japanamerica

Finally back in Tokyo after their whirlwind World Tour Dubbed 'Tokyo's Coolest Band' by its own manager Catch ALi-MO  Live! Date: May  26, Saturday Night! Venue:   What The Dickens! (EBISU) http://www.whatthedickens.jp/ 4th Floor, Loop6 Bldg 1-13-3 Ebisu-Nishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Tel: 03-5545-4242 Time:  9:00-ish p.m. till midnight Price:   FREE!!  

Roland Kelts @ "Japan Night" in New York City   [photo by George Hirose] Thanks to all of you for making "Japan Night @ Joe's Pub" a kicker. The feedback has been overwhelming--and, yes, we'll do it again next year.  If you're in Tokyo, join us for the Monkey Business 2 Japan Launch this Saturday, May 26, at 4 p.m., Tower Books Shibuya: 5月のTOWER BOOKS “WordsWorth”のお知らせ 本を読むだけでは飽き足らない！文学、アート、映画、音楽、ストリート・カルチャー他、タワーレコードならではの分野のスペシャリストをお招きしてお贈りするイベント「WordsWorth」！教養は大人の嗜み、生の言葉を一緒に感じてみませんか？ 昨年、全15号で休刊となってしまったカリスマ翻訳家の柴田元幸さん責任編集の文芸誌『モンキービジネス』（ヴィレッジ・ブックス）。 しかし、猿のお仕事はまだ終わっていなかった・・・。 昨年、ブルックリン発の人気文芸誌『A Public Space』の協力のもと刊行され話題となった、『Monkey Business』（英語版）。今回はその英語版第2号の発売を記念して、責任編集を務める柴田元幸さんと、モンキービジネスでも大活躍の翻訳家＆エッセイストの岸本佐知子さんをお迎えし、英語版第2号の刊行秘話や、モンキービジネスの裏話などを熱く語っていただきます！！ 因みに、第1号発売記念のイベントではインターナショナルな雰囲気満載、日本語/英語が飛び交うバイリンガルイベントとなりました！さて、今回はどんなお話しが飛び出すでしょうか！？ ************************************** TOWER BOOKS “WordsWorth” 猿、アメリカに行く　パート2 『Mon

A Secret Life Why you need to have one is not much more mysterious than why you don't say what you think at the birth of an ugly baby. Or, you've just made love and feel you'd rather have been in a dark booth where your partner was nodding, whispering yes, yes, you're brilliant. The secret life begins early, is kept alive by all that's unpopular in you, all that you know a Baptist, say, or some other accountant would object to. It becomes what you'd most protect if the government said you can protect one thing, all else is ours. When you write late at night it's like a small fire in a clearing, it's what radiates and what can hurt if you get too close to it. It's why your silence is a kind of truth. Even when you speak to your best friend, the one who'll never betray you, you always leave out one thing; a secret life is that important.

@ Washington Square Park, May 2012

Join us tomorrow night in Brooklyn: Monkey Business Issue Two Release NYC FINALE! Wed May 9, 7:00PM Book launch Reading & Party @ BookCourt in Brooklyn.   Info  here . After Monkey Business International’s fantastic launch party at BookCourt in 2011, we are returning for round 2! In celebration of the release of MBI #2, which once again brings the best of contemporary Japanese literature to English readers, Motoyuki Shibata and Ted Goossen, co-editors of MBI, will lead a reading and discussion that will include Masatsugu Ono, Tomoka Shibasaki, Roland Kelts, Kelly Link, and Barry Yourgrau, who are all featured in the new issue. The issue will be on sale at the reading. Wine and beer will be sold, too. Don’t miss it! Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/events/340181886037635

[photos by Lisa Kato]

TONIGHT! UPCOMING SHOWS Price: $20 7:30 PM - May 06  SHOW DESCRIPTION Live from Tokyo, it’s “ Japan Night  @ Joe’s Pub,” a unique and very special trans-cultural evening of readings, music and live performances in the heart of downtown Manhattan.  Revered Japanese writers  Masatsugu Ono  and T omoka Shibasaki , and award-winning author and translator  Motoyuki Shibata  arrive from Tokyo to share the stage with American authors  Stuart Dybek ,  Kelly Link ,  Barry Yourgrau  and Canadian translator, scholar and editor  Ted Goossen  to launch the 2nd Issue of  Monkey Business International , the English-language edition of the acclaimed Japanese literary magazine that Pulitzer-winning author Junot Díaz calls “ an astonishment, by turns playful and profound, ” and “ one of the year’s best publications .”  The evening will be hosted by JAPANAMERICA author and Monkey Biz contributing editor  Roland Kelts , and will feature live music by  NEO BLUES MAKI , a soulful sushi

Monkey Launch Part I, May 6 @ 2 p.m., Asia Society NY : Japan/America: Writers' Dialogue Cover of the literary journal "Monkey Business." (Courtesy Motoyuki Shibata) Continuing its highly successful 2011 partnership with The Japan Foundation, Asia Society will once again join with  Monkey Business , the acclaimed English-language anthology of newly translated Japanese writing, to present an American-Japanese literary dialogue in conjunction with the PEN World Voices International Festival. Japanese writers  Masatsugu Ono  and  Tomoka Shibasaki  will be joined by American poet Stuart Dybek  and writer  Kelly Link  for an intriguing and original cross-cultural encounter facilitated by eminent translators  Ted Goossen  and  Motoyuki Shibata. Followed by a book sale and signing. Shop AsiaStore for related books Co-presented by Asia Society and the Japan Foundation. In association with PEN World Voices 2012, April 30 to M

If you see something, say ... : Vigilant breakfast squid.

@ Kitashinchi.