japanamerica

been a great week. sorries for slow blogness: here's me and leo at pink cow, and the new version of the old book.

We're gearing up for the Japanamerica mini-tour of Japan in anticipation of the May 24 release of the book's Japanese-language edition, published by Random House Kodansha . Dates are being settled, but the first will be this Sunday, May 6, at The Pink Cow in Shibuya, Tokyo. The evening is billed as "Japanamerica Night," and will feature an exhibition of anime and manga artwork, DVD clips, live music and much talk and discussion among me, Leo Lewis of the Times of London and other writers, artists and producers on hand in Tokyo. More info is on the invitation flyer posted above. If you are in this vast city of spectacle and sprawl, you are more than welcome to join us. Admission is free. Other currently confirmed dates include: June 17th , Osaka, Four Stories Japan at Portugalia June 21st , Tokyo, The Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan In the works are some bilingual events in Tokyo co-hosted by author, translator and University of Tokyo professor M...

Tekkon Kinkreet , the first Japanese feature film to be directed by an American, let alone the first anime to do so, has its US premiere tonight at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The film will be screened at MoMA for five days straight . I first heard about Tekkon during my initial research for Japanamerica , when my dear friend, New York filmmaker Stephen Earnhart, urged me to contact Tekkon director Michael Arias. The resulting interviews and studio tours with Michael and veteran producer and studio founder Eiko Tanaka gave me the blueprint for the rest of the book, and I remain deeply grateful to them and to Stephen for the gift. The film currently in production (and at a maddening pace) was Tekkon. Michael showed me some "dailies"--scenes that were more or less polished, but still disjointed--and I was sufficiently impressed. But as in any narrative medium, a few good scenes in anime do not a good story make. When I first sat down to watch Tekkon in a Tokyo...

Am back in Tokyo, where books have trumped blog. Got three on the boil. Still, the new book, Japanamerica, picked up some nice new reviews--both of which reference Mr. Peter Carey, one of which r's Peter Townshend: Australia UK More soon from springtime in Japan.

I Love LA

JapanamericaTV (Apple Quicktime only) JapanamericaRADIO (Click speaker for audio playback)

On Seattle NPR earlier today . Lovely interview with Seattle Post-Intelligencer over lunch. Japanamerica talk this eve at Japanamerica Society. Sleepless and stellar night in Seattle. LA shortly.