japanamerica

I ask that question in my latest column for The Daily Yomiuri , out today, writing about Sony's booth at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, the JAL bankruptcy, political shenanigans and stagnancy, and the ongoing troubles in the anime and manga biz. Now I learn of yet another Toyota recall in North America . Yeesh. SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Is this the year Japan jumps the shark? Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri "Jumping the shark" is an American idiom describing the point at which a television series, a career or just about anything that has developed popularity or momentum blows its own credibility and heralds its own demise. The phrase was coined after the Fonz, a character in the long-running TV series Happy Days, known for its rosy vision of postwar American life, literally jumped over a captive shark while water-skiing. Many now see the shark-jumping episode as an omen of the program's decline into cancellation. The expression came ...

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Here's my segment, called "This is their Youth."

Listen HERE This Year Another year's gone Here comes a new one What's gonna happen? This year We're gonna make it Not gonna take it Make no mistake it's This year Last year was a fiasco A real disaster So full of sorrow This year will be a great year I just can't wait, dear Until tomorrow Forget the old pain Sing a new refrain Uncork the champagne This year No, it's not too late We've got a clean slate The future's our fate This year Last year was a fiasco A real disaster So full of sorrow This year will be a great year I just can't wait, dear Until tomorrow It's after midnight I'm just a bit tight Hey, but I'll be all right This year The year is brand new The old one's all through And it's time to kiss you This year --Loudon Wainwright III

My latest contribution for Adbusters magazine is Confucius , a riff on the shifting winds of influence in the 21st Century, with special mention given to the now-iconic Sony Walkman. Yoi otoshi o -- Happy New Year. Confucius East-West, good-evil, right-wrong? "What I only dimly knew then, of course, was that the Walkman was produced by a nation low on national resources, limited in space and keen on reinvention. A nation much like the world we are all living in now." [Complete story HERE ]

My "Year in Reading 2009" for the eds at The Millions : "As a half-Japanese kid growing up in the Northeast, I masqueraded quite successfully as another disenfranchised suburban Caucasian dude, angry more at being nowhere special than for any definable reason. But two historical phrases instilled unease: 'Pearl Harbor' and 'The Bataan Death March.' The former’s nasty ethnic stereotypes of the Japanese character—sneaky, cowardly, backstabbing—made me wary of my mother and half of my family, all of whom seemed otherwise sane and trustworthy to me. And the latter left me cold: How could such mindless barbarity even happen? One of these days, I used to think, I’ll be unmasked—as one of them ..." [more HERE ]

Pats vs. Jags @ Gillette w/sis on Sunday