Mirei Shigemori reviewed in J-SELECT

J-SELECT reviews Mirei Shigemori: Modernizing the Japanese Garden in the August/September issue: "While browsing through this book is a poor substitute to walking around Shigemori's gardens proper, it should give you plenty to ponder until you get a chance to gaze over the gardens with your own eyes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED."

The Midnight Eye Guide reviewed at Senses of Cinema

Senses of Cinema reviews The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Cinema: "Mes and Sharp paint a convincing story of the fall-and-rise of the 'new' Japanese cinema, of a daring and visionary generation emerging from the fog of commercialisation and the global gentrification of the imaginary, most notably the collapse of the Japanese film industry in the late 1970s. While more academic accounts of this period have tended to conflate the trajectories of the directors with the mechanics of the industry, here the directors are given individual focus and a rich picture of their roots emerges."

Photographer/Designer Markuz Wernli Saito to speak at London Apple Store

The Design Process of a Photo Book —
Integration of Image and Word

TIME AND PLACE
Thursday, 25 August 2005, between 7 and 8 pm
(admission is free)
Apple Store London, 235 Regent Street, London W1B 2ET

PRESENTER
Markuz Wernli Saito
Photographer, Interdisciplinary Visual Artist

TOPIC
New media and the Web influence how we share and convey knowledge. Even reading patterns in books are changing which contain more visuals and eclectic information structures. Markuz Wernli Saito will take the audience through the design process of his just published book Mirei Shigemori, Modernizing the Japanese Garden and examine how various parts of contents converge into one coherent publication. The audience is invited to bring in printed samples, which integrate image and text to open up the discussion. Markuz Wernli Saito is a photographer and interdisciplinary artist from Switzerland working in Kyoto and San Francisco. He is fascinated by the dialectics of humans and their environment. Focusing on independent artistic installations and photo assignments for publications worldwide, he is a lecturer at Kyoto University of Art and Design.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.

Donald Richie interviewed in The Times of India

In Straight answers- The Times of India, Jyoti Sharma interviews author Donald Richie.

Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves recommended at Stevo's Book Picks

Stevo's Book Picks #82.1 recommends Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film Handbook.

Helen McCarthy interviewed in LO Magazine

LO Magazine interviews Helen McCarthy about meeting Hayao Miyazaki, her book on his work, Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation, and the state of anime and manga. You can download the zipped PDF directly here.

Gundam returns to cinemas in Japan

In asahi.com's Weekend Beat article, "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam trilogy ready to rocket into theaters," the Gundam story returns to the big screen. You can read the original novelization of the beginning in Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino's Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening, Escalation, Confrontation.

Sacred Sanskrit Words reviewed in Wisconsin Bookwatch

The Wisconsin Bookwatch: "Especially recommended as a resource for dedicated students of yoga and meditation, Sacred Sanskrit Words is an invaluable addition to personal and academic library Eastern Religion reference collections and supplemental studies lists.”

Cruising the Anime City recommended at Anime News Network

In the article, "Anime News Network - Crashing Japan - Pop Japan Travel," Christopher Macdonald writes, "What are you going to do on a 13 hour flight (besides watch potentially terrible in-flight movies)? Read! And prep for your trip, all at the same time! On my flight to Osaka, I sat down with Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo by Patrick Macias and Tomohiro Machiyama. The book is an indispensable guide to any anime fan visiting, or thinking of visiting Tokyo, and I’m glad I took the time to read it. Turns out, several other people on the tour brought the book along too."

Suiseki author Felix Rivera interviewed in San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed author Felix Rivera about suiseki, the appreciation of naturally formed stones as works of art. Felix Rivera is the author of Suiseki: The Japanese Art of Miniature Landscape Stones published by Stone Bridge Press.

The Midnight Eye Guide reviewed at Dragonfire

Dragonfire, an online journal from Drexel University, reviews The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film: "The truly impressive thing about the Guide is the access Mes and Sharp got to directors. The inner circle is notoriously difficult to penetrate – actors and directors are leery of granting interviews to someone for whom Japanese is not a first language. Mes and Sharp landed a compelling foreword by [Hideo] Nakata himself and sat down with Takashi Miike (Audition), Shinya Tsukamono (Tetsuo: The Iron Man), Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure) and more. Each talks about the creative process and experience in crafting a new film."

Artist Markuz Wernli Saito to discuss Mirei Shigemori in London and San Francisco

Mirei Shigemori: Modernizing the Japanese Garden, will be speaking at the Apple Store in London (August 25) and the Apple Store in San Francisco (September 8).

About the presentation:
New media and the Web influence how we share and convey knowledge. Even reading patterns in books are changing which contain more visuals and eclectic information structures. Mirei Shigemori: Modernizing the Japanese Garden and examine how various parts of contents converge into one coherent publication. The audience is invited to bring in printed samples, which integrate image and text to open up the discussion.

More information about the events will be posted when received.

The Midnight Eye Guide reviewed in Film Fanaddict Magazine

Film Fanaddict Magazine reviews The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film here.

The Japan Journals excerpted in Brick, A Literary Journal

Brick, A Literary Journal features several entries from Donald Richie's The Japan Journals: 1947-2004 in its 75th issue.

Author Tomohiro Machiyama featured in SFGate.com article on otaku

Tomo Machiyama, co-author of Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo, is quoted from his Anime News Network interview about otaku in the SFGate.com article "ASIAN POP Generation O / Meet the otaku -- a global network of anime fans and manga maniacs whose unique tastes and burgeoning consumer clout are reshaping the cultural landscape"

Author Donald Richie to receive award at film festival in New Delhi

The Times of India reports that Donald Richie is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the 7th edition of Osian's-Cinefan Film Festival in New Delhi. Donald Richie, a celebrated film critic and expert on Japanese cinema, is author of several Stone Bridge Press titles, including The Japan Journals, The Donald Richie Reader, The Inland Sea, and A Lateral View, as well as co-translator of Tokyo Story.

Author Andrew Horvat interviewed at JapanReview.Net

JapanReview.Net interviews Andrew Horvat, author of the Stone Bridge Press title Japanese Beyond Words: How to Walk and Talk Like a Native Speaker, about his connection to Japan, his career, journalism today, revisionism in Japan, and how he doesn't like the title of his book...

The Japan Journals reviewed in Lambda Book Report

Lambda Book Report, April/May 2005: "The Japan Journals: 1947-2004 offer a half-century of keen observation, both historical and deeply personal, that go beyond defining Japan or self, but reach further to intertwine the meanings of place, travel and identity... The primary reason for this review, however, is not to drag a reluctant Richie to an entirely different bookshelf, but simply to make The Japan Journals equally available for readers with an interest in gay Japan... What's important that, in closing this wonderful book, you'll want to travel. And there is that difference between tourist and traveler; the latter yearns to go further than the map provides."

Author Helen McCarthy interviewed on The Film Programme

Helen McCarthy, author of Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation and co-author of The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, is interviewed on BBC Radio Four's The Film Programme, which you can listen to again for the next few days.