japanamerica

1932-2009 Vita Brevis It came to me the other day: Were I to die, no one would say, “Oh, what a shame! So young, so full Of promise — depths unplumbable!” Instead, a shrug and tearless eyes Will greet my overdue demise; The wide response will be, I know, “I thought he died a while ago.” For life’s a shabby subterfuge, And death is real, and dark, and huge. The shock of it will register Nowhere but where it will occur. — JOHN UPDIKE

I am to the right of Goku's flaming head, laughing helplessly.

Feb 11th , Boston, MA, Anime Masterpieces East Coast Launch--Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Feb 13-15th , Washington, DC, Katsucon 15 Mar 1st , Pasadena, CA, The Pacific Asia Museum Mar 3-5th , Geneva, New York, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Mar 10th , New York, NY, The Consulate General of Japan in New York Mar 12th , New York, The Japan Society

(above: me [left] and Afro creator Takashi 'Bob' Okazaki at GDH in Tokyo) From my latest column for the Daily Yomiuri --my first in 09--about the launch of anime AFRO SAMURAI 's second season ("Resurrection") and first game release next week: SOFT POWER HARD TRUTHS / Soft power meets 'Afro Samurai' Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri Harvard University Prof. Joseph Nye, who coined the term "soft power," a concept upon which this column is partly based, is being talked about as the possible next U.S. ambassador to Japan. As of this writing, it is unclear whether Nye will be the envoy in Tokyo after President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, but his soft-power concept raises provocative questions about the Japan-U.S. relationship. Can cultural attraction (soft power) really survive the strength of pure hard power? Don't the strong always beat the weak, as we are seeing in the Gaza Strip right now? And if culture is so powe...

For Japanese speakers--and those who want to listen bilingually: Click here for Part 1 And here for Part 2

Tinseltown remakes By ROLAND KELTS Hollywood has a new respect for anime sources, and is planning on turning many into potential blockbusters. IN March last year, I had dinner in Los Angeles with two producers from US animation studios making American versions of anime originals. One, a Chinese-American, was from Imagi, the company working on this year’s computer-graphic Astro Boy. The other, a Filipino-American, was with Gonzo Digimation Holdings, the company that produces Afro Samurai, an original manga turned international anime series featuring Samuel L. Jackson’s voice. Both producers were jovial, if anxious about the ongoing decline in US anime DVD sales. But they were also quite keen to share their experiences of working with their counterparts in Japan. “We showed a preview to some focus groups in Tokyo,” said the Imagi producer of Astro Boy , “and the results were disastrous. Our Astro Boy was too snarky, too mature. They wanted to reclaim the original cha...

From my final 2008 column for the Daily Yomiuri : SOFT POWER HARD TRUTHS / Will fan site save anime in 2009? Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri As the new year fast approaches, the news across the anime industry looks persistently bleak: downward-spiraling overseas DVD sales coupled with decreasing profits at home, a shrinking domestic labor force combined with an ever-expanding menu of file-share freebies--and, of course, an anemic global economy for all. But there is a silver lining on the horizon, and you can test its brightness and durability beginning exactly one week from today. Next Friday, Jan. 2, California-based Crunchyroll.com , one of the largest and most popular of the so-called "fan sites," or Internet portals for free anime uploaded exclusively by and for fans, is going legit: legal and fully licensed for producer profit. If you follow this column, this is not the first you've heard of Crunchyroll's foray into unchartered bandwidth....

Bettye Lavette's tribute to Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and the music of The Who at the Kennedy Center Honors in DC last month. Trans-cultural exchange comes full circle.