Nipponica

The onset of summer provides the perfect excuse to stay inside with the air conditioning and catch up on your streaming queue. For those planning to binge some Japan-related shows alongside new seasons of “House of the Dragon” and “The Bear,” 2024 has been particularly bountiful ... with awards even possible in the near future when Emmy nominations are announced July 17.

If you need more shows to add to your list, there are some good recommendations for recent and upcoming series in this article.

In 1998, a Japanese man was stripped naked and left alone in an almost-empty apartment as part of a challenge for a reality TV show.

Tomoaki Hamatsu, known as Nasubi, was left with only a pen, some blank postcards, a telephone and rack full of magazines. But he was not there to read. The concept of the show was to see if a human being could survive on competition prizes alone. In order to win the challenge, the value of the prizes he won had to reach a certain financial threshold - 1m yen, around £6,000 at the time.

He would not emerge for 15 months, following a gradual descent into depression and mania, driven by hunger and isolation. Nearly three decades later, Nasubi's ordeal is being revisited as part of a new film that has just screened at the Sheffield Documentary Festival.

I just got a chance to watch this last night and it was a thoughtfully produced story covering many issues in Japanese society include school bullying, mental illness, and the exploitative entertainment industry. Nasubi tells his story well and eloquently explains the suffering that he endured. A great watch and a good historical document for those that never got to see 電波少年 in person.

In the space of just a few years, the stand-up comic went from celebrated to shunned. Woman Rush Hour — his manzai comedy duo with Paradise Nakagawa — saw their annual TV appearances plummet from 250 to just one.

The reason wasn’t too hard to deduce. In 2017, Muramoto had a political awakening during a trip to an area hit by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Suddenly, his routines became consciousness-raising tirades, exploring and exploding social taboos and scandals du jour while occasionally remembering to throw in a good gag.

Really curious to see this as I am not too versed in Japanese comedy. The review paints Nakagawa as a genuine guy that is just trying to help people think about issues using comedy as a tool, much like Carlin et. al. in the western context. And doing so in good faith, unlike some.

Japan's capsule toy industry has come a long way from the corner of the supermarket, as it enjoys a new boom at home that is spurring multiple market players to set their sights on overseas expansion.

The whole Gacha Industrial Complex is fun on one hand but it is a kind of warm-and-fuzzy introduction to gambling for kids and adults. You get a prize every time but rarely the one you actually wanted, which encourages you to take another chance.

The old man will now leave the room and let joy return.

It had been raining since the morning, but the rain stopped occasionally during the parade. Sensing that the guests were losing energy in the heat, Baymax stopped the floats and splashed water on them. The guests cheered loudly.

Baymax for PM.

An entire set of Hiroshige’s colorful depictions of his native city was bound into a book, donated to the Brooklyn Museum and left in storage for 40 years before being unbound in the 1970s. Because it was probably intended especially for such a collection, this particular set was also a kind of luxury edition, made with extra care and details, like the use of reflective metallic dust, that ordinary consumer-grade prints, for all their intricacy, didn’t have.

Bit of a drive from Asia but if you are in the New York area, it is a must-see.

All too many of my friends and acquaintances in Japan fall under the self-described “aspiring writers” label: people who write in private, but have yet to successfully pitch and publish an article, short story or — most formidable — a full-blown book. And yet, from fiction novelist Karen Hill Anton to memoirist Florentyna Leow (both previous contributors to The Japan Times), it is clear that non-Japanese writers can thrive in Japan. Some find career stability in teaching, translation or corporate work that frees up time for writing, while others find that the culture and vibrance of this country inspires their imaginations and world-building.

I sat down with three authors with books coming out in 2024 — Ellen McGinty, Ambika Nagino and Kristin Osani — to discuss the ups and downs of the publishing industry and the long (and very different) roads each of them took to seeing their books in print.

The survey was conducted by The Nippon Foundation in May and asked 1,000 Japanese aged between 17 and 19 about their attitudes on the issue, with 55.7 per cent saying they have little or no interest in the imperial family and 53.4 per cent saying they have no sense of closeness to the emperor or his family.

Not surprising considering the general disinterest in government & elections.

Yet that single snapshot of Kabosu became the iconic "doge," capturing the hearts of millions with her quizzical expression that was then overlaid with an imagined internal monologue in broken English using multicolored comic book-style font.

After spending more than a decade as an unwitting symbol of internet absurdity, Kabosu died last month at the age of 18. But she has left a legacy unlike any other canine.

Pour one out for a good boy.

The King’s speech talked of the close friendship between the UK and Japan.

“Ours is a partnership with deep roots,” said the King, in areas of science, culture, defence and trade."

He also referenced some Japanese contributions to popular culture, including the Hello Kitty brand and mentioned the “Pokemon phrase ‘gotta catch ‘em all’”.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world...