Diving into Suzume no Tojimari

After watching Suzume no Tojimari not just once, but twice, I decided to dive a bit deeper into the story.

3 December 2022: Updated after watching the movie for the third time

25 December 2022: Updated after watching the movie for the fourth time 

12 February 2023: Updated after listening to director Shinkai Makoto's online birthday talkshow

2 May 2023: Updated with director Shinkai Makoto's interview with Crunchyroll

12 May 2023: Updated with insights on dates

 

Note: This post contains spoilers, so please read it after watching the movie.

Regarding the surnames of the two main characters, Suzume's surname is Iwato 岩戸, which literally means rock door. This actually has its roots in the legend of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu, who hid in a cave behind a huge rock (that acted like a door). And this cave is supposed to be located in Takachiho Gorge in Miyazaki Prefecture, which is the same prefecture that Suzume and her aunt live in. (Note: This was confirmed by director Shinkai Makoto at an event on Christmas Eve.) Sota's surname is Munakata 宗像, which can be traced to the Munakata Taisha shrine dedicated to the three Munakata goddesses, who were told to serve the imperial family of Japan (as the imperial family are descendants of Amaterasu).

 

A core part of the story revolves around finding "hidden" doors that lead to the other world. When such doors are left open, the spirits known as mimizu may escape into our world, manifesting as earthquakes. In a way, I think these spirits are metaphors for our memories, especially bad memories and failures, that we want to put behind us and lock away. But as we all know, once in a while, such memories return to haunt us. When they do resurface, they may cause significant "damage" if we do not deal with them in good time. I think Shinkai Makoto is trying to tell us that, yes, those memories are very much a part of us, and they do come back, but as long as we know how to deal with them and lock them away again, we can avoid letting these bad memories affect our present lives.

I guess this is why he chose to portray these spirits as escaping from a door, and having to close and lock that door to prevent disaster from happening. In this way, the action of locking the door is to lock our memories away, to put them behind us again so that they do not impact our present lives.

But at the same time, I think it also symbolises a new start. We lock the door when we leave the house to go somewhere. Locking the door is like saying, I am going somewhere. I am heading off to a destination. Whether it is to go to school or work, or to go to the supermarket, or on the adventure of a lifetime to climb Mount Everest, we lock the door as we leave to go somewhere. In this way, locking the door is not just about locking away our memories and putting them behind; it is also about taking a step into the future, about moving forward.

Regarding these hidden doors, in the movie, they are found in abandoned places. For example, the first door was located in an abandoned onsen resort town. The second was in an abandoned town after it was hit by a mudslide. The third was in an abandoned amusement park. The fourth was under Edo Castle, which was vacated by the Tokugawa shogunate after the Meiji Restoration. The fifth door was in Suzume's birthplace, the place where she used to live with her mother but was destroyed by the Great East Japan Earthquake that struck on 11 March 2011. Such places breed a kind of negative energy that give rise to the mimizu spirits in the other world. It is like saying, we need to give a proper conclusion to our failures, to our bad memories. If we just run away from them and leave them as they are, they will eventually come back to haunt us.

A bit more about the fourth door that Suzume encountered, which was in Tokyo. Its location is somewhat unique and immediately recognizable by anyone living in Japan. When Suzume checked her location on her phone, she saw that she was underwater. She was actually below the moat of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The Imperial Palace was actually Edo Castle, occupied as the seat of government by the Tokugawa shogunate, during the Edo period. It became the Imperial Palace after the Meiji Restoration, when the capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo (which was then renamed Tokyo, or capital of the east). This could also explain why its location was blackened out on documents in the anime. If Sota's family is actually descended from the Munakata goddesses that serve the imperial family, they probably wouldn't want people to know that one of these doors (which can lead to disaster) is actually under the Imperial Palace.

 

The Japanese phrase ittekimasu いってきます, which literally means "I am going and will come back", appeared several times in the movie. In reply is the phrase itterasshai 行ってらっしゃい, which literally means "Please go and be back." In both cases, the person who is leaving is expected to return. He or she could be going to work, to school, or even on a trip, long or short. But at the end of it, the person is returning. The implication is that the two (or more) parties involved in this greeting will see each other again. This, of course, was not the case for some people when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck on 11 March 2011. Which makes the phrase okaeri おかえり ("you are back"), used to greet people when they return, at the end of the movie all the more significant.

The relationship between Suzume and her aunt Tamaki is reflected in that between the cat/deity Daijin and Suzume. Just like how Tamaki's life was turned into a turmoil when Suzume ran off with a guy/chair, Suzume's life turned upside down when Daijin led her on a nationwide tour. Suzume didn't explain her motive to Tamaki about why she was running off; Daijin also didn't tell Suzume that it was actually leading Suzume to those hidden doors.

 

At the same time, I think this is a portrayal of how Shinkai Makoto sees the relationship between parent and child. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tamaki (the younger sister of Suzume's mother) told Suzume, "Come be my child." When Suzume saw the cat/deity Daijin, she fed him and also asked, "Why don't you come and stay with us (as part of the family)?" In both cases, it was the "parent" who initiated the relationship; the "child" did not ask for it. Which resulted in a similar reaction from the "child" in a later part of the movie. When Tamaki let loose that she had some regret about taking in Suzume, Suzume's reply was that she never asked to be taken in. When Suzume got angry with Daijin, Daijin was shocked because it had thought that Suzume was the one who wanted this relationship. In this way, the child does not get to choose the parent. Which brings me to the other part of this.

There was a scene in which Tamaki was pedaling away on a bicycle, with Suzume riding behind. I can't help but feel that this was another way in which Shinkai Makoto sees the relationship between parent and child. A parent is responsible for bringing the child to where the child wants to go. But once they reach there, it is up to the child to walk his/her own path, just like how Suzume got off the bicycle when they reached their destination (her old house, where she used to live with her mother) and went of on her own looking for that hidden door.

Talking about Daijin, the movie also includes elements of the yin-yang concept. Daijin (or rather, U-daijin) is portrayed as a small white cat that can transform into a huge black one. Sadaijin is portrayed as a black cat that can transform into a huge white one. The two cats/deities, black and white, work together to make sure that the head and tail of the main mimizu spirit does not escape into our world. Each cat/deity also contains within itself a black and white, big and small, cute and powerful aspect. This is in tune with the yin-yang concept; one cannot exist without the other. Both exist together, and in a certain form of balance. (As a taiji practitioner, I can go on and on about this... but I shall stop here without going too deep.)

I think it is also deliberate that the movie premiered in Japan on 11 November 2022. The Great East Japan Earthquake struck on 11 March 2011. That's 11/3/11, while the movie was released on 11/11/22. That's two 11s taken from 11/3/11 and 11+11=22 too. (Okay, the 11+11=22 is probably a coincidence, but 2022 is also 11 years after 2011...) The previous two Shinkai Makoto films premiered in summer, and it does not look like a coincidence that 11/11/22 was chosen as the date for this movie.

 

A bit more about the dates and such. You can see the dates in the movie through Suzume's diary. Her diary entry for 24 May showed her with her chair, which was made by her mother as a birthday present for her. I guess that means Suzume's birthday is 24 May. Then, we know that Suzume lost her mother when she was 4 years old, as mentioned by Tamaki. That means Suzume was four years old on 11 March 2011. The movie takes place 12 years later, in 2023, and she was a second year student in high school. Sorting this out, the chair was given to Suzume for her third birthday, which means she received the chair on 24 May 2009 (and thus was born on 24 May 2006). She was four years old when the earthquake and tsunami struck on 11 March 2011. The movie took place 12 years later, when Suzume was in her second year of high school, in September (due to the red spider lilies, or higanbana 彼岸花, which bloom in Japan in autumn), after her 17th birthday (24 May 2023).

When watching the movie for the eighth time, I started to wonder if I could actually pinpoint a date for the movie's setting. So I looked at the calendar, and seeing that the movie ended with a full moon when Suzume was in Tohoku, that full moon night would have to be 29 September 2023, a Friday. (This date is also the Mid-Autumn Festival, being the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar. It is probably a coincidence, though.) This also made sense, since the entire road trip was five days, with Day 1 in Miyazaki, Day 2 in Ehime, Day 3 going to Kobe and spending the night there, Day 4 taking the Shinkansen to Tokyo, and Day 5 traveling to Tohoku. We know that Day 1 is a weekday as Suzume had school. On Day 3, we see Chika wearing her school uniform, so that must mean it is likely a weekday too. While in Tokyo on Day 4, there were people wearing school uniforms too, so Day 4 is likely to be another weekday. All these help to piece together that Day 1 is 25 September 2023, and Day 5 is 29 September 2023. I will confirm again when I next watch the movie to see if I can spot any actual dates.

(Update 24 August 2023:

The official website confirmed that my analysis of the dates was correct, stating that Suzume's story took place between 25 September to 29 September, as shown in the screenshot, in Japanese, above.)

 

Suzume explained that her chair lost a leg when she was young but she did not remember exactly how. I thought it was probably because of the earthquake/tsunami, since her diary showed the chair with four legs, but when she was found by Tamaki sleeping by the "hidden" door after the earthquake/tsunami, the chair only had three legs. This was confirmed in "Shinkai Makoto Book 2", when Shinkai Makoto mentioned that the missing leg is a metaphor for the emotional injury that Suzume suffered due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, and Suzume carrying the broken chair with her is basically Suzume carrying her emotional scars with her as she goes forward in life.

Like other Shinkai Makoto films, there were the "everyday" scenes. Of "just another day in the city of XX" (mostly Tokyo). This is a great way to show the contrast with the extraordinary stuff that Suzume and Sota are doing. But at the same time, I think this has to do with how the Great East Japan Earthquake affected Shinkai Makoto's thinking. He has revealed that, in Japan, we are living in a world of instability, both geologically as well as geopolitically. What we see today may not be there tomorrow. Thus, once of his goals is to capture the scenes of Tokyo and other parts of Japan today, so that even if disaster strikes tomorrow, there is a record of how things used to look like.

Some trivial:

- The season is late summer early autumn, likely September, as can be seen from the red spider lilies (彼岸花 higabana). (This was confirmed in "Shinkai Makoto Book 2".)

- Suzume likes to use the phrase "uso deshou" (うそでしょう which means "you must be kidding!").

- The song "Itomori Koukou" (糸守高校 meaning "Itomori High School") from Your Name. played as background music for a TV show in the movie. (This piece of music was used in Your Name. and it is the high school that Mitsuha attended.)

- In a way, Daijin is like a maneki-neko, a good luck charm in the form of a cat that is believed to bring good fortune. For example, when it went to Ehime, the Japanese inn in which Suzume stayed suddenly had many staying guests. The bar that Suzume helped out in Kobe also saw a lot more customers that night.

- The scene where Suzume sat on Sota when he was a chair, that was one of the scenes that the director insisted on including in the movie.

- At a stage event in Yokohama, director Shinkai Makoto mentioned something about Sota's birthday but did not elaborate. It seemed he had given that date to other fans in a stage event on the previous day. A search on Twitter hinted that Sota's birthday could be 24 February. If he has entered university right after high school, this would mean that he was born on 24 February 2002.

- On 26 September 2023, director Shinkai Makoto stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he never did think about setting a date for Tamaki's birthday, but after being asked by many fans, he has decided to set it as 12 July.

 

There is a reference to Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便), with the first song that Serizawa (Sota's friend) played in his car when setting off on his journey to bring Suzume in search of the fifth door. The song is the same one as when Kiki set off to start her training with her black cat, titled "Ruju no Dengon" (ルージュの伝言 meaning "Message in Rouge"). Serizawa even commented that they are setting off on a trip and there is also a cat with them. And after Tamaki and Suzume got into the argument (when Tamaki was "possessed" by Sadaijin and let loose some of her true feelings), Serizawa played "Kenka wo Yamete" (けんかをやめて meaning "Stop Fighting"), saying that it was the most appropriate song for the moment.

Director Shinkai Makoto said that, for Suzume's dub that will be shown in other countries, he has told the companies handling the dubs that these songs which Serizawa played while driving can be changed to match nostalgic songs of those countries. He wanted those songs to invoke nostalgia in the viewers, which was why he chose those Japanese classic pop songs. He was hoping that those songs can be changed in the dub to achieve the same effect in other countries.

Being a Violet Evergarden fan, I could not help but notice two things. One, the opening title used white characters on a totally black screen, just like Violet Evergarden The Movie. Second was this scene from when Suzume was on the ferry from Miyazaki to Ehime.

It looked like this scene from Violet Evergarden The Movie.

Maybe I am just thinking too much... 😅 but it is like a contrast. Suzume was arriving at Ehime at dawn, while Violet was leaving Ekarte Island at dusk. Both of them are leaning out from the port side of the ship/ferry, but Violet is looking back toward the stern, while Suzume is looking forward.

PS. I will keep adding to this post if something comes to mind.

Disclaimer: All images used in this post belong to the respective copyright owners and are used under the premise of fair use.

 

Interview on Screen Daily:

Director Makoto Shinkai on the inspiration behind box-office hit 'Suzume'

 

Interview with Crunchyroll:

 

 

Blog posts related to Suzume no Tojimari: 

Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり) at IMAX

Diving into Suzume no Tojimari

"Director's retake" of Suzume

Suzume no Tojimari all-Japan stage greeting

Director Shinkai Makoto in person at Dolby Cinema screening of Suzume no Tojimari

Suzume stage event with director Shinkai Makoto

Final screening of Suzume in Japan with live broadcast of stage event

Suzume—Tamaki’s Story (unofficial translation of 小説すずめの戸締まり～環さんのものがたり～)

Suzume—Serizawa’s Story (unofficial translation of 小説すずめの戸締まり～芹澤のものがたり～)

 

 

Thoughts on translating anime subs and dubs

As an anime fan, a question that usually comes up is "sub or dub?" I understand Japanese so I usually just watch shows in their original voices, but I am also a translator so I do pay attention to subs (if they are there). For example, I previously wrote about the importance of context in subtitle translation.

I think we need to understand how the translation process for anime usually goes. This is the generic flow; there are works that may adopt a different approach (which I will also try to touch on).

Usually, the translation of subs and scripts for dubs are left to the overseas distributor. The production committee in Japan (usually the distributor, publisher, and anime studio) works on producing the anime in Japanese, for distribution in Japan. For distribution overseas, there is usually a separate partner. The Japanese script/subs are passed to the distributor, and it is left to the overseas distributor to find translators for English (or other language) subs and dubs. This can sometimes result in discrepancies between subs and dubs, since the overseas distributor, working on a different schedule (subbed episodes usually come out before dubs due to the need for voice recording), may end up getting different contractors to handle the subs and dubs.

One example is Netflix. Netflix has many 'Netflix original' shows, but these are usually shows produced for a domestic audience with global distribution rights bought by Netflix. It is then up to Netflix to find translators for the subs (and dubs) necessary for global distribution.

When translating these subs and dubs, the usual process is to engage freelancers through a translation agency. These freelancers may work on a per-episode basis, although in the case of Netflix, this can be a project basis (since Netflix usually releases the entire series at one go, instead of an episode each week). Of course, these freelancers do not have access to the actual visuals of the anime. Some (actually, most) of them would likely not have read the original work that the anime was based on (if any); we translators are paid on a per-word/per-character basis, and are not paid for time researching (which may take many days of reading, especially for works based on novels). It is really up to the imagination of the translators to convey in English (or whatever is the target language) the original meaning in Japanese.

This process usually works fine, since most anime works do not use very complex language structures, and a bit of searching on Google can usually provide enough information about the manga/light novel/etc. to give some context to the translators. For translators working on a per-project basis, it also helps that they work on several episodes (if not the entire series) so they can get a bigger picture of the story to better translate it.

However, for a story like Violet Evergarden, with the unique writing style and a lot of Japanese subtlety (even though the story has a European/colonial look), it can be very difficult to translate the subs and dubs without the actual visual content. The translators probably didn't have the opportunity to read the original light novels too (since they are not available, easily, outside Japan; plus they are not paid to read it anyway). The difficulty shows in the differences between subs and dubs; you may end up with characters saying one thing in English, while the subtitles show something else. This happens when the two different translators working on that same episode have a different understanding of the story they are translating (which is made difficult because they may not have the visual content), or simply because there are many ways to translate the same sentence, since language is not a one-to-one mapping.

There are, of course, exceptions. A good example is Evangelion. The producers of this series exercise tight control over translations, with rules on how certain terms are to be translated to ensure consistency across the entire series. Such cases, however, are the exception and not the norm. Most animation studios in Japan do not have the time nor the budget to exercise such quality control.

In the end, it may look like I am saying, "watch the works in their original Japanese form," but that is not actually what I want to say. I think the key point is the process. The industry needs to change the process to give translators more access to the source materials (visual content, original manga/novels/etc.) and pay them for the time and effort to ensure that the translated subs and dubs are as close in meaning to the original Japanese as possible. This does not mean translating word for word. It means using the appropriate language/cultural terms, idioms, and expressions to convey the same meaning. If we continue to pay translators for work on a per-word or per-character basis, we will never be able to ensure consistent quality because translators will be trying to churn out as much output as possible in order to make ends meet. Meanwhile, we can try to rely on fansubs, but these can vary greatly in terms of quality, and doesn't help if you want to watch a work in dub (such as people who have difficulty reading subs).

(Machine translation may help if we eventually get AI that understands cultural context besides language and visual context. Right now, though, we have not achieved such a state.)

Solving 寂寞寒窗空守寡

It is said that famous poet Li Qingzhao, who lived during the Song dynasty, gave the following as the first half of a couplet, saying she would marry anyone who came up with an appropriate second half.

 

寂寞寒窗空守寡

 

However, no one managed to give an appropriate answer, so she never remarried.

 

As the 上联 (first half of the couplet) uses 宝盖头, I thought something using 草字头 or similar, where the 部首 is at the top will be better in similarity. Or where the 部首 is at the bottom, like 心. Or given that 宝盖头 came from 宅, something similar in meaning like 门 will be appropriate too. But given that couplets meant to be written out in a pair, there is also a need to consider the balance of the characters when written out, in terms of the number of strokes for each character. Either matching characters so that those with many strokes are side by side, or alternating.

There is also a need to match the intonation of the words used. Since the first half's pattern is 仄仄平平平平仄, the second half needs to be平平仄仄仄仄平.

 

I decided to give it a try, and my best attempt is:

 

思愁想愿怨恋悲

 

There are many others who have tried over the past thousand years (almost). Examples, taken from here and here, include:

 

梧桐朽枕枉相栖

 

俊俏佳人伥伶仃

休偕佳偶但依僧

伶仃佛侧倦作僧

荷花茎藕蓬莲苔

流浊清源污沧海

荷花莲芳葱芯茎

苦薄荒苑苛蕴芳

纤细红线终结缘

姣娇妙娥嬉媚婿

妖妍媚姐娱嫁婿

思恋悠怨总忘息

混沌滚泪溢浊溏

流沙河泮灌浊汤

远近达道过逍遥

惆怅忧怀怕忆情

How about giving it a try and posting your attempts in the comments? If I think of a better one, I will add it as a comment too!

Enclosure for external GPU

There are times when you need to add a GPU, but it won't fit into your PC case. This could be because your PC case only allows half-height cards but your GPU is a full-height card. Or there is only space for a single-slot card in the case and your GPU takes up two slots.

In my case, it was both. The Dell Poweredge R430 rack server that I have only allows half-height, single-slot cards. This limits the options for adding GPUs. I had been thinking of a way around this, and one idea is to use a PCI-E extension card to allow a GPU to be connected from outside the case. The problem is that this would leave the GPU exposed. So I needed some form of enclosure.

Well, I have a 3D printer, and a bit of FreeCAD knowledge. And this is the result.

Basically, I bought a PCI-E extension cable from Aliexpress together with a stand. The 3D-printed enclosure is attached to the stand, and covers the top, front, back, and end of the GPU (the bottom of the GPU is covered by the stand). The goal is not to protect the GPU, but just prevent someone from touching the moving fan or any exposed PCB components. The assumption is that the GPU draws up to 75W of power, all through PCI-E. If additional power is required, the power connector will need to be extended so that it can reach outside the case (the top of the enclosure can be removed to plug in a power connector).

This is the PCI-E extension cable and stand.

Now, all that remains is to find a more powerful GPU to connect to the R430...

Suzume no Tojimari all-Japan stage greeting

 

A week after Suzume no Tojimari opened in Japan, a stage greeting by director Shinkai Makoto together with the actors who voiced Suzume (Hara Nanoka) and Sota (Matsumura Hokuto) was held at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills and broadcast live to 343 cinemas nationwide in Japan. I wasn't going to make my way to Tokyo for this, but since it was being streamed live at the nearby cinema, I got myself a ticket to see the movie for a second time.

The actual announcement on the official website (in Japanese)

The event took place at 18:30 on 18 November 2022. The stage greeting was scheduled to take place before the movie's screening for that time slot. It started with the three of them (Shinkai Makoto, Hara Nanoka, and Matsumura Hokuto) entering the stage, with a short self-introduction by each of them. This was soon followed by the unveiling of a HUGE standing panel display printed with the comments about the movie gathered over the past week.

The following are some of the topics touched on during the stage greeting.

- The MC for the event congratulated the director and cast for the movie's great performance. In just one week, the movie had already drawn 2 million viewers to the cinemas in Japan. 3 million copies of the special booklet "Shinkai Makoto Book" (below), given out as a door gift to viewers, was printed, which means it is still possible to get a copy.

 

- Shinkai asked the audience at Roppongi Hills about the number of times they have watched the movie. Some were watching for the first time, but there were also some in the audience who have watched two, three, or even more times.

 

- The three of them read some of the comments on the board out loud after the unveiling. "There are two handsome men in the movie." "I want to watch it again but it is taxing on the stamina." Matsumura even pointed out that someone was at a lost of words to describe the movie, simply stating "I love it."

 

- The three of them were actually just back from Kobe. As part of the movie's publicity, Shinkai (and sometimes with one or two of the main voice actors) will be visiting various parts of Japan to talk about the movie. The first location was actually Kobe. They took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin Kobe Station, which was actually featured in the movie. At the station itself, they were greeted with a life-size door, the same one used for publicity in cinemas (like the one below). It seems the station master is a fan, and had decorated the station, even going so far as to change the flowers at the station to make those in the movie (in terms of color). They spoke about the warm welcome at Kobe, with fans preparing the venues, such as their own illustrations of the movie.

 

- Shinkai talked about the selection of the voice actors. To him, having written the story besides being the director, the movie was like his own child. So instead of choosing voice actors who are good in voice acting, the audition process was more like recognizing his own children from among the crowd. It was not about choosing new talents. He also wanted to choose people who could work with him as partners in creating the movie together, beyond just acting their parts, and then go on to deliver the movie to others together with him.

 

- The voice recording for Hara and Matsumura took place over the course of two months. They have their own "position" in the recording studio, with Matsumura standing closer to Shinkai (separated via a glass window in the control room) while Hara was further away. Based on Shinkai's request, they did a short voice acting session on stage, replicating part of a scene from the movie.

 

- Shinkai talked about how apprehensive he felt about the movie's reception, losing sleep after the movie was launched. He was drinking by himself one night when Kamiki Ryunosuke (the voice actor for Taki in Your Name, plus the voice actor for Serizawa in Suzume no Tojimari) found out and joined him in the middle of the night at the izakaya for drinks.

In all, the three of them avoided talking too much about the movie itself, since there were people who have yet to watch the movie. It was a short event, less than 30 minutes.

The next event will be part of the nationwide tour, with Shizuoka + Aichi on 20 November, Aichi on 21 November, Kumamoto on 23 November, Fukuoka on 24 November, and Miyazaki (which is where Suzume lives) on 25 November. Other stops for this nationwide tour will include Okayama, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Niigata, Miyagi, Iwate, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Ehime, Kagawa, and Nagano. Other places may be added subsequently depending on how well the movie does in the box office. More information can be found here (in Japanese).

Blog posts related to Suzume no Tojimari: 

Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり) at IMAX

Diving into Suzume no Tojimari

"Director's retake" of Suzume

Suzume no Tojimari all-Japan stage greeting

Director Shinkai Makoto in person at Dolby Cinema screening of Suzume no Tojimari

Suzume stage event with director Shinkai Makoto

Final screening of Suzume in Japan with live broadcast of stage event

Suzume—Tamaki’s Story (unofficial translation of 小説すずめの戸締まり～環さんのものがたり～)

Suzume—Serizawa’s Story (unofficial translation of 小説すずめの戸締まり～芹澤のものがたり～)

 

Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり) at IMAX

 

Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり) opens today in Japanese cinemas. Some cinemas even screened it as early as midnight, while there were also cinemas which opened early for early morning screenings from 7 a.m. I decided to catch it at an IMAX theatre to see if it uses the full IMAX screen, and the earliest screening at the local IMAX theatre was 9:35 a.m., so I booked my ticket for that slot.

The door gift was a booklet containing the proposal for the movie, an interview with director Shinkai Makoto, as well as excerpts from the proposals of the previous two movies (Your Name. and Weathering With You).

Okay, back to the movie.

This movie follows the same "disaster" theme of the previous two: a meteorite wipes out a town in Your Name., while continuous heavy rains flooded Tokyo in Weathering With You. In Suzume no Tojimari, earthquakes hit various parts of Japan. In this movie, earthquakes are caused by spirits escaping the netherworld into the mortal world through portals in the form of doors in deserted places. Due to certain circumstances, the heroine, Suzume, is able to see these spirits. At the start of the movie, she unwittingly releases the guardian spirit that seals these portals, allowing a disaster spirit to escape into the mortal world and causing an earthquake in the local town. She also meets a guy (Sota) who goes around making sure those portals remain closed, but somehow causes him to become sucked into a stool. The story is about them chasing down the guardian spirit all over Japan while closing all those portals the guardian spirit opened before disaster escapes from them.

This movie has a background related to the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on 11 March 2011, which triggered a tsunami as well as caused the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. This setting was hinted at in the trailers, where you can see a fishing boat sitting on the roof of a house, an iconic scene from the Great East Japan Earthquake's tsunami. The boat and house are covered with vegetation, implying that some time has passed since the tsunami. As the story progresses, it is revealed that Suzume used to live in the Tohoku region of Japan, and lost her mother during the Great East Japan Earthquake when she was four years old. She was then taken in by her aunt (her mother's younger sister), who took her to Kyushu and raised her there. And Kyushu is where the story starts, with Suzume now 16 years old and in her second year of high school.

 

I think the movie is really well paced. During the two hours, there was never a moment in which the story was not progressing. Well, I guess they didn't have time to slow down anyway. The story starts in Kyushu, then Ehime in Shikoku, followed by Kobe on Honshu, then going to Tokyo and further north into Tohoku. Suzume was on a national tour of Japan, and with so much distance to cover, the story had to keep moving.

Like other Shinkai Makoto works, the backgrounds are amazing. I am sure there will be "pilgrimages" to places portrayed in the movie soon. The music by RADWIMPS is again great and helps to set the pace for the movie. The use of CG to portray the disaster spirit was... somewhat awkward at times, as you can clearly notice the difference in animation style. But it is not so bad as to distract from the story.

However, the love story aspect is a bit... unconvincing. I mean, Suzume only met Sota at the start of the movie, thinks he is handsome, but there was this "I cannot live without Sota" moment even though she has only known him for three days... She may be 16 years old and naive, but this is a bit too hard to believe. I am thinking really hard but I cannot recall any moment in which Sota did or say something that would win Suzume's heart. This is unlike the relationships which grew over time in previous movies.

 

There is also a time-travel element (somewhat) in the story. I think the key message for including this element is that, while things may look bleak now, don't be afraid. Put the past behind us, don't let it stop us from walking into the future. This message should resonate with people in Japan, since the Great East Japan Earthquake affected everyone in some form. Toddlers would have grown up into teenagers, trying to find a place for themselves in this world. Teenagers would be working adults, trying to carve a living. Those who were adults would have spent the last 12 years trying to struggle with their new circumstances. While everything that the earthquake took away cannot be regained, the future is always there if we have the courage to take the step forward.

 

Oh, Shinkai Makoto has been using characters from his previous movie in the most recent one. For example, Yukino-sensei in The Garden of Words became a teacher in the high school at Itomori (Yuki-chan sensei in the credits) during Your Name. Taki and Mitsuha (and apparently, Yotsuha too) from Your Name. also made an appearance in Weathering With You. I was trying to figure out if Hodaka or Hina from Weathering with You appeared in Suzume no Tojimari, but apparently not... at least, the names of their voice actors were not in the credit roll. I guess he broke from his past practice.

 

Shinkai Makoto's obsession with older women is still there, though. In The Garden of Words, it was high school boy falling in love with his teacher in her 20s. In Your Name., high school boy Taki had a crush on his Okudera-senpai (probably a student in university). In Weathering With You, high school boy Hodaka kept turning red in the face because of Natsumi (in her final year at university). This time... the older woman seems to be Suzume's 40-year-old aunt!

 

Finally, while I watched the movie at an IMAX theatre, the movie did not use the larger screen format of IMAX. So the only difference would be in terms of sound, although I don't think I will be able to notice the difference... in the end, my recommendation is to save your money and just go with the normal version. IMAX won't really make a difference.

Update 16 Nov 2022: There will be an event on 18 Nov 2022 at 18:30, with Shinkai Makoto taking the stage together with the voice actors for Suzume and Sota. This event will be broadcast live at cinemas nationwide, and I booked myself a ticket for the live broadcast. I may do a deep-dive into the movie if I gain a much greater insight after the event + rewatch.

Blog posts related to Suzume no Tojimari: 

Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり) at IMAX

Diving into Suzume no Tojimari

"Director's retake" of Suzume

Suzume no Tojimari all-Japan stage greeting

Director Shinkai Makoto in person at Dolby Cinema screening of Suzume no Tojimari

Suzume stage event with director Shinkai Makoto

Final screening of Suzume in Japan with live broadcast of stage event

Suzume—Tamaki’s Story (unofficial translation of 小説すずめの戸締まり～環さんのものがたり～)

Suzume—Serizawa’s Story (unofficial translation of 小説すずめの戸締まり～芹澤のものがたり～)

Total lunar eclipse and Uranus lunar occultation

Today, a total lunar eclipse was visible in all parts of Japan. Plus Uranus was also in occultation with the moon. Such an event (total lunar eclipse + lunar occultation of a planet) is rare, with the last such event taking place 442 years ago (when a lunar occultation of Saturn took place during a lunar eclipse) in 1580, while the next such event (again, a lunar occultation of Saturn during a lunar eclipse) will take place 322 years from now, in July 2344.

The moon rose in the early evening.

At 1809, the lunar eclipse started.

At around 1855, the moon has been covered by the earth's shadow about 50%.

The total eclipse started at 1916, peaked at 1959, and lasted until 2042. This photo was taken around the peak.

You can actually see Uranus.

Uranus then went behind the moon at around 2041.

By 2103, the moon was starting to show again.

The eclipse ended at 2149. Here's the moon at 2153.

It's nice to be able to catch this rare event. And with clear skies too!

Machine learning and rights of use

A while ago, I wrote a bit about AI-based image generators. Such generators were trained using tons of images and can generate images based on text or image prompts. Besides generating images with an understanding of the context of the prompts, they can also imitate learned styles.

Recently, GitHub Copilot was sued for infringement of rights. GitHub Copilot was trained on the source code of open-source projects hosted on GitHub. You would think that the use of open-source code should not be a problem, right? Well, that is the wrong understanding of open-source software. Open-source does not mean free. While most open-source projects are free for people to use, they usually come with different types of licenses that limit the scenarios in which they can be used. For example, there are those that are only free for private, non-commercial use. There are also projects that require some form of attribution if they are used in other projects.

The problem is that GitHub Copilot does not provide such attribution. The user is given a piece of code that has been learnt by the AI. However, that piece of code may have been lifted from an open-source project as-is. And that original project may have certain limitations, stated in its license, about how its source code can be reused. Users of GitHub Copilot may thus run of the risk of being sued for infringement of rights is they violate those licenses. And the problem is, they are unlikely to know that they have violate those licenses, until they get sued, because GitHub Copilot does not tell them where the "suggested code" is coming from, nor the associated license applicable to that piece of code.

Will AI image generators be the next to be sued?

Why? Because AI image generators could have similarly been trained on copyrighted images, or images with a license regarding their use/reuse. The end user, however, will not know. So it may well be the case that the user uses a generated image, and then gets sued by the original illustrator for violation of rights. Of course, for images, it is a lot harder to assert such rights, unless the generated image is an exact copy of the original. Still, we have heard of criticism of Chinese animators imitating the style of Japanese anime. With AI image generators, such imitation becomes easier, whether intentional or not. Imagine a game creator using such an AI image generator to create visuals, only to have the copyright owners of Gundam come knocking on his/her door for copyright infringement because the mechas in the game look like those in some part of the Gundam universe (which is huge, diverse, and difficult for a single person to know unless he/she is a hardcore fan, but nonetheless, all copyrighted).

So let's not train on copyrighted material. Let's just use images created by various illustrators posted on the internet for free use. Well, unfortunately, these illustrators may, like open-source software, have tagged a license about how their works can be reused. Imitating their works have the same risk of rights infringement.

What does this mean? Well, I guess the first issue to be addressed is the question of attribution. If something is generated by AI based on the work of a person or entity, that outcome needs to be attributed to the source. Another aspect is for AI generation to be told the limits to work within. For example, only generate images based on images that have been licensed for non-commercial reuse. Or suggest code only from projects that have licenses compatible with the target project.

By the way, other forms of AI generators also have the same risk. For example, there are AI generators for text. Give it a prompt, and it will generate a paragraph or even article for you. Unfortunately, you may end up being sued for plagiarism if the AI had unknowingly lifted passages wholesale from some related work. This is the problem with current machine learning techniques: they are based on using AI to learn from existing materials. Most of these sources, however, are not free; they come with limitations on how they can be used, reused, or reproduced. Until we can develop a method for AI to create stuff without having to learn from tons of existing human works, the risk of infringing the rights of other people will always be there.

Update 22 January 2023: An article about copyright issues of AI art generators.

AI tools can create new images, but who is the real artist?
Source: Associate Press

Visiting RSS Formidable

RSS Formidable, Singapore's first stealth frigate, was in Yokosuka for the international fleet review to celebrate JMSDF's 70th anniversary. Yesterday, the foreign ships were open for ship tours, and Singaporeans living in Japan were also invited to go onboard RSS Formidable. Having served onboard before, I thought I would go back and take a look to see if I can find any familiar faces, and to see if the calligraphy piece (a rush work...) that I wrote for the ship's commissioning is still there. (I have been wanting to rewrite that piece because I am not satisfied with it. I had very little time back then to get it ready, so I didn't really have time to practise and work on composition.)

As the ship is berthed at Y-4 on the JMSDF side of Yokosuka Naval Base, I found (after checking Google Maps) that it can be seen from Anjindai Park, which oversees the basin area of the base. So before dropping by the ship, I thought I would go to the park to see if I can get some pictures.

Well, there is actually a high fence on the seaward side of the park. I tried playing around with aperture to see if I can photograph the ship through the fence, but that didn't work. In the end, I had to try photographing by "feel" as I held the camera high above the fence and aim blind and shoot. I shot some photos in the same way using my phone too.

Making my way from the park to Yokosuka Naval Base, Google Maps brought me to a route that included a road that is off limits to scooters... Vivi can't go along that route, so I had to turn back and make a long detour, losing precious time (the ship tours are open until 4 p.m. with the queues closing at 3:30 p.m., and it was already well past 2 p.m. when I left the park). When I got to the parking area near the base, I made a wrong turn and had to lift my scooter over the curb onto the pathway... spraining my right wrist in the process. Sigh.

I managed to get into base as many people were already leaving.

Although other ships were opened for ship tours, it was getting late, so I headed straight to RSS Formidable, the main purpose of this trip to Yokosuka.

When I got to the queue, it was already closed to the public, but I told the Japanese guy there that I had an invitation from the ship, and he let me into the queue. A few other Singaporeans came in too after me. As luck has it, while queuing, I spotted someone I knew (I worked with him on another ship in the past, and he is now the coxswain of RSS Formidable) so he managed to get me and the rest of the Singaporeans out of the queue and onto the ship.

Going onboard, it was actually a very short tour, with a safety brief at the hangar, followed by a video in the torpedo store about the frigate's ASW capabilities, then the torpedo deck and SSM deck to see the torpedo launcher followed by the Harpoon missiles. Here, I saw another familiar face, someone whom I knew since the time when he first joined the navy. It is nice to see that he has reached a much more senior position now. The bridge was the final part of the tour, where you get to see the 76mm Oto Melara gun, the hatches for the vertical-launch Aster missiles, plus the control consoles for the Typhoon guns. (The GPS display at the aft part of the bridge looks different, a bit smaller than I remember... maybe they changed it.) As usual, photography was not allowed once past the hangar, so I only managed to get a few photos on the flight deck. I also bumped into two more familiar faces at the hangar.

By then, Auld Lang Syne was already playing in the base and they were announcing that the gate will soon be closed, so I had to make my way out of the base. When I got to Vivi, I found that the left mirror was loose... just as I was trying to ride off. In the end, I rode off with a swiveling left mirror, got onto National Route 16, then found a place where I could stop to fix the mirror. I was really fortunate that I kept some tools in the seat compartment.

In the end, I managed to meet part of the goals. I did see some familiar faces, and also managed to talk to the CO and XO (both whom I did not know, as they used to serve in a different part of the navy when they were junior officers). But I did not managed to see if my calligraphy piece is still onboard, we visitors were not allowed below deck (and the piece used to be in the wardroom). Still, it was a satisfying trip to be back onboard after so many years.

I ended the trip will a short detour to a place nearby to get a shot of Mount Fuji at dusk.