An essay reflecting on actress Kumiko Goto’s role in the Otoko wa Tsurai yo (Tora-san) film series and the “beauty of Japanese women” she portrayed. The author interprets her absence from Japanese television and media and her life in Europe as a deliberate choice to live a “truth” she expressed in her art, away from Japan’s perceived “foolishness.”

Nagisa Oshima and I.

The late Nagisa Oshima and I never spoke to each other, but we knew each other by sight. That was the nature of our relationship. Naturally, I also knew his personality well. The reason was that the restaurant in Kitashinchi where I frequently had dinner was the same one where Nagisa Oshima also dined every time he came to Osaka.

I became very close with the owner and head chef of this restaurant, Mr. M, and our initial meeting was what triggered it. At the time, I went to this restaurant with a female CEO I was close with. I was surprised by how delicious the abalone I ate then was, and at the same time, I figured out its origin. The abalone was from Awaji Island, and a certain fisherman would take his boat every day to deliver his fish to Kobe Daimaru, Kitashinchi, and Shinsaibashi Daimaru before returning home. I proclaimed that it had to be this man’s abalone. The owner was astonished by this. He was amazed that he had never had a customer who could guess the origin of the fish before. From then on, we maintained a very close relationship.

At the time, I was genuinely busy with work, so it was often the case that I would go to a restaurant for dinner outside of normal dinner hours. One time, Mr. M said to me, “Mr. Oshima is coming with his wife this time, and I was wondering if you, Kisara-san, would like to have dinner with the Oshima couple?” He continued, “When I told Mr. Oshima about you, he said he’d be delighted to have dinner together.”

Since we had seen each other many times, Mr. Oshima also knew my character. However, my busy work schedule at the time caused me to be significantly late for our scheduled meeting. It goes without saying that I really wanted to meet him, especially since his wife, the beautiful actress Akiko Koyama, was also with him.

“Have they left already?” I asked. “No, they’re still here. Would you like to go in?” “No, I don’t think I’ll meet them tonight.”

Soon after, the director and his wife came out of the room. The Oshima couple and I exchanged a nod, or rather, a glance. That was the last time I saw Nagisa Oshima. He fell ill shortly after that. If I had been able to have a conversation with Nagisa Oshima, it would have been a great plus for my personal life.

Something similar had happened before my encounter with Mr. Oshima. At the time, a certain actress, who was arguably the most popular, was performing a show at the Meijiza Theater. On the final day of the performance, I received a call from the president of her agency saying she wanted to meet me, and of course, I gladly accepted. But on that day as well, I couldn’t make it to Tokyo due to work. As a result, I believe that my life has been to live a solitary existence and now, in this way, to deliver the philosophy of “The Turntable of Civilization” to the world.

A few days ago, when I started translating my work into English, I had been hoping to quickly reach 1 million searches for “The Turntable of Civilization.” Last night, when I searched on Yahoo, it was at 419,000. This morning, when I searched, it had astonishingly reached 16,100,000 searches. The world suddenly took notice of “The Turntable of Civilization.” I thought to myself, “There could be nothing more gratifying than this.