japanese

This isn’t the most exciting thing in the world but the girl on the left is a huge star in Japan. Her name is Mana Ashida and as a child of 7 years, she’s a hit. If K Pop is going to reign with sexy girls, then why not combat it with a new genre of J Kid Pop? With an older demographic and aging population, this is odd and something that’ll be studied.

“Most impressively, respected Japanese advertising agency Dentsu named Ashida the sixth best Japanese “product” of 2011—placing her in front of hybrid cars and emergency supplies.” (The Atlantic – Mana Ashida)

Tamae Watanabe makes it to the top. She held the previous record at 63 years of age. The oldest is a 76 year old Nepalese man who did it in 2008. Congrats.

Japanese scientists have transplanted hair onto a mouse and the follicle cells actually bound to nerves and tissue, sprouting from 74% of the follicles implanted. They even used human hair on the mouse and it worked. Scary thought and ideas starting to happen here. The new tattoo might be hair transplants in odd places. (WSJ – Mouse)

76 year old Japanese man, Masafumi Nagasaki lives on an island alone and naked. The island is 1000 meters across and he bakes in the sun. The island has no drinking water, yet this is where he chooses to call home. He gets a bit of money from his family and that’s about it. A short documentary sounds like a great plan. (Reuters – Naked Hermit)

Sporting a funny haircut and looking a bit interesting, Kazuo Ueda spent much of his life making a Yiddish – Japanese dictionary. Is it useful? Not really, but that’s how academia works. It’s a lot of effort on one small topic no matter how narrow and useful. But it’s done! Ueda now is showing signs of Parkinson’s and it’s attributed perhaps to his hard work. That said, a dictionary will cost $700 which is a steal of the fan of both languages. Are there any aside from him?

Either way, we’d say congrats on the 28,000 words and the effort. (NPR – Yiddish Japanese Dictionary)

Save the UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden. It’s a good looking garden that might get sold to a stranger. It’s in an extremely high rent area and the land is worth more than the value of the garden. The original family, the Carter’s didn’t want this to get sold and a protest is underway. There’s much more info at the link. (LAist – Japanese Garden)

Fujiya Market which has always looked out of place on Virgil was once in an area of Japanese Americans called J-Flats. No. I’ve never heard of that, and this market at 80 years is still there. The proprietors aren’t the originals, but the space looks classic and great. I made a comment recently about Granada Market on Sawtelle which shares a similar type vibe. It’s old, classic, strange and you hope it won’t close, but it probably will. No kid wants to take over an old market as much as they’d want to own a taco truck. For spots like these, I’d wish there were grants, rent subsidies and so on just to keep them open as historical locations. They do matter in the history of a city. (LA Weekly – Fujiya Market) For more photos, take a look at this flickr page by Guzzleandnosh.

He might be one of the greatest designers out of Japan, ever. Sori Yanagi, the creator of the often replicated Butterfly Stool and assorted kitchen items and more passes away at 96. I’m not sure if the title for the Washington Post article is cool, calling him a pioneer designer of arty stools and kitchenware, but if that’s how he’s seen, rather than creating useful and beautiful objects, then that’s short sighted. Would they call and or dismiss the Eames chairs arty? I doubt it. Yet, Yanagi is indeed a pioneer and kept his work useful and clean. When I see his body of work, I feel like I understand the man. If that’s really the case, I’ll never know, but his work stands out and it’s always of quality. (Washington Post – Yanagi)

DAILY PICKS

Momiji Doll – Poppet. It’s cool how it comes in a what looks like a take out container. ($16) Poppet is insanely cute and there are plenty of other styles of Momiji. Check the others out here.

Everyone needs erasers and these are the cutest. We have three types: Hedgehog, Animals, and Maneki Neko (Lucky Cat). We set it up so you can choose which styles work for you. ($1 ea)

KAMEN RIDER Vs. SUPER SENTAI kicked off a double anniversary celebration of Ishimori Shotaro’s famous characters in downtown Los Angeles last weekend.  Curated by Little Tokyo’s new pop-culture shop addition, Q Pop Shop, and supported by Bandai and Anime Jungle, this official tribute honors 40 years of Kamen Rider and 35 years of Super Sentai.  150 artists offered a unique and eclectic twist on these retro icons that have captivated generations.  Super Sentai would eventually evolve into today’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series.  Artists representing Japan included a rare mix such as TOUMA, Devil Robots, Chikuwaemil, Mad Barbarians, and Yucachin’- joined by Luke Chueh, Misha, Martin Hsu, Lillidoll, and a larger-than- life Kamen Rider.  The timing of this exhibit, hosted by JACCC  (Japanese American Cultural Community Center), falls on coinciding celebrations.  In Japan, Bandai is simultaneously developing a new Super Sentai artist-series line.  Their video game “Super Sentai Battle Ranger Cross” was released in September this year.  “KAMEN RIDER Vs. SUPER SENTAI: Anniversaries Tribute Exhibition” exhibits at JACCC in downtown Los Angeles, from November 5 – November 13, 2011. (Text and photos by Caro)

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Donald Keene is moving to Japan and this piece by Slate Magazine is also a moving piece. After teaching for 50 years at Columbia University, he’s packed it up and at 89 is calling Japan his home. If you don’t know him, he’s been a savior, slave, and artist himself to Japanese culture. He’s penned, translated, lectured, and stood for many facets of Japan. Film, poetry, literature, and more. We’d have to guess that he started off as a fan. (Slate – Donald Keene)

Sometimes, we almost want to say Totoros, but no, it’s just Hayao Miyazaki’s classic Totoro regardless of which form it’s taking. Totoro is a classic, everyone loves to say the name, and we have them in stock.

Just days ago, we wrote about the world wide stardom of Author Haruki Murakami. The BBC writes their own gushing piece about the author. One book store rep mentions Harry Potter in the same sentence as IQ84 in terms of sales. His book is set to come out next week, and it’s set to be a best seller at 1600 pages. There’s a lot of Murakami factoids and this one should wet your appetite to actually read this behemoth of a novel.

Julie Otsuka’s second novel is a quiet and disquieting story of the Issei. Written in the first-person plural from the point of view of the picture brides who become wives and then mothers, The Buddha in the Attic begins with the uneasy journey across the ocean. We follow the women and girls (as young as the early teens) as they experience disappointment and heartbreak with only flashes of satisfaction and hope. All the time there is a sense of impending doom that will snatch all of them away — and of course it happens.

The narrative structure allows for multiple and sometimes contrary impressions while providing a uniform voice. Consider the experience of the women on their first night with their husbands.

The tied us up and took us facedown on threadbare carpets that smelled of mouse droppings and mold. They took us frenziedly, on top of yellow-stained sheets. They took us easily, and with a minimum of fuss, for some of us had been taken many times before. They took us drunkenly. They took us roughly, recklessly, and with no mind for our pain.

The voice is most effective when capturing the paranoid time after Pearl Harbor was bombed and men are being rounded up and taken away after possibly having their name on a list.

The list was written in indelible red ink. The list was typewritten on index cards. The list did not exist. The list existed, but only in the mind of the director of military intelligence, who was known for his perfect recall. The list was a figment of our imaginations.

The Buddha in the Attic is a short book that also happens to be a quick read — Otsuka has chosen her words her words with care and the text is tight enough to repel rain. It is among the best fictional renderings of the stories of early Asian Americans who were allowed to exist in this country but never truly live.

Junko Mizuno is a manga artist from Japan now living in San Francisco. We interviewed her for Giant Robot magazine years ago at a time when she hardly spoke English. Now, she speaks English without issues and is busy exploring her comics and artwork. For GR2′s Robots exhibition, we have original pages of a special Japanese edition of Pure Trance. They’re all drawn by hand with some Zipatone added for shading. We have some of these pages available here.

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Aaron and Ayumi are an artist duo known as APAK who hail from of the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. Their art is whimsical and natural that reminds us of a Hayao Miyazaki movie. They created a world from their artwork and it’s ever expanding along their theme. Both real and friendly, the couple have shown their work nearly everywhere.

Their piece for Robots is stunning and it’s called Diamond Vehicle. It’s below! Take a look at the specs at the Giant Robot site.

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Mari Inukai is a friend to Giant Robot much like many other artists. Her work is often depicting her daughter Sena, but not always. Inukai explores popular culture with her own range of characters, which manifested into her own character figure series, Sekaiseifukudan as seen at Giant Robot Store. They’re not toys, but more in line as an artist work. The video below was taken at Comic-Con when Inukai signed figures and charmed new and old fans.

Her next exhibition, In the Wake of Dreams is below and begins tomorrow. It’s a four person show and should promise beautiful art works. Inukai’s daughter, Sena is pictured below, second from the left.

NY Times writes about West Coast coffee style. The pour over. It’s been here and yes it’s about Hario brand glassware that makes your morning coffee that much better. Thinking about that espresso machine, grinder, and all that gear? Forget it. Just keep it simple. If you’re going to drink it every day, you might as well make it right. You can go all manual for about $100. It’s too bad they mention Williams Sonoma as the place to get everything. Perhaps they’re a big advertiser in the NY Times, but there are plenty of places to order it online. Just do a search and you’ll probably find a better rate. If not get it locally. Support the shop that carries it. (NY Times – Hario)

On a visit to Japan nearly two decades ago, I learned that the folks I met were interested in Americans – not Asian or Japanese Americans, but actually it was in their perception of Americans, the “white” ones. My younger cousins who were in the single digit age, expected their American relative to look like Zach from Saved by the Bell. I witnessed them say that I was supposed to have blond hair and blue eyes. Then my friends in Tokyo introduced me to their friends who commented, “he’s just like us”. I thought, ‘cool, but who else could I or should I be?’

In the earlier 90s, after their economic bubble burst, Japan still had Levi’s fever. The US was exoticized and still rare. “Yankee”, an Americanized style party girl was supposed to be “cool”. Shops with American names popped up. As an Asian American in Japan, I was treated as lesser than a Japanese person. I looked the looked, but couldn’t speak the language. If I were white, I’d get a pass into the forefront, but instead, I was a like a mute dog.

My friend Shinya once told me, “maybe Giant Robot will help change how Japanese people see Asian Americans.” He said this in 1996 and I remember that statement to this day. (I can now argue if things have changed or not with or without Giant Robot’s help.)

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In this article, graphics legend Tadanori Yokoo does talk about his switch to art. It’s amazing however that despite is long career and influence in culture, that’s he’s not more widely regarded outside of Japan. Most of his well known pieces are his graphics works, which span decades. He’s done albums, movie posters and also fine art. He’s been doing fine art since 1981, and has a following for his works there too. Although the article is also featuring his current works, it still leans towards the posters and graphics which he is still most known. It’s great to see a person switch from being at a peak in a career to something that can be looked at so critically. (Japan Times – Tadanori Yokoo)