Watching "I Am A Comedian" (Dir. Fumiari Hyuga, 2022) with Students in the U.S.
日本語版：「アメリカの学生と『アイアム・ア・コメディアン』（日向史有監督、2022年）を観る」、マガジン９、2024年6月12日掲載
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One of the courses I teach in the art college in Chicago is "Globalizing Japanese Pop Culture." As "interest in anime, manga, J-Pop, and fashion" (92.1%) is the dominant motivation for learning Japanese in North America*1, most of the students taking the course are anime and manga fans. Some students who come without reading the course description are disappointed to find that the course is not about analyzing or critiquing anime, but rather about contemporary Japanese sociology through the lens of pop culture phenomena. However, it's precisely those students who vaguely admire cool and fan "Japan" that I want to step out and critically examine the reality of Japanese society. And through that, I hope they engage more deeply with Japanese society on a human level.
At the end of 2017, when I was designing this course, an "incident" occurred on Japanese television. A comedy duo, Woman Rush Hour, appeared on a most prestigious prime-time comedy show, The Manzai, and joked about one issue after another that even news programs hesitated to address head-on, such as nuclear power plants, disaster relief, and the US military base in Okinawa. Not an innocuous wordplay on news keywords. It was bold political and societal satire. Like a brisk wind blowing through a closed room, it injected overwhelmingly fresh oxygen, making us realize for the first time how stagnant the atmosphere had been. Just as I thought the punchline — the real problem was the general public's apathy — hit home, as the camera zoomed in, Daisuke Muramoto pointed straight at it and declared, "It's about you guys!" The discomfort of the truth finally confronted the self that had been laughing in exhilaration. It was phenomenal.
Since the second Abe administration, freedom of speech in Japan had visibly been eroding. Press Freedom Index Rankings continued to slip down, reaching a historic low of 72nd place in 2017 *2. While the Moritomo∙Kake scandals came to light, without exposing Prime Minister Abe's involvement, the word "sontaku" (the word refers to subordinates' anticipatory compliance with superiors' expectations) won the buzzword award of the year weeks before The Manzai aired. Amidst this backdrop, Woman Rush Hour's, or rather, Daisuke Muramoto's determination and resolve were evident. Fuji TV also amazed me with its decision to broadcast it. There are comedians who do political satire, but it was unprecedented for a young comedian with such high skill and idol-like popularity to deliver it right in the mainstream and turn it into a masterpiece of laughter. Woman Rush Hour, especially Daisuke Muramoto, received intense criticism and acclaim, and subsequently, his television appearances dwindled. I added to the syllabus of Globalizing Japanese Pop Culture a session on "comedy and satire, politicality and apoliticality, democracy and freedom of speech."
In the US, political satire is the mainstream of comedy, therefore, students are stunned by the vast difference in circumstances when they read about Muramoto. After all, it is a society where comedians are invited to the White House to perform stand-up in front of the president. President himself, significant Republicans and Democrats, or contentious policies — nothing is free from being joked by comedians there. (On a side note, Trump is the only president who has refused to participate in the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.) Some students even express a sense of satire becoming too commonplace, feeling it's becoming stale. Indeed, not all satire is good, and there are distinctions between genuinely funny stand-up and not. While comedy based on personal experiences or insights feels easier to laugh at, it is not always the case to be funny even if jokes are based on comedians', for example, own racial identity. Muramoto hails from a town with a nuclear power plant, but he also uses the experiences of others, such as Okinawans, Ainu, Zainichi Koreans, and people with disabilities, not necessarily his own, turning them into successful comedies. What sets him apart?
Watching the documentary "I Am a Comedian" (directed by Fumiari Hyuga), which followed Daisuke Muramoto's three years since The Manzai, it becomes clear that Daisuke Muramoto is a natural ethnographer. Ethnography is a research method often used in anthropology and sociology to gain knowledge about people's behaviors and ideas by participating in the community and listening to their stories. While theoretical and methodological knowledge for ethnography has been developed, it is, in fact, that the researcher's aptitude plays a significant role in its success. Cameras follow Muramoto as he travels across the country. Behind the few minutes of edited scenes, we can glimpse the rich experiences he's shared with the locals.
"We often use the word 'information,' such as receiving 'information' from the news or asking for 'information' about the disaster in Kumamoto. We obtain 'information' from TV, newspapers, and online news. What I realized on the ground was that the reality behind the word 'information' was 'pain.' It was someone's pain." *3
People whose voices have been continuously ignored seek to be heard by Muramoto. What enables the space filled with trust and openness is his exceptional empathy and genuine curiosity—perhaps stemming from his own experiences and pains. Yet, Muramoto doesn't drown in sympathy nor does he leap into shallow political correctness. He maintains a detached perspective, calmly observing with his own sensibility. Because he has an unwavering purpose to express everything as comedy.
"I believe comedy is the best, the greatest job in the world," Muramoto retorted during an argument with his father about the means to change politics and society. It might have been a tit-for-tat in a heated argument. However, it's his undeniable conviction. When encountering expressions crafted out of Muramoto's such sincerity, we as an audience will experience something more than a reaction of laughter.
In April of this year, "Globalizing Japanese Pop Culture" was fortunate enough to watch the documentary and have a discussion with Daisuke Muramoto himself. The session was filled with laughter thanks to Muramoto's humor, but the discussion was not just enjoyable for the students; rather, it was "a truly thought-provoking conversation." We have many international students, and some of them come from societies where freedom of speech is more restricted than in Japan. One international student said that those who criticized the authority "will be missing." Another international student remarked, "We can't speak freely, but if we stay silent, nothing changes, so we really should speak up." Listening to such classmates, American students are shocked by the inability to freely discuss politics ("genuinely sucks!"), realizing how "privileged" their situation of satire being commonplace is.
Based on that, however, Muramoto further questioned students on how comedy and art can continue to be free in a situation where everyone surveils and punishes each other due to the proliferation of social media. For instance, what do they think of Dave Chappelle, who is criticized for attacking and promoting discrimination against trans women? Should minorities not be the subject of jokes? How do they feel about Chris Rock's frequent usage of N-word in his jokes? These questions seemed to prompt the young artists, who often fall into binary thinking of right/wrong or acceptable/unacceptable, to contemplate things they "hadn't exactly thought of before." The factors that play into the understanding of jokes — such as the involvement of the joker and the joke's subject, the relationship between comedian and audience, and the context of the joke — apply not only to comedy but to all forms of expression. One student realized and said, "We tackled the same issues in art-making."
Another student's opinion that both art and comedy are "something that should create discussions" resonates with the stand-up comedy pursued by Daisuke Muramoto, depicted in the film. What is truly free expression? In the narrow gap between "harmless humor" and "cancel culture," there might be a way to embrace someone's pain and transform it into energy to live.
"I Am a Comedian" will be released nationwide in Japan starting on July 6, 2024.
*1 Japan Foundation. Survey Report on Japanese-Language Education Abroad 2021. 2023
*2 Reporters Without Borders. World Ranking. https://rsf.org/en/index
*3 Muramoto, Diasuke. Ore Wa Mukanshin Na Anata O Kizutsuketai [I want to hurt you for your indiference]. Diamond-sha, 2020. p.48.
