japanamerica

Issue #34 of Paper Sky is out today, featuring a striking range of photos and photographers from New York City, plus my latest column on travel, virtual vs. physical. More here .

SOFT POWER HARD TRUTHS / Tokyo govt's Barely-Offensive Content Act, Version 2.0 Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri The Tokyo metropolitan government's bungled proposal earlier in the year to broaden its powers of censorship over manga and anime it deemed "harmful to minors" has been occasionally addressed in this column. The fuss started back in March, when a formal protest by manga artist luminaries was followed by similar objections from IT giants Google, Rakuten and others. By June, the legislation was flatly rejected, but not without a vow from Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara to revamp and try to push it through again this autumn. The controversial Ishihara has his supporters and detractors. But like him or not, in this instance, there is no denying he is a man of his word. Now we have Version 2 of the "nonexistent youth bill," so-called because of its opaque language promising to monitor depictions of fictional characters go...

'SHELLY,' Jonathan Sherr and I discuss Katsuhiro Otomo's manga and anime epic, Akira , on NHK's "Japan Unlocked" broadcast today (Thursday) and tomorrow. The show will be streamed online six times here , once every four hours starting at 6:30 p.m. EST/ 3:30 p.m. PST / 11:30 p.m. GMT on Thursday, November 25--beginning at 8:30 a.m. Friday, November 26, JST. I can't vouch for the contents because I can't recall what I said and haven't seen the edited version. But like most recordings, it will be aired and readily available online anyway. Apologies in advance.

The sight of Pikachu, Pokemon's electrifying yellow mouse mascot, soaring above Manhattan five years ago in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was one of the catalysts for writing Japanamerica . Aside from Independence Day on July 4, Thanksgiving is among the most American of holidays celebrated in the United States--allegedly originating in a feast shared by Native Americans and Pilgrims to mark a rich harvest--and the Macy's Parade is somewhat akin to processions of floats in Japanese matsuri (festivals), albeit a decidedly secular version, branded by a major department store for over eight decades. Seeing Pikachu's balloon likeness alongside American stalwarts from my childhood like Snoopy, Mickey, Bullwinkle and others seemed a striking statement of just how deeply Japanese animation and its iconic character designs had penetrated so-called 'mainstream' American sensibilities. A few months ago in New York, I read in the New Yo rk Times's Art Bea...

Japan scholar, author, and critic of American Imperialism, Chalmers Johnson, died on Saturday, November 20, 2010. To those of us who read and write about Japan--and America--his work remains essential. Here's a solid account of his life and writing by John Nichols of The Nation , posted here at AlterNet.org. : Chalmers Johnson, Visionary Scholar on Empire and Decline of America Passes Away By John Nichols, The Nation Posted on November 22, 2010, Printed on November 23, 2010 http://www.alternet.org/story/148952/ With one word, "blowback," Chalmers Johnson explained the folly of empire in the modern age. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September11, 2001, true American patriots—as opposed to the jingoists and profiteers whose madness and greed would steer a republic to ruin—needed a new language for a new age. They got it from Johnson. His 2000 book, Blowback,: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (Macmillan) , he took an old espionage term—which refer...

Opinion Obama in Japan: what a difference a bad year makes Since the US president met with his Japanese counterpart last year, Obama has been belittled by voters, and Japan has been humiliated by its neighbors. Today, Japan and America need each other badly, and maybe more than ever. By Roland Kelts / November 12, 2010 Tokyo President Obama arrived in Tokyo today, exactly one year to the day of his first official trip to Japan as commander-in-chief. He is here to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Yokohama, but his itinerary includes a brief “personal” excursion to the Great Buddha, ...

Bo-Peep en route to the USA First X Japan , then Vamps , and now Bo-Peep , a female hard rock trio, crash into the East Coast this autumn for a J-Rock invasion: Providence, New York, Philly, Milford, CT and Boston, with two dates in NYC, one each in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Pal Ethan Green is managing the tour; dates and info below. Starts Friday. Tokyo calling? "VIBE" USA TOUR SUSHI BURNING! GEISHA BURNING! HANABI BURNING! Friday, November 12 AS220, Providence, Rhode Island Girls Rock Showcase 9PM $10 http://as220.org/calendar. html Sunday, November 14 The Trash Bar, Brooklyn, New York 11PM $6 http://www.thetrashbar.com Monday, November 15th Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 8PM http://www.philamoca.com/ Tuesday, November 16th O'briens Pub, Allston, Massachusetts 8:30PM $7 http://www.obrienspubbosto n.com/ Wednesday, November 17th Daniel Street Club, Milford, Connecticut 8PM $8 http://manicproductions.or g/ Thursday, November 18th A...

A Haunting Woman By ROLAND KELTS I was recently interviewed by an American television reporter about a popular simulated-dating videogame in Japan called Love Plus +. The game offers players a selection of cute virtual girlfriends for dates and relationships. Once the player has chosen his partner, the game's software constantly challenges him to find ever more effective ways of romancing her and keeping her happy. At one point, the American reporter wondered why the virtual females in the game looked so young, docile and submissive. Was it OK in Japan, she asked me, a Japanese-American living in Tokyo, for men to pursue underage women? It's not, of course. Like the famous Hello Kitty character, the game's girlfriends are designed to exemplify the Japanese cultural aesthetic of kawaii —adorably, irresistibly cute and dependent figures in need of attentive care and affection. It is precisely the "mincing, simpering personification of female subservience to the male...

SOFT POWER HARD TRUTHS / Galapagos vs global: Japan's American mangaka Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri Japan's "Galapagos syndrome," a phrase first coined to characterize the nation's highly evolved but globally incompatible cell phones, is lately being applied to other isolated industries, even to its people. "The Galapagosization of Japan continues," trumpeted one U.S. newspaper last month, when a survey of Japan's white-collar workers revealed that a full two-thirds of them never want to work abroad. Such attitudes won't surprise anyone involved with Japan's producers of popular culture, whose minimal and often blinkered efforts to capitalize on the global appeal of their products have resulted in the downsizings, pinched margins and scant optimism plaguing Tokyo. Most of them are overworked, understaffed and underfunded; they don't have time to look up from their desks, let alone pay attention to the rest of the world. Gal...

First up, my dear friend Chisa Hidaka's three-minute media meditation on improvisatory dancing with spinner dolphins in the Pacific, Together: Dancing with Spinner Dolphins , will be screened at noon on Saturday, November 6, as part of the Big Apple Film Festival @ Tribeca Cinemas. Next, another dear friend, Linda Hoaglund, premieres her new documentary, ANPO: Art x War , a wrenching look at the 50 year-old US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty, consigning tens of thousands of US troops to Japan in perpetuity, as seen through the eyes of the Japanese artists, writers and musicians who fought and continue to resist its stranglehold on the archipelago. Linda will be on hand for the 2 p.m. screening this Saturday, November 6, at the Big Apple Film Festival @ Tribeca Cinemas.