Japanese Curriculum in Review

At the end of November, I designed my self a curriculum for the fall centered around Japanese culture. I’ve been fascinated by the country of Japan for most of my adult life. Where this fascination springs from is a mystery, though it likely began with playing numerous Japanese video games as a young person. That…

Film Review – A Letter to Momo, by Hiroyuki Okiura

A Letter to Momo is a touching film designed to evoke emotion in anyone who has loved a parent or lost one (which is most of us). It accomplishes this with humor, good character development, and genuine feeling. It mimics the work of Hayao Miyazaki in an obvious and reverential way. It’s beautifully animated, if traditional,…

Film Review – The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi, by Takeshi Kitano

Finally, we come to my first and only samurai flick of this curriculum. Oddly enough, I mistakenly added Zatoichi to my list thinking it was a different film. I had planned on watching The Twilight Samurai, which is much different, but mistakenly substituted ‘blind’ for ‘twilight’ in my Google search and came upon Zatoichi. I…

Film Review – The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, by Isao Takahata

Isao Takahata is fairly well known for his 1988 animated feature, Grave of the Fireflies, which is a heart-wrenching look at two orphaned children struggling to survive in World War II Japan. That film was hailed by many as a masterpiece of storytelling, and a touching look into the minutiae of war. Others found it…

Book Review – The Ark Sakura, by Kobe Abe

The Ark Sakura has all the makings of a novel I’d love. It has a Murakami-esque weirdness to it, and I could certainly see where Abe has influenced my favorite author, but the story itself never really comes together. Maybe it’s not supposed to.  Regardless, it has sparked my desire to read more Abe, and…

Manga Review – Mushishi, by Yuki Urushibara

Adding manga to my curriculum was a last minute thought. I’ve never been drawn to manga (Japanese comic books), despite my love of Japanese pop-culture and appreciation of certain animes (Japanese animated movies and shows).  It’s always seemed so…ridiculous. I say this as a man who loves ridiculous and absurd things. Why something both Japanese…

Film Review – Tokyo Story

During the few times this past summer when I’d visit White Yarrow Farm, Farmer Dale and I would wax poetic about all things Japanese. We would most often talk while harvesting potatoes, sometimes having hours-long conversations about film, literature, pop culture, and of course, food. More than once Dale would talk whimsically of his favorite…

Book Review – Premodern Japan, by Mikiso Hane and Louis G. Perez

In considering the full curriculum of Japanese culture that I’ve undertaken, it became clear to me as soon I as finished Premodern Japan that I should have read it before doing anything else. It is such a comprehensive look at Japan from its earliest written records up to the Meiji restoration that it puts anything…

Game Review – Persona Q Shadow of the Labyrinth

Had I not included it in my Japanese culture curriculum, I might have never finished Persona Q. It’s a long game, especially for a handheld system, and my final hour count came out to around 65 played. The majority of that has progressed over the last month, and before that in several chunks throughout the…

Book Review – Groteseque, by Natsuo Kirino

I’ve never been drawn to murder mystery novels, particularly those of American stock. I loved Edgar Allen Poe in high school, and still do, but feel that most of the current murder fiction out there is predictable and mediocre. Our national fascination with murder mysteries is itself incredible. We are a country both awe-struck and terrified of…

Book Review – Precarious Japan, by Anne Allison

Precarious Japan is a book published in 2013, not long after Japan’s massive earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown tragedy in March of 2011. It’s a socioeconomic look at modern Japan, where it’s at and potentially where it’s headed. What struck me most while reading through Precarious Japan was how familiar it felt. I live in the United States, a…

Book Review – The Counterfeiter and Other Stories, by Yasushi Inoue

I read The Counterfeiter over the better part of a day. It’s a short read at a mere 128 pages, and it’s a book of short stories. It’s divided up into three sections, with the title story, The Counterfeiter, taking up most of the book’s real estate. Obasute and The Full Moon are shorter, and constitute…