My FanimeCon 2012 schedule

Here's my current itinerary of panels and events for FanimeCon 2012.

This is subject to change so check the schedules at the information desks in the convention center for revisions.

 Friday:

 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Stage Zero: Opening Ceremonies

 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM, Panels 2: The Japanese Sex Trade in Anime and Manga

 Saturday:

 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM, Saint Claire Atrium: Yamaga Party (Meet the Guests)

 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Panels 2: Anime (and Manga) for Parents (and other Grownups)

 Sunday:

 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Panels 1: Universal Gundam vs Other Gundam

 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM, Fairmont Regency: Autograph session

 Monday:

 Approximately 3:00 PM, TBD: Closing Ceremonies

Watching one thing leads to reading another thing

I've been busy with too many projects. Currently I'm trying to reduce the number down to one major one which I expect will take up a great deal of my time for the next year.

In the meanwhile I am of course still watching anime reading manga.

Just started watching Princess Jellyfish, I know I'm going to like this one.

The Mayaya character's obsession inspired me to dig out a book I have not read in over 25 years. In fact I bought it in Cartesian Books, a store that had just opened in Berkeley, and since that time the owner aged and eventually retired. The book? The Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the C. H. Brewitt Taylor translation. Cartesian Books had just opened a few days before I discovered it, I walked in, the owner said "are you looking for anything in particular?" I replied "yes a complete translation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he then reached over his shoulder and pulled the two volumes off the shelf behind him and handed them to me. I became a regular customer.

I now know what I'll be (re)reading on my morning commute.

High school fighten'

I have added another title to my live action recommended list.

I've been bad and will try to add new items at a faster pace.

This time I bring you a title that has been a sleeper and is worthy of a larger audience.

Crows Zero

Director: Miike Takashi

Screenplay: Mutô Shôgo

Based on a work by: Takahashi Hiroshi

 

This is a prequel to the famous Crows manga about boys attending Suzuran, a tough high school where status depends on fists. The film is actually a complex one with unique characters and varied motivations. No one has ever taken control of Suzuran and transfer student Takiya Genji is determined to do so. From a solitary new student to building alliances he gains more power to challenge Serizawa Tamao and his team. Complex characters, fun lines "Don't dis the poor", great music and action. I often say that the Crows stories could be recast as a story with samurai vying for power. It just happens to be sent in a working class area of metropolitan Tokyo.

 

Order Crows Zero on DVD from The Right Stuf

 

Order Crows Zero on Blu-ray from The Right Stuf

Soapy gals

This week I actually have three entries. All related to the same type of sex trade business and their female staff.

I also discovered some edits in the Japanese editions of Maison Ikkoku from before and after the introduction of the term soaplands into the language.

The entries are:

sōpu-jō (soap jō, soap girl) ソープ嬢

torukoburo (Turkish bath house) トルコ風呂 or トルコぶろ

toruko-jō (Turkish girl) トルコ嬢

A breezy yōkai

This entry takes me back to adding more yōkai entries. This one from the island of Shikoku.

muchi [yōkai] 鞭

I plan to do many more due to the large number of significant yōkai in the Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan manga. If you have not checked out this manga I highly recommend it.

What is that kinky thing?

Japanese-English Guide to Sex, Kink and Naughtiness
By Nate Jensen
createspace.com 2009
181 pages, black and white illustrations

Writings dealing with Japanese sexuality fall into three broad categories:

1. Academic writings

2. Informative general writings

3. The author knows not of what he writes.

This book is in category 2. Basically this is a dictionary of sexual words and terms that are used in Japan. Until this book came out there were no good single English sources for this information, one had to dig through a variety of works to find a few words.

The organization of entries is simple, in alphabetical order by the Japanese terms. Each entry is Romanized followed by the kana and kanji for the term. Handy indexes exist for the English equivalent terms and the words in Japanese. The illustrations that are used are simple and to the point.

The range of topics covered is broad. I have only been able to find a couple of terms that are not included and discovered far more that I did not know. Given that most popular writing on sexuality in Japan tends to be a mixture of misconceptions, cheap fantasy and weird stuff the writer pulled out of their (or someone else's) ass this book is a rare gem in a pile of dung.

If you are a translator or just casually interested this work will likely prove useful. This book would fit nicely on the shelf next to Peter Constantine's Japan's Sex Trade or Joan Sinclair's Pink Box: Inside Japan's Sex Clubs.

I'd like to thank John C. Watson for informing me of this work. It was far below my radar and I doubt I would have found it otherwise.

First of the year

Happy New Year. May this one be a good one for all of us.

I have the first Anime Companion Supplement entry for the year.

I start 2012 with the Hannya shingyō (Heart Sutra) 般若心經

Last year was a slow one for the supplement. Other projects forced me to slow down to only one entry per week and the lasts few months had less. The total for the year was 45 new entries/. That does not seem like much but each entry can take some time to write and then it has to be added to the web site with all the proper tagging and links. It can take hours for the harder entries.

In 2012 I will probably produce even less as I have to give priority to other projects.


However please feel free to make requests for other entries, or any other feedback on this and other projects.