisions occurring as drivers swerved to avoid the Lotus and Red Bull, the race was largely uneventful. Sebastian Vettel would achieve his second career grand slam, achieving pole position, leading every single lap and finishing with the fastest lap of the race.

The coronavirus pandemic has meant that for the last 2 years, the Japanese Grand Prix has been cancelled. With Suzuka due to hold the race on the 9th of October this year, let’s hope the race can return to the calendar and continue to provide more memorable moments in the future.

お正月

慶太岩原より

みなさん、お元気ですか？クリスマスも終わり、２０２１年ももう少しで終わってしまいますね…。皆さんの２０２１年はどんな一年間でしたか？？思い通りに過ごせた人と過ごせなかった人がいると思いますが、僕は去年と比べて、たくさんの人と出会うこともできたし、勉強も順調に進められたので満足できる一年でした！日本では一年の初め、１月１日に今年はどんな年にしようかと目標を決める習慣があります。昔はその目標を習字で書いていたらしいですが、いまはそれをやっている人は少ないみたいです。もし習字セットと紙を用意できたらぜひ、書いてみて部屋に飾ってみましょう！なかったとしても２０２２年の目標を考えてみましょう！

日本のお正月はクリスマスよりも大忙しです。イギリスではクリスマスは家族の行事、大晦日は友達との行事という認識ですが、日本では逆で、クリスマスは友達もしくは恋人と過ごし、大晦日・お正月は家族と過ごします。クリスマスよりも大きい行事であるお正月を迎えるにあたって、日本人はおせち料理（お正月に食べる食べ物）を用意したり、年賀状を印刷したり、門松や鏡餅を飾ったり、神社にお参りに行ったり…などなど、家庭や地域によってその習慣は様々なようですが日本の年越しの準備は大変です！僕の家庭では門松は飾らないけど、年賀状とお正月料理は用意します！！お節料理は苦手なのであまり食べません…。

どちらにせよ年末やお正月はテレビを見てゆっくり過ごすのが日本の文化かもしれません。特に１月１日から三日間は三箇日（さんがにち）と言い、少なくともこの期間はゆっくり過ごし、そしてその三日の間に神社にお参りに行きます。

他にも、家庭によって年末に観るテレビ番組が違ったりなど、いろんな文化や習慣がありますのでいろいろ調べてみるといいかもしれません！！

それでは皆さん、良いお年を！

けいた

Authors of Japan: Yasunari Kawabata

By Tom Wilkinson-Gamble

The first, and currently only one of two, Japanese nationals to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Yasunari Kawabata is one of the original so-called ‘Big Three’ of Japanese literature. For such a successful writer, the main themes that define his work can be hard to pin down. Having lived through the second half of the Meiji, the entirety of the Taisho era and the first forty years of the Showa era, and therefore through countless important historical events, Kawabata's work was generally apolitical. Even after the Second World War, apart from a few references to it happening, his work remained generally unaffected, especially when compared to his protégé, Yukio Mishima, whose life was greatly impacted by his experience of the war. Though some of his works can feel slightly dream-like and strange when taken at face value, his work generally, apart from one exception, stays away from the supernatural and surreal. The dichotomy between the modern and the traditional, though present, is far less evident than it was in the works of other writers, again, especially when compared to Mishima.

How, then, can we define Kawabata’s work? The answer might lie in his youth. Born into a well-to-do family in Osaka in 1899, Kawabata’s early life was certainly a sad one. Both of his parents passed away by the time he was four, and his sister and paternal grandparents had also died less than ten years later. With almost all of his close family gone, Kawabata was to be heartbroken once more when his engagement to Hatsuyo Ito was broken off due to unforeseen complications. This distance, therefore, both physical and emotional, that he experienced when he was younger, and the impact this distance has on people’s relationships, might be best lens with which to view Kawabata’s work. 

After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1924, Kawabata worked as a journalist and was involved in literary magazines and journals such as Hiroshi Kikuchi’s Bungei Shunju and Riichi Yokomitsu’s Bungei Jidai. Kawabata’s first major success, The Dancing Girl of Izu (1926), follows a lonely and melancholic student from Tokyo who meets a group of traveling musicians and falls in love with one of them, the young girl Kaoru. Kaoru’s innocent and child-like antics bring the narrator, a stand-in for Kawabata himself, out of his melancholia and he returns to Tokyo refreshed and in higher spirits. The novel contains two themes, both of which revolve around how the narrator cures his depression. At the start of the novel, the narrator is lonely and miserable, but after his interaction with the musicians, particularly with the young Kaoru, he returns to Tokyo refreshed. It is his time with the musicians that cures his depression, thereby showing the importance, to Kawabata, of social interaction, something which he was personally lacking in his youth. It is worth stressing that the student leaves Tokyo, a huge sprawling industrial city, for Shimoda in the far more rural land of the Izu Peninsula. This leads back to a theme common in the writings of almost every Japanese writer of the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras; the constant dichotomy of the modern and the traditional. Does swapping the smoke and factories of Tokyo for the cool sea breeze and mountains of Izu parallel the misery of the narrator and the youthful innocent of Kaoru? 

Both of these themes are appears again in another of Kawabata’s work. In my personal opinion, Snow Country (1948) might be one of the greatest pieces of Japanese literature ever written and its opening scene provides one of the clearest example of the modern-traditional dichotomy. The novel starts late at night with the nouveau riche Shimamura making his way by train through the dark snow-covered mountains of Niigata to the remote onsen town of Yuzawa. The imagery of the industrial coal-powered steam train making its way through the dark and frozen land of Tohoku, a heart land of traditionalism, seems to reverse the accepted narrative of ‘old good, new bad’. The warmth and light of the train, the new, cutting its way through the cold and dark mountains, the old. Though it would be foolish to think that Kawabata’ is attempting to fully reverse this accepted point of view. As the novel progresses, Shimura’s complex relationship with Komako, one of the Geisha of the onsen, possibly mirrors Japanese society’s complex relationship with the balance of the modern and the traditional. Shimura and Komako is comparable to the unnamed narrator and Kaoru, though is not the same. As for the narrator and Kaoru, though they are not allowed to pursue each other romantically, their relationship is clearly defined, and their story ends far more positively, whereas Shimura and Komako’s relationship is remains ambiguous, leaving room for conflict. Their story ends with a fire in the town in which one of the passengers on the train, Yoko, perishes. With Shimura and Komako’s relationship still not clearly defined, the end comes in a terrible tragedy and loss of life, possibly foreshadowing Japan’s own final confrontation with the modern against the traditional and the terrible sorrows of war that conflict brings. 

In 1938, the legendary former Go player Hon'inbō Shūsai came out of retirement to play the then up-and-coming prodigy Minoru Kitani. At the time, Kawabata was working as a journalist and covered the game for the Mainichi Shinbun. More than 15 years later, Kawabata adapted a semi-fictionalised version of the game into the novel The Master of Go (1954). On the surface, the novel appears to be nothing than a piece of historical fiction, retailing the epic struggle between an aging grand-master against a young prodigy looking to carve out his own legacy in the world of Go. The American historian and translator Edward Seidensticker thought differently. Seidensticker argued that Kawabata used the game as an allegory for the war between Japan and the West, particularly with the United States. Shūsai representing traditional culture, stood in for Japan, whilst Kitani filled in as the US, a new emerging power posing a threat to the established Empire. Kawabata’s last reference to the modern-traditional dichotomy appeared in the novel The Old Capital (1962). 

Many of Kawabata’s novels concern the idea of love; Thousand Cranes (1952), The Sound of the Mountain (1954), The Lake (1954), The Dandelion (1964) and Beauty and Sadness (1965). But there are two in particular that deserve to be discussed in further detail. The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa (1930) follows the narrator’s journey through the former entertainment district of Asakusa in Tokyo. Throughout his time there, the narrator meets numerous young prostitutes and brothel workers who explain their way of life and the inner machinations of Tokyo’s dark underbelly. Unlike Kawabata’s other works on love, Asakusa is far more overtly sexual. Although, this is not the only time Kawabata did this. The House of the Sleeping Beauties (1961) follows an old man, Eguchi, who visits a hotel where customers can pay to sleep next to naked girls but are forbidden to engage in sexual activity with them. It is possible that Eguchi is a stand in for Kawabata and that the house represents Kawabata’s inability to truly connect with others; constantly surrounded by people but never able to truly commit himself to them. 

Unfortunately, like seemingly many famous Japanese writers, alongside Dazai, Akutagawa, Arishima and Mishima, Kawabata was another victim of suicide. Mishima's death in 1970 seems to have impacted him greatly and, after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, suffered from nightmares and regularly made jokes about his own death. Despite leaving no suicide note, he was found dead in April 1972 after gassing himself. 

Ukiyo-e Art

 By Marius Evans

浮世絵 (Ukiyo-e) is a Japanese style of painting and woodblock printing which emerged in the 16th century and commonly depicted kabuki actors, women, sumo wrestlers, ceremonies, nature, scenes from history and folk tales. Ukiyo-e’s philosophy focuses primarily on the present, with many paintings covering timely topics and the social life of common people. The Ukiyo-e printing method was popularised during the Edo period and was originally used to turn traditional hand-scrolls into books, having then become prominent for use in mass-producing prints. These mass-produced prints were inexpensive and attainable to both the general public as well as people of higher social class, also being used in advertising by businesses. The distinctive Ukiyo-e art style came to influence many western artists such as Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. The style is characterised by the bold thick lines that it produces.

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa is the most well known Ukiyo-e print and was a part of a series of landscape prints by Hokusai named “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”.

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai

Red Fuji by Hokusai

Mannen Bridge by Hokusai

The Tale of Genji by Utagawa Kunisada

Sumo Spectators by Utagawa Kunisada

Kinryuzan Temple by Utagawa Hiroshige

To create such a woodblock print, Japanese artists draw an image onto a thin type of paper known as washi (和紙), this washi paper is also used in sliding doors and screens. The washi paper is then glued to a block of wood, with the drawing’s outline used by the artist to carve the image into the wood. With the image then carved into the wood, the artist applies ink to the relief, after which paper would be placed on top of it and a flat tool called a barren (馬連) would help to transfer the ink to the paper. This whole process would then be repeated to incorporate multiple colours. Ukiyo-e artists often made both prints and paintings. Ukiyo-e prints are generally not the product of one person, many people are involved including a hanmoto (a publisher), an eshi (the artist who draws the design), a horishi (an artist who carves the printing block) and a surishi (an artist who adds colours to the prints).

A video showing the Ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking process can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhbSt_EVb7I 

Ukiyo-e artwork is still made to this day, and I implore you to search for “Ukiyo-e art” on Google to find artists and art pieces that you like.

The Blue Sky Library: Japan's Project Gutenberg

By Tom Wilkinson-Gamble

The Blue Sky Library, or 'aozora bunko', is a Japanese digital library founded in 1997 with the aim of digitizing and storing Japanese literature and Japanese translation of foreign literature so that anyone, from anywhere, may access them freely. The site is ran by volunteers who gather works of literature, both fiction and non-fiction, whose copyright have expired or from authors who have given permission to have their work stored. 

The library has faced some problems with finances and copyright law. Since the group is ran on an entirely voluntary basis and that material can be accessed for free, the library is heavily reliant on donations to pay for server costs. Since 2006, the library also functions as a public-policy advocacy organisation and has been involved in disputes with the Japanese government over copyright law. In 2005, at the suggestion of the US, the Japanese government was urged to extend the date of copyright expiration from 50 years after the author's death to 70 years. This would have meant that many of the books published by the library would now be illegal. However, due to the pressure from volunteers and members of the public, the Japanese government decided not to implement this change, allowing the library to continue its mission of preserving Japanese literature undisturbed. 

You can access the Blue Sky Library here: https://www.aozora.gr.jp/

‘Kentucky for Christmas’: How a Marketing Campaign became a Cultural Tradition

By Louis Walker

In a world where turkey is the main course in your typical Christmas dinner, it seems bizarre to think that not just fried chicken could be the main course, but specifically Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yet, that’s exactly what approximately 3.6 million families in Japan do every year as their annual tradition. But why?

 It wasn’t until the late 1960’s that people started celebrating Christmas in Japan, although not in the sense that we are used to in the west. Initially aimed at entertaining children, local confectionary companies would promote cakes and sweets for families to host parties in December. At this time, KFC wasn’t even available in Japan yet.

1970 would mark the first KFC store in Japan, opening in Nagoya in 1970. It would be in 1974 however where a new tradition would be created. The story goes that a foreigner visiting Tokyo walks into a KFC store on Christmas Day and says to a staff member “I can’t get turkey in Japan, so I have no choice but to celebrate Christmas with Kentucky Fried Chicken”. Another member of staff from the sales team overhears this and comes up with the idea 「クリスマスにはケンタッキー」 (‘Kentucky for Christmas’). Coupled with a bucket of chicken and a bottle of wine, the campaign was an instant success and opened up the idea that Christmas in Japan could be celebrated by more than just children.

Since it’s inception in 1974, the Christmas campaign has continued to evolve over the years, including dressing up Colonel Sander in a Father Christmas outfit and new menu items added such as a premium roast chicken which can cost up to 5,800 yen (around £38). Today, it’s estimated that around a third of their yearly sales in Japan comes from these Christmas buckets, with December 24th typically being the busiest day of the year. The demand is so high that preorders for the Christmas buckets are made available as early as October so families can ensure they’re guaranteed to get their chicken.

So, the next time you tuck into your Christmas Dinner, whatever that may be, remember this, tradition is what you make it.

Authors of Japan: Takeo Arishima

By Tom Wilkinson-Gamble

Arishima was born to an upper-class family in Tokyo on March 4th 1878. He had two brothers, Ikuma Arishima and Ton Satomi, both of which also became writers. His son, Masayuki Mori, was an actor and regularly starred in Akira Kurosawa films in the 1950s. Arishima entered the Gakushuin school at 10 years old, and, after graduating, enrolled in the Sapporo Agricultural College in Hokkaido. After a brief time in Imperial Army, he took English lessons and moved to the US in 1903. During his time in the US, he studied at Haverford College and Harvard University, before working briefly as a foreign correspondent for the Mainichi Shimbun. 

Arishima's literary career began in 1910 when his two brothers introduced him to four other writers: Shiga Naoya, Mushanokōji Saneatsu, Yanagi Sōetsu and Nagayo Yoshirō. Together, the six men formed the shirakabaha, 'White-Birch Society' and published a literary magazine of the same name. The two of Arishima's most famous works worth discussing are The Descendants of Cain (1917) and A Certain Woman (1919). 

The Descendants of Cain was Arishima's first taste of fame and its defining theme of one of  is undoubtedly, nature. In particular, the darker crueller side of nature, The story follows the lives of farmers in Hokkaido and the challenges posed by nature that they must over come in order to survive. This was no doubt inspired by his time studying agriculture at university in Hokkaido. The vicious nature is also seen in his later short story The Siblings Who Almost Drowned (1921). 

Arishima's second work, A Certain Woman, is arguably his most famous. The story follows a young woman called Yōko Satsuki. Yōko is pressured into an arranged marriage with a journalist but ends up divorcing him and moves back home. After the death of her parents, she is encouraged by her friends to marry Kimura, a wealthy Japanese expatriate now living in Chicago. On the boat from Yokohama to the US, Yōko meets a married man known as Kuraji and embarks on an affair. By the time they arrive in the US, Yōko decides not to marry Kurama and takes his money before returning home with Kuraji. It is not until she starts living with him that Kuraji's dark persanlity is revealed. He constantly fights with Yōko before disappearing after being hunted by the police. Repeatedly heartbroken, Yōko resigns herself to the idea that she will never find love in the current socially conservative climate of Japan. She dies not long after her younger sister passes away from illness. Yōko is believed to be based on Nobuko Sasaki, who was the ex-wife of his friend and fellow writer Doppo Kunikida. Considering that the novel was written in the 1910s, the themes of promiscuity and sexual freedom were decades ahead of there time, thereby cementing Arishima's place in the list of great Japanese writers. 

Arishima was not, however, confined to just fiction. In 1922, he published the political manifesto Sengen hitotsu, 'A Manifeso', on the plight of the agricultural and working classes. He argued that it was up to the workers to bring about their own salvation and that he, a member of the upper-class, was powerless to help. This may have been inspired by his time studying in Sapporo as well by the plot of The Descendants of Cain. 

In that same year, like many other great Japanese writers, Arishima, alongside his lover Akiko Hatano, took his own life. Hatano worked as an editor for the women's magazine Fujin Koron but was still married. It is believed that the extramarital affair drove them both to suicide. He had attempted suicide once before during his time in Sapporo College with the economist Kokichi Morimoto but had failed. Arishima and Hatano were found hanged in a forest in Karuizawa in Nagano.