you speak!
If the gentlemen don't know...
Be quiet!
You're a fool!
Sure.
Would you give this job
to someone smart?
You're answering back?
You can't assign me to a lower job.
Careful!
You don't know
what could happen to you.
Tell me.
Beware.
And when a man comes in,
leave the toilets!
I obeyed the new order.
But, spearheaded by Mr Tenshi,
the boycott went on.
The men's room
had become the locale
for an ideological debate.
Those who used it said:
"I submit totally to authority,
let strangers be humiliated!
"Besides,
they don't belong at Yumimoto."
Those who shunned it said:
"I respect my superiors,
but I criticize
"some of their decisions.
"I also think Yumimoto
would benefit from
"a few foreigners
in responsible positions,
"where they'd be useful."
Miss Amelie!
Fubuki hadn't bluffed!
I'd pay for my sins.
No paper!
I had adored the film
"Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence".
Seing it at 16, David Bowie's death
seemed a fine proof of love.
Did you see
"Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence"?
Yes.
Did you like it?
The music was good.
A pity the story makes no sense.
You have to see it as a metaphor.
A metaphor for what?
Relationship with other people.
Like yours and mine for instance.
We're like the camp commandant,
Ryuichi Sakamoto
and his prisoner, David Bowie.
The difference between East and West.
Behind their conflict,
is a genuine desire to get along.
That's not true.
Why?
You don't look like David Bowie.
Though I didn't look like David Bowie,
our situations were similar.
By sentencing me to such a foul job,
Fubuki's feelings toward me
weren't wholly normal.
As she had only focused
her cruelty on me,
I decided it was a privilege.
It meant she had chosen me.
For 7 months, I worked
in the Yumimoto toilets.
I saved myself
by jumping out the window.
Parts of my body must still
be scattered all over the city.
December finally arrived.
To announce that I wouldn't
renew my contract,
I decided to respect the tradition:
Not to complain and start
at the bottom of the ladder.
At the last moment,
a demon whispered to me:
"Say you got a better offer
as toilet-cleaner!"
"No, say you'll only stay if they put
"a plate in the toilets for tips!"
You had something to say to me?
We're reaching the end of my contract
and I wanted to tell you
with very great regret
that I cannot renew it.
Oh? Why?
We were both playacting!
So I went all the way!
The Yumimoto Corporation
gave me many wonderful opportunities
to prove myself.
I'll be eternally grateful for that.
Sadly, I was not worthy of the honor.
True. According to you,
why weren't you up to it?
I was right:
Her feelings for me were perverse!
I must attack!
I wasn't mentally equipped for it.
My grotesque submissiveness
turned her on.
I think so, too.
Why, according to you,
weren't you up to it?
Western brains
can't match Japanese brains.
Partly true.
But don't exaggerate the inferiority
of the average Western brain.
Wasn't your incapacity
a deficiency of your brain?
No doubt.
At first, I thought you wanted
to sabotage Yumimoto.
Swear you didn't pretend to be stupid!
I swear it.
Are you aware of your handicap?
Yes.
The Yumimoto Corporation
helped me see it.
So the company
was a big help to you?
Her mouth was drying up:
I was glad to give her
such intense pleasure.
To my dying day
I'll never forget what I owe Yumimoto.
Dear "Snowstorm",
your clouds are so heavy with rage,
and I waited so long
to see pleasure in your eyes!
What are your plans now?
I couldn't say I wanted to write.
I could teach French, maybe.
You, a teacher?
You think you could teach?
She was asking for more!
I also couldn't tell her
I had a teacher's diploma.
You're right.
I'm still not truly aware of my limits.
Indeed.
Frankly, what job could you do?
Nothing doing:
She wanted total ecstasy...
In ancient imperial Japan,
the Emperor had to be addressed
with "fear and trembling".
That's what I