Subject: The Japanese Connection
From: kevin@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Kevin Schraith)
Date: 1990-11-02, 10:47
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

Here it is - the latest in the highly likely theories about who the 
Asian Guy (TAG) really is.  This doesn't say anything about the Catherine 
connection, but it may shed light on the whole Twin Peaks plot.

    The other day in my film class I saw the 1950 Akira Kurosawa classic
"Rashomon".  The story revolves around the rape of a woman and the murder of
her husband by a bandit.  Instead of showing the actual crime, the movie
reenacts the crime from the descriptions given by the bandit, the woman, the
dead husband (through a medium), and the person who found the body.  

    Now for the interesting parallels.  The crime was committed in the
woods, and the body of the man was found by a woodcutter (=Pete).  The
bandit's name is Tajomaru (=Tojamura, the Asian Guy).  The movie is based
upon how very different the descriptions of the crime were, based upon the
same incident.  The descriptions even vary in the point of who actually
killed the man.  The supernatural slant of twin peaks is evident in the
possession of the medium by the dead husband.  It also turns out that the
woodcutter knew more than he told police about the murders, and that he had
seen the whole thing (Pete has something more to say?).  Finally, a while
back people were saying they did not find any occurences of Fumio as a
Japanese name (someone may have already rebutted this part).  The film's
music is done by Fumio Hayasaka. 

    I'm not going to even pretend that I think TP is a direct rip off of
this movie.  However, it seems possible that it may have been the source for
some of the plot ideas and (likely if Lynch is unfamiliar with Japanese
culture) character names.  Or it all could be coincidence :-)  In any case
criticisms/suggestions would be appreciated (read : open for Flames)

                         Kevin Schraith, University of Illinois

P.S. - this ain't rec.sports.football, but we are going to crush Iowa
tomorrow!