Roland Kelts's Blog, page 90

Booking back at 2009

My "Year in Reading 2009" for the eds at The Millions:

As a half-Japanese kid growing up in the Northeast, I masqueraded quite successfully as another disenfranchised suburban Caucasian dude, angry more at being nowhere special than for any definable reason. But two historical phrases instilled unease: "Pearl Harbor" and "The Bataan Death March." The former's nasty ethnic stereotypes of the Japanese character—sneaky, cowardly, backstabbing—made me wary of my mother and half of my family, all...

Footballin'

Pats vs. Jags @ Gillette w/sis on Sunday

Happy holidays ...

...with humble thanks, from 'home' in New England, courtesy Remy Martin.

Our Hybrid Futures

Here's my latest and last 2009 column for the Yomiuri in Tokyo:
SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Our hybrid future is here

Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri

Diana Yukawa, 24, is a violinist whose story is film worthy, melodramatically so. In 1985, her Japanese father died in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123, the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history. Born a month later, Yukawa was moved to her mother's home country of Britain, where she was raised. But she performed in her...

new review of Japanamerica from Fan to Pro

Here's a smart, thoughtful and genuinely balanced review of "Japanamerica is a journey - in some cases literally - through the world of Japanese Pop Culture in Japan and America, the fused world of "Japanamerica". Mixing visiting historical places and persons, talking to individuals, and speculation, author Roland Kelts asks just why and how Japanese Culture is big in America, and what it may mean.

This is a phenomenally difficult task...

My review of the Rough Guides to ANIME and MANGA

Bits and pieces--online HERE and HERE :

Britain's Rough Guide series has been helping itinerant travelers navigate foreign destinations for nearly 30 years. As globetrotting becomes more casual, and print guides feel more extraneous with the internet's immediate and wider scope, the presence of the Rough Guides and their counterpart, Lonely Planet, provides security amid the angst of 21st-century travel. We still like to carry paper in our bags—and the Rough Guides' latest introductions to...

New column in Paper Sky

Here's my new column in the just-published, refurbished edition of Paper Sky magazine--to which I am honored to be a contributor. The column is focused on travel to hybrid locales (like Sydney, Tokyo and NYC) by hybrid travelers (like most of us).

Latest Yomiuri column--print edition scan

Replete with big-nosed, manga-like Perry portrait.

Psychology Today

I wrote this story about Japan's unique generation gap for Psychology Today. Things keep changing, but the fundamentals remain the same. Japanese youth are enacting a kind of Bartelby Rebeillion--checking out, passively, to check in.

Back from UK

And happy to be in Tokyo. Except my eye hurts, my back aches, and my knee is killing me. Otherwise, I feel great.