Babes, Threads and Meat

The great folks at Animeigo sent me the preview disc with the first four episodes of Yawara, the Fashionable Judo Girl. You can request copies if you order anything from Animeigo, or for $5.00 S&H get a disc by itself.

I've been jazzed that Yawara will be coming out in early 2008, and especially that it will be the first season in a box set. Much better than having to wait for seperate discs. The anime is based on the manga by Naoki Urasawa, who is better known in the English speaking world for Monster and Master Keaton.

For the Anime Companion Supplement I have:

redii (lady bikers)

tokkôfuku (kamikaze party uniform)

yakiniku (grilled meat)

For a full list of recent entries see my Anime Companion Supplement - News page.

The food fight continues

This week your weapons are:

hakusai (Chinese cabbage)

kimuchi (kim chi)

tanmen


I've also been catching up on taking notes on the Urusei Yatsura anime, I'm a ways behind, and also just finished the first volume of the Peacemaker manga.

Peacemaker dramatically opens with the end of the story, Tetsunoke is being handed a package by Hijikata to take back to the Tama region. This was in Hokaido shortly before the last group of the Shinsengumi died in battle under Hijikata's leadership. Many of the fan sites on Peacemaker do not mention that Tetsunoke, the main character, actually existed. They assume he is fictional, a pretty big boo boo.

Snacks, Educational role models and Love of Little Boys.

This week the new entries continue adding to the food listings plus an entry on a famous educator and role model for children and then an entry on a particular interest some female characters have in much younger men.

karintô

Ninomiya Sontoku

shôtacon

I have also been reading Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey's excellent book The Dog Shogun: The Personality and Politics of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. This has led me to revise my entry on Tokugawa Tsunayoshi as the common view repeated in many sources seems to be far from the actual histoical record. I rarely edit entries after uploading them. I usually simply add a note to my database of entries for future use when the supplement is used for another Anime Companion volume.

Rice, Soy, and Vegies

3 new entries added to the Anime Companion Supplement. All for food and referencing Doing Time by Kazuichi Hanawa as mentioned on Thursday.

abekawamochi
kinako (soybean flour)
nozawana (turnip greens)

Big House grub and trippin'

I recently finished taking notes on the Fanfare release of Doing Time by Kazuichi Hanawa. This manga is an account of the three years he spent in prison for illegal firearms possession and deals with the day to day tedium of prison life there is a great deal of material on the food served.


I am also planning a two week trip to Tokyo in October. One of my goals is to try as many different Japanese foods there as I can, especially foods I cannot get here in the US. For this reason I will be adding a pile of new food entries to the Anime Companion Supplement over the next two months starting with many of the items mentioned in Doing Time. An easy way to combine the labor of two projects.

Pushy guys, boys and boy stuff

I dropped by Moe's Books in Berkeley yesterday and found an interesting volume on the Japanese response to Perry's diplomatic visit.

Mitani Hiroshi
Escape from Impasse: The Decision to Open Japan

I'll start reading it today.

I also picked up Royall Tyler's Japanese Nô Dramas, this one will probably end up being cited in the Anime Companion Supplement fairly soon.

Speaking of the supplement the new entries are:

oshiya (push man)
shônen (boy)
shônenshi

This coming Thursday is Tezuka in the USA: A Manga Publishers’ Forum at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. I plan to be there.

Scams, Cash for Brats and the Big Sight

In the past I've pointed out that I often choose the entries to do on a particular week on a whim. Often what drives this is that I've recently read a manga or seen an anime with something in it.

Not so this week, this time it was a mixture of items which I figure had been sitting around long enough and deserved to be added.

bottakuriten (rip off club)

otoshidama (new year gift)

Tôkyô Kokusai Tenjijô (Tokyo International Exhibition Center aka Tokyo Big Sight)