Starting Point: 1979-1996 by Hayao Miyazaki, translated by Beth Cary and Frederik L. Schodt, foreword by John Lasseter
31 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction
With the adorably acclaimed Ponyo now out in theaters nationwide with its dubbed all-star Hollywood cast (Miley Cyrus' little sister? one of the Jonas Brothers?), a whole new young audience is enjoying the latest from anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the spectacularly successful My Neighbor...
Here's the 12th title of 
If I were to make my mother the happiest mother in the world, I’d finish at least one of my PhDs by writing that elusive dissertation on Yoko Tawada and her fantastical, enigmatic, revisionist, ambiguous short...
Ruffling Feathers: An Interview with Novelist Sabina Murray
Sabina Murray’s published output over the past five years has been substantial by anyone’s standards: three books, five screenplays, umpteen short stories, and winning the prestigious 2003 PEN/Faulkner Award....
A spectacularly rendered coffee-table collection of the history of how some the best designed Japanese products – from furniture to appliances to toys to even the ubiquitous drip-free soy sauce bottle – ever got made. My...
While Tokyo is undoubtedly one the world’s most modern cosmopolitan centers, traditional neighborhoods of bygone eras still exist within the sprawling city – you just need an expert to show you where. With inviting photographs and...
Marjane Satrapi on the "Axis of Evil," Cheese, and Exploring Family History
Marjane Satrapi changed my reading life. Before I picked up 
With unusual patience, I saved this third (for me) 
Five fascinating Japanese women artists – Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Takako Saito, Mieko Shiomi and Shigeko Kubato – left the conservative art world in their native Japan for New York. And if you can...
Who needs McMansions when you can make even the smallest spaces look THIS fabulous and inviting?
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Ooh, what a fabulous find! An incredibly unique compilation of things Indian, designed and made in a globalized modern India, from plastic cups to electric lights to candy boxes to telephones to even specialty...
Photographer Yoshio Komatsu captures the homes of 10 families in 10 countries, including Mongolia, Indonesia, Tunisia, and Bolivia. The photos are paired together with an illustrated glimpse of the everyday lives inhabited within.
Review: <a...
WOW! A gorgeous photographic essay of the world’s second-largest economy that captures its ultimately high-tech contemporary achievements, sharply juxtaposed with striking images of a strongly traditional society of timeless beauty.
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Oh, Asian influences are everywhere we look … and becoming endlessly more visible – or, in this case, more visual. The influences of Buddhist teachings and perspectives are...
From the screenwriter of such award-winning films as Mississippi Masala and Salaam Bombay! comes a stunning portrait of a rapidly shrinking community, the Parsis who number just 100,000 today. Followers of Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s...
First and foremost: This is one of the best books I’ve read this year in spite of the historical improbability laid out at the novel’s end. Ayoshi, a woman artist in 1869 Japan, paints in order...
Just looking at the cover of this book will make you a little happier. … It’s a delightful visual romp that captures Japan’s love affair with the entertaining goldfish: most of these overbred guys are anything...
A contemporary presentation of the ancient Chinese classic, filled with stunning black-and-white photographs that complement each of the 64 ideographs.
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