– Dont raise your voice! I'll kill you if you make a sound. – Would you please? 聖母観音大菩薩 [Seibo Kannon daibosatsu / Eros Eterna] (Kōji Wakamatsu, 1977)
Mar
7
immortality
The yao bikuni (Eiko Matsuda) rises from the ocean. DP: Hideo Itō.
An immortal character on the date Highlander (1986) was released.
When a woman eats the flesh of a 人魚 (ningyo, litt. “human fish” but in Western context commenly translated as “mermaid”), she may become a 八百比丘尼 [yao bikuni], an 800 year* old Buddhist nun granted youth and longevity.
*The number 8 symbolises growth and prosperity. Larger numbers starting with 8 indicate that the amount is endless, comparable to saying “hundreds/thousands/millions of […]” in English. Therefore, 800 years can be understood as immortal.
Japan
“I'm sharing my husband with a cat. This is humiliating!”猫と庄造と二人のをんな [Neko to Shōzō to futari no onna / A Cat, Shozo, and Two Women] (Shirō Toyoda, 1956)
Feb
20
Love Your Pet Day
Shōzō (Hisaya Morishige) on the beach with his beloved cat Lily. DP: Mitsuo Miura.
Someone owns a pet on Love Your Pet Day (UK)
– Nakajima
Shōzō is torn between his ex-wife and his current spouse, but really just wants to spend time with Lily, his cat.
野獣死すべし [Yajū shisubeshi / The Beast Shall Die] (Eizō Sugawa, 1959)
Feb
17
airline food
Kunihiko Date (Tatsuya Nakadai) enjoys an in-flight meal. DP: Fukuzō Koizumi.
“You'll feel better soon. Once you're used to the mask, you'll be a new man — one with no records, no past. A mind invisible to the world.”他人の顔 [Tanin no kao / The Face of Another] (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1966)
Jan
3
Tutankhamun's tomb
Mr. Okuyama (Tatsuya Nakadai). DP: Hiroshi Segawa.
Bandages for that day in 1924 when Howard Carter came across Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.
– psychiatrist
浪華悲歌 [Naniwa erejī / Osaka Elegy] (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936)
Dec
15
International Tea Day
A woman in kimono sits at a low wooden tea cabinet. It holds a small tea pot and other utensils. The traditional setup is broken in the background with contemporary Western furniture. She's smoking. DP: Minoru Miki.
Something with tea for International Tea Day.
荒野のダッチワイフ [Kōya no dacchi waifu / Dutch Wife of the Wasteland] (Atsushi Yamatoya, 1967)
Dec
13
ice cream
A young woman in profile, almost a silhouette, eats ice cream. DP: Hajime Kai.
狼やくざ 殺しは俺がやる [Ōkami yakuza: Koroshi wa ore ga yaru / Yakuza Wolf: I Perform Murder / The Lone Assassin] (Ryūichi Takamori, 1972)
Jul
13
lollipops
One of the gang members, immaculately dressed in all-black and small like a child, walks along a seedy street holding an oversized rainbow lollipop. DP: Yoshio Nakajima.
鴎よ、きらめく海を見たか めぐり逢い [Kamome-yo, kirameku umi o mitaka/meguri ai / Oh Seagull, Have You Seen the Sparkling Ocean? An Encounter] (Kenji Yoshida, 1975)
May
30
Pokkī
A young woman in a red-and-white striped sweater (Yōko Takahashi) leafs through fashion magazines strewn out before her on a grass-green carpeted floor while chewing a Pokkī. On a small stove close to her a fire truck red coffee pot. DP: Kōshirō Ōtsu.