japanamerica

I was hired to host this short documentary film about the central role cats play in Japanese culture. "Japan Cats,"  directed by Academy Award nominee Geoffrey O'Connor and shot in Wakayama and Tokyo, was a lot of fun to make, and I remain honored to be a small part of it. No 'weird Japan' clickbait memes, but a rich look at the deeper connections, spiritual and personal, between the Japanese and their cats. Yes, there's Natsume Soseki's "I am a Cat," Hello Kitty, Doraemon, nearly everything written by Haruki Murakami, Maneki Neko ("Lucky Cat"), Bakeneko ("shapeshifting cat") and plenty more. But there's also Tama, the stationmaster cat , and her successor, Nitama (Tama 2), whom you'll meet here, along with cat cafes and memorials. Thanks to AMV BBDO for producing, and SHEBA for supporting. Hope you enjoy the show.

After Disaster: Embracing a Living Past through “Ghosts of the Tsunami”  (Words Without Borders) I flew out of Tokyo two days before March 11. There was a mild tremor as I packed, causing the overhead lamp in my kitchen to sway. I crouched over my suitcase, arms extended in my usual high-alert stance, but the earth soon resettled and I went back to folding my socks. Mild side-to-side rocking and the occasional vertical jolt are standard stuff in Japan, the most earthquake prone country in the world. During the days of the disaster and its immediate aftermath, I was in Oregon and California, giving university lectures and an NPR interview about, of all things, Japan’s obsession with apocalypse in its art and popular culture. I would not have remembered that tremor on the ninth had it not been for what happened on the eleventh. Read More >>

Japanese folklore meets anime in Kyoto By  ROLAND KELTS The colors were jarring. Beneath the vermillion torii gates of Kyoto’s Shimogamo Shrine and surrounded by the olive broadleaves of Tadasu Forest was a pool of furry, bright yellow ponchos, decorated with the brown facial features, rounded ears and bulbous oblong tails of the tanuki, or Japanese raccoon dog. Out of roughly 2,500 applicants, 200 anime fans, the majority of them young women, won entry to the Jan. 12 “Uchoten Kazoku 2 (The Eccentric Family 2) Event: Tanuki Gathering at the Forest of Tadasu, Shimogamo Shrine” via raffle tickets sold at ¥2,000 each in November and December.  The lucky fans had access to an intimate seating area to view the solemn Shinto blessing of the series’ second season, which premieres on April 9. They also received swag bags of merchandise supplied by the show’s sponsors, attended a talk show including photo ops with its seiyu (voice actor) stars, sipped ceremonial sake...