Tsushinbunka: Lyon

From a column that I put together for the postal service.

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The first time that a movie was screened in Japan was in Kyoto. It was at the Former Rissei Elementary School, a public school on the edge of Kamogawa. Last year’s Kyoto International Film and Art Festival was also held at this now defunct school. Immortalizing film’s culture in an elementary school lost to the ages. Beautiful.

Movies came into the world in 1895, two years before the Kyoto screening. Their birthplace was Lyon, a city in south-east France. Lyon is located at the junction of the rivers Rhône and Saône. This reminds me of how two rivers merge and run through Kyoto.

The brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière are the fathers of cinema. These two great brothers remind me of some of Japan’s own famous brothers, such as the marathon runner brothers So, the baseball player brothers Kaneda, the Hatoyama brothers, and Minamoto no Yoritomo and his brother Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

I decided to take a trip to the holy land. The invention of cinema entertained millions during the 20^th century, making its inventors true heroes. Movies have been around for 120 years now, and in recent years, we are  troubled by the loss of historic works due to film’s natural deterioration. How do we preserve this great culture for the next generation, and how do we extol the heroes that gave it to us?

It turns out that both the house and workshop of the brothers Lumière have been preserved to this day. Unfortunately, the humble abode located on the outskirts of town does not see many visitors.

On that note, I noticed an even more glorified hero when I stepped out into Lyon’s airport. The airport is named after Saint Exupéry, famed author of The Little Prince. That is the name seen right at the entrance. Apparently, the airport was renamed after him in 2000 for his 100^th anniversary. Yet, the airport was not renamed Lumière Airport to commemorate the brothers’ 100^th anniversary back in 1995.

In Place Bellecour, a public square in the middle of Lyon, stands a bronze statue of Saint Exupéry next to one of Louis XIV. Yet, there is no statue of the brothers Lumière.

That reminds me. The French franc was the currency of France before the euro was adopted, and the 50 franc bill featured a cute drawing of The Little Prince together with a photo of Saint Exupéry.  The euro was officially adopted by France in 1999. This means that they changed the name of the Lyon airport immediately after they stopped using francs.

While our money here in Japan has been labeled with famous authors such as Natsume Soseki and Higuchi Ichiyo, no one has had an airport named after them yet. However, looking at examples such as Kochi Ryoma Airport and Yonago Kitaro Airport, we might not be far off from adopting this practice.

Saint Exupéry is considered a hero in France not only for having written captivating stories. He was also an airmail pilot. His job was an honorable one, involving delivering precious messages to their recipients. He continued to fly even during the dangerous era of World War 2, and was never heard from again after taking flight one day.

Letters may seem less important to us than movies do. However, each and every one of those letters was written with someone special in mind, and the words contained within were considered priceless by their writers. Saint Exupéry carried these letters, flying out over the Mediterranean Sea with bullets whizzing past him. That is why he is a hero. Even without the Franc, he lives on through the airport.

I am impressed. Cheers to Lyon.