[Movie] Enrai ~Tomobe no Kotoba~

On the night of Monday, July 13th, I watched "Enrai ~Tomobe no Kotoba~" (directed by Shinichi Ise) at Yokohama Cinemarine. There were only two people in the audience: me and one other person.

Masato Tomobe moved his base of life to New York for 20 years starting in 1996. This film is a documentary that follows his daily life.

The streets of New York, the subway, Central Park. People of various races mingling, dogs, cats, and little birds. It was interesting that the chirping of the birds was completely different from what I hear in Japan, and very noisy. Do birds, like people, have different languages in America and Japan?
Tomobe-san walks through New York with a guitar in one hand, plucking strings by his apartment window, singing in Central Park, and reading poetry in the city. Even though he is supposed to live there, his figure is like a traveler wandering through a city for the first time.
On the other hand, his stoic figure as he continues running every morning to participate in the New York City Marathon is also impressive. By his side, his wife, photographer Yumiko Ono, is always there.

"Enrai" (Distant Arrival), which also became the title of the film, is a song about thinking of friends in New York, India, France, and Taiwan while being in Tokyo. Tomobe-san has been singing this song, which he wrote after the death of John Lennon, for over 40 years.

After thinking of his friends in India, France, and Taiwan, "I" conclude the song like this.

When I was a teenager, I was invited to an event, and when I was bored because all the bands performing were dull, Masato Tomobe appeared. He played the guitar all by himself and sang "Watashi no Odoriko" (My Dancer). He was different from anyone else. It was overwhelming.
Today's "Enrai" grabbed my heart and shook it just like that day. Even when I wasn't listening to it, Tomobe-san's music had been quietly ringing deep inside me all along.
And I thought about my friends, both far and near. Can we really connect across the tremendous distance between us?

The Tomobe couple decided to move to New York when their only son became an adult. I, who am also raising an only son, was shocked by Yumiko-san's words that they were on the verge of divorce at the time, so they wanted to start their newlywed life there. Raising one human being to adulthood is no easy task. Surely, there were various things that others could not imagine. It was more than just relatable; it hit home.

Tomobe-san talks about burying Wataru Takada's ashes under a tree in Washington Square Park, which was wrapped in the darkness of the night. "Wataru Takada and I were one tree, but Wataru wanted to be the roots and I wanted to be the flower. Sometimes a flower doesn't understand the feelings of the roots." Those words also remained in my heart. The song "Ipponmichi" (One Road) that played right after was also wonderful.

I felt it was very fresh to see him eating the ozoni (soup with mochi) that Yumiko-san made on the morning he was to participate in the New York City Marathon, and to see him making rice balls for his friends' children at a party at his home. Ah, I was deeply made to realize the obvious fact that Tomobe-san is also putting down roots and living in this land like this. From these casual, everyday moments, words that rise up like twinkling stars, which no one else could think of, emerge.

While following Tomobe-san's daily life, the film continues to record songs and poems that start abruptly, without any context.
In "Hachiji Jugofun" (8:15), the smell of hamburger steaks cooking in the kitchen and the smell of people burning to death in the atomic bombing intersect.
Perhaps Tomobe-san chose to live in New York not because his beloved Bob Dylan was there, but to offer prayers in the biggest city of the country that tried to kill us all.

After the screening, I talked to Director Ise for a little while. He says he goes to the theater every day as much as possible. "Since Tomobe is singing in the movie every day, I can't not come." What a wonderful friendship.
I cannot help but wish for as many people as possible to come into contact with Masato Tomobe's world.
And above all, I want to listen to his songs now.