japanamerica

Tokyo Drift Meet Japanese anime voice actor Junichi Suwabe—the kind of man who drives the city for pleasure. By Roland Kelts | Photographs by Sebastian Mayer S ome nights after work, Junichi Suwabe likes to take the long way home, adding an hour or so to his commute through Tokyo just for the pleasure of driving. He courses over the elevated expressways encircling the world’s most populous city in his carbon grey Lotus Evora — one of only 50 such models in the entirety of Japan — and takes in the view. Tokyo at night is a luminous jumble of skyscrapers, flashing and streaming neons, and flickering four-storey video screens stretching in all directions, seemingly borderless. Seen via satellite, Tokyo is the brightest city on earth. “There are many places in Tokyo that are beautifully lit at night,” Suwabe says, gesturing broadly toward the park and skyscrapers outside his recording studio office. “And driving my Lotus is ...

The Global Salon: Cities in Japan In collaboration with PEN World Voices Festival Buy Passport to all Global Salon Events Enlarge Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 7:00 PM Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes Tickets: $25.00 Buy Tickets The Global Salon: JAPAN presents compelling stories of courage and resiliency, while the country continues to face unprecedented hardships of increased suicidal rates and unemployment, before and after the Tsunami of 2011. Host Eddie Robinson will engage the audience and esteemed guests through captivating dialogue and enchanting musical themes about the country's economic future, advances in technology, and the preservation of its remarkable culture. Conversation and Performance with Keiko Matsui An icon of contemporary jazz. With nearly 1.2 million units sold in the U.S. alone and packed concert halls, she is one of the most recognized artists in the genre. Her elegant piano melodies and ge...

My travel column for Japan's Paper Sky magazine on trekking back home to London with my mother, Kaori, who hadn't been in 40 years.

Wrote about Madhouse's phantasmagoric Redline and interviewed creators Koike and Ishii two years ago for stories in the US ( here) , Japan and Malaysia ( here ).  Now it's finally screening in the US ahead of DVD and Blu Ray releases next month.   via crunchyroll news :   "Redline" Anime Film to Screen in LA and New York   Scott Green In celebration of its 20th Anniversary, Manga Entertainment is set to release Takeshi Koike's much praised Redline  and Studio 4ºC/Russian co-production First Squad: The Moment Of Truth  on Blu-ray and DVD January 17th . Ahead of this video release, Redline will also have a limited theatrical run in Los Angeles starting December 2nd and in NYC starting on January 6th . Redline —created by studio Madhouse ( Paprika ,  The Girl Who Leapt Through Time ,  Summer Wars )—is about the biggest and most deadly racing...