When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960; Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki) by Mikio Naruse (1905-1969) is a movie set in the milieu of bars, hostesses, and the men who patronize them. Keiko (Takamine Hideko) is a beautiful hostess who runs a bar in Tokyo's Ginza district as "Mama-san," although she does not own it. She is demure and conservative in her demeanor, rarely showing her feelings, and always impeccably dressed in a kimono. She is in her thirties (she is a widow) and it is time for her to settle down, either by acquiring her own establishment or by leaving the water trade through a second marriage. Her current bar is on the second floor, and every night she has to climb the stairs (nowadays even the smallest buildings have elevators!). She hates the sight of those steep stairs and the drudgery that awaits her at the top, but once inside her bar, she puts on an impenetrable smile - a professional accessory - and can take whatever comes her way. She also maintains her style. In her own words: "Around midnight, Tokyo's 16,000 bar girls go home. The best ones go home by taxi. The second-rate ones take the tram. The worst go home with their customers.
Keiko's search for happiness is not easy. The work is hard: showing a friendly, smiling face every night and courteously flattering the customers with no regard for her own personality, even when they talk nonsense (which is most of the time). Her poor family, a no-good brother and an aging mother, depend on her financial support, but they give little in return.
Other disasters happen. Her most popular hostess leaves to start her own bar, taking many customers with her. Keiko also tries to raise money for her own bar by selling "subscriptions" to her most popular customers, but the amounts they are willing to invest are woefully insufficient. Of course, she could look for a single financier, but then he would "own" her and expect other, repulsive services from her. She wants to maintain her independence.
When the subscription plan doesn't work out, she tries to find a man to marry. There is a wealthy, soft-spoken man who showers her with gifts and proposes marriage. But just in time, Keiko finds out that he is an impostor, known for proposing to other women. She secretly loves a handsome (and married) banker, but after they spend the night together - she breaks her own rules here - he tells her he will be transferred out of Tokyo the next day, showing that she has been used by him. She takes revenge by going to Tokyo Station to say goodbye to him while he is on the train with his wife and child.
This event also means the end of her relationship with her bar manager Komatsu (Nakadai Tatsuya). Komatsu always stayed in the background and took care of the bar with a strong guiding hand, but secretly he was in love with her. But he despises her now that she has fallen in love with a customer (or is just jealous).
So, with every man in her life abandoning or disappointing her, in the evening, resigned but persistent, she climbs the stairs to her bar again to spend another night serving selfish and exploitative customers. The human spirit is strong. Although Keiko is not a prostitute and is a very different character from a very different culture, I was reminded of Fellini's Cabiria, which ends on the same note.
The b/w film is imbued with a gentle sadness and is shot in noirish tones. Dialogue is minimal, non-verbal communication plays a large role. The cinematography is unobtrusive. Naruse is the least known of the great classical directors, even in Japan, but it is encouraging to see that his fame has been growing worldwide in recent years.
Some cultural points:
Other disasters happen. Her most popular hostess leaves to start her own bar, taking many customers with her. Keiko also tries to raise money for her own bar by selling "subscriptions" to her most popular customers, but the amounts they are willing to invest are woefully insufficient. Of course, she could look for a single financier, but then he would "own" her and expect other, repulsive services from her. She wants to maintain her independence.
When the subscription plan doesn't work out, she tries to find a man to marry. There is a wealthy, soft-spoken man who showers her with gifts and proposes marriage. But just in time, Keiko finds out that he is an impostor, known for proposing to other women. She secretly loves a handsome (and married) banker, but after they spend the night together - she breaks her own rules here - he tells her he will be transferred out of Tokyo the next day, showing that she has been used by him. She takes revenge by going to Tokyo Station to say goodbye to him while he is on the train with his wife and child.
This event also means the end of her relationship with her bar manager Komatsu (Nakadai Tatsuya). Komatsu always stayed in the background and took care of the bar with a strong guiding hand, but secretly he was in love with her. But he despises her now that she has fallen in love with a customer (or is just jealous).
So, with every man in her life abandoning or disappointing her, in the evening, resigned but persistent, she climbs the stairs to her bar again to spend another night serving selfish and exploitative customers. The human spirit is strong. Although Keiko is not a prostitute and is a very different character from a very different culture, I was reminded of Fellini's Cabiria, which ends on the same note.
The b/w film is imbued with a gentle sadness and is shot in noirish tones. Dialogue is minimal, non-verbal communication plays a large role. The cinematography is unobtrusive. Naruse is the least known of the great classical directors, even in Japan, but it is encouraging to see that his fame has been growing worldwide in recent years.
Some cultural points:
- The nighttime entertainment business of snack bars, bars, and cabarets where hostesses provide entertainment is called "water trade" (mizu shobai) in Japan.
- "Mama" is not a name or term for a specific person, as the IMDB and some reviews incorrectly imply. It is not a "special term of honor" for Keiko in this movie! Rather, "Mama" or, more politely, "Mama-san" is the general term for all (tens of thousands) of women who are the managers of an establishment in the "water trade". Although the term may have originated from the sentimental whimpering of male visitors who wanted to pour their hearts out to a surrogate mother, it is now just a title, like "Shacho" for "company president. Not only the customers, but also the women and other staff working in the bar, caterers, etc. will call the owner by this title.
- The modern bar hostess is an entertainer like the geisha of old: she sits with her guests and serves the drinks and snacks, but more importantly, her job is to create a pleasant atmosphere and keep the conversation going. This means she has to do a lot of flattering of her customers' egos. She may also dance or sing karaoke with the customers. Although there are sexual innuendos in the conversations, especially from the male customers, providing such services is not part of her job. The Ginza area in the film is the district in Tokyo were countless hostess bars of various types can be found (in the side streets and streets running parallel to the main street) - it is regarded today as the most classy such area. The Ginza is also one of the few areas in Tokyo where you still find some hostesses in kimono (like Keiko in the film, but that was in 1960).
- There are usually many bars in one building, even several on the same floor. You can tell their presence by the many colorful neon advertisements on the outside of the building.
- People who work in the water business go to work early in the evening and greet each other with "Ohayo gozaimasu", "Good morning."
- After dinner, which is always early in Japan, customers come to the bars, starting at five or six and finishing around eight or nine. Bars are open until the wee hours of the morning, but the first group of early drinkers may leave as early as nine o'clock. The hostesses often accompany their customers to the street to say goodbye.
- Most customers are businessmen, either company owners (the wealthiest type) or corporate executives with expense accounts.
- Some bars are for members only, others refuse foreigners for fear of language problems, and there are also shady "rip-off" bars, so visitors to Japan are advised not to go on their own, but only if invited by a Japanese business associate.