More info, history, and trivia.
First off, I'm really enjoying everyone's' comments and info on this thread, and it's one of the reasons I like doing the panel so much.
I would easily enjoy having D-Spider on board with us next year if she is willing.
Next, persecution of Catholics and other Christians in Japan goes back much further than WWII; here's a Fumi-e (fumu = 'step-on, ' 'e'=picture.)
We saw one in real-life in a Catholic reliquary we visited south of Tokyo. They also had a Buddhist statue (I don't remember which B. deity) which was hollow and had a smaller, carved diorama of the Crucifixion inside. The shape of the cross, standing on an apex of rocky land, tucked up inside and underneath the hollow, bell-shaped form of the Eastern deity which was clothed in a flowing robe. The user could expose the Christian scene during a prayer period and then cover it and 'look Buddhist' if mundanes were visiting, or nasty purge-patrols were amok.
Here's a fumi-e:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FumieWhen we learned the Japanese word fumi-e, we coined the word FUMI-INU (dog) to mean the kind of 0.85kg, fits-in-a-bike-pannier dogs that some people keep. In other words any dog so teeny you might step on it accidentally and not notice. No real offence intended here, it's more of the cartoon silliness effect. Like the huge bare foot at then end of the 'Monty Python' TV show OP. ("Ptthhhhht!")
Not sure but I thought Christendom first came to Japan with St. Francois Xavier in 15-hundred-something. The priest at the reliquary we visited was Kenyan, and he also said that the 'fumi-e' practice works by forcing someone to deny his faith publicly, thereby either exposing himself as a closet-Christian or risking his own damnation based on passages like Matt 10:33 "
But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven." (Douay-Rheims, other versions here:
http://net.bible.org/verse.php?book=Mat&chapter=10&verse=33)
The priest also says that that sort of Hobson's Choice situation wouldn't work on most African Christian cultures - their interpretation of forgiveness and a personal, unseverable connection with God would allow them to step on the picture and make a private, mental confession in the next moment. ("Yeah I know, God but see, right now I'm *alive still* to continue your work in the community, and to lead my family, etc... So make those bullies GO AWAY and we can all get back to it...")
Re: using Catholic garb and other trappings to illustrate Christianity, or 'one of those weird Western religions,' (and this is one of the topics we pointed out in the panel two or three years ago) within Christendom, Catholics have some of the most visible sets of "I'm religious" costumes, mostly because once a religious order is founded, if they specify a uniform then that becomes a fashion 'snapshot' in time. Spin 400 or 1400 or so years on the calendar and what used to almost blend in in say, Southern France, now sticks out like meido-cosplay at the mall today. The Catholic religions, being older and having more complex rituals, also happen to have more speciality equipment, and this means that Hollywood (or other entertainers) get to USE MORE COOL-LOOKING PROPS (quick, what's a 'pyx?')
Movie vampires almost always have to be spiritually opposed by Roman Catholic priests rather than by say an equally fervent Southern-style tent-revivalist, dunk-'em-in-the-river-and-redeem-'em sort of Holy Man, simply because (a) a Roman collar is easily recognised by the audience, which saves time you'd otherwise have to spend introducing the character, and (b) there are more hand-held thingies and stuff to do to the Bad Guy. Patens, candle-holders, altar cards, the Monstrance, all make fine things to throw or fight (spiritually) with, even if just by jangling them on a chain to make Boris Karloff, Richard Kiel, or Vincent Price cringe while you yell "Back! Back!" Or whatever.
One other reason Catholic schools are used could be that in Japan, private school students get to 'dress nice.' Here in the US we like to dress down; freedom feels like showing up to the office in slobby sweatpants. "Casual," writes
Dilbert creator Scott Adams, "is what I washed my car in." In Japan, dressing neatly in highly structured costuming is often a privilege. Catholic garb, or at least Catholic-looking garb makes the characters stand out as special in some way, just like EXPENSIVE Japanese private schools issue uniforms, which kids wear even on weekends to show off. This is a bit like snooty East Coast kids who gloat that "I got admitted to Exeter Ac-
cahh-demy**" and wear
IZOD-Lacoste for the rest of their LIFE.
(** Use that precocious, 'to-MAH-to' voice here.)
There are some cultures where homosexuality is dismissed by
simply proclaiming it doesn't exist:http://www.americablog.com/2007/09/iran-president-we-dont-have-homosexuals.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/24/us.iran/index.htmland so rather than being a hot-bed for GL or BL, same-sex children's' schools may also have been founded based on a notion that since NOTHING COULD EVER HAPPEN, (cough, cough) then all those nice kids from nice homes will JUST STUDY ALL THE TIME AND BE SMART.
Lastly here, a question or two about Mari-Mite:
1. That abbreviation of
Maria-sama ga miteru ALWAYS make me think of
MARMITE. Which I've had in Oz, and I think it tastes Totally FOUL.
2. Is there any implication in Mari-Mite that, like Odin as the All-Seeing, or Christianity's omniscience, the title phrase "[honorific]-Mary is watching" has anything to do with Christ's Mother Mary, Blessed Virgin as all-watching or omni-present?