2003 Interview with Barry Eisler

The movie Rein Foru: Ame no Kiba (Rain Fall: Fangs of the Rain), based on the Rain mystery series by author Barry Eisler opens tomorrow. The movie is getting a lot of attention in Japan as the story is placed in this country. In September 2003, some six years ago when Eisler was barely known, I interviewed him about his books. At that time there were only two and he was working on the third, travelling to Macau, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

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Kjeld Duits • Friday April 24, 2009 • Art and Design • Add Comment

Cat Shit One — These Bunnies Ain't So Cute

Cat Shit One is an animated movie hitting movie theaters some time in early 2010. It is based on a manga series, known in the US as Apocalypse Meow, written and illustrated by Motofumi Kobayashi. In both the manga and the anime, Americans are depicted as cute rabbits, a pun on the Japanese word for rabbit, usagi (USA + GI). Does it bother you to see cuddly animals shoot each other up?

Kjeld Duits • Thursday April 2, 2009 • Art and Design • Add Comment

Commercial Appetite and Human Need: The Accidental and Fated Revival of Kobayashi Takiji's Cannery Ship

Japan’s best-known proletarian novel, Kani Kosen (depicting conditions aboard a crab-canning factory ship operating off Soviet waters) by Kobayashi Takiji (1903-1933), enjoyed an utterly unanticipated revival in the course of 2008.

Many attribute the revival of the novel to the deepening impoverishment of the ranks of the irregularly employed, now widely said to account for one-third of the work force. The majority of the latter earn less than two million yen per year. It is their increasingly insistent presence that has given such terms as “income-gap society” (kakusa shakai), “working poor” (waakingu pua), and more recently, “lost generation” (rosu jene) widespread familiarity.

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Norma Field • Tuesday March 17, 2009 • Society • Add Comment [2]

Save Energy and Earn Points - Kyoto Eco-Action Points Program Starts

The model Kyoto Eco-Action Points program started in October 2008. As part of this project, Kyoto Carbon Dioxide Reduction Bank (committee for environmentally friendly activities in Kyoto) issues Eco-Action Points based on the amount of CO2 reduced in the central elements of domestic energy consumption, such as the use of electricity and gas. These points can be used as shopping credits at participating stores. This is the first such system in Japan, and it aims to drastically reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the domestic sector.

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Japan for Sustainability • Monday March 9, 2009 • Trends • Add Comment

How to Write a North Korean News Headline

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency of North Korea (DPRK), has a fascinating way to present news about the countries that it sees as its main enemies: South Korea, Japan and the USA. In my imagination there is a huge poster on the wall that instructs KCNA’s English writers how to write headlines:

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Kjeld Duits • Friday March 6, 2009 • Fun • Add Comment [2]

Japan Considers Ending Four-Decade Policy to Cut Rice Planting

Japan, the world’s largest grain importer, may end a four-decade program to cut rice sowing as it plans to revive agricultural production and create jobs amid a deepening recession.

The nation may end compulsory rice planting cuts and instead provide income support for farmers who voluntarily curb output, said a government official, who declined to be identified as the plan is opposed by some ruling-party politicians.

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Bloomberg • Saturday February 28, 2009 • Politics • Add Comment

Masks Attack Japanese Cities

These white strips of cloth obscuring your fellow commuters’ faces have long been a common way to ward off influenza and hay fever, but their popularity is soaring higher than ever this winter because of frequent reports about an outbreak of a new type of flu.

“The media have been repeatedly giving a warning of a new type of influenza outbreak, so people may have thought they should store some masks and use a mask more often,” said Yukihiro Hosoe, manager of the advertising and marketing strategy department at Kowa Co., Japan’s leading health care product company.

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The Japan Times • Friday February 27, 2009 • Trends • Add Comment

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