tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post114708368260314719..comments2007-04-20T12:29:32.871+09:00Peter in Japanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406234614984212429noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147330975657814412006-05-11T16:02:00.000+09:002006-05-11T16:02:00.000+09:00"(Peter reminds himself to write that "Everything I needed to know about Japan I learned from watching Maison Ikkoku" post...)"<BR/><BR/>Hello,<BR/><BR/>Please write that post soon, I would very much like to read it. Only "Touch" comes close to the quality that show had.Yukikazehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891474583397078054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147284524284135372006-05-11T03:08:00.000+09:002006-05-11T03:08:00.000+09:00Well the entire idea of the book was predicated on the idea that this guy's son (backin 2003) got interested in anime/manga through the usual avenues (e.g. - Miyazaki movies, Akira tankobon, etc *rolls eyes*) and then he parallels his son's interest through reading Japanese literature and watching "classic" Japanese movies. They live in NYC too, which, if you've ever been there despite being "internacionale", does not have much besides Kinokuniya that has manga/anime. And his son seems the type that would've "found bookstores heinous boring dude". So it jumps from reading manga here to his 12 year-old son prodding him to goto Japan so he can interview big anime and manga creators. And apparently he ends up interviewing Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, at any rate half of this, the way it's composed sounds like fiction, so who knows, maybe he made the whole thing up. Sorry for the book report, but stuff like this in general irks me because it's so hackeneyed.<BR/><BR/>btw - I know Naruto is in filler arcs and such in Japan right now, but interest in the series is really waning there? I figured it'd surpass even DBZ and Sailor Moon in number of episodes at least, and cruise well through like 2008. I catch an issue of Shonen Jump at the Japanese grocery store (called Tokyo, heh) here on occasion and I know that the manga is still going.ichigokarasuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01251256193556314285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147251793859342512006-05-10T18:03:00.000+09:002006-05-10T18:03:00.000+09:00Yes, I've had that, reading books. One book that was otherwise good was "Successful Gaijin in Japan," but it was about gaishi-kei companies (foreign investment companies). So I'm like, expecting to read about Dave Specter and ended up reading about Coca Cola. Which was okay, but still...Peter in Japanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08503268110532650790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147247271928513622006-05-10T16:47:00.000+09:002006-05-10T16:47:00.000+09:00Reading the last part of this post made me think of a book I recently aborted reading. It's called "Wrong About Japan" and it's a perfect example of why you shouldn't write books about subjects you either a) don't fully understand and/or b) didn't do much research about. In the book the author points out that gaijin is "politely used as the word foreigner when <I>literally</I> it means barbarian," this is actually where I stopped reading. If this person had bothered to do any reading at all (and if you write books for a living, I'd say it's more or less your job to read as well), it's just the kanji for 'outside' and 'person', no barbarians involved. Normally I wouldn't be too mad at this, but I spent $12 on this book and I'm not one to sit at read 20 pages before I buy, but judging by the description of "all about Japan", I expected some degree of competency on the subject. Also the author's prose sounds like someone taking a journal of a trip, the margins are huge so as to center the page within 2" all around, and the text is big enough for the oldest of the old to read. It's irritating to see something become very "me too" for people to cash in on it.<BR/><BR/>Oh, and funlessmation is the white devil, it needs to be sent back to the deep dark hole from whence it came.ichigokarasuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01251256193556314285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147222178696212342006-05-10T09:49:00.000+09:002006-05-10T09:49:00.000+09:00Haha, yaki onigiri would be great!Peter in Japanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08503268110532650790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147205697078399622006-05-10T05:14:00.000+09:002006-05-10T05:14:00.000+09:00Ah!<BR/>Peter I thought of you last week when I got strange looks from the other guests at the bbq I was attending - I have brought yaki onigiri to grill up while we waited for the steaks and burgers to be ready.<BR/>At least it wasn't a whole squid!Shayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08148428741299211923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147112427697271062006-05-09T03:20:00.000+09:002006-05-09T03:20:00.000+09:00NOT NARUTO! *buys a Naruto Anbu Mask*Decompiledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18083662209804988773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147105279419675102006-05-09T01:21:00.000+09:002006-05-09T01:21:00.000+09:00Thanks. We'll do our best, but often, things start to become scarce in Japan just when we need them. Like Naruto, which is starting to wane here. Silly, who'd think that to be in Japan could be a bad thing when selling anime?Peter in Japanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08503268110532650790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9653036.post-1147104698980266252006-05-09T01:11:00.000+09:002006-05-09T01:11:00.000+09:00According to the Funimation (American licencor) website, the sreies known as Magister Negi Magi in Japan has been dubbed (no pun intended) "Negima!" for U.S. audiences. Volume 1 releases August 1st, so you may want to stock up on the Negi stuff around then.<BR/><BR/>Oh, almost forgot this in the last post: May the Force be with you. ^_^The Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03801411893036248965noreply@blogger.com