japanamerica

squishing the fish with sis, gillette stadium, foxboro, ma. 12/23/07

"I carry The Who brand with pride"

If you happen to be reading this in the US, a broader, cinematic take on blissful trans-cultural misreadings can be found in the new anime documentary on the Starz Network. Titled Anime: Drawing a Revolution (more HERE ). It will air again tonight at 8 p.m., and likely later this month and/or early next. The DVD screener I was sent is impressive. Though only an hour long--and thus insufficient for diehard otaku--the program provides a smart introduction and overview of the anime/manga phenomenon without avoiding mention of its challenges in the US. Hopefully it will inspire a future and more extensive doc featuring more interviews with folks on the other side of the Pacific.

Back in early August, I received an invitation from two editors at The Daily Yomiuri newspaper to contribute a bi-monthly column, the contents of which would be rooted in an international perspective on the Japanese pop culture phenomenon. Though I hadn't written a regular column since I was a college student, I opted to give it a shot. I've now produced seven such installments for the Yomiuri, plus one related feature interview with Shinji Aramaki (included below), the director of Appleseed and Appleseed: Ex Machina . The columns have been stimulating if not always welcome diversions from longer projects, forcing me to pursue musings, memories and occasionally old-school legwork to render 600-800 engaging words every two weeks. Responses have been rich--from folks collaring and querying me about this or that item, to bloggers drawing a thread or two and stitching together full-fledged debates. I've returned to New York to close out the year. On a stroll around town ear...

Chiyo Ebata Saeki, 1907-2007.

Last night I was blessed to appear in downtown Tokyo with Pokemon Executive Producer, Shogakukan editor and creative designer, Tokyo Anime Center founder and director, committee member for the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Tokyo Anime Fair (TAF)--Mr. Masakazu Kubo. Together we addressed members and guest of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators at the behest of director Holly Johnson. Kubo-san is now involved in the development of a feature film of Naoki Urasawa's MONSTER manga series. Responding to certain questions, he urged audience members to "read Roland's book," Japanamerica . He believes I got it right--which is a considerable relief to me, as he is one of the book's key voices. Meanwhile, it appears that Chinese and/or Chinese-Americans are helming several Hollywood versions of manga and anime titles. James Wong will direct the upcoming Dragonball Z live action film, starring Justin Chatwin and James Marsters...

If you're in Tokyo tomorrow night, please join us: ****************************** ****************************** **************** The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators presents Made in Japan: What Makes Manga Japanese—And Why Western Kids Love It with Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica and Masakazu Kubo, Executive Producer, Shogakukan Time: Saturday, November 17 , 2007 , 6:30-8:30 p.m. Place: Tokyo Women’s Plaza, Conference Room 2 5-53-67 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku , Tokyo ( by the Children’s Castle and United Nations University ) For a map see www.scbwi.jp/map.htm Fee: 1,000 yen SCBWI members; 1,500 yen nonmembers This event will be in English. This talk followed by Q&A will cover the nuts and bolts of the craft of manga and discuss the nature of its appeal beyond Japan. Roland Kelts is author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. ( www.japanamericabook.com ). He is a lect...

Got blogged down, I guess, but a few notes here from New York: I was privileged recently to spend some time conversing with veteran designer and Appleseed director Shinji Aramaki in Tokyo. Aramaki is among the most candid and clear-headed of the folks I've met in the anime industry in Japan; he's also an ambitious and committed artist, one who retains faith in the future of his art form, even as he offers suggestions for its survival. Portions of our conversation were published in The Daily Yomiuri on the eve of the Japan nationwide theatrical release of Appleseed: Ex Machina , the latest and most visually stunning film in the Appleseed series. The film will be released in the US in the form of a DVD disc set in 2008. On the same day (Oct. 20, US-time), Kinokuniya will open its largest overseas bookstore in midtown Manhattan. The three-floor outlet will overlook Bryan Park in the very center of the city. Look for expanded offerings of manga, anime, and all books related to th...

http://youtube.com/watch?v =yXk5Ulppktk

been a great week. sorries for slow blogness: here's me and leo at pink cow, and the new version of the old book.

We're gearing up for the Japanamerica mini-tour of Japan in anticipation of the May 24 release of the book's Japanese-language edition, published by Random House Kodansha . Dates are being settled, but the first will be this Sunday, May 6, at The Pink Cow in Shibuya, Tokyo. The evening is billed as "Japanamerica Night," and will feature an exhibition of anime and manga artwork, DVD clips, live music and much talk and discussion among me, Leo Lewis of the Times of London and other writers, artists and producers on hand in Tokyo. More info is on the invitation flyer posted above. If you are in this vast city of spectacle and sprawl, you are more than welcome to join us. Admission is free. Other currently confirmed dates include: June 17th , Osaka, Four Stories Japan at Portugalia June 21st , Tokyo, The Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan In the works are some bilingual events in Tokyo co-hosted by author, translator and University of Tokyo professor M...

Tekkon Kinkreet , the first Japanese feature film to be directed by an American, let alone the first anime to do so, has its US premiere tonight at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The film will be screened at MoMA for five days straight . I first heard about Tekkon during my initial research for Japanamerica , when my dear friend, New York filmmaker Stephen Earnhart, urged me to contact Tekkon director Michael Arias. The resulting interviews and studio tours with Michael and veteran producer and studio founder Eiko Tanaka gave me the blueprint for the rest of the book, and I remain deeply grateful to them and to Stephen for the gift. The film currently in production (and at a maddening pace) was Tekkon. Michael showed me some "dailies"--scenes that were more or less polished, but still disjointed--and I was sufficiently impressed. But as in any narrative medium, a few good scenes in anime do not a good story make. When I first sat down to watch Tekkon in a Tokyo...

Am back in Tokyo, where books have trumped blog. Got three on the boil. Still, the new book, Japanamerica, picked up some nice new reviews--both of which reference Mr. Peter Carey, one of which r's Peter Townshend: Australia UK More soon from springtime in Japan.

I Love LA

JapanamericaTV (Apple Quicktime only) JapanamericaRADIO (Click speaker for audio playback)

On Seattle NPR earlier today . Lovely interview with Seattle Post-Intelligencer over lunch. Japanamerica talk this eve at Japanamerica Society. Sleepless and stellar night in Seattle. LA shortly.

Fantastic audiences on the West Coast. Roland Kelts will catch up and recount more--Tokyo, NYC, Boston, DC, Berkeley, SF--very soon. But for now: Last night, Powell's Books in Portland, one of the best bookstores in the US, and as far as we know, and as far as we have seen, the world--and one of our best crowds so far. Packed house, excellent questions, kind compliments, genuine interest in the book and the future of the cultural interchange detailed therein. Not to mention an age range that ran from the teens to the 60s or beyond, plus RK's dear friend from Tokyo, Jun Kim, Haruki Murakami's brilliant and illustrious office manager. We're writing to you from a condominium in Seattle at the behest of another dear friend, RK's sometimes editor and always heroic publisher, Bruce Rutledge. On deck tomorrow: a radio interview with Seattle NPR, a newspaper interview, and a presentation for the Japan America Society of Washington State . For now: Here's Roland Kelts...

Two guns, 100 rounds of ammunication, a fake beard. Hence the helicopters hovering downtown last night, the city in a sense of seige. Four dead: NYTimes: Seige? A former Marine. America trains them well. Stanley Kubrick, anyone? I am still alive, though, so the obscenity of going on, going on, with the bottoms of my trousers rolled, goes on. The temperature has slid, the icy rains precede predictions of 6 to 10 inches of snow. Just 24 hours ago I was celebrating T-shirts and sweaty socks. Back on course: After preaching to the knowledgeable and converted at the brilliant and membership-only Nichibei Society in Manhattan and dining among the dogs at Fred's, Leo sadly had to fly back to Tokyo before the launch party at The Cutting Room . Over 300 celebrated, including my lovely bicultural parents, and VIPs of varying stripes. Worth thanking here are Lee Guzofski, who planned the evening, Ajay and Amit Tandon, who paid for it, Steve Walter, manager of the venue, who cut us a dea...

Greets, It seems auspicious that I am commencing this blog on a March night in New York when the temperature is so high (70s Fahrenheit; 20-ish Centigrade) that I have been walking around town this evening in a T-shirt. I've also been wearing trousers, underwear, socks and my Cole Haans, of course, so I won't get arrested and/or stoned by passersby. But it's absurdly warm here, and everyone downtown (excepting me, likely) looks absolutely beautiful. I'd intended to start this slog months ago. Like many things in my life, including me, it will be backdated. Sorry. Gomennasai. I am now smack in the middle of what turned out to be a 9-city book tour in support of Japanamerica . There are helicopters sweeping the city tonight, flashing broad spotlights onto the cavernous streets. I don't know if this is because another cleric has claimed responsibility for the carnage of 9.11, or because we are truly under siege. My windows are wide open. It's chaos out the...