japanamerica

VOICES FROM JAPAN HANNAH GERSEN April 29th, 2011 | 4:26pm Aside from Haruki Murakami, much of Japanese writing remains unknown in the U.S., simply because it is not translated into English. Now, thanks to collaboration between the Brooklyn-based literary magazine, A Public Space , and the Tokyo-based literary magazines, Monkey Business , a special English-language edition of Monkey Business is available in the US. This special edition, called “New Voices from Japan”, will showcase the best of the magazine’s first three years of publication and will include stories, poetry, and non-fiction, including an interview with Murakami. As Stuart Dybek writes in a letter introducing the issue: “The books and anthologies that line my shelves attest to the fact that we live in a golden age of translation. Even so, it’s rare to have a literary magazine like Monkey Business appear in English. It arrives with the sense of discovery and immediacy that one reads literary magazines for.” Brooklyn’s ...

We're gearing up for the arrival of the fiction writers, poets, editors and translators from Japan. All of the upcoming launch events for the Monkey are now posted on one page here . Press on the events can be found here , here and here . The Monkey just got its own Facebook page here --and you can order the issue at any hour of the day, wherever you happen to be, right here . Hope to see you soon in NYC.

Interview with ‘Japanamerica’ author Roland Kelts on ‘Monkey Business' Taking its name from the immortal Chuck Berry tune , the debut English-language edition of Monkey Business: New Voices from Japan is based on the annual Tokyo-based Japanese literary magazine founded in 2008 by award-winning translator, scholar, editor and author Motoyuki Shibata, one of Japan’s best known and most highly regarded translators of American fiction. The first installment offers poetry, Kafka-adapted manga, a wide-ranging, in-depth interview with Haruki Murakami, and much more. And despite its mischievous title, twenty-five percent of all Monkey Business sales will go toward the Nippon Foundation/CANPAN Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund . Roland Kelts is the author of 2006’s Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. and a curator and editor for Monkey Business . A columnist for The Daily Yomiuri , commentator for National Public Radio, and teacher of Japanese...

The Monkey tanning in Manhattan ahead of weekend events.

Roland Kelts Roland Kelts is a half-Japanese American writer, editor and lecturer who divides his time between New York and Tokyo. He is the author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US and the forthcoming novel, Access. He has presented on contemporary Japanese culture worldwide and has taught courses in Japanese popular culture at numerous universities in Japan and the US, including New York University and the University of Tokyo. His fiction and nonfiction appear in such publications as Zoetrope: All Story, Psychology Today, Playboy, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Japan, Adbusters magazine, The Millions, The Japan Times, Animation Magazine, Bookforum, and The Village Voice. He is the Editor in Chief of the Anime Masterpieces screening and discussion program, the commentator for National Public Radio's series, Pacific Rim Diary , and the author of a weekly column for The Daily Yomiuri newspaper. His blog is: http://japanamerica.blogspot.com/

Hokusai's "Great Wave off Kanagawa," 1833 I was in Oregon when the quake and wave first struck Japan last month. More specifically, I was in a little comfort food eatery called Belly in downtown Eugene, sipping a martini. Roughly 24 h ours earlier I had arrived from Tokyo via Portland. I had given two talks, answered questions, and chatted with students and faculty from the university that day, mostly about my usual topics: Japan’s contemporary popular culture, its images, and its apocalyptic visual narratives. I was speaking on the 66 th anniversary of the US fire-bo mbings of Tokyo, March 10, 1945. My Japanese mother's father hustled her and the rest of their family north out of Tokyo to his family's ancestral home in Esashi, Iwate prefecture, the following day. If he hadn't, I might not be here. Discussing destruction seemed apt. Japanese popular culture has long depicted disasters, I’d said, from Katsuhika Hokusai’s world-renowned “Great Wa...

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Our debut launch event for MONKEY BUSINESS: New Voices from Japan , 4/30 in NYC. Please join us: Word from Asia: Contemporary Writing from Japan When: Saturday, April 30 Where: Asia Society, 725 Park Ave., New York City What time: 2:30–4 p.m. With Joshua Beckman , Rebecca Brown , Hiromi Kawakami , Minoru Ozawa , and Motoyuki Shibata Free and open to the public. No reservations required. Co-sponsored by Asia Society, The Japan Foundation, Dalkey Archive, and Granta Come celebrate the work of some of the most innovative novelists, poets and translators from Japan, Korea and Pakistan. Hear about the challenges (and the pleasures) of writing and translating across national, cultural, and linguistic borders. One of Japan’s most influential cultural critics and translators, Motoyuki Shibata, leads a discussion with four innovative and hybrid literary masters. They’ll talk about their most formative Japanese-American influences, ranging from science fiction to manga (comics and print car...

PRESS RELEASE is HERE :

Going sakura-pink @ The Smithsonian in DC: [photo by Brian Mah] Special and humble thanks to the Smithsonian, Tom Vick, Otakorp, Maile Kihara and co., DC Anime Club, Christopher Wanamaker, Hamada-san, Seki-san, Nihei-san, the JP Embassy, Colette and Chuck, Renee, John Malott and the Japan-America Society of Washington, DC, and Brian. I had a nourishing and moving visit this year, and I remain grateful.

Book Signing with Roland Kelts Date Saturday, April 2, 2011, 3:30 – 4:30 pm Categories Shopping/Book Signing Co-sponsor Cosponsored by Otakorp, Inc., and copresented with the DC Anime Club. Venue Sackler Gallery Event Location Sackler Shop Cost Free; walk-in. Details Anime marathon special guest Roland Kelts will sign copies of his book Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the US . Copies will be available for sale throughout the day. Part of the series Ninth Annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Anime Marathon