Navigating Tokyo

My Navigating Tokyo page is now public.

I hope folks find it useful.

Deserved thanks go to those who made suggestions.

This page was promised some months ago when I did my Navigating Tokyo presentation at FanimeCon2013.

Additional suggestions corrections etc are most welcome.

One more by Kikuchi Hideyuki

I recently finished reading and have added another title by Vampire Hunter D author Kikuchi Hideyuki. Noble V: Greylancer is the latest addition to my recommended prose list. If you like the Vampire Hunter D series this one should also be enjoyable.

Another by McLelland

I have added another book by Mark McLelland to my recommended prose listings.  In fact I have now decided that when a new title by him is announced I'll just buy it, his books have been that informative.

Here is what I wrote on the recommended page:


McLelland, Mark J.

Love, Sex, and Democracy in Japan during the American Occupation

The post WWII Allied Occupation of Japan is often blamed for modern censorship in Japan. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many of the publications of that time would have been illegal in the US until the later 1960s and even 1970s. McLelland provides us with a great study of how the Japanese redefined gender relations and sex in the post war period after over 15 years of increasing censorship and suppression under the wartime government.

(Watanabe x 2) + Kanno

I now am adding two more anime to the recommended titles listings. Both directed by Watanabe Shinichiro, one with arrangements and original music by Kanno Yoko.


    - Kids on the Slope
When I sat down to watch Kids on the Slope last week I had my dinner and planned to only view the first episode. After the eighth episode I decided it was time to get to bed. This is an interesting drama about three high school students and set in Kyushu. You really don't know when as the show starts but there are clues set throughout the series, things that are there and things that are not there. For Japanese some of these would be obvious but for non-Japanese they are not, eventually you see a calendar. Don't worry too much about the time period, just enjoy the series and the great music.

    - Samurai Champloo
When I first heard of Samurai Champloo being a samurai story mixed with hip hop my first thought was "What a stupid idea." However presentation and story quality are separate from that basic idea. An associate dropped by at one of my potlucks with the first DVD and insisted we watch it. After the first episode I said "I'M BUYING THIS SERIES."
OK that does it. From now on if Watanabe Shinichiro is directing something I am buying it.

Derangement x 2

This time I have added two titles to my recommended lists, a manga and a movie based on it.

 The manga is Anno Moyoko's Sakuran which is available in translation from Vertical Inc.

 The movie of Sakuran stars Tsuchiya Anna, while not available in a U.S. release the Japanese blu-ray disc has excellent subtitles.

The story is set in Edo Period, specifically in Edo's Yoshiwara district and tells the tale of a young woman who starts out as a girl serving an oiran, the highest rank a prostitute could attain in Edo, to becoming an oiran herself without losing her rebellious spirit, in fact that spirit contributes to her popularity.

mystery + mystery + manga + mystery/manga = 5

I have just added three mysteries plus two manga, however one manga is an adaptation of one of the mysteries. I hope these provide interesting entertainment for readers.

Edogawa Rampo
- Strange Tale of Panorama Island [novel]

Maruo Suehiro
- Strange Tale of Panorama Island [manga]

Matsumoto Seicho
- Pro Bono (novel)

Yasuhiko Yoshikazu
- Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin (Manga)

Yokomizo Seishi
- The Inugami Clan (Novel)

Wrapping a Straight Head Around the Queer

My newest additions to my Recommended Titles - Prose Translated from Japanese and on Japan web page. McLelland's works have been useful for me in that I had many of my assumptions challenged and learned much that puts what I see in anime and read in manga involving gay characters in context. I hope these works will of interest to others.

Here is the text of the addition to the page:

McLelland, Mark

Back in 2004 a gay friend who had moved a couple of years earlier to Tokyo asked for help to understand the queer scene in Japan. I told him that as a straight, white male raised in California I could not be of much direct help. Then the librarian in me took over and I sent him the links to several articles by Mark McLelland, an Australian scholar studying the topic.
I had first run into McLelland's name when I stumbled across his article "Why Are Japanese Girls' Comics full of Boys Bonking?" along with a few other works of his on the Online Bibliography of Anime and Manga Research.
After that initial email exchange from my friend wrote back to me that the documents were very helpful and of interest to some of his Japanese acquantances. As a result of his question I eventually bought several books written and edited by McLelland and found them informative. I recommend these to anyone interested in 20th century queer culture in Japan.
Note: there are other books by him which I have not read and are not listed here.

McLelland, Mark J. and Romit Dasgupta, eds Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan
This collection of essays includes a variety of topics on gender and sexuality. However many of the essays are on queer culture.

McLelland, Mark J. Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan: Cultural Myths and Social Realities
This book deals with changing representations of male homosexuality in Japan from the regular media, popular entertainment, to views within the queer community.

McLelland, Mark J. Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age
Covering the queer subcultures from the early days of sexology publications in the 1920s to recent times. Informative on changing identities, social views and even the terminology used within the queer Demi-monde.

McLelland, Mark J., Suganuma Katsuhiko and James Welker. eds Queer Voices from Japan: First Person Narratives from Japan's Sexual Minorities
A collection of articles and essays selected from decades of Japanese publications.