Japan 433
Books: The End of Cool Japan
By Jonathan Clements. From its cheeky, quirky cover, to the selection of its contributors, to its unifying tone, Mark McLelland’s new anthology deserves to shoot right to the top of Japanese Studies reading lists. The End of Cool Japan: Ethical, Legal and Cultural Challenges to Japanese Popular Culture offers a vital and timely warning for […]
The Water Margin
By Hugh David. The ancient sages said: “Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon?” So may one just man become an army.” A trio of Japanese TV serials aired in the 1970s on UK TV, becoming instrumental in creating Britain’s early generation […]
Only Yesterday
Jeremy Clarke finds out what’s really new in the new release. A week before When Marnie Was There arrived in UK cinemas this June, Studio Ghibli’s earlier Only Yesterday came and went with comparatively little attention. Isao Takahata’s 1991 follow-up to Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday came out on DVD in Japan in 2003, […]
Books: Yurei – The Japanese Ghost
By Jasper Sharp. The clammy deathly-blue pallor, the single drooping eye leering through lank, matted black hair, the white cotton smock, the slow, spasmodic, Butoh-esque movements: there must be few out there unfamiliar with the imagery of the Japanese ghost since the shuffling form of Sadako first seeped into Western consciousness in Hideo Nakata’s Ringu […]
Empire of Corpses
By Hugh David. Few mediums have been so conducive to a genre as anime has been to steampunk. Where live-action ventures are stalled by budget, requiring both the costs of a period drama (costumes, locations, props) and a sci-fi actioner (special effects blended with action scenes), anime can create convincing worlds based on modified technology […]