shin godzilla (godzilla resurgence)

08Sep16

Shin Godzilla (シン・ゴジラ — Shin Gojira), the new Godzilla movie co-directed by Hideaki Anno (of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame) and Shinji Higuchi (who worked on the Gamera movies from the 1990s), turns out to be a scantily concealed allegory about the failure of the Japanese government to deal adequately with the nuclear crisis at the […]

Filed under: cinema, culture, film, Japan   |  2 Comments
Tags: alienation effect, anti-sentimentality, ゴジラ, シン・ゴジラ, Bertolt Brecht, Brechtian, distancing effect, Fukushima Daiichi, Godzilla, Godzilla Resurgence, Hideaki Anno, nuclear disaster, political allegory, radiation, Shin Godzilla, Verfremdungseffekt

happy year of the mouse!

26Dec07

Thanks to Sean Breslin for this wonderful Photoshop extravaganza featuring Godzilla trampling all over a photo of Tokyo Tower that I took during my 2001 trip to Japan. It’s the Year of the Mouse this year in Japan, though you might want to call it the Year of the Rat if you’re that way inclined. […]

Filed under: cinema, funs, Japan, Kansai, Osaka, personal, photography   |  2 Comments
Tags: ゴジラ, Gamera, Godzilla, oshogatsu, photoshop, Sean Breslin, Tokyo Tower, Year of the Mouse, 東京タワー

nakano

26Jul06

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: まんが, まんだらけ, やおい, タコツェ, ブロードウェイ, マンガ, Broadway, collectibles, comics, Dada, ero manga, fetishism, Godzilla, kaiju, Mandarake, manga, Nakano, nostalgia, ramen, shojo manga, t-shirts, Taco Ché, Tofu Head, Ultraman, yaoi manga, 少女漫画, 漫画

akihabara

22Jul06

After an easy shinkansen ride up to Tokyo, through which Jess remained rather passed out the entire time, we made our way to Sendagi where we met up with Tomo. Tomo very kindly let us rest up and refresh ourselves, and then we took off for Akihabara, a must see on Jess’s tourist agenda since […]

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Tags: Akiba-kei, Akihabara, anime, おたく, オタク, ゴスロリ—, bishojo, collectibles, 秋葉系, 秋葉原, 美少女, dolls, electronics, Famicom, fetish, fetishism, figurines, Five Star Stories, Godzilla, Gothic Lolita, Gundam, guns, maid, maid café, manga, mania, militarism, military, obsession, otaku, otaku culture, pornography, Tokyo, toys, video arcades, video games, vintage games, vintage gaming, 東京

godzilla vs. biollante!!!

29Dec05

It’s a Godzilla movie from 1989, which means it’s well out of the classic zone for Godzilla movies and well into the phase where what’s interesting about the films is the negotiation between faithfulness to the genre and the need to modernize action/effects for a contemporary audience. What really matters in this movie, however, is […]

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Tags: Biollante, Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Biollante, kaiju, kaiju dentata, moview review, plot spoilers