Friday, October 28 2011
‘1Q84’: A World that Bears a Question
Huraki Murakami is stretching himself to create a sort of hybrid between his humourous and off-beat slipstream novels and the aching and yearning of romance that permeates his more mainstream stuff.
Thursday, September 1 2011
Dir En Grey: Dum Spiro Spero
Even with all possible praise worded out and heaped onto this new Dir En Grey masterpiece, there is still one thing left that I cannot stress upon enough... the only obstacle Dir En Grey have to best are themselves, and they are only going to get better and better from here on.
Thursday, May 19 2011
After Fukushima: An Interview with Dr. Robert Jacobs
Last week, PopMatters sat down with Dr. Robert Jacobs of the Hiroshima Peace Institute at Hiroshima University to discuss the impact, toll, and future that Japan faces following the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. His insights shed much light on what has happened and what will take place in the near future ...
Friday, June 18 2010
Tokyo Sonata Is Truly a Brilliant Film
Tokyo Sonata shifts between various narratives of a family in turmoil, as each person struggles to find happiness and solace in what has become a life of overwhelming structure and rules beyond one’s control.
Wednesday, October 21 2009
Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater by Eric P. Nash
Nash offers a study of kamishibai's influence on modern manga, and how Japanese comics differ from American ones (as well as answering a common question: "What's with the wide eyes?").
Friday, October 16 2009
Looking for the Lost: Memoirs of a Vanishing Japan
With its narrow streets and dark and hidden infoldings, there’s a distinctly feminine, mysterious, and inexplicably magnetic aspect to Japan that exists in few other places in the world.
Tuesday, May 5 2009
Independent Lens: Wings of Defeat
Wings of Defeat shows that, then and now, the kamikaze pilots were complicated and diverse individuals, not stereotypical fanatics.
Tuesday, February 17 2009
One Morning Like a Bird by Andrew Miller
The writers' reflections on Japanese identity are never undertaken in isolation from the world -- they are informed by a strong awareness of the world beyond their islands.
Thursday, November 6 2008
In a Groove, in a Grove
Even in the dead of summer when a cacophony of cicadas clinging to the limbs assail the ears, the visitor caught in the grove cannot help but be sucked into the mystical vortex.
