Studio 360 in Japan


Among many current projects, I've been working on a program for National Public Radio--specifically, WNYC's Studio 360, a show that explores cultures via their artists. The crew was here in Japan last month, and the photos above capture them recording me and host Kurt Andersen recording a segment in Akihabara--right at the corner of the intersection in which Tomohiro Kato went on a knifing spree this past June.

The middle photo is of my interview with Ryu Murakami, novelist of Japan's uglier sides (Almost Transparent Blue, Coin Locker Babies, and In the Miso Soup), cultural commentator on youth pathologies, and film director provocateur (Tokyo Decadence).

This is hard work. I have gained an appreciation for the radio hosts, producers and narrators who make what we hear in our cars and living rooms. It's like writing a story, but with sounds taking the place of language and ideas.

Oh, it's radio. Duh.

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