japanamerica

Mark Twain pals around with Haruki in California HARUKI MURAKAMI: NOMADIC SPIRIT “From the beginning, Haruki Murakami wanted to get away. He left Kyoto for Kobe, Kobe for Tokyo, Tokyo for Europe and America. I met him eleven years ago and was instantly drawn to the man behind the art. Like Haruki, I am a writer who wanted to escape. For me, the destinations were reversed: I left America for Europe, then Japan. These days we arrange visits around our itineraries. I landed in Tokyo three days before this interview; the following day, Haruki boarded a plane. Roland Kelts: What’s the value of writing so far from home? Why have you written so many books overseas? Haruki Murakami: It’s easier for you to write about your own country when you’re far away. From a distance, you can look at your own country as it really is. I wrote “Norwegian Wood” when I was on several Greek islands, and in Rome and Palermo, Italy. “Dance, Dance, Dance” was mostly written in Rome, and partly in London...

"Today the barriers to translation may not be as great, as social-networking tools have made it easier for bands to communicate directly with their fanbase. (While he professes no interest in Facebook or MySpace, Yoshiki finally opened a Twitter account during the run-up to X Japan's U.S. concert debut at Lollapalooza in early August—and garnered more than 12,000 followers in less than 12 hours.) Another reason for optimism lies in a larger cultural shift, wherein Japanese artists have proved ever-more adept at appropriating bits and pieces of American culture and returning them in new and exciting forms. ' We're in an age of mashups, fan sites, bit torrents and YouTube," says Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. "A culture that mastered the art of imitating and copying original ideas is right in tune with the 21st century.'" [more @ Details magazine]

@ Animation Magazine

@ TCJ here

"The past is never dead. In fact, it's not even past." -William Faulkner

My peeps @ the beach Larry Kelts (jazz-drummer) and me @ Ipswich. Kaori Saeki (mum) and me back @ Boston. Trevor and Twig taking it easy.

TinierMe CEO Masaru Ohnogi @ Tokyo headquarters "This summer, TinierMe announced that it has surpassed the one-million user milestone, and today boasts over 1,175,000 distinct users. But this week, an even more significant number hits the streets and screens: over half a million of TinierMe’s current users worldwide are based in the United State s , suggesting that the American audience for Japanese-made and -styled characters and environments continues to expand, even in a decidedly lackluster consumer market." [ more @ TCJ ]

SOFT POWER HARD TRUTHS / World of anime director Satoshi Kon still alive Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri I was soaking my bones in a riverside rotenburo when news of anime director Satoshi Kon's death flashed across my cell phone via text message from Tokyo. Must be a macabre joke, I thought at first glance, though the friend who sent it isn't given to jabs of dark humor. Maybe a promotional gambit for Kon's next work? His films are characterized in part by multiple realities and unexpected shifts among them, so that just when you think something is really happening, perhaps it isn't. After all, typing or even thinking about the phrase, "the late Satoshi Kon," just didn't feel right. But I returned to Tokyo and the banal and humbling truth: Kon, one of the most gifted, innovative and searchingly intelligent artists working in the anime medium and the film world at large, died on the morning of Aug. 24 from pancreatic cance...

On The Alyona Show -- and straight off the plane from Tokyo (hence all the blinking against sleep, pills and jet lag).