japanamerica

I'm a cave-dweller now, needing to wrap some projects before the coming week+ of events on both coasts. I intend to add a few explanatory details later, but for now, here's the rundown. If you are in New York or San Francisco, please join us, assuming time and inclination are proportional: >> Tuesday, September 23 , 6 p.m. ART SPACE TOKYO Launch Event & Panel Discussion @ Kinokuniya Bookstore, Bryant Park, 1071 6th Avenue, NYC: Info: Art Space Tokyo site >> Wednesday, September 24 , Doors @ 7 p.m., Show @ 8, Happy Ending Reading Series , Reading & Live Music, Happy Ending Bar, 302 Broome Street, NYC: Info: Happy Ending Music & Reading Series site >> Saturday, September 27 , 2-5 p.m., Anime Masterpieces West Coast Premiere, Lecture & Screening, Panel & Live Discussion, University of California, Berkeley/Pacific Film Archive, PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA: Info: Anime Masterpieces site ; UC Berkeley site >> Sunday, ...

Downtown Brooklyn's Cadman Plaza, upon whose benches I used to sip coffee and stare into pigeon sweeps a lifetime ago as a fac-boy at Saint Ann's, was hot on Sunday. It was even hotter at the focal points of the sun, where the booth (table, really) for A Public Space seemed strategically centered. So I arrived late, shielded by cap and sunglasses and dashing frequently to the shaded southern leg to hover beside the ChinMusic Press booth (table, actually), grateful for bouts of companionship with Craig and Ashley and the alibi of looking busy and engaged rather than just overheated and hiding. After the early afternoon fire, it was great convening with Brigid, meeting Steven and Kelly and Renee, and sipping then strolling with Barry along the promenade. I scurried back to bury myself in Salinger's Nine Stories , and, of course, reencounter Seymour's suicide in "Bananafish." Now finishing an essay on the book for Shibata's Monkey Business literary journal...

Back in town for the autumn season and gearing up for this Sunday's Brooklyn Book Festival . I will be at the booth for A Public Space from 1 - 3 p.m., where a limited number of free copies of Yoko Ogawa's The Diving Pool and Japanamerica will be offered to fresh subscribers. For those who wish to have their books defaced, I will gladly sign copies of Japanamerica , but no more of The Diving Pool . Ogawa-san politely asked me to cease and desist. See you on Sunday.

From my latest column in the Daily Yomiuri : "Last month's sudden bankruptcy filing by Yohan, Japan's largest and oldest distributor of English-language publications, has cast a shadow over American shores, despite its relative lack of coverage in the U.S. media. Only a couple of years ago, Yohan announced life-saving investments in Stone Bridge Press and Cody's Bookstore, two San Francisco Bay Area institutions. The former is a smartly run independent publisher specializing in Japan-focused books, and the latter was a much-lauded independent local bookstore chain. Both have long been landmarks of the Bay Area's book scene. Stone Bridge is soldiering on, but Cody's has closed. The usual suspects are cited as catalysts--poor management, unsustainable investment and debt accrual, archaic labor structures. But the demise of Yohan in the 21st century may signal something broader and even more worrying: a Japanese public turning increasingly inward, becoming mor...

Herewith, a partial and preliminary list of autumn 08 bookings for Japanamerica -related events on the East and West Coasts: Sept. 14th , New York, NY, A Public Space @ Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Book Festival Sept. 23rd , New York, NY, Art Space Tokyo US Launch, KINOKUNIYA Bryant Park, 6:00pm Sept. 24th , New York, NY, Happy Ending Reading Series fall schedule Sept. 27th , Berkeley, CA, Anime Masterpieces W est Coast Launch ; UC Berkeley/PFA Sept. 28th , New York, NY, NY Anime Festival **NOTE: Event Date Change to February 11, 2009 Boston, MA, Anime Masterpieces East Coast Launch Oct. 2nd , Williamstown, MA, The Clark Museum Oct. 11th , Berkeley, CA, Live Conversation with H aruki Murakami Dec. 6th, Washington, DC, Anime Masterpieces Smithsonian Event More details forthcoming. Hope you can join us.

Kaiju monsters battled in Brooklyn and Bird received his annual celebration in Tompkins Square this weekend. Met with NPR folks today in Soho and am looking forward to this autumn's events on both coasts. On the heels of Gotham Knight , the bi-cultural Batman anime project, Marvel and Madhouse have linked up for a series of anime re-inventions of American comics heroes, due out in 2010. (Thanks to Andrew in Tokyo for the NY Times tip. Full story here .) Beijing wrapped and the conventions commence. Fall is falling into place.