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Ep. 4: "Picking up a Secret Wax Figure"


Episode Synopsis. "Please take this out of here without being seen by anyone..." the woman orders Tada sternly. "And dispose of it." The customer, a rich old widow had earlier called Tada to pick up a bulk object from her deceased husband's warehouse. The object, as she scornfully puts it, "so utterly disgusting," had been kept secretly by her husband for many years. It was a life-sized, highly realistic wax figure of a stark naked woman. "Yeah but..." Tada murmurs, as he eyes it with awe, "...it's so amazingly lifelike..." Later in the day, Gyoten asks him what he will do with the scandalous figure. "Don't tell me you're not gonna get rid of it?" Tada replies, thoughtfully, "It might fetch a high price..."
(info and pic: tvtokyo)



Drama Notes:


Tsuzuki Kyōichi. The wax figure in this episode was borrowed from the collection of journalist, art curator, editor, and hobby photographer Tsuzuki Kyoichi. Tsuzuki has written many books featuring his photos depicting Tokyo's contemporary pop culture scenes (urbanites' rooms, kitschy sex motels, seedy sex shops) as well as interesting aspects and oddities of rural Japan. He had also collected objects of sexual nature (including displays from a closed down sex museum), and featured them in a traveling exhibit (and book) called "Las Jardines de las delicias" (above sample pic).
(info: thememagazine, factum-arte) (more photos: tumblr)


The story. Here is writer/director One Hitoshi's thoughts on how he came up with Episode 4, taken from this article and translated by Danburi:
"Within Mahoro's original stories, this episode 4 was the first one I wrote. While I was thinking what kind of story I want to write, the wax figure exhibit I saw a few years ago came to my mind. In that exhibit, there were some wax figures from photographer Tsuzuki Kyoichi-san’s collections which he collected as his hobby. One of the stories he told me was…
Long ago, there was a wealthy man who kept requesting a wax figure artist to make female figures or just sexual organs, maybe about 30 of them which he kept in his warehouse to enjoy. It was an interesting story that you don't get to hear in a drama. So I asked him to tell me more in detail. Although this wealthy man was doing it for his own pleasure, he told the artist it was 'to console the spirits of his fallen comrades who died virgins in the war.'
The same old man also came with a picture and requested a figure to be made just like the woman in it. That was the figure used in this drama... After many years in the warehouse, these figures were discovered by the family after his death. His wife was really grossed out and sent the figure back to the artist. The artist wasn't sure what to do with it either so… Tsuzuki-san took her in. While I was listening to this story, I thought this will make a great story.
"



"...Also, the wax art studio in the drama was the actual wax art studio we've rented for filming. The wax artist who owns this studio is actually a younger brother of the wax artist who created that female figure in the drama."
(info: trendy) (translation: danburi) (pics: tvtokyo)


Date: 2013-03-02 06:49 pm (UTC)

Tsuzuki

From: (Anonymous)
Hi, it's rootabega. Great episode notes again! Tsuzuki Kyouichi's name rang a bell and, sure enough, I have a book by him called "Tokyo: a certain style". This book provides an interesting look inside the apartments of several aquaintances of his (mostly creative types)and shatters stereotypes of the Japanese being minimalist neat freaks. I wonder where Mr. Tsuzuki stashes his "collection"...

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