http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/jishin0311/movie/chapter_66.html

Via Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica and the contributing editor for MONKEY BUSINESS:  New Voices from Japan:

A Letter from A Public Space (Brooklyn-based literary publication):

A Public Space Literary Projects announces the debut issue of MONKEY BUSINESS: New Voices from Japan, with April/May launch events in New York City.

New York City, New York, April 4, 2011—A Public Space (APS) announces publication of the first annual English language edition of Monkey Business: New Voices from Japan (MB), supported by a generous grant from the Nippon Foundation. Three launch programs in New York City in late April and early May will bring together authors, translators and editors from Japan and the US for this first-of-its-kind trans-cultural literary event. Twenty-five percent of all MB sales will go toward the Nippon Foundation/CANPAN Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

Monkey Business is a Tokyo-based Japanese literary magazine founded in 2008 by award-winning translator, scholar, editor and author Motoyuki Shibata. One of Japan’s best known and most highly regarded translators of American fiction, Shibata has won numerous accolades, most recently the 2010 Japan Translation Cultural Prize for his translation of Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon, and has introduced to Japanese readers works by Paul Auster, Steven Millhauser, Rebecca Brown, Stuart Dybek and Steve Erickson, among others.

Shibata, who was interviewed in the first issue of APS, modeled MB in part on the Brooklyn literary journal. Founded in 2006 by editor Brigid Hughes, A Public Space is devoted to cutting-edge literature—not just from American contributors, but by writers and artists spanning the globe. Each issue presents a portfolio that explores an international literary scene. The debut issue of APS featured a portfolio from Japan, curated and edited by author Roland Kelts (Japanamerica) and MB founder Shibata, and featuring contributions from Haruki Murakami, Yoko Ogawa, Kazushige Abe and others. Issue 1 was praised by readers in the US and Japan and has long been sold out.”

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with our Japanese friends on this 21^st Century meeting of East and West through art,” says Hughes.

The debut English language edition of MB culls the best writing from the first ten issues published in Japan.  It was edited by Shibata and Ted Goossen, a professor at York University in Toronto and general editor of the Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories who has translated work by Murakami, Naoya Shiga, Masuji Ibuse and others. Hughes and Kelts contributed to the English language editing. Stories, poetry, interviews and even a manga, or Japanese comic, reimagining Franz Kafka’s The Country Doctor, grace its pages.

“Our inspiration for the name Monkey Business is the immortal Chuck Berry tune,” Shibata writes. “No other work of art that I know of deals with the aggravations we face every day so straightforwardly and with such liberating humor. That is the guiding star we follow on this journey.”

Generous support for this trans-cultural literary project is provided by The Nippon Foundation, the Asia Society, the Japan Foundation and the Japan Society, and has led to the hosting of three launch events in New York City—Japanese contributors Hiromi Kawakami, Hideo Furukawa, Minoru Ozawa and Shibata will join Americans Steve Erickson, Rebecca Brown, Joshua Beckman, Kelts and Canadian Goossen on April 30 at the Asia Society, May 1 at BookCourt, and May 3 at the Japan Society.

As Stuart Dybek writes in a letter introducing the issue: “The books and anthologies that line my shelves attest to the fact that we live in a golden age of translation.  Even so, it’s rare to have a literary magazine like Monkey Business appear in English. It arrives with the sense of discovery and immediacy that one reads literary magazines for. The first issue features poetry, manga, a wide-ranging, in-depth interview with Haruki Murakami, fiction from Hideo Furukawa, a beautiful sequence of vignettes by Hiromi Kawakami, and much more. Such monkey business—vital, fanciful, subversive, haunting…”

Motoyuki Shibata, Roland Kelts, Ted Goossen, and Brigid Hughes are available for interviews. Review copies are available on request. Additional information can be found at www.apublicspace.org

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Contact: Roland Kelts (Japanamerica)
Organization Name: A Public Space
Telephone Number: 718-858-8067
E-mail Address: press@apublicspace.org
Web site Address: www.apublicspace.org

Attention JETAA UK! Join Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, at The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in London on Thursday, April 14 for a talk on “Pop culture from a Multipolar Japan.”  Talk is 4-5 pm followed by drinks reception to 6pm.

Note:  If you plan on attending, please register for the event at http://www.dajf.org.uk/events/booking-form

The discussion takes place this Friday, March 26, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown Hotel. More info can be found under “# 69″ here: http://www.aasianst.org/annual-meeting/2010/Friday.pdf

Philly-area JET alums are encouraged to swing by and say hello.

Is this another example of ‘gaitsu‘–Japan being affected by foreign pressure?

Column is here:  http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20100319TDY11101.htm

Here’s the flyer with all the relevant info for the event:

He recently appeared on ABC’s World News Tonight.  And even more recently he was commissioned to write an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor to clarify some of the vast cultural misreadings evident in the Congressional Toyota/Toyoda hearings.

• Toyota and trust: Was the Akio Toyoda apology lost in translation? Stung by Toyota recalls, Toyoda had to convey sincerity – and bridge the gulf in communication styles between Japan and America. http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0225/Toyota-and-trust-Was-the-Akio-Toyoda-apology-lost-in-translation

• Roland is also quoted in this AP article on Toyota:  “Toyota President Battles Crisis in Family Company“ http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/02/19/toyota_president_battles_crisis_in_family_company/?page=full

And addressed the topic of Toyota in an interesting way in his recent Daily Yomiuri column on The Super Bowl, Toyota, Anime and Hollywood:

• SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Anime must eventually transcend Japan ‘national’ brand http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20100219TDY11003.htm

And if you’re looking for commentary on non-Toyota topics, then you can listen to Roland’s recent appearance on NPR discussing a wild relic of Japanese popular culture, a viral video of Japanese ‘Jazz Opera,’ produced in 1986 by Tamori, the great comedian:

• http://www.theworld.org/2010/02/17/japanese-jazz-opera/

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20100122TDY11003.htm

Also, fyi, Roland is now down in Miami for the Super Bowl (his sister works for the NFL!) hanging out with his pal Pete Townsend of The Who which will be providing the halftime entertainment.  Here’s the post from Roland’s blog:  http://japanamerica.blogspot.com/2010/02/super-bowl-in-south-beach.html

Violinist Diana Yukawa

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Here’s the latest SOFT POWER/HARD TRUTHS column in the Daily Yomiuri by Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, this one about hybrid people, hybrid music and hybridization as a trend.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20091218TDY11001.htm

Diana Yukawa age 8

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http://www.fantopro.com/blog/2009/12/book-review-japanamerica.html

Just in time for the holidays, in case you’re looking for that special gift for that special JET friend or Friend of JET!

Here’s the link to the post:  http://japanamerica.blogspot.com/2009/12/psychology-today.html

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The JET alumni community already has a great reputation for writers such as Bruce Feiler, Roland Kelts and James Kennedy among others.  And now we’re starting to make our mark on the world of film as well.

JET alum Aaron Woolfolk‘s film The Harimaya Bridge, starring starring Ben Guillory, Saki Takaoka, Misa Shimizu, and Danny Glover (who is also the Executive Producer), is making its New York debut on Sunday December 6 (with Q&A and cocktail reception to follow) and Sunday December 13 as part of the African Diaspora Film Festival.

(Editor’s Note: I already bought my ticket for the Dec 6 date!)

The film had a nationwide theatrical release in Japan beginning in June, and the response from audiences and critics was fantastic.  (There was also a showing in Los Angeles back in June that a number of JETAA Southern California JET alums attended.)

The film will be showing in New York:

• Sunday, December 6 @ 5:30PM – Thalia Cinema, Symphony Space (95th & Bway) – GALA SCREENING. Followed by a Q&A with director and catered reception
• Sunday, Dec. 13 @ 7:30PM- Thalia Cinema, Symphony Space (95th & Bway)

This looks to be a big event for the JET alum community, so get your tickets now and hope to see you there.

Here’s the trailer for the film:

In the first, he talks about the connection between manga and anime and traditional Japanese line-based aesthetics–or what Takashi Murakami now calls “Superflat”:

And in the second video, he discusses the fundamental differences between American visual iconography and Japanese sensibilities, with a reference to Pokemon in America and McDonald’s in Japan:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20091120TDY13001.htm

FYI, images below are 1) Commodore Perry’s bow, 2) Obama’s bow and 3) Political commentary from Perry’s day.

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Here’s a radio interview Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, did in Tokyo this past weekend with Tyler Brule, founder and editor of the UK-based Monocle magazine, about manga in Japan and overseas, and Japanamerica:

http://www.monocle.com/The-Monocle-Weekly

The Japanamerica segment is introduced at 1:00 and starts at 22:00

Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, was interviewed by Japan Society of New York at the New York Anime Festival 2009 which was held September 25-27 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.  Let’s go to the video tape:

Part 1 of the interview:

Part 2 of the interview: