As Beauty Week continues, it seemed natural that I write something about one of Tokyo’s most famous districts, and a place that I’m rather fond of myself: Harajuku. But when it comes to the subject of cool places in Japan, I thought I might make a regular thing of it; if you’re planning a trip, another source of info always helps. I might recommend an out-of-the-way place like Kagoshima, or suggest avoiding Osaka because I already took the above picture for you. So before we get to Harajuku, why not discuss some popular ways to get to Japan itself? More »

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What: avante-garde dance theater Where: The Japan Society, 333 East 47th St., New York, NY When: December 3-5, 2009, January 11 2010

The Skinny: American performance artist Jeremy Wade, with the collaboration of NY-based manga artist Hiroki Otsuka, crafts an abstract theater piece incorporating dance, visual backgrounds and video to expose the emptiness of modern society through the lens of Japanese kawaii culture.

The Verdict: Moderately engaging. If you like this sort of theater, as well as Japanese culture, it may be worth a look-see. More »

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Since beauty qua beauty is a foreign concept to most guys, we’ve been wracking our brains here trying to come up with informative articles for Beauty Week. And while I might be expected to compile a list of the Five Hottest Anime Girls, given that beauty is more than sex appeal, and the flesh more than raiment (Matthew 6:25)–and since girls often seem to have strong opinions about the beauty of other girls–I thought I would try something a bit different. (Who am I kidding, I’ll probably do the Hottest Girls thing later) More »

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As Kamikaze Girls (Tetsuya Nakashima, 2004) [orig. "Shimotsuma Story," based on the excellent book by Novala Takemoto] opens, its heroine Momoko, wearing a frilly dress while speeding along on a motor scooter, is struck by an oncoming produce truck. The End. But to understand how things came to this pass, it’s necessary to back up a little–to Rococo-era France. More »

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Inspired by the recollection that Ninja Scroll made us doubt the mental health of a whole nation, it’s time to take a hard look at anime that’s just danged creepy. I’m sure there are those of you who actually like hentai (I won’t judge you), but I suspect that most of us, if we don’t actively avoid the creepy stuff, are embarrassed enough that we don’t lend Schoolgirl Confinement Vol. III to friends we’re trying to evangelize, but rather hide it under our Collected Works of Plato when they come over. More »

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A theme I’m irresistibly drawn to is the contrast between the tedium of everyday life and the richness of the imagination. The Japanese term for “everday life” is nichijou, and it crops up fairly often in anime and manga taking place in the limitless suburbs surrounding big cities like Tokyo. A perfect vehicle of this theme is Studio Ghibli’s Mimi wo Sumaseba (lit. “If You Listen Closely”), and of their films it is, in spite of the greatness of Totoro, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, my favorite. More »

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One thing that can be said about the pillows is, they take themselves seriously. Avoiding two genres into which Japanese music often breaks down–bubblegum power-pop on the one hand, hyper-macho posturing on the other–the pillows have been crafting quality rock records since 1991. Which is not to say they don’t have a sense of humor, but no one could dismiss them as a novelty act; they remind me of one of my favorite Western bands, Oasis, and indeed, I always think the bridge of One Life is about to break into Don’t Look Back in Anger. More »

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This isn’t the place to discuss being a foreigner in Japan: a quick search will turn up a million blogs (possibly even my own) started up by foreign exchange students, drifters and playboys who discovered to their amazement that (gasp!) the experience is pretty strange. I’m more interested in how Japanese view foreigners, and–supporting my thesis that it is a great way to learn about Japan–anime provides some striking examples. More »

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It will sometimes happen that I post about bands I don’t listen to myself, but there are so big I figure people should know about them. A drunken middle-aged man in a bar once told me that I would never understand Japan until I could list all the members of SMAP, and perhaps he was right (though I still can’t). One such group is the boy-band Arashi. More »

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Here it is. When the cultural bomb of Ninja Scroll (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, 1993) hit American shores, the Japanese entertainment industry could assure itself of two things:

1) Its national role as tastemaker to the West was assured for one hundred years. 2) Its image as a sedate and refined nation was ruined for one hundred years. More »

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