TOKYO DRIFT

The young and the restless.

The Japanese crime drama Hadaka no Jukyu-sai, aka Live Today, Die Tomorrow, is the tale of an 18-year old country boy named Michio who is relocated to Tokyo for a work program and quickly rebels against the authoritarians around him. After going off the reservation he drifts into petty crime, which in turn leads to a shooting spree during which he murders several people.

The movie seems to be critical of both Japanese city life and American influence (Michio acquires the gun by stealing it from an American), and we found it to be an interesting and engrossing fable. Later, we realized that the film was probably inspired by the real-life story of Norio Nagayama, a 19-year old who in 1969 shot four people dead with a gun he acquired from a U.S. military base. He was caught, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He had been in jail for about eighteen months when Hadaka no Jukyu-sai hit cinemas.

No word on whether Nagayama saw it, but for some reason he was inspired to write, and by 1971 he was being published. He eventually wrote six books (with the profits going to compensate his victims’ families), and garnered critical acclaim as well as winning the New Japan Literary Award in 1984. After years of appeals and stays, Nagayama was executed in August 1997 and his ashes scattered in the sea. The movie he inspired is worth a look if you can find it anywhere, and the poster art is, well, killer. Hadaka no Jukyu-sai premiered in Japan today in 1970.

Japan, Hadaka no Jukyu-sai, Norio Nagayama, Live Today Die Tomorrow, murder, poster art, cinema, literature, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

April 20

1939—Holiday Records Strange Fruit

American blues and jazz singer Billie Holiday records “Strange Fruit”, which is considered to be the first civil rights song. It began as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, which he later set to music and performed live with his wife Laura Duncan. The song became a Holiday standard immediately after she recorded it, and it remains one of the most highly regarded pieces of music in American history.

April 19

1927—Mae West Sentenced to Jail

American actress and playwright Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for the content of her play Sex. The trial occurred even though the play had run for a year and had been seen by 325,000 people. However West’s considerable popularity, already based on her risque image, only increased due to the controversy.

April 19

1971—Manson Sentenced to Death

In the U.S, cult leader Charles Manson is sentenced to death for inciting the murders of Sharon Tate and several other people. Three accomplices, who had actually done the killing, were also sentenced to death, but the state of California abolished capital punishment in 1972 and neither they nor Manson were ever actually executed.

April 18

1923—Yankee Stadium Opens

In New York City, Yankee Stadium, home of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees, opens with the Yankees beating their eternal rivals the Boston Red Sox 4 to 1. The stadium, which is nicknamed The House that Ruth Built, sees the Yankees become the most successful franchise in baseball history. It is eventually replaced by a new Yankee Stadium and closes in September 2008.

April 17

1961—Bay of Pigs Invasion Is Launched

A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. However, the invasion fails badly and the result is embarrassment for U.S. president John F. Kennedy and a major boost in popularity for Fidel Castro, and also has the effect of pushing him toward the Soviet Union for protection.