Tag - anime

 
 

ANIME

Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jan 16, 2016
Online streaming keeps anime afloat
Last week in California, I caught up with some of the chief purveyors of Japanese popular culture in the United States and elsewhere in the world. It became rapidly clear that 2016 won't be at all like 2015 — or any other year before it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 7, 2016
'Boys over Flowers' blooms on stage
'One Piece," a new, modern entertainment-focused "Super Kabuki" play based on an eponymous manga series by Eiichiro Oda, closed last month after a hit Tokyo run that showed beyond doubt that manga-based productions are not the preserve of movies and television — where they have long been popular fare...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Dec 19, 2015
Hatsune Miku: the 'nonexistent' pop star
My 2015 kicked off with a January concert by Hatsune Miku, Japan's digital pop star, in Las Vegas. It is winding down with a visit to Miku's creator, Hiroyuki Itoh, at his company's head office in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Dec 15, 2015
Studio Ghibli on a roll with licenses for new toys
Nibariki has new wind-up toys inspired by Studio Ghibli's “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Nausicau00e4 of the Valley of the Wind.”
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 2, 2015
Gifu city's sexually suggestive tourism promotion sparks Twitter outrage
A controversial flyer featuring an anime character with accentuated breasts has landed a small city tourism agency in hot water, with calls it is tantamount to sexual harassment.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 1, 2015
Reviving Japan Inc.'s entertainment division
If Japan had its own cartoon-and-comics-driven Hollywood, it would increase its global cultural clout and give the economy a much needed boost.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 14, 2015
But is it art? Anime in the 'post-cinematic' age
The past 15 years have seen a boom in academic studies of anime, ranging from thematic and cultural analysis such as Susan J. Napier's "Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle" to formal theory based on technical processes and the nature of two-dimensional images such as Thomas Lamarre's "The Anime...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2015
City withdraws controversial 'ama' divers mascot
The city of Shima in Mie Prefecture has scrapped its endorsement of a controversial mascot slammed by some locals as overly sexual and demeaning to local ama divers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Sep 19, 2015
Finding opportunities overseas with the 'art of hentai'
When Jacob Grady began pirating anime and manga online eight years ago, he was still in college. He took out student loans to pay the server bills, and he figured that if he ever made enough money from the site to purchase a round-trip flight to Japan, the effort and expense would be worth it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Aug 15, 2015
AKB48 turns to an American studio
AKB48’s  commercial success in Japan is often derided as a sign of the culture’s patriarchal infantilization of women, and the girl group’s inability to appeal to Western audiences a sign of Japan’s increasingly isolated ideas about femininity, sexuality and pop music. Put simply: outside of...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2015
'Ama' divers denounce 'obscene' city mascot, demand its withdrawal
More than 100 ama divers are demanding that the coastal city of Shima, Mie Prefecture, scrap a newly adopted mascot on the grounds that it is obscene.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Aug 3, 2015
Tokyo bar transformed into Sailor Moon cafe until the end of September
A cafe themed around the globally popular "Sailor Moon" manga and anime series opened Monday in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, featuring special food items, songs and goods.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jul 18, 2015
Project Anime asks the right questions
More than 90,000 attended the 24th annual Anime Expo (AX), North America's largest Japanese pop culture convention, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 2 to 5. The four-day event featured a concert by idol group Momoiro Clover Z, who were joined onstage by two members of veteran American...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 14, 2015
Pop culture show may be a bit off game
On paper, "Manga * Anime * Games From Japan," currently running at The National Art Center, Tokyo, sounds like a great show. The exhibition overview certainly makes a big pitch:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 25, 2015
'Ghost in the Shell' prequel fleshes out characters' origins
Internationally renowned sci-fi anime series "Ghost in the Shell" is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new prequel, "Ghost in the Shell: The Movie."
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 20, 2015
Can #socialmedia boost music sales in Japan?
Last week, Line Corp.'s, the operators of Japan's most popular messaging app, launched an in-app music streaming service called Line Music. Japan is the second-largest music market in the world after the United States, but its consumers have so far been global outliers, clinging to physical products...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?