japanamerica

I've been honored to serve as a judge alongside Miyavi Lee Ishihara (MIYAVI), Geoffrey Wexler from Studio Ponoc, actress Kat Graham and others for the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency's "Youth with Refugees Art Contest." Winning illustrations were just announced and have been turned into charming anime by Japanese studio SPEED INC. The drawings were submitted by youth from around the world. This is a wonderful project on an urgent matter at a critical time. Open your hearts. Faida, 20, Rwanda Noémie, 16, France 

Back when you still could, I gave a talk for TEDxTokyo in a hangar at Haneda Airport. The topic was "Cool Japan." But this time I didn't talk about anime, manga, video games or fashion. Instead I focused on core cultural values expressed in Japanese words such as jishuku (restraint, discipline), gaman (endurance and perseverance amid adversity), ganbaru (to fight on, keep at it, stand firm) and wa (seeking and maintaining communal harmony). I didn't know then that such values would serve Japan well during a global pandemic. It was a remarkable event. At the reception there were canapes and wine and we watched a guitarist bring the sun down near the nose of a plane. Now it all seems surreal and, sadly, would be impossible. (Video of my presentation has been posted here .)

New book goes inside Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki Steve Alpert worked there for 15 years and knew major players Nikkei Asian Review TOKYO — Steve Alpert's book comes advertised as a business memoir, though you may find yourself grinning more often than annotating. For 15 years, starting in 1996, the American headed the international division at Studio Ghibli, Japan's most commercially and artistically successful anime company. As their first non-Japanese hire, he negotiated with clients from Asia, Europe and the U.S., supervised the English-language translations of "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away," voice-acted a character in Japanese for 2013's "The Wind Rises," and accepted awards on his employer's behalf at prestigious global film festivals. He also clinched the indie studio's nascent distribution deal with Disney, a coup to bring the films of Hayao Miyazaki into living rooms worldwide on VHS and DVD — and an Os...