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Analysis of Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968)

Introduction

The period of the 1960s and 1970s is a period when almost the whole world witnessed

upheavals and social unrest. Remarkably is the protest against Vietnam but also the cultural

changes that are considered a defining moment for the arts in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

There was greater hope for change, but it was not long before it was shattered when the ruling

order was reaffirmed. This period saw people's minds change as culture continued to improve,

but from time to time, periods of change and upheaval are always characterized by birth to

dissenting voices and cultures. This is evident in the Japanese film industry in the late 1960s, a

period in which the French New Wave inspired production much. During this period of change

and upheaval in Japan, director Nagisa Oshima comes out as a defining voice. Oshima comes out

as the most influential filmmaker as well as a pivotal figure in Japanese New Wave, which is a

movement that was interested in revealing contradictions in society specific to Japan and the

desperate search for alternatives in Japan. The influence of Oshima is evidenced in most of the

films produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One remarkable film that captures the

underground art and political activism are Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968), a film that was shot

in the summer of 1968. This film by Oshima has utilized the cinematography not only to frame a

narrative but also to express basic ideas through different interrelated themes in a compelling
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way (Yoshimoto 249). Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) by Nagisa Oshima interlaces a tale of

the sexual revolution, ideological book thievery, and personal liberation, which is a typical

example of Japanese New Wave that started during the drastic societal change in Japan after

World War II came to an end. Oshima explores themes such as radical youth culture, violence,

and sexual adventure in a compelling and impactful associative narrative as characterized by the

Japanese New Wave cinema.

Background of Diary of Shinjuku Thief (1968)

A young man called Birdey Hilltop is caught shoplifting a book at a book store by a

saleswoman, Umeko Suzuki. However, things change as the two seem to be attracted to each

other, which is evident when they end up having sex. Unfortunately, it becomes impossible to

satisfy Umeko as she does not feel pain and no pleasure at all, which leads to the quest for her

enjoyment. Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) presents a boy and a girl who are in pursuit of

rightful opportunities for sexual ecstasy. They embark on a real adventure together throughout

the Shinjuku district. The theme of youth revolt and sexual liberation comes out more vividly

across the film through its main characters.

The argument about Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) and Japanese New Wave

Most of Oshima’s films in the sixties were majorly related to Korea; however, one

recurrent concern in his later work is sexuality and the ambivalent relation to power politics. The

film Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) is one of the movies that Oshima has used to link crime,

political change, and sexual liberation (Burch & Annette 340). The film brings out Oshima as the

provocateur of the Japanese New Wave, and he achieved this through Marxist politics through

psychosexual themes in the Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968). The film offers historical
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documentation of leftists, intellectuals, and artists who made Shinjuku history. Oshima has film

stars like Juro Kara, Jokyo Gekijo, and Tadanori Yokoo, who play the thief, whereas the

bookshop is the Moichi Tanabe, who is a celebrated essayist. The combination of great artists

and the relationship it has with the Shinjuku is a crucial aspect of the film. New wave directors

are known to have addressed the issue of individual freedom, and Oshima decided to take a

different perspective of democracy, the psychosexual dimension. Japanese new wave in the

1950s and 1970s was characterized by Japanese filmmakers who shared rejection of traditions as

well as convention s of classic Japanese film. This followed national social change and unrest,

and to Oshima, the best way was to deal with the taboo subject matter, which touches on youth

culture, sexual violence, and the aftermath of WWII. The Diary of a Shinjuku Thief has its main

themes and the primary signifiers of cinematographic association that touch on two interlinked

areas: sexual aggression and sexual satisfaction. The interrelation of the two that Oshima

addresses diverse but closely related aspects which include desire and love, lesbianism,

impossibility, and the possibility of sexual freedom and such as sexual relationships.

Oshima, through Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968), addresses political freedom and

political repression. However, this has been done by way of equating political repression with

sexual repression. On the other hand, political freedom is equated with sexual freedom. The two

characters, a male thief and an aggressive girl, unusually meet in a bookshop. Male thief appears

more as a feminine who is caught by a female girl who also appears more masculine when they

become attracted to each other and agrees to have sex. The couple can be seen to be

transgressing and stretch boundaries of freedom when they decide to be involved in stealing.

They are also engaged in a sexual transgression when they choose to push beyond the traditional

gender expectations when they fail to feel a thing during their sexual escapades. It seems that
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their pursuit of sexual freedom has limitations, but Birdy and Umeko are determined to find that

freedom by pushing the traditional limits. It is at this point that Oshima’s attempt to demonstrate

a new wave is evident as the film brings out the dimension of the tension that exists between

modernism and tradition. The pressure is evident in the first book that Birdie is caught stealing,

which is titled The Thief Journal, a story written by Jean Genet. The title can be said to have

been the inspiration behind the title of this film Diary of Shinjuku Thief. Oshima goes ahead after

evoking tension to underline the ‘sexual’ attraction to the knowledge that exists in the book as it

ironically the place where the potential for societal change resides. The tension created is

neutralized sooner as the thief who needs to be punished becomes an object of attraction who

later falls in love with the person who caught him, Umeko. It may be seen as the way of

glorifying thievery, but again it appears as one of the means through which more enormous

societal change can be achieved and as such becomes a lesser evil.

The difference between Oshima and many other film directors of the Japanese new wave

is on how it juxtaposes transgression with other revolutionary acts. In this Diary of Shinjuku

Thief, Oshima has managed to bring out radical theater production that adds the real footage of

student riot in Shinjuku and also gives reference to other political transgressions in the world.

This is where the concept of actuality and reality when Oshima films the outbreak of riot that

was taking place in front of Shinjuku Station. The film questions the relationship between art

and reality. For instance, Shinjuku is remembered to have been the center for the art theater

scene in the late 1960s, and most of the settings remain the same to the present date. Oshima

sends the protagonists into play that is in a film and then features those actual people as

themselves in improvised scenes. For instance, the film is presented in a black and white and

Oshima is also said to have “Filmed at night with a black-and-white stock … a young man,
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stepping out of an agitated crowd, suddenly throws a stone into a police box adjacent to the

station, shattering its window."The riot is said to have created an environment for a massive rite

that took place on October 21 1968 called legendary Shinjuku Riot. Diary of a Shinjuku Thief

was also shot during the summer of 1968 and therefore, it captures the real events that took place

in Shinjuku, which was the epicenter of political activism and underground art. For this reason,

when the film opened in 1969, the audience "hailed for its journalistic quality of actuality”

(Furuhata 54). The film managed to capture the real events as they were at the scene in a way

that people can easily relate. The period and the context also related to what was going on

around the world as in the same April 1968; there was massive riot following the assassination of

Martin Luther King. There was also civil unrest and multiple cases of occupations and strikes in

the same year, and it can be remembered that this period that Massamba-Debat was equally

overthrown in a military coup. This makes Diary of a Shinjuku Thief an experimental and self-

conscious to viewers and helps create a secure emotional connection with the film.

The film brings out the mysterious dimension of women’s enjoyment. Birdie and Umeko

are involved in sex, but Umeko does not feel pain; neither does she feel any pleasure. Oshima

seems to be using the contemporary view of the student upheaval to demonstrate the problem

that females have when it comes to satisfaction or enjoyment. Diary of A Shinjuku Thief brings

out the element of Japanese new wave by pointing out the restriction effect of the paternal

society with regards to the female subjectivity as well as sexuality. The film demonstrates a

creative and exegetic mix of different elements of cinematography. More notably is the

integration of musical intermezzo by Juro Kara that refers to aggression and enjoyment. Oshima

has equally made effective use of the sense of geometry in its composition and the choice to
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make use of the intertitles that seem to evoke prewar Japanese cinema. For instance, the

experimental structure of Diary of a Shinjuku Thief starts "with a memorable montage of

intertitles indicating the time in different cities” (Furuhata 74). There is also the aspect of

intertitles where Kara Juro is seen running across the streets of Shinjuku and follows voices

shouting “Thief.” All these demonstrate the creativity of Oshima, which is only characterized by

the new wave of the film industry in Japan.

Another element that is evident in the Diary of a Shinjuku Thief is the effective use of

image and the inherent expressive dimension. Historical development in the film demonstrates

associative nature whereby the scenes are made to flow into each other as regards to the

associative line. This is what is referred to as a symbolic axis (Turim 143). Oshima has creatively

used random shifts from black and white to color, where red is used as an interior color and is

crucial in the associative stream as well as the symbolic contrast that results from such shifts.

Such genuinely innovative ideas in filmmaking can only be related to the Japanese New Wave as

it ensured that boundaries are pushed beyond what was traditionally accepted in the theater. It

enabled Oshima to bring unadulterated societal truths that would not be easily taken in theater,

such as youth violence and sexual freedom.

Conclusion

It can be seen that Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) was produced at a time when the

term of Japanese New Wave originated. It was during this period that the world and, more

particularly, Japan witnessed a drastic societal change after the end of World War II. During this

time, film directors ventured into taboo subjects. They experimented with story-telling were

various themes, such as violence, sexual exploration, and radicalized youth culture became part

of the themes in Japanese films. Oshima has demonstrated the creativity and innovative
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composition of the societal ills in a subtler but more easily related audience. The director of

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) has effectively utilized the cinematography not to frame a

narrative but also to express potent ways in which ideas can be passed through interrelated

themes. Some of the ills presented in the film that put it under the category of movies in a new

wave are sexual exploration, youth violence, political repression, and the female subject. Nagisa

Oshima has managed to create impressive as well as impactful associative narrative. The film

has a multilayered juxtaposition with a snapshot of sixties Shinjuku and a blurring reality of what

took place. Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) has gone beyond the traditional borders to bring its

audience ideological book thievery, the sexual revolution, situations performance, and personal

liberation in the theater. The creativity, cinematography, and the aspect of reality in the film

makes Oshima the most influential filmmaker in Japan’s new wave cinema.
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Works Cited

Burch, Noël, and Annette Michelson. To the Distant Observer: Form and Meaning in the

Japanese Cinema. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Print.

Furuhata, Yuriko. Cinema of actuality: Japanese avant-garde filmmaking in the season of image

politics. Duke University Press, 2013.

Ôshima, Nagisa. Diary Of A Shinjuku Thief. 1968.

Turim, Maureen Cheryn. The films of Oshima Nagisa: Images of a Japanese iconoclast. Univ of

California Press, 1998.

Yoshimoto, Mitsuhiro. "The difficulty of being radical: The discipline of film studies and the

postcolonial world order." boundary 2 18.3 (1991): 242-257.