It’s been a while since I gave an appreciative heads up to some awesome J-bloggers, so here are some fellow writers who’ve caught my eye:

Kaley in Japan surveyed the J-Blogosphere for some advice on where to go in Japan. The series includes yours truly – a short blurb about tropical Miyazaki, part of this post. A cool read and a lot of good introductions to other J-blogs.

Just Another Day in Japan has been writing up a storm lately. Most recently, his post on Japanese rudeness was a good read, but I also loved an older article that I’d forgotten to mention, about Japan’s obsession with high school.

Bucked by the Star (here) is a surprisingly awesome blog dedicated entirely to Starbucks Coffee in Japan. She’s also a great Twitter user: @BuckedByTheStar

Finally, for fans of Japanese Cinema, I’ve created a Japanese Cinema Reddit for links and discussions about Japanese film. It joins another community I started on Reddit for Toy Cameras (I’m an enthusiast. The picture at the top of this post is from an infrared roll I shot in Hiroshima on a plastic Holga camera…)

There are plenty more bloggers I haven’t mentioned – please check out the sidebar, and if you have any recommendations, please let me know.

Posted on by Eryk Salvaggio | 3 Comments

J-Cin Sundays: “Achilles and the Tortoise” and the Contemporary Japanese Art World

Title: Achilles and the Tortoise
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Year: 2008
Notes: Though the clip is animated, this is a live-action film.
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On School Sports Festivals, or: On Catching Small Boys Falling From The Sky in Japan

My job this week consisted of watching for shirtless boys to fall from the sky.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Carbonated Cough Drops: Reviewing Japan’s “Menthol Shock” Soda

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Today at the conbini I stumbled across a new benchmark in Japanese Soda Pop: “Menthol Shock,” released nationwide in June. Continue reading

Posted in Food, Weird | 7 Comments

On Not Walking While Drinking Soda in Japan

Why doesn’t anyone in Japan drink soda while walking?

Google results are unsatisfactory. Is it considered rude? Dangerous? Had it never occurred to anyone that they could drink while walking?

Japanese friends answer with a shrug. “We just don’t, I don’t know why.”

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Posted in Culture Shock, Food, Uncategorized, Weird | 11 Comments

J-Cin Sundays: Suicide Club

Title: Suicide Club (自殺サークル, literally, “Suicide Circle”)
Director: Sion Sono
Year: 2002
Notes: This review contains spoilers. And it’s a cult cinema comedy-horror film by an avant-garde street poet, so assume all videos are disturbing – except for the Rebecca Black video. Or, maybe that one too.

TLDR: A J-Pop band made of 12-year-old girls deliberately inspire a secret suicide cult through their lyrics and album art.

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Posted in Movies | 2 Comments