Some recent email correspondence netted me an interesting new find in the multicultural Japan online space. Dirk Schwieger, a German comic artist living in Japan, has been combining exploration of Japan with his art. He takes assignments from readers...
Few things seem to be so international as the game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Usually reserved for killing time or settling local disputes in physical games, a Japan-based businessman pushed the game to an international stage by asking the two premier auction...
The Matrix continues to be great fodder for transnational cultural ping-pong. While the Matrix creators acknowledge their debts to Japanese anime culture with Animatrix, Japanese fans re-domesticate the Matrix again with Matrix re-enactments. Now, UK anime fandom has brought...
During my latest trip to Japan, an advertisement for a book ダーリンの頭の中(Inside my Darling's Head) caught my eye. It seemed to be an English language book, but in manga form, and written by a Japanese woman about her Western...
This semester, I am teaching my Japanese Popular Culture class, and my students are bringing in things that they find as "show-and-tell" reports. This is the first of several installments on chanpon-themed items that my students are cluing me...
Much of my early understanding of Japanese history, I am sorry to say, came from my love of television samurai shows, the equivalent of westerns in the United States. Ken Matsudaira is a familiar face to anyone who watched a...
Joi just blogged on some Japanese flash synchs of the Romanian group O-Zone's song "Dragostea Din Tei". The original music video is here and here is one example of a flash synch and here is another. If that isn't enough...
We've already blogged Matrix uptake in Japan and how the Matrix was inspired by Japanese animation. Here is another more literal take on this ongoing cultural ping-pong. The winner of the hugely popular annual 金ちゃん�・#65533;�取�T吾の全日本仮装大会 (Kinchan and Katori Shingo's National...
I am overwhelmed by spam. As a result, I'm following various legislative, technical and social means to combatting unsolicited commercial email. Recently, the US Government hosted a three day event to talk about the problem. Judging by these notes, "Conference...
<a href="http://www.jlist.com/R/SHRT/"><img alt="baka_gaijin_p2069_small.gif" src="http://www.chanpon.org/archives/images/baka_gaijin_p2069_small.gif" width="151" height="120" border="0" align="right" /></a>People are always making fun of stupid English on Japanese T-Shirts. Well <a href="http://www.jlist.com/R/SHRT/">here's a site</a> that sells stupid Japanese on American T-Shirts. <i>Thanks Kevin and Dave!</i>
Pretty funny parody site: Origami Boulder. I am torn about the faux "engrish" on the site - on the one hand it made me laugh, but it's borderline offensive. However, I love the concept!...
Mizuka turned me on to this. It is a flash animation of Admiral Perry, one of the most important gaijin in Japanese history. A MUST SEE. ペリーの肉声...
Disrupting the quiet contemplation of miniature forestry: mixing a prototypical Japanese aesthetic form with dented driving souveniers from a land of vast freeways, Boston-area artist John Rooney has created "CrashBonsai." From the web site, you can see a gallery of...
Japander.com hosts video clips of American stars who have advertised in Japan, from Brat Pitt to Stevie Wonder, with Luc Besson and Harrison Ford thrown in between. Some of the clips are amusing to watch for American audiences, presumedly because...
From Jun... ↓かなり笑える、って言うか 外人さん達よく頭が回るわねぇ、そこまで… って感じよ。笑って暑さを吹き飛ばしてください。 今日のThat's談： 日本語用例。 低下が心配される子供たちの「国語力」を向上 させるため、文部科学省は来年度から、全国の公立小中高校の中から「国語教育 推進校」約２００校を指定する。 外人の視点から（一応私もアメリカ人です） 日本語は難しく、奥深いと思います。 今日は日本語と外人に纏わる面白い話を 提供してもらいましたので紹介します： 外国人が受けた日本語検定試験とその回答... 問1 「あたかも」を使って短文を作りなさい。 答: 冷蔵庫に牛乳があたかもしれない。 問2:「どんより」を使って短文を作りなさい。 答: 「僕は、うどんよりそばが好きだ」 問3:「もし～なら」を使って短文を作りなさい。 答: 「もしもし、奈良県の人ですか？」 問4:「まさか～ろう」を使って短文を作りなさい。 答: 「まさかりかついだ金たろう」 問5:「うってかわって」を使って短文を作りなさい。 答: 「彼は麻薬をうってかわってしまった」...
