a mixed plate of Japanese American news and culture
So Asian America collectively shuddered the other day at rumors that Jeremy Lin and Kim Kardashian might go on a date. (Interestingly, if you Google “jeremy lin,” “jeremy lin kim kardashian” comes up as the first autocomplete result.) I guess it’s since been debunked, but I feel like I’m a little alone in thinking that [...]
UPDATE: It appears I was mistaken, and this was all just a clever ruse. I rescind my offer and reactionary knee jerk reaction. What? Something wrong happened on the Internet? Well LOOK OUT BLOGOSPHERE BECAUSE I’M A SHARK AND I JUST CAUGHT THE SCENT OF BLOOD. No, I’m not talking about SOPA or PIPA, which are [...]
Part 1: Michael Sasaki I’m sitting in the frigid cold of an air that has been conditioned to make the arms on your hair stand on end. While awaiting the arrival of my two interviewees, I am in familiar territory. The Peet’s Coffee & Tea location in which I find myself, employed me not but [...]
I’m sitting with my wife in Laney College’s theater in Oakland, Calif. as the curtains draw for Artistic Director and Choreographer Claudine Naganuma’s 10th anniversary of dNaga danceNAGANUMA, admittedly not sure what to expect. I’ve been graciously comped two tickets by a very thoughtful person who had read my previous post on Yuri Kochiyama and [...]
In Japan, Miwa Akihiro is a household name. The 76-year-old, openly gay, bleached blonde, drag queen, actor/author/singer is a regular face on Japanese television, known for making outrageous, cutting and (sometimes) insightful comments on news and culture. In the U.S., he is known mostly known for his film roles—playing the femme fatale in Kinji Fukusaku’s [...]
I’ve been thinking a lot about what Chinese consumer power is going to mean for images of Asian people in Hollywood films — (even if offending Asian Americans doesn’t effect a studio’s bottom line enough for it to be an issue, offending Chinese viewers, or the Chinese government, has real monetary consequences). I’ll probably write [...]
There’s something magical about American marketing strategies. It might have something to do with its strong culture that emphasizes might (wealth) makes right, and a general lack of doujinshi culture, but when you see something that’s typically driven by fans for fans in Japan, you can bet it’ll never grow to see the light of [...]
Pal of Ryuichi Sakamoto and all-around cool dude Joi Ito was recently named the new director of the MIT Media Lab! From the NY Times article (which I found on Boing Boing): Mr. Ito… is neither a conventional Japanese technologist, nor your average college dropout. Raised in both Tokyo and Silicon Valley, Mr. Ito was [...]
All I have time to do these days are book reviews. Well, the quake also put a damper on the anime industry, and I’m not so up for writing about stuff, anyway. And thus I come to #3 of Book Reviews of Inconsequence. Today, I’ll write about something with a Nikkei angle. 猟奇博士と生贄娘ドクター＆ドーター (Bizarre Scientist [...]
I’m not a fan of TokyoPop, and this entry may be read as just one blogger’s loud-mouthed harangues on the grave, but this end is a lesson to be learned and the closing act of a tragedy. I will not deny where credit is due. TokyoPop is one of the most influential presences in the [...]
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