Journal 15 - Truth

In Akutagawa's stories, the truth is hidden until the end or is not even exposed at all. It can be impossible to find the absolute truth in some cases such as In a Grove. When the stories of all the people are contradictory, there is no absolute truth. However, there is still some truth in the stories of In a Grove. They are that the man died and that the woman did "it" with Tajomaru, although we do not know if it is with consent. The author might have told the story in this way so that the readers question what the real truth is. Is the real truth your perception or what comes into your senses? In the real world, it is possible to know the "real" truth. Although it can be very hard, it is possible. Let's just say you play the whisper game. What started out in the beginning and what ended is usually not the same. Different versions of what the people heard are present. The truth was twisted from one person to another until it comes out as one new and ridiculous thing. The "real" truth here could be noticed when you go back to the first person who told it. This happened to me with my game once. There were several news on the internet that the game I like is ending in the near future. When I visited this article, it showed evidence on to another article. On and on, I got to the final evidence, which was the official post from the creators themselves. The article here talked about the endgame, which is like the final stage you could achieve in the game. They were talking about how 13 levels is too little for a game with a big hit. This truth here was twisted so smoothly that it shocked so many fans across the world. I might have believed in two truths before. This is because of the hindsight bias that this happens. It seems like I already know that fact before so I agree to it. Moments later, I agree to another fact which is contradicting to the previous fact. There might be alternative facts depending on who what when where or why the fact was written. The less bias there is, the closer it is to the truth. Two contradictory things can be both true at the same time when one takes one part of the truth and the other takes the other part. If someone expanded on that, he or she could eventually end up with two contradicting facts. Therefore, the truth for me is not my perception but the actual thing that went on, without any bias or twist on the facts.

Journal 14 - In A Grove, Text v Film

In a Grove, the film and the book, both were similar and different to each other. When I started to watch the film, I was disappointed because I was expecting colors and all fancy props from reading the book. Well, honestly, I should have expected that because it was a fairly old film. I also didn't expect it to be as dramatic or as crazy as it is. The book was awesome, keeping its mysterious and sad tone throughout the story. The movie, not so much. A lot of the things were the same story-wise. It was following the patterns of In a Grove as well as the main points such as the main characters. What was strange was that some of the minor characters such as the woman's mother were cut out of the movie. They are also different in telling the "truth" of the story. The book was mysterious and sort of a cliffhanger while the movie was not. It combined Rashōmon and I did not expect it. The woman in the movie looked more creepy than sexy and this is kind of a problem for all of us as we reacted more to the woman's eyebrows than the story itself. The film director also put in a woman, a medium in which the dead samurai spoke from and it was more dramatic than needed. Akira Kurosawa decided to take out the minor characters out from the film and put in the truth because it was an old movie meaning that they might not have enough actors or that the people who watch it might be confused if it ended with the samurai. This might not be the ideal purpose of the films during this time period. Honestly, I liked the book better because you can imagine it freely and also because I don't like too much drama or the woman's eyebrows.

Journal 13 - The Meiji Era Summary

The Meiji Era was a change in intellect for the better. Many new ideas such as realism, first-person novel styles, the reformation of past ideas, and the discussion of politics came out. Writers who wrote about realism became a lot more popular. During the late 1800s, a new form of writing called the "I" novel developed and it focuses on the first-person style. There was a chain of movements from Romanticism to Naturalism to Humanism and neo-realism. Past ideas were rewritten and renewed by the new writers. New writers also started to write about harsh lives of people as well as the literature that opposed war.

Journal 12 - Rashomon and other stories

The story I read during my winter break is Yam Gruel. It's about an old samurai, named Goi, who is very spiritless. People would tease him, say bad things about him and also do practical jokes on him.  Goi would barely respond and the response would also be as sad and spiritless as he is. However, there is one thing he wanted in life, to satisfy himself with yam gruel. He only gets a tiny amount every year at a banquet. This year, he asked for more yam gruel and was joked on. However, Goi got a offer from Toshihito, the son of the finance minister to satisfy himself with yam gruel. He traveled with Toshihito to Tsuruga, where he was treated with yam gruel. After his wish was satisfied, he returned to the spiritless old man he is. The setting is in Japan and in old times. The main characters are just those pointed out above. There is also a fox, which could be one of the main characters as it delivers the message of Toshihito to Tsuruga. The author was trying to say things like, "Don't crave for something or you might get too much of it" and "it is hard to satisfy man." It was a good and informative story but the way it is written is confusing.