Natsuki Ikezawa is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and English-Japanese translator who won the Akutagawa Prize in 1987. Much of his work takes up the relationship between civilization and nature.
When the Korean War began in 1950, Japan became the United Statesβ logistical heart and emotional escape. Known as R&R (Rest and Relaxation), the troops referred to Japan trips colloquially as I&I (Intercourse and Intoxication) or even A&A (Ass and Alcohol).
The Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution film opened at #1, and the Chainsaw Man film fell to #4 last weekend at the Japanese box office.
Akita Prefecture has Japan's most aged population, lowest birthrate and fastest declining population. Rigid gender roles are prompting young women to leave rural areas like this for opportunities elsewhere.
CFP: Call For Proposals: Gothic Blackness: Exploring Ethnogothic, New Black Gothic, and Afro-Gothic Themes in Literature, Film, and Culture
Special Issue of American Gothic Studies
Guest Editor: Dr. DeAnna Daniels, University of Arizona
Proposals due 8/15/25, with essays due 2/1/26
Eiko Yamada shares how she got the role, working with acclaimed Ghibli directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, and her most memorable moments.
Very sad news. Oyster farmer Shigetaka Hatakeyama has passed away. He practiced oyster farming by actively participating in forestation activities, which resulted in delicious oysters. He left behind a remarkable achievement in spreading the phrase 'The forest is the lover of the sea'.
x.gd/e1mtTv
That is lovely. Varda's approach to storytelling, the ethics and philosophy of it, the beauty of it, will bring so much to the classroom!
"Even though everybody suffers differently, you can think yourself in their position."
Image of the black cat from Flow next to a photo of an adorable black cat tilting its head curiously at the camera. Text reads, "The global success of Academy Award-winning animation Flow has helped to increase the adoption rate of black cats." Not attributed but I fact checked it.
The power of on-screen representation π»πββ¬
We all need a Grave Friend. I love this!
β¨π NEW CFP: The Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures symposium (supported by the University of Tokyo, Media, Gender, and Sexualities Study Group) is coming back for its second edition!!!β¨π
π© Send us your abstract by March 21 at popculturesjapan@gmail.comβ¨
Share widely!
"Even in the darkest places, within the most broken systems, humanity persists."
A Meiji-era law requires Japanese couples to choose a single last name. As legislators in Japan debate repealing it, a new poll shows that a majority of women wish they had had the choice to keep their maiden names when getting married.
buff.ly/sSf1GFL
#Japan
Far from home but connected always through music. The best time travel machine.
βHe wanted also to have the freedom to just be a photographer, not a Black photographer, not an anti-apartheid photographer, and that part was never allowed to himβ
@leighsinger.bsky.social speaks with director Raoul Peck about his new doc Ernest Cole: Lost and Found www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
Before the 4B movement, there were Comb Sisters:
Unwed women in Chinaβs Canton Delta found autonomy and sisterhood in gupouks, innovative communal homes that emerged in tandem with the industrialization of silk-making.
#IWD #WomensHistoryMonth
We invented #Steelpan πΆπΆπΆ
#Panorama2024 final #Inventor (AirPods in)
youtu.be/DNOEpeQLx-Q?...
And for #Panorama2025
Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra
Tune of choice: Bet Meh
Singer: Machel Montano
Arranger: Leon "Smooth" Edwards
#weareallstars #Pushin90 #allstarsforever
These images of Black merpeople are incredible. Literally just finished reading The Deep by @riverssolomon.bsky.social *yesterday* and it's amazing to see these pictures right after. Highly recommend looking at each and every one (and also reading that book)
Tadanobu Asano hearing he has won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor. x.com/Variety/stat...
Happy public domain day!
web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicd...
also there's a great Merle Oberon biography coming. we share a pub date!
wwnorton.com/books/978132...
#HBD to Ida May Park "Park flourished at Universal, where she wrote 44 films, half of them feature length, between 1914-1919. Before 1917, Parkβs husband directed almost all of the films she wrote. In 1917, Park began directing her own scenarios..."
For my final Directed By Women Viewing Guide of the year I've highlighted 73(!) films from 2024 worth seeking out that are available to rent or stream.
Read: oldfilmsflicker.substack.com/p/you-dont-r...
Digitizing rare books is no small feat! ππ₯οΈ Explore the digitization process and some of the fantastical works of the Harvard-Yenching Library by revisiting our #NCCSpotlight by Japanese Collection Librarian Kuniko Yamada McVey! guides.nccjapan.org/homepage/new...
"Tazuko Sakane was the first female director in Japan. By 1936, Sakane had taken a variety of positions at virtually all stages of film production, ranging from director and editor to script supervisor and assistant director." #bornonthisday
"Yuta Takahashi, 24, is working to secure the abolition of nuclear weapons through a group he launched that aims to carry on the wishes of a prominent atomic bomb survivor."
www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12...
"Au Revoir Mon Monde" (Goodbye My World) french student short (MOPA school) is now online.
By Estelle Bonnardel, Quentin Devred, Baptiste Duchamps, Maxime Foltzer, Florian Maurice, Astrid Novais.
Full film >> www.catsuka.com/news/2024-12...
I think we've all more or less had a dream like that ;o;
