Japan Outreach: 2016

Here is a story from National Public Radio (November 2016), http://www.npr.org/2016/10/30/498827939/meet-the-musicians-behind-japans-vibrant-bluegrass-scene

And then there is James Stanlaw's documentary on the subject, too, from 10 years ago, and this more recent presentation:

Japanese-Bluegrass: Creativity and Nostalgia in a Borrowed Imaginary Musical Genre.". 91st Annual Meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society.. Central States Anthropological Society.. (2014)

2016/10/25

movie "0.5 miri" (2014, Japanese)

IMDB.com has an entry for this movie, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3825360/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1, which refers to a line by one of the characters toward the end of the film.

He talks about the power of human will - if enough people concentrate they can move a mountain _rei ten go miri_ (0.5 mm).

This full-length feature film presents a series of vignettes shining a light on a range of elderly people's experience in their twilight years.

So if you are looking for a possibly quirky take on contemporary life in regional and rural Japan, take a look at 0.5 miri.

2016/09/11

vivid Japan photos for public use

If you need luscious photos, or if you're up to the challenge of deconstructing national presentation of "who we are" then these pictures may serve the purpose.

This comes via Senseionline yahoogroup:

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry just launched a gorgeous website full of photos that are under the "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License" - Which means you can use them for anything, anytime. https://photo.kankouyohou.com/

2016/09/03

art in daily life - Japan's manhole covers

The Japan Times publised a story about local government making special designs for their covers.

It began in the 1980s to improve the public image about sewage systems! Perhaps the 12,000 images are online by now, but if you are in Japan then you can request a set of collector's cards.

[excerpt from news story]

...Ishii's is among a growing legion of hobbyists enchanted by what he sees as the beauty manhole cover design. Enthusiasts are taking to social networking services such as Twitter and Instagram to share their joy, and the photos fly back and forth.

"They are works of art. The designs embody details and subtlety of the Japanese aesthetic," said Hideto Yamada, a leader with Gesuido Koho Purattofomu (Sewerage Promotion Platform), a group of professionals and enthusiasts that includes officials from local governments and the infrastructure ministry's sewage management department.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/28/national/lifting-the-lid-on-japans-growing-crowd-of-manhole-cover-spotters

2016/08/23

video, Tokyo Olympics promotional segment

Lots of eye candy, concluding with clever homage to video game icon Mario, played by PM Shinzo Abe at Rio summer Olympics closing ceremony, https://streamable.com/mh3w

Security from human calamity and preparedness for natural disasters will be well in place, one imagines!

2016/08/21

series this week on Japan's 27% elderly population - National Public Radio, Ina Jaffe

On the Sunday morning show, "Weekend Edition - Sunday," there was a segment on Japan being the oldest society these days with 27% at age 65 or older; life expectancy 5 years longer than USA; replacement birth rate falling short, 'scarecrow village' south of Tokyo where once 300 lived now there are just 3 and all the scarecrows planted around the space once occupied by daily lives.

The transcript is posted a few hours after the broadcast story, http://www.npr.org/2016/08/21/490820273/how-japan-is-dealing-with-impacts-of-supporting-the-oldest-population-in-the-wor

One of more of the series coming throughout this next week could make useful classroom discussion openers, or writing prompts.

And if you are not shy about engaging online in public discourse, then you can leave comments to the stories.

==excerpt from Sunday episode, 21 August 2016

MARTIN: So what's it like to just spend some time in that country? I mean, do you see evidence of that aging population?

JAFFE: Oh, you do. In the cities, for example, (laughter) one of the places you see it is convenience stores. And one of the things they're doing to compete is finding ways to cater to their aging clientele. You'll find products there you'd never see in your local mini mart like prepackaged meals for people who have trouble chewing. But really the place that you see aging of Japan most clearly is in the rural areas. There's a term you hear in Japan, it's village on the edge, as in village on the edge of extinction. I went to one a few hundred miles south of Tokyo where the population has gone from around 300 people to just 30.

2016/08/16

photo blog; travel writing - Japan (lonelyplanet)

<><> The "tips and articles" section for Japan gives a series of articles, including lots of gorgeous photos.

For students of Japanese language and life, reading the text with a critical eye is a good exercise: ask "what context is missing" or "what limitation or bias does this writer seem to have." https://www.lonelyplanet.com/japan/tokyo/travel-tips-and-articles/1437 is a good starting place, but as you scroll down to the end, then the next article will load; or a link to "next up: ______" will display in the browser window at lower right corner.

<><> Related is the photo blog by a man long residing in Tokyo, but originally from the Boston area of USA, http://shoottokyo.com/
Same thinking exercise for students of Japanese language and life, apply a critical eye and ask "what context is missing" or "what limitation or bias does this writer seem to have."

2016/07/25

kyara Ben (character Bento)

Feature story Sunday morning on National Public Radio (USA), web version includes photos:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/24/486941516/japans-lunchbox-trend-kyaraben-takes-lunch-prep-to-another-level

[Excerpt]

Packing your child's lunch calls for a whole different level of preparation in Japan. There, moms often shape ordinary lunch ingredients like ham or rice into cute little pandas, Pokemon or even famous people's faces.

It's called character bento, and there's considerable pressure to produce these cute food creations. Tomomi Maruo has been teaching how to make character bentos, or "kyaraben" for short — at her home for the past 13 years.

"My kid brought kyaraben to the kindergarten and his friends saw the bento and moms started asking me how to make kyaraben so that's how I started teaching," Maruo said.

[related story-1] These Parents Make Lovely Lunch Bag Art. Not Everyone Is Pleased

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/29/401283301/these-parents-make-lovely-lunch-bag-art-not-everyone-is-pleased

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/04/170583365/in-japan-food-can-be-almost-too-cute-to-eat

2016/07/14

visual essay - Japan's exclusion zone around Fukushima reactors

This visual essay appeared July 14, 2016 at Digital Photography Review
Compare the interactive media essays at Magnum Photos,
<> Walking Kesennuma after the 2011 tsunami, part 1, http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/tsunami-streetwalk-1-kesennuma
<> Kesennuma streetwalk, part 2, http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/tsunami-streetwalk-2-kamaishi

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[excerpt from DPReview, http://www.dpreview.com/news/6195625964/photographer-captures-the-ruin-of-fukushima-s-exclusion-zone]

Keow Wee Loong, a Malaysian photographer currently based in Thailand, snuck into the zone with his fianceé to document the current state of Fukushima's abandoned towns – and what was left behind. From a supermarket picked over by wild animals, forgotten laundry at a laundromat and a wall calendar forever frozen on March 2011, his photos show the eerie remains of daily life brought to an abrupt halt.

You can see more of his Fukushima photos and his photography on his Facebook page.

2016/07/08

case studies 2011 Japan, disaster reconstruction

This special issue of the online journal includes 3 articles that focus on Japan after the disasters of 1995 (Kobe earthquake) and 2011. As well, there are two short video links.

Asian Ethnology. Guest edited by Philip Fountain, Levi McLaughlin, Patrick Daly, and Michael Feener.

The authors suggest new theoretical perspectives on guiding frameworks such as "religion," "disaster," "development," and "Asia" as they provide case studies of religious responses to recent disaster events in Asia. Many of the special issue's articles focus on Japan. In particular, the pieces by McLaughlin, Miichi, and Graf discuss ways Japanese religion has transformed in the wake of the 1995 and 2011 disasters.

The articles in the issue are as follows:

FOUNTAIN, PHILIP, AND LEVI MCLAUGHLIN
Salvage and Salvation: Guest Editors' Introduction [1-28] Vol 75:1 2016
BENTHALL, JONATHAN
Puripetal Force in the Charitable Field [29-51] Vol 75:1 2016
SAMUELS, JEFFREY
Buddhist Disaster Relief: Monks, Networks, and the Politics of Religion [53-74] Vol 75:1 2016
BHATTACHARJEE, MALINI
Sevā, Hindutva, and the Politics of Post-Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction in Rural Kutch [75-104] Vol 75:1 2016
MCLAUGHLIN, LEVI
Hard Lessons Learned: Tracking Changes in Media Presentations of Religion and Religious Aid Mobilization after the 1995 and 2011 Disasters in Japan [105-137] Vol 75:1 2016
MIICHI, KEN
Playful Relief: Folk Performing Arts in Japan after the 2011 Tsunami [139-162] Vol 75:1 2016
FOUNTAIN, PHILIP
Mennonite Disaster Relief and the Interfaith Encounter in Aceh, Indonesia [163-190] Vol 75:1 2016
FEENER, R. MICHAEL, AND PATRICK DALY
Religion and Reconstruction in the Wake of Disaster [191-202] Vol 75:1 2016
GRAF, TIM
Research Note: Documenting Religious Responses to 3.11 on Film [203-219] Vol 75:1 2016
In addition, Tim Graf (Heidelberg) produced two short vignettes to accompany the issue. The first documents a new festival at the temple Jōnenji that grew out of temple-based relief efforts after the March 11, 2011 tsunami in northeast Japan, and the second introduces a training program for "interfaith chaplains" that is led primarily by Buddhist priests and is now underway at Tōhoku University in Sendai.

Asian Ethnology is open source. Please click on the link below and select "Vol. 75" for Salvage and Salvation. Click on the Vimeo links for Graf's film vignettes:

http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/./asian-ethnology/listofjournals/
https://vimeo.com/141396760 and https://vimeo.com/141380269

2016/05/19

visual treat - cultural landscape

The group of images for the matsuri food vendor stalls, the family crests, and the decorative envelops all can be shared and used for discussion among students.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
theme, "typology" (sets of related images)

[kanban, stall signs at festival time]
Many festivals are held in summer in Japan. There are lots of street stalls, and each shop has colorful shop curtain. --Kotoko Nomoto
   https://www.flickr.com/photos/141902803@N02/26483406363

[kamon, family crests]
Japanese family emblems.   --Hikaru Kokami
   https://www.flickr.com/photos/141814370@N02/26481713914

[kinpu, money envelops]
This envelope is used celebrating event. For example wedding ceremony. If you use them, you have to follow the manners. --Minami Takagi
   https://www.flickr.com/photos/141842068@N06/27053979456

2016/03/03

on the occasion of the Fukushima anniversary

Japanfocus.org has high-level, but short essays each week.

Here is one about the 5th anniversary of the triple disaster, centering on N.E. Japan
http://apjjf.org/2016/05/Jacobs.html

[excerpt from the text]
...People whose suffering-at no fault of their own-is becoming invisible. Soon when we talk about Fukushima we will reduce the human impact to a quibbling over numbers: how many cases of thyroid cancer, how many confirmed illnesses. Lost-hidden-forgotten will be the hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee their homes, in many cases permanently, and try to rebuild their shattered lives. Public relations professionals and industry scientists will say that these people did this to themselves (see here, and here). And the curtain will draw ever downward as we forget them.

This is the tradition of nuclear forgetting.
________________________________________________________________
Recommended citation: Robert Jacobs, "On Forgetting Fukushima", The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 5, No. 1, March 1, 2016.

journal that includes photo essays among its articles

This call for authors to submit articles may be of interest to those keen on visual communication, but to those wishing to view examples, too, this article points to a place to see stories published to date:

Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, a quarterly, open-access online journal, is accepting proposals for photo essays for the September 2016 and March 2017 issues (and beyond).

Photo essays include: 1) 20-40 high-quality images with descriptive captions and complete source information, 2) a curator's statement, and 3) a longer non-peer reviewed essay (8-15 pages) contextualizing the photographs and highlighting their significance for current trends of inquiry in Asian studies. This essay can be written by the curator or by an invited scholar. To view archived Cross-Currents photo essays, please click here.

The photographs should be taken in China, Korea, Japan, or Vietnam. They may be contemporary images taken as part of the curator's research or archival materials. Please consult the Cross-Currents mission statement to determine whether the proposed essay fits within the journal's historical and disciplinary scope. Obtaining copyright permissions for all images is the responsibility of the curator.

Proposals should include: 5-10 sample images (as a single PDF); a one-page description of the theme of the essay and the timeliness/importance of the images to scholars of Asia; a brief bio paragraph about the curator; and complete contact information.

2016/02/21

anthropology thinkers in Japan

A complete list of the past 15 volumes of the Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology (JRCA), the official English-language publication of the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology (JASCA), is online at

http://ci.nii.ac.jp/vol_issue/nels/AA11853860_ja.html

All JRCA articles are open access and may be downloaded free. If you are interested in what is going on in the Japanese anthropological community, please take a look.

Takami Kuwayama, Editor-in-chief for the JRCA
Hokkaido University

2016/12/08

2016/12/07

2016/11/05