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Category Archives: Culture
Origami
折り紙 The word “origami” is formed of the verb 折る (oru), in an infinitive form, and 紙 (kami), turned to “gami” as the second part of a compound word. I maintain that such pronunciation changes exist simply to make it … Continue reading
On Wars and Japanese Emperors
Losing The Plot So, I was reading another article in the Japan Times, this time on a playwright who is doing a play that examines the origin myth of the Japanese imperial line (which would be the Yamato line, for … Continue reading
On Japanese Popular Culture
Rejecting A Restrictive View In reading an article in the Japan Times about popular culture in Japan, the article takes a position that is overtly or covertly taken by many purported conveyors of wisdom about Japan: the position that popular … Continue reading
See, The Sushi Is The Rice…
A lot of people think that “sushi” is raw fish. Sushi refers to the rice; the sliced raw fish is sashimi. Without that little fact, the content at this link (which is from the Associated Press) wouldn’t make much sense. … Continue reading
Why Newtype Awakening Won’t Save Mankind
A Naive Idea, Often Repeated An idea advanced by Japanese writers, directors, and thinkers in general, goes something like this: if we only understood what was in each others’ hearts, war would cease and we would become a better, more … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Art, Culture, Japan
Tagged anime, art, culture, Cyborg 009-1, Gundam, Gundam 00, Japan, newtype, psychic, thoughtcrime
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Early Anime Impression: Gosick (Pronounced “Gothic”)
ゴシック (“Gothic”) Gosick is animated by Bones, which I have lauded in the past; I liked Heroman, but at any rate they tend to do far out and artsy stuff which I respect. Pronounced “gothic” (and you see this clearly in … Continue reading
The Fractale Scandal And Its Implications
A Sad, Infuriating Spectacle My experiences with the new anime Fractale began innocently enough with this article in the Asahi Shimbun (official romanization; ‘shinbun’ in text but ‘shimbun’ as spoken in Tokyo dialect). Long story short, director Yutaka Yamamoto sees … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Art, Culture, Japan
Tagged A-1 Pictures, anime, art, controversy, culture, fansubbing, Fractale, Japan, piracy, scandal, Yutaka Yamamoto
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Hitotsu! Japanese in Karate
一つ The easiest reading of 一つ (ひとつ、hitotsu) is one. So how can we explain something like this? Behold:
Anime Industry Revival, Outside Japan?
An Interesting Perspective Nothing much from me here, just the fact you might want to look over this article over at Asahi.com (in English). It’s about one anime creator’s feeling that the Japanese anime industry has grown too insular and … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Art, Culture, Japan
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The Sohei
Warrior Monks Although the word sohei is usually translated as warrior monks, the hei part fits “soldier” much better. These are monk-soldiers, but as English has no such term, warrior monks will generally do. The image above is a procession … Continue reading