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.