japanamerica

Japanamerica in VANITY FAIR: How Japanese cute conquered America

2009-11-06T09:56:00.003-05:00

“There’s no doubt that cuteness has been a part of the Japanese aesthetic since the postwar years,” says Roland Kelts, the author of the 2006 book Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. “One theory, which has been proposed by a lot of Japanese artists and academics, is that, after the humiliation and emasculation of Japan in the postwar years, Japan developed this quasi-queer position of ‘little brother’ or ‘little boy.’ If you become ‘little brother’ or ‘little boy,’ the only way you can get big brother’s or fat man’s attention is by being so cute or puppy-like that he has to take care of you.” [more HERE]

Japan Society Interview @ NYAF 09, Part 2

2009-10-26T12:24:00.001-04:00

Latest column for the Yomiuri / 3:AM on Miho and J-Pop in the USA

2009-10-24T10:06:00.006-04:00

My latest column for the Daily Yomiuri, and co-published by 3:AM magazine in the UK, features interviews with Miho Hatori, formerly of Cibo Matto, and Reni-chan, a 'maid cafe' performer, both of whom have been transplanted from Tokyo to New York to make it in America. It's a little riff on the status of Japanese music performers in the US, via AKB48, of course.

SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Japan's music-makers in America

Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri

When Japanese pop idol group AKB48, a heavily produced amateur team of late-teen and twenty-something dancers and singers, took to the stage in Manhattan's aging Webster Hall club last month, we all clapped. These were cute young Japanese girls making their debut in the heart of the West's media maw. Why not welcome them?

But the truth was, as always, more complicated. AKB48 flew to New York to make a splash in the world's biggest media pond. They had already sung and danced to devoted American otaku types at the New York Anime Festival. They filmed a music video in Central Park. A few New York media outlets promoted them heavily.

But during their 5 p.m. performance on a Sunday in the East Village, they were hardly noticed by most New Yorkers.

Although today's Asian pop music scene in America is led by the Japanese, there is a perception in the industry that it all depends on anime soundtracks.

That perception must change.

Last week in New York, I had tea with Miho Hatori, formerly part of the duo Cibo Matto, which was successful in both the United States and Japan. "I came to New York in 1993 and never looked back," Hatori said, sipping from her mug of hot green tea. "It's the most chaotic city in the world, and I love it."

There are just a handful of precedents in today's American music business: Yoko Ono (via John Lennon), Shonen Knife, Puffy AmiYumi. And for eclectic listeners, The Boredoms. Japanese pop music hasn't survived the flight to the United States well, despite the twin successes of anime and manga.

"Today, without anime soundtracks, we're nothing," a New York-based Sony promoter said to me. "We need to [move beyond] anime."

Is that possible? [more HERE, and HERE]

Video interview with the Japan Society, @ NYAF 09

2009-10-22T12:32:00.001-04:00

2009-10-20T09:36:00.006-04:00

Private Worlds

Lives spent lurking too long in the shadows of the virtual.

(out now in the current issue of ADBUSTERS magazine)

Roland Kelts

19 Oct 2009

1 comment

japan

Late last year when Japan’s master animation artist Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Totoro) addressed a room of mostly Western journalists in Tokyo, many of us were expecting him to talk about his latest fantastical feature film, Ponyo, which was just about to open worldwide. Instead, the 68-year-old director spent 15 minutes issuing a stern warning about the dangers and delusions of living through virtual media. “All of our young people today derive their pleasure, entertainment, communication and information from virtual worlds,” he declared. “And all of those worlds have one thing in common: They’re making young Japanese weak.”

Miyazaki ticked off the usual suspects – cell phones, emails, video games, television – and he also included two more categories: manga and anime. “These things take away [young peoples’] inherent natural strengths,” he continued, “and so they lose their ability to cope with the real world. They lose their imaginations.” [Read more here]

Animation & Adbusters: two new stories

2009-10-16T09:55:00.004-04:00

My latest contribution to Adbusters magazine is "Japan's Private Worlds," just released in the new November/December issue--the Virtual World/the Natural World. I set out to explore the nature of privacy in Japan amid questions of digital displacement and engagement, especially at a time when the nation's so-called 'digital natives,' those born and raised with intimate access to mobile and stationary digital media, are behaving very differently than their elders did and do.

My latest story for Animation magazine is "Heart Like a Wheel," also just out in their current October issue. Madhouse's forthcoming boffo anime release, "Redline," debuted at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland this summer and will be released in Japanese cinemas in April 2010, with a US release soon after. I speak with whiz-kid animator Takeshi Koike ("World Record" from The Animatrix) and screenwriter Katsuhito Ishii ("A Taste of Tea") about their attempt to make an anime film that will appeal to America's auto-obsessed inaka tribes in the Western hinterlands. I also try to place the film in the context of meta-anime--works like Afro Samurai that deliberately target Western viewers, and anime films that are, at least in part, about conventional anime conceits and styles, like Satoshi Kon's Paprika.

Both stories are print-only at the moment--but both of the magazines look and feel great.

Jake Adelstein's TOKYO VICE

2009-10-15T08:56:00.005-04:00

Pal and intrepid reporter Jake Adelstein's first book, Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, has just been published in the U.S., and Jake has embarked on a brief book tour ahead of an upcoming 60 Minutes/CBS report on related topics in early November. In our era of cheap armchair journalism and errant blog chatter (like this), Jake's book is something of an anomaly: an account of a singular story researched and written by a writer on the scene--or, more literally, on the beat, whose knowledge of his subject is unassailable, and whose intimacy is so stark it nearly got him and his family killed. What's more, the research, interviews, encounters and writing were initially done in Jake's second language. If you haven't deduced from his name, Jake is not Japanese, but he is very fluent, both linguistically and culturally.

Like most good books, Tokyo Vice is many narratives--a coming-of-age story about a boy from the American Midwest who follows a yellow brick road to his own Oz; a curtain-lifting expose of cronyism, corruption and sclerosis in the world's second largest economy; and a wise embrace of paradoxes--which we can all learn from in the 21st century.

Together with Bob Whiting's seminal account of postwar chaos in Japan, Tokyo Underworld, Jake's book reveals the underbelly of Asia's biggest economy and America's major ally across the Pacific, in English prose as plain and clear as a pool of carp.

Live from St. Louis -- It's Saturday Night!

2009-10-05T12:22:00.006-04:00

Mid-afternoon Japanamerica talk (courtesy Fred Schodt)

Christopher Born, me, Fred, Jeni Plough and Patrick Danzen, at the end of a long but not lonely day in Saint Louis.

Meet us in St. Louis this weekend for ANIME @ UMSL

2009-10-02T11:43:00.003-04:00

ANIME in St. Louis:

NYAF official schedule

2009-09-25T15:32:00.004-04:00

My NYAF official sched is as follows:

NYAF Japanamerica sched:

9/25, 5:15-6:15, Yoshiyuki Tomino (GUNDAM)

9/26, 12:15-1:15, AKB48

9/27, 11:15-12:15, Yui Makino (Tsubasa Chronicle)

On Gundam, girl-power AKB48 and this weekend's NYAF

2009-09-24T17:28:00.009-04:00

My new column for the Daily Yomiuri (co-hosted by 3:AM Magazine) covers Gundam's creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, and girl-power via AKB48--both of whom are in town right now to prep for appearances at this weekend's New York Anime Festival at the Javits Center in Manhattan. I'll be hosting panels with Tomino-san, AKB48 and voice actress Yui Makino. (Full schedule forthcoming.)

Special thanks to NYAF Director Peter Tatara for his time and insights.

SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Mecha auteur and mega girl group hit New York

Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri

This evening in New York, I will have the privilege of introducing and conversing with Yoshiyuki Tomino, veteran anime creator, director, screenwriter and novelist. Tomino is most famous for his now 30-year-old seminal mecha anime masterpiece, Mobile Suit Gundam. He has been making the rounds of late, granting public appearances and interviews both in Japan and overseas, and speaking out on topics as diverse as video games and world peace. Gundam, too, has resurfaced--most literally as a life-size, 18-meter-tall statue in Odaiba, Tokyo.

Organizers anticipated 1.5 million visitors to their gigantic giant robot. An estimated 4.15 million turned up over the statue's 40-day life span, which ended with its ceremonial dismantling earlier this month.

At least one couple even got married between its massive feet.

Tomino is in New York this weekend to participate in the third annual New York Anime Festival (NYAF), among the United States' largest and most media-friendly celebrations of Japanese popular culture. But while he and his giant robot are both consecrated classics at home, they may be yesterday's news--or not even newsworthy--for many of today's American otaku.

"Tomino is on the same level as Hayao Miyazaki," says Peter Tatara, NYAF's 26-year-old director of programming. We are at a folksy Japanese luncheon in Manhattan, where my shrimp-fry set is as much a sign of hybrid Japan's cultural presence in New York as the tower of nori seaweed perched atop his mushroom spaghetti.

"As soon as we knew he would come, we booked him," Tatara says. "But although he is legendary, the U.S. fan base is so young right now. They're 13 to 15, and skew slightly female. Tomino's name won't register at all with our younger fans."

To bridge the gap, Tatara has booked AKB48. [more here ; also at 3:AM]

@ NYAF, Sept. 25-27, w/Yoshiuki Tomino (Gundam), AKB48 & Yui Makino (Tsubasa)

2009-09-11T15:58:00.006-04:00

from Medium At Large
Roland Kelts Comes To NYAF!

"I have the great honor of announcing that Roland Nozomu Kelts will be attending this year's NYAF! Roland is a half-Japanese American writer who divides his time between New York and Tokyo and publishes in both English and Japanese. He is the author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US. He is also a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, a contributing editor and writer for "Adbusters" magazine and "A Public Space" literary journal, and a columnist for "The Daily Yomiuri" in Japan. His essays and stories can be found in the books "A Wild Haruki Chase," "Gamers," "Kuhaku," "Playboy's College Fiction," "Art Space Tokyo," "Zoetrope" and others.

He is the Editor in Chief of the "Anime Masterpieces" screening and discussion series.

His forthcoming novel is called "Access," and when he is not writing, reading, lecturing or traveling, he can be found playing the drums in his band.

Mr. Kelts will appear at NYAF to introduce Yoshiyuki Tomino on his Friday panel as well as moderate AKB48's Saturday panel and Sunday's Yui Makino Q&A."

My review of "Tears in the Darkness" in Bookforum

2009-09-09T14:22:00.015-04:00

I've just reviewed Tears in the Darkness, a capacious, brilliantly narrated account of the Bataan Death March in World War II, featuring interviews with Japanese, American and Filipino veteran and civilian survivors. Former NYT correspondent Michael Norman and his wife, author and NYU professor Elizabeth M. Norman, spent ten years researching events surrounding and involving the largest ever US military surrender and one of the most brutal and sadistic POW horrors in recorded history. The result is a riveting book that is as artfully structured and well written as it is excruciating. John Dower (Embracing Defeat) and Herbert Bix (Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan), in particular, arguably raised the bar for English-language books on the Pacific War by conducting extensive research and interviews in Japan and with the Japanese. The Normans rise to the challenge admirably.

Tears conveys our capacity for stark inhumanity with novelistic intimacy. My review is out in this month's Bookforum.

SEPT/OCT/NOV 2009

Atrocity Exhibition

ROLAND KELTS

"The fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942, remains the single largest surrender of United States military forces in history, with roughly seventy-six thousand soldiers (most of them Filipino allies) handed over to Japanese captors. Japan’s attack on America’s Clark Air Base in the Philippines destroyed an entire airfield of unprotected planes and unprepared men. While the Pearl Harbor attack of four months earlier is universally acknowledged as a watershed moment of US involvement in the Pacific theater, Bataan, with its less heroic mix of humiliation at the hands of the enemy and betrayal by those in command, has remained shrouded in shame.

The aftermath of Bataan’s fall brought an event arguably greater magnitude and horror than the troops’ surrender: the so-called Bataan Death March, a sixty-six-mile trek to prison camps in Luzon forced on the prisoners of war amid excruciating heat and murderous violence. The captives’ ordeal lasted well beyond the march proper—survivors were dispatched to hellish prison camps in the Philippines, and from there into overstuffed, underventilated holds of creaky transport ships bound for detention facilities on the Japanese mainland, where men were treated as slave laborers. Throughout, many died for simple want of water. The misery would end only with Japan’s surrender three years later, after the firebombing of its major cities and the decimation wrought by two atomic bombs.

Tears in the Darkness is far more humane and capacious than its often-brutal source material would lead readers to expect. Authors Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman frame their story in multiple contexts. A Montana-born cowboy type named Ben Steele is their protagonist, but to the authors’ credit, they never exploit his story for pathos or easy answers. He is a true survivor, with all the ugly guilt and second-guessing that entails: “It’s survival of the fittest,” Steele realized early on in the march while hoarding a single canteen of water. Nor does his individual saga obscure the key questions at the heart of the book: Why and how could this happen? ..."

[more here]

On Japanese simplicity and aesthetics in Adbusters

2009-09-08T12:35:00.008-04:00

This is a short series of three related but discrete meditations on simplicity, minimalism and recycling commissioned by my editors at Adbusters magazine. The series was published to accompany a longer feature by my friend Amelia Newcomb, senior editor at the Christian Science Monitor, exploring the Japanese concept of wabi sabi, what some call 'the art of impermanence,' celebrating the bare essentials, humbleness and eloquent ruin. Amelia visits the town of Kamikatsu, whose residents seek to banish all waste by 2020. You can read her excellent feature story here.

Some readers of the online version of this series understandably seem to think the three segments comprise an organic whole, but that's not the case. The three independent short pieces were interspersed with Amelia's feature in the magazine's print edition, just as intended, and should be read separately. Had I written them as a single, coherent article, they would contain many more segueways and qualifications that the brief of 250-word shorts did not allow.

Here's the opening salvo, so to speak:

Japanese Simplicity

The only way to leave a smaller footprint would be to die.

"Japanese architect Tokujin Yoshioka compared his native sense of design to a cube of tofu. Upon first encounter, the smooth, white, slightly pocked surface might appear inorganic or even inedible. But the first bite unleashes a richness of flavor and exquisite texture that can only come from hours of careful preparation.
From the outside tofu looks simple, almost unassuming: a block of soft pale stuff defined by its absences. There is no color, distinctive shape or scent to associate with it. But the act of eating fresh tofu – from the delicacy required when selecting a bite-sized cube with your chopsticks to avoid squishing it into bits, to the patience demanded of your palate to savor the subtleties of its taste – is unique and unrivaled.
So it goes with Japanese aesthetics, which are so often characterized by what’s missing. In traditional Noh theater (which dates back to the 14th century), the near lack of movement on the stage is critical to the desired dramatic effect. And there are no garish bouquets in ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement: just spindly stems and the hollow spaces between them, accentuating the occasional touches of floral color. In a three-line haiku, the white spaces surrounding the text are as eloquent as the printed aspect of the poem’s expression.
It has become de rigueur in our age to speak of leaving “small footprints” on the planet. In Japan, an archipelago slightly smaller than the state of California, “less is more” has been a tenet for centuries. As a senior professor at the University of Tokyo once told me, “the only way to leave a smaller footprint would be to die.”" [read the other two here]

Steaks by the lake ....

2009-09-06T09:30:00.002-04:00

(heart medication)

Yomiuri column on Miyazaki, Horibuchi, Schodt and elections

2009-08-28T18:29:00.011-04:00

[with Hayao Miyazaki backstage at UC Berkeley, 7/25/09]

Soft Power, Hard Truths / Miyazaki, Horibuchi and the virtues of change

Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri

When animation master Hayao Miyazaki observed that I was not wearing a necktie before our onstage conversation at the University of California, Berkeley late last month, he promptly unknotted his own necktie and stuffed the balled-up garment into the hands of his longtime producer, Toshio Suzuki. Then he smiled and nodded at me. He was ready.

Miyazaki was similarly casual throughout the evening, charming the 2,000-plus audience with a playful Cheshire smile, and deftly sidestepping questions that didn't appeal. I was prepared for worse; Miyazaki is notorious for terse rebuttals and curmudgeonly grunts. And while he did emit the occasional groan, he was also surprisingly candid.

"Disasters are things to be lived through," he said of the apocalyptic themes in his work. "They're not evil. They bring people closer together. In fact, when I go to the top of a skyscraper in Tokyo, I feel the hope that the seas will come a little closer. It would be wonderful if I could see the end of civilization in my lifetime, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So I have to use my imagination."

Viewers of Miyazaki's latest film, Ponyo, which recently had its U.S. release, see the mother of all flood tides engulf the movie's seaside town. Instead of destroying the town's buildings and inhabitants, however, Ponyo's disaster refreshes its characters' lives, cleansing them of hoary misperceptions and ossified ways.

Across the Pacific, Miyazaki's homeland was slouching toward a transformation of its own. With the general election set for Sunday, the 54-year rule of the Liberal Democratic Party is widely predicted to be nearing its end. "It takes a long time for the need for change to register in Japan," a colleague at Tokyo University told me. "But once it does, it strikes like lightning." [more here at 3am magazine]

Seiji Horibuchi's New People/J-Pop Center opens tomorrow

2009-08-14T18:44:00.003-04:00

A little over a year ago, I filed my Yomiuri column (re-posted below) after giving a talk at the Japan America Society in San Francisco and meeting Seiji Horibuchi, the founder of VIZ media. Seiji told me about his dream project, the four-floor J-Pop Center, which he planned to open in the heart of the city's fading Japantown.

Later in the year, I met Seiji in New York. The subprime spiral was in full downward motion; the economy was tanking. I asked Seiji about his project and he laughed -- somewhat ruefully, I thought.

The J-Pop Center, now called "New People," opens tomorrow. Read it all about it here.

I had hoped to take Seiji up on his gracious invitation to be on hand, but deadlines have me grounded in NYC. Nevertheless, I hereby raise a transcontinental toast to Horibuchi-san and his grand vision.

SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Manga magnate aims to redraw San Francisco

Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri

Historian Ronald Takaki wrote that while New York's Statue of Liberty once meant "America" to generations of arriving European immigrants, it was San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge that, for Asians, symbolized a landing on U.S. shores.

No surprise then that the city remains an American hub for all things Asian and Asian-American. When I made my own landing there earlier this month to address the Japan Society alongside consumer critic Mariko Fujiwara, I was greeted straight off the plane by a Japanese-American University of California Berkeley professor and his Korean-American literary editor wife. They set about curing my jet lag with a round of spicy selections at an Indonesian luncheon.

A few hours and a hazy nap later, my palette was stirred by spices from yet another Asian nation. Author, translator and Osamu Tezuka aficionado Frederik L. Schodt escorted me around the corner and down the hill from my hotel into a smoky Indian diner.

Jet lag has rarely faced tastier antidotes.

The following day was all about Japan. Fujiwara and I were greeted in the Delancey Street Screening Room by an alert and intelligent audience whose familiarity with Japan far exceeded Pokemon and Harajuku pixies. We discussed the challenges of an aging population and a lethargic youth, and also the opportunities in expanding transcultural exchanges and mutual respect.

In the audience that evening was Seiji Horibuchi, the pioneering founder of Viz Media, one of the first and largest Japanese entertainment companies to take root in American soil. Horibuchi moved to the Bay Area more than 30 years ago. He founded Viz in 1986. Two years ago, he launched Viz Pictures, a spin-off that focuses on releasing live-action features to complement the mountains of manga, anime, toys and related merchandise the parent company already handles.

As he quickly recited last year's hit manga titles in the United States, Horibuchi sounded like a man who's just getting started. In fact, he is.

Over dinner after the event, Horibuchi unveiled to me his most ambitious project to date, making it clear that he was moving beyond manga and anime on a mission to revitalize the city of San Francisco itself.

A year from now, Viz Media will open the J-Pop Center, a three-story entertainment complex that aims to envelop visitors in the entire Japanese pop culture gestalt, from food to fashion, art materials to toys, and on to magazines, household goods, manga, anime and movies.

"I really want people to appreciate Japanese craftsmanship, quality and design," he says. "We might even have high-tech robots."

At the core of the complex will be a 150-seat art house movie theater specializing in Japanese live-action and animated feature films. The second floor will be dominated by fashion boutiques of the kind found in Japan's Marui department stores, with a particular emphasis on Gosu-rori (Gothic Lolita) designs, whose worldwide appeal Horibuchi calls "a 21st-century phenomenon."

The first floor will provide the full panoply of J-Pop goods that have a clear "visual appeal. We'll be targeting strictly American customers." An expansive cafe will provide the appropriate Japanese-style refreshments.

But most important for Horibuchi is the complex's strategic location: In the heart of San Francisco's Japantown, the longest-lived and largest of the Japanese urban neighborhood communities in the United States. More than 100 years old, Japantown has survived the forced internment of its residents during World War II and the real estate booms and busts of the dot-com era.

Standing in the city that was the first shore for generations of Asian immigrants, Horibuchi tells me that his J-Pop Complex is more than just a business venture: "It's an historic opportunity to show the true value of Japan."

Kelts is a Tokyo University lecturer who divides his time between Tokyo and New York. He is the author of "Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S." (www.japanamericabook.com) available in both English and Japanese. His column appears twice a month.
(Feb. 22, 2008)

"The Soul of Japan," my latest for ADBUSTERS

2009-08-11T21:17:00.012-04:00

The Soul of Japan

Japan's crisis is not political, but psychological.

Roland Kelts
|
10 Aug 2009
|
5 comment s

My latest contribution to Adbusters magazine is now out in the August issue. An excerpt and link to the full story below:

Japan has a curiously utopian image in the West right now. Everything from anime and manga to sushi and sudoku seems to emit the whiff of cool culture in the globalized 21st century. Even Japan’s renowned bullet train is on the export docket: California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is said to be negotiating with Japan Rail to purchase Japanese high-speed train intellectual property for an upcoming Los Angeles-Las Vegas line, and possibly extending it to San Francisco and other West Coast destinations in the coming years.

But inside the borders of this ancient archipelago, self-confidence is scant. While the aftershocks of a collapsing US economy cause tremors throughout the rest of the world, Japan is suffering a homegrown earthquake.

Unemployment stats have hit their highest points since World War II; the government is now subsidizing major corporations to beef up their staff rosters; immigrant workers are being laid off by the score; and the long-standing governing oligarchy, the so-called Liberal Democratic Party, is on its knees.

Hapless Japanese consumers have stopped spending any capital – political or fiscal. And why shouldn’t they? Japan, designed since the end of World War II to be America’s most passive and dependable Pacific ally, has finally hit paralysis.

“What most people don’t recognize,” wrote Masaru Tamamoto,  a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, this spring in the New York Times, “is that [Japan’s] crisis is not political, but psychological.” [more here]

Miyazaki West Coast roundup in LA Times

2009-08-10T18:07:00.007-04:00

Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Miyazaki wowed fans at Comic-Con San Diego recently.

Animator Hayao Miyazaki moves beyond good vs. evil plots

The famous Japanese director tells an American audience that he deeply mulls the stories behind his popular films, including the upcoming Disney venture, 'Ponyo.'

By Charles Burress
August 9, 2009

Once the standing ovation died down, anticipation among the 6,500 people packed into a Comic-Con convention hall in San Diego was almost electric as they waited for the first words from the silver-haired alchemist of animation, Hayao Miyazaki.

To the opening question from Pixar leading light John Lasseter about how he develops his stories, the white-jacketed, 68-year-old director replied, "My process is thinking, thinking and thinking -- thinking about my stories for a long time." Then with an impish smile, he added, "If you have a better way, please let me know."

His answer sparked laughter and affectionate applause, if little revelation, and foreshadowed much of what was to come in Miyazaki's ensuing West Coast tour before thousands of fans in the last week of July, a visit that provided rare U.S. exposure for the reclusive Japanese creator of "My Neighbor Totoro," "Princess Mononoke" and the Oscar-winning "Spirited Away.

Before a sold-out crowd of 2,000 at UC Berkeley, "Japanamerica" author Roland Kelts asked Miyazaki about the perception that "true evil . . . if it exists, is very hard to pin down in your films."

The good-guys-versus-bad-guys formula often falls through the rabbit hole in Miyazaki stories, particularly the ones that suggest a moral philosophy in their portrayals of individuals caught in conflicts between destructive civilization and a mysterious powerful Nature.

Kelts pointed to the wizard father in Miyazaki's newest film, "Ponyo," comparing him to Shakespeare's Prospero as "more of a troubled man than an evil one."

Miyazaki responded: "To have a film where there's an evil figure and a good person fights against the evil figure and everything becomes a happy ending, that's one way to make a film. But then that means you have to draw, as an animator, the evil figure. And it's not very pleasant to draw evil figures. So I decided against evil figures in my films." Again, laughter and applause.

Miyazaki, who refused to come to the U.S. to receive his Oscar in 2003, came this time, a bit reluctantly, to help promote Disney's Aug. 14 release of "Ponyo," about a goldfish princess who falls in love with a human boy and strives mightily to become human herself. Tickets quickly sold out for the man Lasseter has called "the greatest animation director living today, the greatest director living today." Many American children have spent hours on repeated viewings of "Totoro" -- featuring a cat-bus and a forest creature shaped somewhat like a giant pear with fur.

Many settings

Miyazaki's settings vary -- a contemporary Japanese seaside town in "Ponyo," a European-type village of the late 19th or early 20th century in "Castle in the Sky," and a post-apocalyptic community clinging to a medieval existence in "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind."

But all his films share a painterly aesthetic, hand-drawn with nuanced colors and exacting frame composition, to enhance his fantasy worlds that often blend myth, environmental destruction, shape-shifting spirits and complex human characters. The leading roles belong to independent-minded, resourceful young females, and several films reflect conflicted views of technology, partly embodied in fanciful flying machines seemingly dreamed up by an eccentric genius from the Industrial Revolution.

He has also spawned a growing body of academic analysis. "There are more people writing papers on Hayao Miyazaki in the United States than any other Japanese artist that I'm familiar with," said Frederik Schodt, a manga expert and co-translator of the newly published English version of Miyazaki's book "Starting Point." Miyazaki's "films are both popular and subversive, especially in regard to conventional gender coding," writes Tufts University professor Susan Napier.

While Miyazaki "bristles" at being described as the Walt Disney of Japan, Napier finds similarity but also key differences in the animation pioneers. Both sometimes draw on stories from other cultures, but unlike Disney's tendency to imbue the characters with American values, Napier says, Miyazaki creates "characters that, while retaining certain characteristics linked to Japanese society, are distinctively more independent in thought and action than the group-oriented characteristics traditionally celebrated in Japanese culture."

Similarly, Miyazaki himself reflects and stands apart from his society. His enormous popularity in Japan stems in part from his unsurpassed mastery of animation, a medium embraced by the culture at large and, at its best, regarded as more intellectually ambitious than its American counterpart. At the same time, in an environment that stresses group harmony, the outspoken director can be sharply critical of others in his field and unafraid of challenging traditional views, whether related to women's roles or espoused by the ruling political conservatives.

And if you want to avoid his disfavor, don't call his films "anime." He calls them animation or manga films, saving the term "anime" for quickly made products of lesser quality, largely for TV.

One reason for fascination with Miyazaki may be his contradictions. The director whose films typically end with an uplifting affirmation of humanity suitable for children is the same director who told his Berkeley audience, "It would be wonderful if I could see the end of civilization during my lifetime." The man who is able to entrance children, and adults, with his animation is the same one who complains about children spending too much time with virtual reality instead of being outdoors in nature.

UC Berkeley honored Miyazaki with the Japan Prize, first given last year to writer Haruki Murakami, for contributions to the understanding of Japan. Miyazaki provided further fodder for academics in his brief acceptance remarks, which consisted of an extended metaphor about those in the entertainment field needing to insert a pipe down through the sheets of paper full of data and figures that fill our daily lives. "We have to start fishing from way down below where there is no paper," he said through an interpreter. "And the only way that we can really justify our presence and our work is to continue to make this effort to make this hole and go deeper and deeper."

He is highly revered in Japan, where the top-grossing films are typically American, except in years when Miyazaki's work is showing. "Ponyo" led last year's list, grossing about $160 million, nearly triple the amount pulled in by the top U.S. film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

Limited U.S. audience

And though he's also popular in the world at large, his work has seen only limited release and ticket sales in America. While "Howl's Moving Castle" grossed $230 million internationally, it pulled in only $4.7 million in the U.S.

But this time Disney is staging its largest ever Miyazaki debut with "Ponyo," in more than 800 theaters, and has assembled a constellation of talent for the dubbed voices, including Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neesom, Lily Tomlin and Betty White. The leading children roles, the goldfish/girl named Ponyo and the boy Sosuke, are voiced by Noah Cyrus (Miley's younger sister) and Frankie Jonas (kid brother of the popular singing trio). The dubbing is the only difference from the original, in line with the policy of Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli that no cuts or other changes be made for the international market.

But is "Ponyo" representative of his work as a whole? The G-rated film seems targeted to young kids, with 5-year-olds as the two leading characters. GhibliWorld.com, a fan site, notes "an obvious change" in "Ponyo," where "character designs are clean and simple and shadows seem to have disappeared."

Asked if he is concerned about American audiences seeing "Ponyo" as typical of his work, Miyazaki said in a brief interview, "What I've been doing in a sort of haphazard way without much thought before, I've tried to clarify in 'Ponyo.' " For example, he said, Studio Ghibli returned to sole reliance on pencil drawing in "Ponyo," abandoning limited use of computer graphics in some films to supplement Ghibli's trademark cell animation. He didn't mention that he did a major part of the drawing himself.

What about those who see deep meaning and mythology in his work? "I don't intentionally make deep movies," he said. "It's not that I set out to make films that deal with myths, but as I develop the story, aspects of older stories or myths enter into the story."

Nor does he seek inspiration in the contemporary work of others in his field. "I don't read manga anymore, I don't watch movies, I don't even watch the animation of my friends these days," he said. When he did watch films, he says in his book, he was "hardly a high-brow person," preferring the Charlie Chaplin film "Modern Times" to art-house movies. He makes films, he says, for Japanese audiences, particularly children, and is happy when audiences abroad also enjoy them.

And if he seemed at times like Coyote Trickster during his visit, he can also be frank and refreshingly honest. Why didn't he come for the Oscars in 2003 but came this time, including appearing at a sold-out tribute to him in July at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? "In 2003, I didn't want to come to a country that had just started bombing Iraq," he said. "This time it's an order from my producer that I come." He chuckled and added, "Combined with my friendship for John Lasseter."

"Redline" update: World premiere 8/14 at Locarno Film Festival

2009-08-07T16:28:00.008-04:00

Here's my latest for the Yomiuri in Japan: a story about the world premiere of Madhouse's "Redline" anime feature, including interviews with director and animation artist Takeshi Koike ("World Record") and screenwriter Katsuhito Ishii ("The Taste of Tea"). The boffo, over-the-top racing caper will debut next Friday, 8/14, at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland--beneath the stars in the open-air Piazza Grande, no less.

The story features interviews with both Koike and Ishii that I conducted with them back in Tokyo:

Anime with Texas roots to debut in Switzerland

Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri

"Manga Impact: The World of Japanese Animation," a special program at the 62nd annual Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, will include next Friday's world premiere of the Japanese anime Redline in the city's historic central square, which can accommodate more than 8,000 viewers.

Also featuring tributes to Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam), Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) and the Gainax studio (Neon Genesis Evangelion), "Manga Impact" is devoted to furthering the West's highbrow embrace of Japanese pop culture.

Redline, from Madhouse Studios, is one of a growing list of 21st-century Japanese-produced anime features that seek to return that embrace by deliberately targeting Western audiences.

"We really want non-Japanese to see and appreciate this work," says Takeshi Koike, Redline's director and chief animator in the Tokyo offices of Tohokushinsha, the film's worldwide distributor. "We were thinking of people who don't normally enjoy anime or know anything about it when we came up with the ideas."

The "we" he refers to is himself and veteran film director, screenwriter and illustrator Katsuhito Ishii (The Taste of Tea), who began collaborating a decade ago on the edgy underground film, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl.

Ishii was immediately drawn to Koike's distinctive style and skills, which he describes as a next-generation cross between the action-oriented bravura of Yoshinori Kanada (who worked on many Studio Ghibli films), and the meticulous design and artistry of Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll).

Ishii first encountered Redline's eventual target audience several years ago, when he stayed with a friend in the flatlands of rural Texas and discovered a phenomenon jarring enough for a Tokyo urbanite to record. Unlike city dwellers in such places as New York, rural Americans spent their weekend hours lovingly washing, polishing and endlessly tinkering with...their cars. [more here]

Keio Academy talk, 7/30/09

2009-08-03T16:47:00.007-04:00

KEIO 09

Thanks to Rieko, Miyoshi-san and the other fine folks at Keio Academy New York for a very fulfilling, tour-ending talk last week before a keen 'japan-american' audience (literally half and half), whose questions were astute and plentiful. It was an honor to be invited back, and this year I was better prepared for the age group.

A few photos (courtesy of Miyoshi-san) of me and the kids below. I launched from Tokyo to Sydney three weeks ago, trekked through Brisbane, Melbourne, LA and San Francisco/Berkeley. Seven cities in 14 days.

Lovely to wrap this leg at 'home' in New York:

(Awaiting the intro & cue)

(JapanAmerican kids 1)

(Queries about the cover--Who? Why?)

(JapanAmerican kids 2)

Hayao Miyazaki 2

2009-07-31T17:03:00.003-04:00

Hayao Miyazaki., originally uploaded by Emily Barrera.

And in B&W. (Photo by Emily Barrera.)

Hayao Miyazaki

2009-07-31T16:58:00.002-04:00

Hayao Miyazaki, originally uploaded by lotusstone.

With Miyazaki-san and interpreter Beth Cary at UC Berkeley, July 25, 2009. Photo courtesy of 'lotusstone.'

Miyazaki in Berkeley Preview

2009-07-24T04:02:00.005-04:00

Center for Japanese Studies Set to Bestow Japan Prize on Hayao Miyazaki

The Acclaimed Japanese Filmmaker's Appearance At UC Berkeley Presents An Invaluable Opportunity

CAROLYN KAO/ILLUSTRATION

BY DAVID LIU

Taking major steps to recognize one of modern cinema's most accomplished visual artists, UC Berkeley's Center for Japanese Studies has chosen animation director Hayao Miyazaki as the recipient of the 2009 Berkeley Japan Prize. As part of his much-touted stateside visit, the renowned filmmaker will participate in a two-hour interview at Zellerbach Hall on July 25, a highly anticipated event that will be moderated by Roland Kelts, Tokyo University lecturer and author of "Japanamerica."

Miyazaki will follow in the footsteps of noted Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, who received the prestigious award last October for his literary achievements. "The Berkeley Japan Prize honors individuals from all disciplines and professions who, through their work, have brought worldwide audiences to come into closer proximity with Japan," explained Professor Duncan Williams, current chair of the Center for Japanese Studies, in an e-mail. "We are honored to give the prize to one of the world's greatest filmmakers, who has brought Japan and the best in innovative Japanese culture to the world through the medium of film."

Born on January 5, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan, Hayao Miyazaki became fascinated with animation while still in high school. After graduating from Gakushuin University with degrees in political science and economics, he found work at Japan's renowned Toei Animation as an animator and concept artist. The success he enjoyed at Toei paved the way for a fruitful collaboration with director Isao Takahata, who would later co-found the influential Studio Ghibli with Miyazaki. Their work on the popular animated television series "Lupin III" would eventually lead to Miyazaki's first feature, 1979's "The Castle of Cagliostro" ... [more HERE]

Sydney synchronicity

2009-07-17T11:33:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Dr. Rebecca Suter, the Japan Foundation, the University of New South Wales and Sydney University for a stellar week in Sydney. I am honored to be here.

And big thanks to Tanya at Palgrave Australia.

We leave for Brisbane on Sunday.

japanamerica

Japanamerica in VANITY FAIR: How Japanese cute conquered America

Japan Society Interview @ NYAF 09, Part 2

Latest column for the Yomiuri / 3:AM on Miho and J-Pop in the USA

SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Japan's music-makers in America

Video interview with the Japan Society, @ NYAF 09

Private Worlds

Animation & Adbusters: two new stories

Jake Adelstein's TOKYO VICE

Live from St. Louis -- It's Saturday Night!

Meet us in St. Louis this weekend for ANIME @ UMSL

NYAF official schedule

On Gundam, girl-power AKB48 and this weekend's NYAF

SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Mecha auteur and mega girl group hit New York

@ NYAF, Sept. 25-27, w/Yoshiuki Tomino (Gundam), AKB48 & Yui Makino (Tsubasa)

from Medium At LargeRoland Kelts Comes To NYAF!

My review of "Tears in the Darkness" in Bookforum

SEPT/OCT/NOV 2009

Atrocity Exhibition

ROLAND KELTS

On Japanese simplicity and aesthetics in Adbusters

Japanese Simplicity

Steaks by the lake ....

Yomiuri column on Miyazaki, Horibuchi, Schodt and elections

Soft Power, Hard Truths / Miyazaki, Horibuchi and the virtues of change

Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri

Seiji Horibuchi's New People/J-Pop Center opens tomorrow

"The Soul of Japan," my latest for ADBUSTERS

The Soul of Japan

Miyazaki West Coast roundup in LA Times

Animator Hayao Miyazaki moves beyond good vs. evil plots

"Redline" update: World premiere 8/14 at Locarno Film Festival

Anime with Texas roots to debut in Switzerland

Keio Academy talk, 7/30/09

Hayao Miyazaki 2

Hayao Miyazaki

Miyazaki in Berkeley Preview

Center for Japanese Studies Set to Bestow Japan Prize on Hayao Miyazaki

Sydney synchronicity

from Medium At Large
Roland Kelts Comes To NYAF!