Archive for the ‘manga’ Category
gigantor
There seems to be an abundance of life-sized recreations of giant robots popping up all over Japan at the moment, a trend that I fully support. The latest of these is an 18-meter tall recreation of Testujin 28-go (鉄人28号) — known as Gigantor in English — that was constructed as part of an effort to […]
Filed under: animation, art, culture, design, film, history, Japan, Kansai, manga, society, video | 2 Comments
Tags: 神戸, 鉄人28号, firebombing of Kobe, giant robot, Gigantor, Hanshin Earthquake, kobe, life-sized, mecha, monument, recreation, statue, Tetsujin 28-go, WWII, Yokoyama Mitseru, 横山 光輝
Tokyo may have failed in its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, but at least it has an 18-meter Gundam statue to show for it. According to the Japan Times, the “35-ton fiberglass and steel monolith is the centerpiece of the Green Tokyo Gundam Project intended to raise environmental awareness.” While there are certainly […]
Filed under: animation, architecture, art, culture, design, Japan, manga, philosophy, politics, society, technology, travel | 2 Comments
Tags: aesthetics of futurism, architecture, お台場, ガンダム, フジテレビ本社ビル, consumerism, costume, creature, enjoyment, Fuji Television Building, future, futurism, futuristic, futuristic style, giant robot, Gundam, Kenzo Tange, mascot, mobile suit, Odaiba, pink rabbit-elf, planetary crisis, pleasure, robot, Tange Kenzo, Tokyo, 東京, 丹下健三
While Marié was doing a soundcheck with RF at Urban Guild, Akita and I went to Gallerie Aube to see Tanaami Keiichi’s latest exhibit, which was stellar. Tanaami’s avant-garde work includes animation, graphic design, painting, and poster design. His 1960s work, like Yokoo Tadanori’s, engages with a style of poster art known as ungurashibai. As […]
Filed under: art, comics, culture, design, exhibit, film, Japan, Kansai, manga, museum, politics, society, video | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1960s radicalism, 60s, 70s, ギャルリ・オーブ, bodily secretions, 田名網 敬, dreamscape, Galerie Aube, graphic design, Kim Deitch, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Layers, Mt. Fuji, poster art, psychedelia, psychedelic, radical politics, sex-pop mysticism, sexual, sexuality, social explosion, Tanaami Keiichi, underground comix, Ungurashibai, Yokoo Tadanori, 横尾忠則, 京都造形芸術大学
Takarazuka Review: Rome at Dawn
I thought I was prepared for Takarazuka, but in truth, I wasn’t. Sometime in the middle of May, my friend Julia Cho and her husband Ed came to stay with me during a grant-funded trip through Japan for the purpose of researching popular forms of Japanese art and culture that, in one way or another, […]
Filed under: art, culture, Japan, Kansai, manga, music, Osaka, performance, theater, writing | 2 Comments
Tags: performance, Takarazuka, Takarazuka Revue, 少女漫画, shojo manga, The Rose of Versailles, 宝塚歌劇団, Takarazuka Grand Theater, Rome at Dawn, rock opera, sword and sandals, Shakespeare, musical, Les Bijoux Brillants, song and dance, stage, theater, Julia Cho, playwright
Nakano
After spending the early part of the day in Akihabara, Jess, Tomo, and I headed to Nakano, another node for Tokyo subculture. The center of Nakano’s subculture is the Broadway（ブロードウェイ）building, which contains a stunning array of shops that specialize in used/collectible manga, figurines, limited edition and handmade items (especially t-shirts), and counterculture matériel. Most of […]
Filed under: comics, culture, eating, Japan, manga, society, television | Leave a Comment
Tags: Godzilla, kaiju, t-shirts, manga, fetishism, collectibles, Nakano, Ultraman, Broadway, ブロードウェイ, Mandarake, まんだらけ, 漫画, まんが, マンガ, 少女漫画, shojo manga, ero manga, yaoi manga, やおい, comics, Dada, nostalgia, Tofu Head, Taco Ché, タコツェ, ramen
The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum
On the second of December, J.’s friend Dan Nishimoto, who was in Japan to see his relatives, came to visit us in Osaka for a couple of days. Dan (who’s name is pronounced ‘Don,’ as in Don Corleone) used to work at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, but he now spends most of his time […]
Filed under: cinema, comics, culture, film, Japan, Kansai, manga, Osaka, travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: animation, anime, Astro Boy, Blackjack, Dan Nishimoto, 鉄腕アトム, mange, museum, Osamu Tezuka, Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum, Takarazuka, Takarazuka Revue, Tezuka, Tezuka Museum, 宝塚, 宝塚市, 手塚治虫
