OOIOO - Gamel

OOIOO's new album, Gamel, will be released on November 22nd. Last time I saw an interview with Yoshimi she was discussed her love of traditional music, specifically the Ainu of Northern Japan. So with their latest release we hear OOIOO bring their experimental post-rock noise via traditional instrumentation. Gamelan (ガムラン) refers to the traditional instrumentation of Indonesia, mainly on the islands of Java and Bali. OOIOO are also touring around major cities later this month. Here is a live recording of the opening track of their new album, recorded last December in Yamaguchi.

For more details: http://ooioo.jp/
Also check them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OOIOOOOIOOOOIOO

Revenge, Yoko Ogawa

I've recommend Three Percent before, definitely check it out if you are interested in international literature. This week the have a review of several collections of short stories including one by Yoko Ogawa (小川洋子) called Revenge. Translated into English by Stephen Snyder.

Yoko Ogawa won the Akutagawa Prize in 1990 for Pregnancy Calender (妊娠カレンダー) which was also translated by Stephen Snyder who has been responsible for translating much of her work in English.

Three Percent: http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/

Shueisha English Edition

Once I had the confidence to start reading novels in Japanese, one of the first Japanese author's I became interested in was Otsuichi (乙一). Otsuichi is the pen name of Hirotaka Adachi (安達寛高) known for his mystery and horror short stories. Publishing company Shueisha (集英社) have been busy recently, putting　some work into English translations of some of their most popular novels, including several by Otsuichi. My personal favourite is the Zoo anthology, which has seen a fantastic short film adaptation. Check out the trailer:

Check out some English translations of Otsuichi's work here: http://otsuichi.com/

Also check out the further range of Shuesha's English translations on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShueishaEnglishEdition

I Am A Hero #13

Last weekend I just picked up and took a bite out of the latest volume of Kengo Hanazawa's (花沢健吾) zombie series I Am A Hero (アイアムアヒーロー). At the end of volume 12 we left Kurusu and his gang searching for survivors and a safer hideout at the local school, and this volume picks up the original group of survivors, struggling manga artist Hideo Suzuki, semi-infected school girl Hiromi, and nurse Yabu.

I've mentioned before the similarities to few other popular zombie franchises, the central characters' resemblance to the otaku Kondo Tatsumi from Max Brooks' World War Z, and the theme of immunity which is explored in Naughty Dog's PS3 classic, The Last Of Us. But with I Am A Hero starting in 2009, The Last Of Us only being released earlier this year, and the Japaense language edition of World War Z didn't hit stands until April 2010, and resemblance in story is purely co-incidental.

This definitely one of my favourite series in 2013, it manages to stay fresh among the proliferation of similarly themed zombie media. Kengo Hanazawa's sense of humour keeps the mood light, but the zombie action is brutal enough to please the most discerning zombie connoisseur.

Kengo Hanazawa's website: http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~hanaman/
Kengo Hanazawa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanamanko
I Am A Hero Official: http://spi-net.jp/rensai_sakuhin/i_am_a_hero/index.html

Vagabond #36

It's a bit intimidating picking up and start reading a series on the 36th volume, but I'm a huge fan of the work of Takehiko Inoue (井上雄彦) so I thought it was time to jump into the long running saga of Vagabond (バガボンド).

Although Inoue is most well known for the basketball classic Slam Dunk (スラムダンク), it was the annual wheelchair basketball series Real (リアル) that brought his work to my attention. All of Inoue's work shares a common theme, from Basketball to Bushido, they focus on artistic movement of the human body, and Inoue's amazing ability as an artist is shown in the care taken with the facial emotion of his characters.

Vagabond tells the story of Musashi Miyamoto (宮本武蔵), a ronin (masterless samurai), from the 16th-17th century. Inoue draws on the historical fiction of Eiji Yoshikawa (吉川英治), which has been translated in English by Charles Terry. Musashi himself was also an artist and author, his most famous work is the guide on strategy and tactics, The Book of Five Rings (五輪の書).

One of the most celebrated swordsman in Japanese history, there have been multiple film and TV adaptations of Mushashi's story. The most highly acclaimed being the 1955 Academy Award winning Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (稲垣浩), and featuring samurai screen legend Mifune Toshiro (敏郎三舟).

Morning Comics: http://morning.moae.jp/lineup/15

Takehiko Inoue: http://www.itplanning.co.jp/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/inouetake

Space Brothers #22

Space Brothers (宇宙兄弟) could more accurately titled Budget Meeting Guy. I have to commend Chuya Koyama (小山宙哉) for his realistic portrayal of the current state of the aerospace industry, but being consistently sidetracked by budgetary concerns doesn't make for an exciting or inspiring story. Hibito's continued absence removes the need for the 'Brothers' reference in the title.

In volume 22, Mutta and the Jokers crew continue their quest to save the ISS from cancellation, and we see the introduction of a Space-X type private company, Swing-by, who introduce a raft of new characters, and the surprising return of a few known characters. Hopefully with the introduction of Swing-by, we might actually see the return of some actual space missions.

I often think back to infrastructure that we saw during the original story arc that was covered in the movie adaptation, the previously establish moon base. It seems to disappeared along with the story to inspire kids to become interested in science, and was replaced with a pragmatic realism.

Morning Comics: http://morning.moae.jp/lineup/31
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uchu_kyodai

Asymptote - October 2013

The October 2013 issues of the quarterly literary translation journal, Asymptote, was released this week featuring a collection of contemporary translations from around the world. One of the feature articles is a short story by Yoko Tawada (多和田葉子), translated into English by Sim Yee Chiang.

In translating Soulflight (飛魂) Sim Yee Chiang has used the ambiguous nature inherent in the reading of Japanese kanji, deliberately employed by Tawada, and has used the Mandarin Chinese reading of characters names to highlight the foreignness and ambiguity that Japanese readers would face in the original text. Introducing an addition foreignness into the English translation to provoke a similar response in the reader. It makes the translator a visible part of the translation, which I know is frowned upon in some circles, but I personally welcome Sim Yee Chiang's personal intrusion into the translation.

I applaud Asymptote for providing the original Japanese text in parallel with the translation, and also a recorded reading of the original Japanese.

Yoko Tawada writes in both Japanese and German and has received numerous awards including the 1993 Akutagawa Prize for The Bridgegroom was a Dog (犬嫁入り). An English translation by Margaret Mitsutani was released in 2003.

Asymptote October 2013 Issuse: http://www.asymptotejournal.com/