Dec 12

Update: Roland Kelts

Academic, Article/Journalism, Blogs, Books, Celebrity, Japan Trends, Roland Kelts, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Update: Roland Kelts

Here’s the latest update on JET alum Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica and professor at Tokyo University:

ADBUSTERS: A feature story, co-written with Leo Lewis of the Times of London, about signs of socialism and unrest among Japanese youth and the Kanikosen phenomenon is now online:
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/81/big_in_japan.html (On a related topic, Stacy Smith comments on recent political unrest following the closing of an auto manufacturing plant in Japan in WITLife #7-Totyota Shock (Part 2).)

DAILY YOMIURI: In his latest Soft Power/Hard Truths column in the Daily Yomiuri, Roland revisits Michael Arias, the only American to have directed a feature anime film in Japan–Tekkonkinkreet—(which, incidentally, premiered in the US at MOMA in 2007).  Arias’s forthcoming film is the live action Heaven’s Door (opens 2/7/09 in Japan), which Roland attended at a private screening last week.  Link to the column:  http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20081212TDY13004.htm

Seikai University Talk: Roland’s blog (japanamerica.blogspot.com) has a post about his recent talk at Seikei University in western Tokyo about Japanamerica where he introduced both the ideas examined in the book and the latest happenings in the trans-cultural exchange between Japan and the U.S.