Research and Methodology Paper

When giving a presentation on Golden Gai, a neighborhood on the fringes of Tokyo’s Kabuki-cho district, I had difficultly convincing students that the neighborhood, which constantly faces the threat of becoming yet another high-rise complex in the Shinjuku Ward, deserves to be preserved after all. Indeed, as a former black market and red light district, Golden Gai certainly has a colorful history, but these are not the aspects of Tokyo’s history most people feel compelled to preserve. Moreover, while the low-rise buildings are a rare sight among the ubiquitous skyscrapers in Shinjuku, the structures are rather dilapidated, many of them having not been updated since the 1940’s. The area is also notoriously private, with the many signs prohibiting filming and photography attesting to this fact. Entry can also prove daunting; most bars have cover fees of 500 to 1000 yen just to get a seat, some bars require an introduction, and still others do not admit foreigners. Thus, on paper, Golden Gai’s appeal does not seem immediately clear. More than its architecture or history, however, the draw of Golden Gai lies in the experience it provides, and after going there, one finds an atmosphere unlike any other in Tokyo. Thus, my methodology was founded in this experiential element of Golden Gai.

That being said, my initial plans for research did not reflect this stance. I started by researching the history of Golden Gai in several books about Kabuki-cho and Tokyo in general. As I found out, after the occupation ended, the neighborhood was transformed into a nomiya district, filled with many tiny bars. During the 1960’s, the area become a cultural center, attracting the likes of Mishima Yukio and Ozu Yasujiro. It was much bigger in size than it is currently; a number of landowners have sold their much valued real estate over the years, and the area now consists of just several narrow alleyways that retain a vestige of post-war Tokyo. I also read several news articles on the topic of Golden Gai’s atmosphere and uncertain future. After finishing my initial research, I came up with a list of potential interviewees and questions. I decided I wanted to interview an expert who could talk about Golden Gai’s history and culture, at least one bartender, and at least one client who had been coming to Golden Gai regularly for a fairly long time. I planned to ask them mainly about the history of the neighborhood.

As stated before, Golden Gai is a steadfastly private place – the residents fear that any unwanted attention will cause an influx of curious visitors that will change the urban fabric of the neighborhood. Indeed, as I would later find out from the interviewees, Golden Gai has changed considerably in the past 5 years alone: the amount of bars has nearly doubled, and the once exclusively Japanese clientele now has given way to a large number of tourists who have discovered the area from guidebooks. The residents’ desire for privacy and the flood of tourists who do not understand the Japanese bar system have led to the aforementioned restrictions. As our interviewees speculated, the prohibitions on photography could also be attributed to the number of famous actors, musicians, filmmakers, artists, and other prominent figures who frequent the area.

Thus, gaining access to the area proved extremely difficult. I went to several bars, but my efforts were fruitless: even after I had spent an amount of money that is exorbitant for a non-drinking, broke college student such as myself, the bartenders and clientele were reluctant to give interviews. (Some offered to have un-filmed “chats” instead, while others declined to talk about Golden Gai’s history altogether.) Because of time and money constraints, I abandoned the façade of an innocent bartender and adopted a straightforward approach by stating my intentions of conducting interviews upfront. Using this approach, I found my bar of choice: Aces. Reassured by the sign on the front door (“If you have a problem, ask me! I love English and you”), I entered the bar, camera in hand, along with Shinya, the Japanese translator in the group, and two female friends studying abroad at Keio University. Much to my delight, I received a welcoming reception.

Before I continue with this particular experience, there are two unique aspects about Golden Gai that I would like to discuss. The first is that each bar tends to be specialized around a certain theme, the most famous being La Jetée, which pays homage to French avant-garde film and is known as a haunt for famous filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola. Aces was no exception to this rule: the owner, Yamashita Tsuyoshi, went to college in Colorado before returning to Japan, and the décor is reminiscent of the American southwest, with Georgia O’Keefe-esque animal skulls displayed on the walls and movies such as No Country For Old Men playing in the background.

The second point I would like to bring up is the demographics of the clientele. As stated before, a sizeable amount of tourists come to the area, and indeed, we met people from around the world at Aces. More interesting to note, however, are Golden Gai regulars, who go to the same bar almost every night, making the place their second home. This was an important factor in the methodology of the project, as I will explain later.

To summarize the first night of filming: because it was still “early” by Golden Gai standards (read: a little after 8), there were only 2 clients at the bar, both regulars. My Keio friends talked to the other bargoers while I broke the ice with Yamashita-san. Talking about the nature of my project and the difficulties I had encountered in its undertaking, I received a sympathetic response. I then started asking Yamashita-san about his experiences in America, and this led to a conversation about various personal matters. In talking to him, I felt that I was able to establish a more comfortable relationship and gain insight into the workings of Golden Gai. When I asked about the history of Golden Gai, Yamashita-san replied that he didn’t know too much about it, but the regulars offered some input. The topic of the neighborhood’s possible destruction produced a similar response.

After an hour or so had passed, I decided to start filming, asking a series of questions that I had written beforehand. I began by asking general personal information before delving into matters of Golden Gai’s history and uniqueness. The interview, as well as the preceding conversation, was conducted in English. I did not have a tripod or microphone with me at the time, so this interview was conducted as a first run, in order to have him become more accustomed to the camera and talking about the subject matter. It also allowed me to examine which elements I needed to improve or alter.

Once my interview finished, one of the regulars, Tanaka-san, offered to do an interview as well. I had actually not intended to interview anyone else in the bar that night; my original plan was to go over to the Albatross, per Professor Herrera’s recommendation, to interview the bartender there. However, interviewing Tanaka-san changed the course of the project for the better – he proved to be a valuable source of information, and by concentrating on one single bar, I became a “regular” of sorts. Granted, I was not drinking there every night, but I did get to know the people there fairly well, and this “regular” aspect was an important part of my revised methodology, which gradually came to reflect the more intangible, experiential elements of Golden Gai rather than simply its history.

I came back the next week with a slightly revised set of questions – the changes reflected my newly adopted methodology and my interview with Donald Richie (see below). The process was much the same, as I chatted with the interviewees before I began shooting in order to produce a more relaxed atmosphere. This time, the interview with Yamashita was conducted in Japanese (he was more comfortable speaking his native tongue, and it added to the atmosphere). I tried to make the interview questions open-ended, broad, or coupled with other questions. The inquiries were as follows:

For Yamashita: How old are you and what is your name? When did you first come to Golden Gai and why did you come here? What has changed since you first came to Golden Gai? What do you like about Golden Gai and what do you think could change? What makes Golden Gai unique? Can you talk about Golden Gai's history? Why are there signs prohibiting photography and filming?

For Tanaka: How old are you and what is your name? When did you first come to Golden Gai and why did you come here? What has changed since you first came to Golden Gai? What do you like about Golden Gai and what do you think could change? What makes Golden Gai unique? Can you talk about Golden Gai's history? What do you think of tourists? Is it true that Golden Gai has been purchased, and what would happen if it were replaced by high rise buildings? How do you think Golden Gai will change in the future? What will you do if Golden Gai disappears? Do you think it should be preserved?

While the experiences leading up to the final interviews were often difficult, I was very satisfied with the material in the end – the answers were alternately personal and objective, which created absorbing oral histories of Golden Gai and its loyal followers.

The process of procuring an expert on the area was similarly difficult but rewarding. I had originally toyed with the idea of asking Donald Richie for an interview after reading his book Tokyo, but I was intimidated by the idea. In my research, I discovered the Shinjuku Historical Museum, which I thought would be a perfect resource. After talking to a museum worker, Shiguchi-san, I was under the impression that an interview was certain. When I went to the museum, however, he insisted that he was “not an expert” and referred our group to the Shinjuku Ward Office. Much to my dismay, they likewise informed us that Golden Gai was not their area of expertise, and told us to instead talk to the head of the Golden Gai Neighborhood Association, Okuyama-san. However, Shinya was not able to talk to Okuyama-san by July 2nd, and the encroaching deadline caused me to panic. In what I thought would be a fruitless move, I decided to return to my first choice: Donald Richie. Fortunately, I was able to obtain an interview with Richie between 6 and 6:30 on July 4th. Because of the one-shot nature of the interview, everything had to be done efficiently and correctly (unfortunately, it was not – I had troubles with the sound, which taught me to really make sure you know what you are doing before using equipment).

After meeting Mr. Richie at Super Deluxe in Roppongi, he informed the group that he wanted to eat dinner in Roppongi Hills. While the walk over there and the buying of food took up valuable time, I also gained an opportunity to break the ice with Mr. Richie in a similar fashion to what I had done with the previous interviewees. I first informed him about the topics about which I would be inquiring (e.g., Golden Gai’s history, its transformation into a cultural center, how it reflects post-war Japan, and the neighborhood’s uncertain future). I also tried finding common ground by talking about film and literature, and I continued such conversations while I was setting up the equipment. Once I had finished, I told Mr. Richie I was ready to film, and I took out the questions I had planned to ask him, but much to my surprise, he did not even allow me time to ask questions. Instead, he launched into an eloquent speech about the aforementioned topics. The footage was self-contained and showcased his expertise in the area.

While the other two interviews were more relaxed oral histories, Mr. Richie’s was more factual and objective. Despite their differences, however, both provided positive points, and I think having such different styles strengthened the quality of my resulting video.

Final Video and Poster

Bars of Gold: A Portrait of Golden Gai from URBZ on Vimeo.

Editing Commentary

So, I spent 12 hours on July 14 editing. The editing process was a good experience, but it's nice to have the stress lifted off my shoulders. Here is a summary of the editing process, which took place July 7th-July 15th:

- The first thing I did (after importing, of course) was to adjust the sound. I wasn't able to make decisions about what parts of the interviews I wanted to keep since I hadn't received translations yet, so I worked on this instead. I played around with audio filters a lot, especially on the Donald Richie interview. Because it was impossible to remove the ambient noise on his interview, I decided to keep the ambient sound on the other interviews as well to make the transitions less shocking. After deciding what clips I wanted to use, I also added cross fades in between every interview clip and extended/shortened the audio clips past their respective video portions in some instances.

- The second thing I worked on was deciding what sections of the interviews I wanted to use. I actually did this by looking at the transcripts of the interviews, rather than at the footage itself, in order to pick out relevant material. At first, I chose to include 2 clips for each thematic element, e.g., the history of Golden, but after actually editing the clips and watching them in succession, I noticed that the documentary would be too long and repetitive, so I decided one speaker per topic would suffice. In the end, I used 9 clips from the interviews (2 from Yamashita, 3 from Richie, and 4 from Tanaka), each at around a length of 30 seconds to keep the pacing consistent. They totaled about 5 minutes in all, and after I edited credits/b-roll, the movie was around 5:30.

- I then worked on the aesthetics of the video. Because of the insufficient lighting conditions of the bar interviews, the use of archival photos, and the theme of the video, I decided to make the entire documentary black and white. After desaturating everything, I spent a lot of time adjusting the contrast of the video. At first, I used the brightness/contrast and levels filters, but I read online that 3-way color balance filter actually works better, and it did indeed! So, it took some trial and error, but it worked out well in the end.

- The last parts I worked on (almost all on Tuesday) were adding b-roll and subtitles. I also added opening and closing credits and music, which were both very easy tasks. I edited a bit on Wednesday, but this was mostly just polishing things up. Anyway, everything is done now!

Filming: Part III

Miracle: we finally went to Golden Gai as a group! We went on Monday, July 6 - I expected to go together to Golden Gai about a month ago, but I guess that's how these things to go. Anyhow, we went over to Golden Gai around 6:00 to get some b-roll before the bars opened. Shinya was really intent on getting overhead shots of the area, which led to several instances of trespassing. At 8 we went back to Aces to re-do the interview with Yamashita-san (the last time I went, I wanted to be discreet so I didn't bring the tripod, and the audio was quite bad, so I decided to reshoot). This time Yamashita answered in Japanese, but I still asked the questions in English. Shortly after we finished the interview, Tanaka-san also came in, so we interviewed him as well. I took some b-roll of the inside of the bar and the outside.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be doing any more shooting because of time constraints, but I might go back and take some more pictures. I'm pretty much done with editing the first 2 minutes of the video (the parts in English and b-roll mostly). By the way, I like editing. I hadn't used Final Cut Pro in about a year, but after the media workshop, I've gotten right back into the habit of using it.

Filming: Part II

On Thursday, July 2nd, Shinya still hadn't gotten in contact with Okuyama-san, so I was genuinely panicking. I decided to arrange another interview myself since we really needed to talk to a person who could provide us insight into Golden Gai's history. I decided to contact Donald Richie; in the beginning of the project, I had considered contacting him, but I was somewhat intimidated. Anyhow, I talked to Dr. Cleveland, who told me Mr. Richie would be attending an event at Super Deluxe in Roppongi Saturday, July 4th. Dr. Cleveland called Mr. Richie, who agreed to talk to us from 6-6:30, so I canceled my prior plans and checked out equipment. Shinya had work, and I couldn't get a hold of Tony at first, but fortunately I ran into him on my way to Roppongi on Saturday.

We went to Super Deluxe, and Mr. Richie was waiting outside. He told us that he hadn't eaten dinner, so we headed over to Roppongi Hills. At first we went to Starbucks, but there were no seats, so we went to a soup place instead. I bought him dinner and chatted with him about film and literature while setting up the camera. Unfortunately, in a moment of mental abstraction, I forgot how to use the wireless microphone (I frantically explained to Mr. Richie that I am accustomed to making silent, experimental films and that I had never used the wireless microphone before). Tony, having skipped the workshop, was of no help in the matter, and since we were running out of time, I took a deep breath and shot with the ambient microphone. The sound was sub-par because the restaurant was quite crowded and filled with music/clanging dishes. However, the content of the interview was great. I gave Mr. Richie my contact information and he gave me his, saying that I should call if I wanted to do any re-takes. I called him on Tuesday and left a message, but as he has not returned my call, I think perhaps he had only given my his phone number out of courtesy instead of an actual desire to redo the interview. The footage is still salvageable, though, so I will be using it. Instead of the question/answer format of most interviews, Mr. Richie actually gave a rather eloquent speech. This will make editing easier because he contextualizes what he's talking about (i.e., he doesn't answer with only a few words). Here's the transcription of the interview:

"Golden Gai is a section of Shinjuku, which is a section of the old night city of Tokyo, which has a very interesting reputation. It has over the years turned into a sort of an artist’s haven, a sort of bohemian enclave. It wasn’t always that way. Originally, after the war, it was sort of a very large black-market area. Then it turned into the whore district, then half of it turned the gay district, and now it's turned into a very specialized bar district. It is a warren (it used to be a lot larger than it is now). It is a warren now of six or seven alleys, two story buildings, all of them post-war, and all of them rather flimsily made. This is where a number of bars have sprung up. These bars originally were known as cheap places to have a drink, or pick up a girl or take a friend, or something. But over the years, as I say, being in Shinjuku, it’s received an enormous amount of impetus, by the fact that Shinjuku is having its own history at this time. Shinjuku had sort of a renaissance in the 1960’s. This is where it was all coming from – Shinjuku. Shinjuku was the home of the counter-culture. This is where all the dissidence went. If you wanted to smoke pot in public, you did it in front of the  Shinjuku Station. If you wanted to play the guitar, that’s where you did it. At the same time, more serious things were happening. This is where a lot of the new aesthetics came from, where a lot of the avant-garde came from. This is where Terayama Shuji had his first theatre, where Kara Juro had his first theatre. This is where Hijikata Tatsumi invented Butoh modern dance. All of these were post-war expressions of a new Japanese ethos. What is left of these which has not been commercialized has been subsumed in Golden Gai, and so you get a feeling of the period. By going to Golden Gai, you see the reason it’s so popular. People who are interested in avant-garde film, for example, always go to a very small bar called La Jetée, which is named after Chris Marker’s film, and all the young directors go there. It’s nice to go there and have a drink or two. So it still has some sort of validity. It’s grown very fast, of course, since Tokyo changes faster than any other city in the world, I think. Actually, Golden Gai has been bought. It’s been bought by the people who own Parco-Seibu Department stores. But they bought it at a time when their [something] was such that they were not really able to do anything with it. They never built anything on top of it, but they own the land, but they’ve never been able to afford to tear down the buildings, so it’s living on borrowed land. It’s still there - it’s sort of a mummy, a petrified period piece of the time. Still quite visible, still quite experiential. It won’t last very much longer. As soon as Japan hits the next boom, all of that land is going to be raised, all those bars will go, and of course, all sorts of new high rises – it will start to look like Roppongi. So what’s left of the past – and it’s very precious, this past, because the past that is still alive is very difficult to find, particularly in volatile Tokyo. You can find it in downtown Tokyo, you can find it in Asakusa, in Ueno, in little corners that no one else wants, where the culture has managed to survive. In certain of parts around Shinjuku, it’s been mainly Golden Gai and Shomben Yokocho, the Piss Alley, which is right next to it. When they go, that is an entire section of Tokyo history, of Japanese history, of Japanese anthropology, of Japanese aesthetic history [that] will go as well."

Filming: Part I

Wow, this update is long overdue! I meant to create new posts several times, but I've been really busy with shooting and whatnot. I suppose it's better late than never. Anyhow, I'll be making 3 new entries tonight, one for each day of shooting.

On Friday, June 26th, I went out to shoot because I had finally managed to get people to go with me. Tony was M.I.A., so first I went with Shinya to the Shinjuku Historical Museum. When we got there we met up with Shiguchi-san, whom Professor Herrera had called about 2 weeks ago. However, he informed us that he was "not an expert" on Eastern Shinjuku, and he directed us towards the Shinjuku Ward Office. They in turn also said they were not that knowledgeable about Golden Gai and suggested we talk to Okuyama-san, the head of the Golden Gai Neighborhood Association. He wasn't there when we called, so I put Shinya in charge of contacting him for an interview/archival photos (he has as of yet not gotten in contact with him, and since the due date for the project is just around the corner, it's highly doubtful that we could interview him at this point anyway). We also got special permission to film/take pictures of the museum's exhibition, but it turned out to be rather paltry. When we called before, they said they had archival materials relating to Golden Gai, but I didn't really see any. I filmed some stuff anyway, but all in all it was a rather fruitless visit.

Later, at around 8, I met back up with Shinya and with two friends who were interested in going to Golden Gai because they had read about it in a guidebook. We headed over to the flamenco bar first, but when the prospect of getting an interview came up, we received a frosty reception. We then headed over to the Albatross per Professor Herrera's suggestion, but the man we had hoped to interview wasn't in the bar at the time. We waited for him for a while, but I felt sort of bad for making my friends wait when it wasn't even their project, so we headed to another bar instead. We found a new bar called Aces, the front door of which displayed a sign that said "We love English and you!" We asked the bartender, Yamashita-san, for an interview, and he agreed! There were also several regulars who were very friendly -- quite a relief. I conducted an interview with Yamashita-san in English, and then with Shinya's help I interviewed one of the regulars named Tanaka-san. I got some b-roll footage and photographs as well before heading back at 11:30 to catch the last train. Finally having accomplished substantial shooting really helped alieve the stress I had been feeling, and so lugging the equipment and my backpack up the very steep walk to my house at 1:15 didn't seem so bad.