Little Boy: The Arts of
Japan's Exploding Subculture
Japanese Culture Book Review
Okay; this book isn't for everyone. In fact, there may be some here who will actively hate this book, because it takes a hard look at how pop-culture, particularly how the manga and anime revolutions have influenced the entire culture of post-WWII Japan.
Little Boy examines the culture of postwar Japan through its arts and popular visual media. Focusing on the youth-driven phenomenon of otaku (roughly translated as "geek culture" or "pop cult fanaticism"), Takashi Murakami and a notable group of contributors explore the complex historical influences that shape Japanese contemporary art and its distinct graphic languages. The book's title, Little Boy, is a reference to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, thus clearly locating the birth of these new cultural forms in the trauma and generational aftershock of the atomic bomb.
 This generously illustrated book showcases the work of key otaku artists and designers, many of whom are cult celebrities in Japan, and discusses their feature film and video animations, video games and internet sites, music, toys, fashion, and more. In the process, the following questions are posed: What is otaku, and what does it tell us about contemporary social, economic, and cultural life in Japan and throughout the world? How is it related to the pervasive and curious fixation on 'cuteness' evident in Japanese popular culture? What impact did the atomic devastation of World War II have on the development of Japanese art and culture?
This brilliantly designed, bilingual (English and Japanese) publication examines these themes to explore how contemporary Japanese art has become inseparable from the sub-cultural realms of manga and anime) -- a world where meticulous technique, apocalyptic imagery, and high and low cultures meet.
A dazzling array of works--ranging from the first Godzilla movie to the anime masterpiece Neon Genesis Evangelion to the provocative paintings of Chiho Aoshima--is accompanied by essays that delve deeply into their sources, themes, and resonance. The result is a superlative overview that will thrill manga and anime enthusiasts, and open up a new world of cutting-edge aesthetics and social critique to readers unversed in the fully loaded imagery and daring styles of Japan's globally embraced artistic innovations.
But beware; some of the deep ponderings are hard to digest -- often reaching into places we'd rather not go and dealing with subjects we'd rather avoid. It takes an artist to understand the cultural mirror that is art, and Murakami fits the requirements.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, February 2007
Pink Box: Inside Japan's Sex Clubs
Japanese Culture Book Review
You know, just doing a search for "anime" on Amazon now yields the first result as Hentai, so, it's high time we recognized that sex sells. And in Japan (as in the rest of the world) sex is *for sale* as well. But Japan, with it's outward victorian-ish prim and proper hides a seedy underbelly of really strange perverseness and this book introduces the steamier side of Japan's Fetish Clubs that cater to the bizarre (and sometimes hilarious) sexual tastes of the otherwise stoic Japanese.
 In Pink Box, photographer Joan Sinclair takes us on a journey inside the secret world of fuzoku (commercial sex) in Japan, a world where kawaii (cute) collides with consumerism and sex. Unrivaled in their creativity and the sheer number of choices, the clubs featured in this book offer their clientele every fantasy imaginable. Subway groping, visits to the nurse's office, and comic book character encounters are just the beginning of the immense list of possibilities that are played out in colorful playrooms for adults where no detail is overlooked. Sinclair's photographs capture it all, while an introduction by sociologist James Farrer provides a brief history of commercial sex in Japan and places the images in the context of contemporary Japanese culture.
"The clubs are a reflection of modern Japan," writes Sinclair, "where the rules are written out, prices are not negotiable, and fantasies are predetermined, prescripted, and prepaid." But those who dismiss the Japanese as excessively demure or morbidly repressed would do well to take a peep inside.
America has its run-of-the-mill massage parlors and topless bars, but only in Tokyo can you find entire clubs populated by faux nurses, teachers, stewardesses, and secretaries, not to mention naked karaoke, mirrored floors, life-size latex dolls, and bathtubs filled with green gel and faux-mermaids. And, as Tokyo police crack down on a wave of subway gropings, the Kabukicho district offers not one but three clubs equipped with immaculately reconstructed train cars filled with short-skirted schoolgirls who won't press charges.
Yep, it's weird. Yep, it's sometimes utterly tasteless - but yep, it's distinctly Japanese.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, November 2006
The Encyclopedia of
Japanese Pop Culture
Japanese Culture Book Review
When most of us think about Japanese pop culture images of the Power Rangers, Godzilla movies, and Sanrio products come to mind, however the indigenous pop culture is much richer. Instead of focusing on what the rest of the world has already encountered, Schilling provides an encyclopedic compendium of books, movies, music, comedians, and cultural scandals that have had the greatest impact in Japan. The book provides real depth and analysis in his articles, opening up Japan's rich pop heritage to the world. The book does more than list movements: it provides historical references and connections essential to understanding how these interests developed.
While the book doesn't cover everything, it acts more as an introduction to the subject matter. The book explores important cultural icons, from Misora Hibari and Sazae-san, through Pink Lady and Doraemon, ending with SMAP and Sailor Moon. If you're looking for a primer on Japanese pop culture over the last 50 years, this is the book.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, June 2002
Shogun (1980)
Japanese Culture DVD Review
James Clavell's masterpiece of a novel was many American's first exposure to Fuedal Japan, Japanese customs and culture, and the first to cast away many of the stereotypes we held about Japan. This brilliantly handled mini-series (featuring some American's first views of John Ryhs Davis and Toshiro Mifune) captures the flavor of the book, and adds plenty of action to boot!
Not seen on TV since the early 80's, many of you reading this now have probably never even seen this (or are too young to remember), so this may be a real treat for you. Starring the legendary Richard Chamberlain, we remember learning some of our first Japanese words by watching this. Wakarimasu, Angin-San!
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, March 2004
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture
Japanese Culture Book Review
This mega-informative volume contains a little bit about everything you need to know about Japan since 1945 to today. Over 700 entries cover areas such as literature, architecture, food, health, political economy, religion, and technology. And while it does cover music, film, TV & anime and manga, it also looks at more traditional aspects of Japan in the modern world, including kabuki and noh, fishing and fireworks.
With only 634 pages, the book sensibly points readers towards more in-depth studies. You may not get all the answers you want from an entry, but in most cases, you can close this book with a better idea of where you should look next. It would take twenty other books to cover the subjects that this one volume takes on - making this an excellent starting point for students of Japanese culture, or anyone with a deep need to understand modern Japan.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, February 2004
Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business
Japanese Culture Book Review
To an outsider, Tokyo and Times Square don't seem all that different. These similarities will seduce nearly every American who seeks to do business in Japan into thinking that the business practices of the country will be the same as in the US.
The truth is that the cultural differences are so vast and subtle that they are often beyond the comprehension of the majority Americans. In Japan, there is a high expectation of a certain standard of business etiquette and failure to achieve this standard could doom any hopes of doing business in that country.
This book seeks to redress this failure of Americans who do not know how to negotiate with the Japanese. The Japanese language is rich with expressions that conceptualize certain feelings or attitudes that are literally very foreign to Westerners but are key to the Japanese way of doing business. If you're planning on starting your own company to bring over anime, then you'll absolutely, positively, need to read this book.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, March 2003
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
by Herbert P. Bix
Japanese History Book Review
This is one of the better Japanese history books that we have recently read. To many, Emperor Hirohito of Japan is remembered as a helpless figurehead during Japan's wars with China and the U.S. According to the received wisdom, he knew nothing of the plan to bomb Pearl Harbor and had no power to stop atrocities like the Rape of Nanking. The emperor was the mild-mannered man who brought peace through surrender, certainly not "one of the most disingenuous persons ever to occupy the modern throne."
Herbert Bix's biography, however, argues that such accepted beliefs are myths and misrepresentations spun by both Japanese and Americans to protect the emperor from indictment. Since Hirohito's death in 1989, hundreds of documents, diaries, and scholarly studies have been published (and subsequently ignored) in Japan. Bix used these sources to develop this shocking and nuanced portrait of a man far more shrewd, activist, and energetic than previously thought.
Reviewed by Michael Pinto, September 2002
101 Un-useless Japanese Inventions:
The Art of Chindogu
Book Review
Author Kenji Kawakami has invented a wide range of silly gadgets which have a Rube Goldberg sense of humor with a zen flavor. Some of the featured chindogu (translated as "an odd or distorted tool") are Duster Slippers for Cats (for feline assistance with tedious housework), the Full Body Umbrella (for day-long all-over dryness), the Fish Face Cover (helps get the fish cut up with minimum emotional trauma), and the Temporary Ladies' Room Converter (stake your claim to the facilities). 101 Un-useless Japanese Inventions displays the above contraptions (along with many more) all lovingly photographed "in action."
Reviewed by Michael Pinto, May 2002
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