japanamerica

Here's my latest JAPANAMERICA podcast interview with NYC-based comedian and writer, David White, who is blessed with a very soothing voice: No Future NYC Episode 6C  (or click on pic). David got me talking about the economics of anime—how much has changed (budgets), and how much hasn't changed enough (wages). We also talked about the Pokemon scam of the late 90s/early aughts, the strategy behind the success of Kimetsu no Yaiba /Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, released mid-pandemic and now Japan's highest grossing film ever, and why The Who's Pete Townshend blurbed JAPANAMERICA . A little bit of MONKEY and my new art book in here, too. This was a lot of fun. (Or, kinda fun, at least.)

 

 JAPANAMERICA & TEZUKA, 2022

[I broke my shoulder a couple of months ago and that slowed output considerably. Am on the mend now.] Japan once led global tech innovation. How did it fall so behind? When I first moved to Japan in the late 1990s, Japan’s technological achievements were envied. In 2001, at a book launch in New York, I recorded a video of fellow revelers on my Japanese cell phone. The model had just been released: a squared-off clamshell of sparkly maroon plastic, with an impressive color screen and emoji-like graphics. I emailed the video instantly to publishing friends in Tokyo, which was then home to the world’s second-fastest internet speeds. They responded just a few minutes later, flashing victory signs. My friends in New York cooed as if we’d just watched a new moon landing. But almost exactly twenty years later, vast regions of Japan’s digital universe are stuck in the early aughts. Online banking, airline booking, major newspapers, you name it: Services that have been streamlined by the digita

Letters from Tokyo, February 2022: Throw Those Beans! T.S. Eliot famously called April the cruelest month, but for me and many I know, the cruelest month is the shortest, February, especially if you live in chillier parts of the northern hemisphere. In Tokyo, New Year’s greetings and shinnenkai drinking parties start to go stale while the dark, cold, snow-dusty winter keeps hanging around like a guest who won't leave. Fortunately, February in Tokyo has some strategically placed distractions to help us forget that it’s February. On the third, we had our Setsubun rituals, heralding the arrival of spring and giving winter the memo to move on. We tossed roasted soybeans out our front door to cast away demons and welcome good fortune, shouting Oni wa soto ! and Fuku wa uchi ! Then we tossed some beans around the house, where they crackled softly underfoot until they were vacuumed.  You're supposed to eat one soybean for each year of your life, but that's become several beans to

I'm thrilled to announce the imminent launch of "MONKEY: New Writing from Japan Vol. 2: TRAVEL" on Friday, March 4th, 7-8:30pm EST. The latest issue of the world's only annual English-language Japanese literary magazine features new writing by Mieko Kawakami, Haruki Murakami, Aoko Matsuda, Hiromi Ito, Kyohei Sakaguchi, Hiromi Kawakami, a new translation of Yasunari Kawabata, a Noh play, manga by Satoshi Kitamura and a delectable selection of poetry and short essays by Japan's top artists and writers. Award-winning author Aoko Matsuda, translator/author Polly Barton, author Adam Ehrlich Sachs, MONKEY co-founder Motoyuki Shibata and managing editor Meg Taylor will present new work from the magazine and discuss the art of translation. Please join us by registering for free HERE !  *Graciously hosted by Pittsburgh's White Whale Bookstore, where you can purchase your copy of MONKEY Volumes 1 & 2 and works by the participating authors with one click .