'Lady
Maiko,' or how to say 'the rain in Spain' in Japanese
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[July 08, 2015]
By Atsuko Kitayama
TORONTO (Reuters) -
Masayuki Suo, best known for his original Japanese
version of the Hollywood hit "Shall We Dance?," has
directed a new movie musical that might best be
described as "My Fair Lady" in a kimono.
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Suo's "Lady Maiko" tells the story of a simple country girl,
Haruko, who travels to Japan's ancient capital Kyoto with the
ambition of becoming a polished "maiko," or apprentice geisha,
one of the most familiar yet mysterious figures in Japanese
culture.
"I wanted to portray how young Japanese girls feel and live with
the traditions of Japan," Suo said at the film's North American
premiere during the recent Toronto Japanese Film Festival.
"Lady Maiko" will be shown again next month at the Japanese
Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto.
Haruko is unusual for a modern Japanese teenager. She dreams of
learning the age-old but declining traditions of the maiko. But
she soon finds out that her rustic speech stands in the way of
her dream. To be an apprentice geisha, or "geiko," as they are
called in Kyoto, she must speak the city's special dialect.
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It is the same challenge faced by Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney
flower girl in "My Fair Lady."
Haruko gets a lucky break when she catches the ear of a
linguistics professor Kyono, who bets he can teach her to speak
like a proper Kyoto lady in six months.
Suo said he hoped to capture the charm of the ancient capital
along with its famous geiko and maiko traditions.
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"I always find the people of Kyoto to be the prototype of the
Japanese," he said. "I see Japanese culture in its polished form in
Kyoto."
Suo came up with the idea for the movie 20 years ago but put it on
hold while pursuing other projects, including "Shall We Dance?," his
1996 film about ballroom dancing that inspired a 2004 Hollywood
version starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.
Suo eventually embarked on the movie when he discovered lead actress
Mone Kamishiraishi, with her girl-next-door look and unforgettable
voice.
Suo, speaking in Japanese, said it was inevitable but acceptable
that foreign audiences would miss the nuances of language integral
to "Lady Maiko."
"It's a reality that certain things aren't communicated," he said.
"It's also important for viewers to understand there are things that
they don't understand."
(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Paul Simao)
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