The Stone Bridge Blog

New Website!

2009-10-14T08:30:00.001-07:00

This blog is now closed. Please visit the new Stone Bridge Press website for news, reviews, community, and so much more!

CHOICE reviews A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors

2009-06-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

We love libraries, we love librarians, and we love library media. So we're especially happy about CHOICE's recent, very positive review of Alexander Jacoby's new book, A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors. N. A. Baker of Earlham College writes:

This useful volume offers a critical overview and filmography of over 150 Japanese directors from the silent era to the present, excluding anime....[It] ought to please both scholars in search of a handy (and unique) reference title, and more casual Japanese film enthusiasts seeking information....Recommended.

Man of Manga

2009-06-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

As we already noted, Frederik L. Schodt is receiving a major award — Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette — from the Japanese Government. In the Nichi Bei Times, Ben Hamamoto profiles and interviews Schodt in honor of the award, writing:

Frederik L. Schodt has the distinction of not only being one of the pioneers who brought manga to the English-speaking world — both through his translations of important manga works and the books on manga he has authored — but he is also one of the foremost authorities on the subject today.

Anyone with an interest in Schodt's work or the history/future of manga should check out the entire article, "Man of Manga: Fred Schodt's Indispensible Contributions to the Art of Manga."

The Wall Street Journal reviews Pop Goes Korea

2009-06-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

In the Wall Street Journal, Evan Ramstad reviews Pop Goes Korea: Behind the Revolution in Movies, Music, and Internet Culture by Mark James Russell:

"Mr. Russell's book is the first by a non-Korean to explain the rise of Korea's entertainment industries. With lots of pictures, lists (top TV shows, most expensive movies, worst flops) and sidebar articles, the book could hardly be more approachable."

Read the whole review, "Riding the 'Korean Wave': Exporting ideas and culture, not just steel and silicon."

Review of A Critical Hand Book of Japanese Film Directors

2009-05-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

In the Japan Times, Mark Schilling reviews the recently released A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors by Alexander Jacoby. Schilling praises Jacoby's "diligence and precision" and writes that "Jacoby has written a book to not only consult but also argue with." The review is now online here.

Issac Stone Fish reviews The Pearl Jacket

2009-05-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories: Flash Fiction from Contemporary China, by Shouhua Qi, was recently reviewed by Issac Stone Fish. Fish’s review, originally published in the Asian Review of Books, has since popped up on other websites such as UPIasia.com and the Red Room. He discusses the books' many stories. One in particular is the story of the “Parrot.” Fish gives an analysis of the story by saying, “The collection ends with the dystopian "Parrot," about a poet whose parrot spews prophecies: "Now, including yourself, there are only 13 people left in this town. That's reality, you understand?" The poet examines the town and finds the parrot's words to be true. Returning home, the parrot's mouth (its body has disappeared) exclaims that the other townspeople have died. The poet concludes all that's left for him is to become a parrot. Possibly symbolizing the death of individuality, this story, like the best of the genre, leaves the reader desiring something longer.”

Watch Donald Richie on FORA.tv

2009-05-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Last month in Berkeley, we were honored by a fantastic evening of conversation between Donald Richie and Tom Luddy, hosted by Berkeley Arts & Letters. FORA.tv has put the whole thing online, including the introduction by SBP publisher, Peter Goodman. Topics include Ozu's tombstone, Kurosawa, Hirokazu Kore-Eda, China vs. Japan, and much more!

Frederik L. Schodt awarded The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette

2009-04-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Stone Bridge author Frederik L. Schodt (The Astro Boy Essays, Dreamland Japan, Native American in the Land of the Shogun, America and the Four Japans, Manga! Manga!, The Four Immigrants Manga) has been awarded the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette by the Japanese Government for his contribution "to the introduction and promotion of Japanese contemporary popular culture in the United States of America." The announcement includes a list of Schodt's numerous accomplishments. This is a spectacular honor, and we are grateful for the recognition!

Eve Kushner and Crazy for Kanji at Nikkei Matsuri in San Jose this weekend!

2009-04-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Eve Kushner, author of the newly released, super-fun book Crazy for Kanji (and the blogger behind Kanji Curiosity) will be at Nikkei Matsuri in San Jose Japantown this Sunday, April 26th, signing books and chatting about the mysteries of kanji. If you haven't bought your copy yet, don't worry--books will be available for sale, and for now you can check out these sample pages. Eve will be in the info booth all day. See you there!

Thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle for listing the event.

Donald Richie in Berkeley, April 21st

2009-04-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

We couldn't be more excited to announce this upcoming event with Donald in Berkeley! Don't miss it!

Tuesday, April 21
A Life in Japanese Film:
DONALD RICHIE in conversation with TOM LUDDY
7:30 PM at First Congregational Church of Berkeley (2345 Channing Way at Dana)
$10 ($5 students) at the door; co-sponsored by The Booksmith (they'll be selling books)
http://berkeleyarts.org/

Praised by critics from Susan Sontag to Tom Wolfe, Donald Richie is the foremost writer on Japanese culture in English. Born in Ohio in 1924, he has lived in Japan since 1947, except for time at Columbia University in the early 1950s and as curator of film at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1968–73. The author of some thirty books and dozens of essays, Richie is especially well known for his instrumental role in introducing Japanese film to the West and for his travel memoir The Inland Sea, which was adapted into a popular PBS documentary. In addition to The Inland Sea, his books published by Berkeley-based Stone Bridge Press include Travels in the East, A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics, The Donald Richie Reader, and The Japan Journals. He recently wrote the forewords to A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors by Alexander Jacoby, and Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa by Teruyo Nogami.

Richie is also an experimental filmmaker. In 1988, he was invited to be the first guest director at the Telluride Film Festival. At this special evening of recollection and conversation, Richie will discuss Japan and his insights into Japanese culture and especially Japanese film with Tom Luddy, co-founder and current co-director of the Telluride Film Festival and an executive and film producer with American Zoetrope.

Watch out! Anime Classics Zettai! likely to "convert newcomers"

2009-03-31T17:00:00.001-07:00

Brian Camp and Julie Davis' Anime Classics Zettai! gets a full-length review by critic Brett Taylor in the new issue of Video Watchdog (No. 148). Discussing the enthusiastic film guide alongside Dani Cavallero's 2007 book, Anime Intersections, Taylor notes that Zettai! is special because it can be "enjoyed by the newcomer as well as the fan." In fact, he thinks that it's likely to "convert newcomers"--we totally agree, and that's a big part of why we publish books about Japanese film, animated and otherwise.

The review also appreciates that "Camp takes the time to patiently explain the different formats and styles of Japanese animation," and that Camp and Davis cover such a large selection of intoxicating animated works.

"Tale of Two Sisters" welcomes "The Uninvited"

2009-01-26T08:06:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to the next fright flick The Uninvited? It's a remake of director Kim Jee-woon's Tale of Two Sisters. Like a lot of other Horrorwood movies these days. Check out more about Kim, Two Sisters, and other Asian fright movies in Patrick Galloway's Asia Shock: Horror and Dark Cinema from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, & Thailand.

2009-01-16T10:35:00.001-08:00

Today the New York Times had a front-page article on the outcast "burakumin" in Japan and their changing fortunes. For more insight into buraku communities in Japan and their social problems of generational violence, see Eve Zimmerman's translation of Kenji Nakagami's The Cape and Other Stories. Powerful and insightful, these grim yet energetic stories present a little-seen view of modern Japan. We used to have more information about this book on our website, but it seems to have been replaced by a shorter listing. I'll see if we can restore the older version. Readers, this is an amazing story collection. Kawabata fans, hmm, maybe this isn't for you.

Here's the link to the Times' story. And here's a link to the Times' review of The Cape when it was first published.

You can obtain The Cape online or at booksellers worldwide.

A time to be thankful

2008-11-25T23:09:00.000-08:00

We've got a lot to be grateful for this season, despite our economic woes and the growing preference for screens and 'zines over tomes. Americans seem to want gravitas in everything except what they read.

But things could be worse, I suppose. McCain could have won. But he didn't, so in January there'll be one less turkey in Washington. One could tell the departing foul (sic) to get stuffed, or just flip him a bird on the way out.

But why be mean-spirited? Let's enjoy family and friends and all the things in our lives that we like, and let's be grateful for all the people who have gone out of their way this year to give us a kind word, a pat on the back, a hot meal.

For those who want to explore the web of their relationships with others, I encourage them to look at Gregg Krech's fascinating book about Naikan, a Japanese form of psychotherapy that explores not the self alone but the self in society. In our more crowded world and amid a growing sense of interdependence and mutual concern, it's important to understand not justwhat makes me me, but what makes me and you us. For more about naikan, visit the Todo Institute. Happy Thanksgiving!

"A good night for the English language"

2008-11-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

So glad I dipped into James Wood's wonderful parsing of Obama's speechifying in this week's New Yorker. Since Obama's election I've watched You Tube and other postings of Obama's oratory, in particular his fabulous treatise on race in America last spring and his acceptance speech in Chicago. I"ve listened to these two speeches a couple times, yet still I get chills and now, with his victory, even teary-eyed. George never made me cry, only cry out, and Sarah made me wince. But listening to Obama, I get carried off on a near-dreamlike sea of rhetoric and meaning, and feel connected once again to my own past, my country, my civilization.

Wood's article analyzes the magic behind the power of Obama to move. It's magic, yes, but not a trick or a fabrication. While Obama of course, like any great orator, weaves together words, rhythms, and images, he shows himself to be more a master allusionist, an exploiter of phrases that resonate through the American subconscious. "By the people, for the people" is maybe the most obvious example. Wood also points to Obama's clever archaism of "where we are met with cynicism" echoing Lincoln's "met on a great battlefield," and his use of the word "promise" to evoke the "promised land" that MLK claimed to see on the eve of his assassination. Barack being smart, and gifted, it is no coincidence that he is drinking from the well of these two leaders, both of whom have become iconic vessels of our nation's yearning for both heroes and salvation.

It's great to see smart language in a public place. And it's great to see powerful oratory used to generate hope instead of fear. I'm basically a words-on-the-page guy, but when it comes to making sweet music out of language, Obama's got my vote.

Exploring Kyoto called “the ideal travel guide”

2008-11-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

Midwest Book Review’s “Wisconsin Bookwatch” gives Judith Clancy’s updated guidebook Exploring Kyoto high praise, calling it “a superbly written and thoroughly ‘user friendly‘ guide to what this beautiful city and its surrounding countryside have to offer,” and declaring it “the ideal travel guide.“

Now I know that since Yohan’s demise it has been hard finding this book in Japan, but I’m told that you can get it at Junkudo Kyoto, Kyoto Handicraft Center, Shin Miyako Hotel, Book First Kyoto, with more shops to come. Anyone heading to Japan this fall or in the coming months will absolutely love this book, and it will open the city up to you in ways no other guidebook can. (Japan bookstores: Get your act together already!! Readers — and publishers— are getting impatient!!)

Big Interview with Fred Schodt in Electric Ant!

2008-11-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

SAME HAT! SAME HAT! This “weekly manga commentary, featuring horror, gag & erotic-grotesque nonsense” reports that the new zine Electric Ant http://electricantzine.com/ features a long interview with Fred Schodt, author of Manga! Manga, Dreamland Japan! , and The Astro Boy Essays (among other fine works about Japan and Japanese culture). Look for Electric Ant on your local newsstand or wherever fine ‘zines are sold!

Oprah Romances Kindle and Kills Off Beauty

2008-10-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Linda the Designer (no relation to Joe the Plumber) was bemoaning how Oprah came out last week and announced her love for the artless cold aesthetic of the Kindle. The woman who singlehandedly made books relevant to the lives of millions of daytime TV watchers and generated untold millions of dollars for big US book publishers has told her audience to stop, don't buy a book, think of the trees you'll be saving instead by downloading everything you need onto a little plastic and silicon brick.

You get one font, but in lots of sizes! Text can be justified or not, your choice! That whole notion of giving life to the text by allowing room to breathe on the page, or suggesting an elegant argument with a classic typeface? Well, fuggadeboutit. The only thing a "designer" has to "design" now is how to deliver a pdf to the kindlemaker.

Am I unhappy? Not entirely. It'll be good to save the cost of fuel, not to mention the occasional tree. No more happy UPS delivery screwups!

But I'll miss the look and feel of the book, and the unique personality given it by its designer. With fewer aesthetic qualities to interfere with the message, maybe language will become more about content and less about the vehicle of transmission.

I suppose that could apply to human interactions as well. We say that we judge people on their deeds and their words, but that's not entirely true. We need to see and touch other humans to take their measure, to see if they're a good fit, believable, appealing, whatever. It'll be a while before a human kindle stirs Oprah into a froth of ecstasy, but I bet that day is not too far off.

It's Sunday, thinking about wisdom and leadership

2008-10-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, students, this question comes from this year's SAT: visual pattern recognition.

Of the three figures shown in the photo, which one does not belong with the other two?

(Quiz courtesy of Stone Bridge Press, your source for crazy wisdom.)

Ideas for authors to boost their visibility and power

2008-10-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

I don’t usually do this, but I want to advise all authors (in particular Stone Bridge authors) that they click on the headline link or here to read a very succinct summary by Stephanie Chandler of things you can do to increase your online visibility and, ultimately, your sales and earnings. Very good stuff, and a fine “meta-ironic” example of an online article doing exactly what it is recommending to others. (Published on the Publishing Basics site.)

And it has also occurred to me . . . Why is it not enough to have just a book these days? Just a book! The market does demand it, but isn’t it a bit tiresome to keep drilling down and through the internet blogs and discussion groups and featured websites until there is nothing left to learn? Knowledge is an addiction; once you “like“ something it’s hard to stop pursuing it. Beyond a certain point, the whole viral marketing/blogosphere/webcentric hoohah may be just a non-nutritive excercise in feeding the brain’s sweet tooth.

Murakami at Berkeley this weekend; lecture + symposium

2008-10-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

This past spring we published A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World. This book was compiled and edited by The Japan Foundation and contains an introduction by Jay Rubin as well as essays by Richard Powers, Shozo Fujii, Roland Kelts, and others, as well as a special essay on translation by Haruki Murakami. We're happy to announce that the book has been very well received, and we are now about to reprint it. (Copies may be in short supply, but should still be available on Amazon and in the bookshops that were farsighted enough to order them in the first place!)

And now, if you live in or near Berkeley, California, you can experience the Murakami phenomenon first hand!

As part of the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Center for Japanese Studies, Haruki Murakami will present a reading and lecture in Japanese and English, to be followed by a conversation with Roland Kelts. The presentation will take place on Saturday, October 11, 2008, at Zellerbach Hall on the Berkeley campus.

From the event description: "The author's numerous works, which have been translated into 36 languages, lead the reader along the interstices between the mundane and the sublime. His work has been described as easily accessible, yet profoundly complex. Murakami's reading and lecture in Japanese and English will be followed by a conversation with Roland Kelts (Tokyo University lecturer and author of Japanamerica) and a question and answer period with the audience."

The next day, Sunday, October 12, at The Alumni House on the Cal Campus, there will be a special program examining Murakami's works in translation.

This event is free and open to the public.

Japanese Literature on the Global Stage
The Murakami Symposium
Sunday, October 12
10:00 AM-1:00 PM
Alumni House

Panel:

"Crazed Translator Gives Japanese Author Excedrin Headache"
Jay Rubin (Harvard Univ.)

"Lost in Translation? Murakami Haruki and the Japanization of the English Language"
Rebecca Suter (Univ. of Sydney)

"A Spatial Odyssey or, It‚s All Greek to Me: East Meets West in Murakami Haruki's Kafka On the Shore"
Matthew Strecher (Winona State Univ.)

"Are There Any More Like You at Home? Cloning Murakami Haruki for the US Market"
Stephen Snyder (Middlebury College)

Moderated by H. Mack Horton (UC Berkeley) and Alan Tansman (UC Berkeley)

We need your kanji photos!

2008-09-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

Hey readers and kanji fans . . . we’re still looking for photos to add to our nearly completed book Crazy for Kanji by the amazing Eve Kushner. We’ve already got a bunch of photos, but we need more! If you have a photo of kanji in daily use, or kanji weird, funny, perverse, or distinctive, please send it to kanji@stonebridge.com.

If we use your kanji image, we’ll send you a copy of Eve’s book for free!

Here are the rules:

tif or jpeg
300 dpi and up to 4 inches wide.
black and white or color
include your last name in the file name
give your name as you want it to appear in the photo credit; or indicate "anonymous"
provide a caption or a brief description of what's in the photo (assuming you know!), plus your preferred email contact address

IMPORTANT!! You must have permission to let us use the image. It can't belong to someone else and be submitted without that owner's permission.

The publisher decides which photos will be used and retains nonexclusive rights covering all usage, media, reprints, etc.

Don’t forget to check out Eve’s blog about kanji.

Thanks!

Why I Like Amazon's Kindle

2008-09-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

Heres a very different take on what I wrote about last time.

*****

I've had a Kindle since June. Critics complain that it's not "Apple-like" enough. But Steve Jobs has famously said that readers don't want ebooks in the first place, so I suppose if the Kindle were truly Apple-like it would never have got off the drawing board (where Steve's hockey-puck mouse should have stayed; Apple's design sense is not unerring, you know).

The Kindle is the closest thing so far to the Holy Grail of e-publishing: a device that is portable, readable, simple to operate, and melts into the background. It's what you do with the Kindle that is important, and not the Kindle itself. At some point, you don't notice the Kindle, but you realize you can't live or work without it.

Well, I'm not there yet. But I'm liking my Kindle more and more. And it's not because the Kindle is a superior reading device. I like instead how easy it is to buy a book, no matter where you are. Two months ago we were driving through rural Oregon, listening to some political talk show. A book was mentioned. I turned on Kindle's wireless and was able to find and download a sample chapter of that book within 2 minutes. We were traveling 80 mph and probably a good 50 miles from the nearest bookstore. That Bezos et al. were able to graft the 1-click experience of instant gratification onto a whole new piece of hardware and get it right on the very first try is simply amazing.

Something else I like: I have to read a lot of manuscripts. They're heavy, and expensive to print out. I used to carry them in a bag on overnight or longer trips, and they always made me wonder why I didn't become a styrofoam cup salesman. With Kindle, I can send text documents to myself at my own Kindle address, and Amazon converts them back into Kindle-readable format and sends them direct to my Kindle. So I can carry dozens of mss without adding weight to my luggage.

And what's not to like about the savings in downed trees and fuel charges? As a publisher, I've seen the cost of shipping books to stores go through the roof, while at the same time consumers still resist paying more than $20 for a paperback. With a Kindle, there's no fuel, and no printing or storage charges for that matter. Skinflint readers can buy most Kindle books for less than $10.

Now that bookstores are demanding free freight from publishers, along with their unlimited returns privileges, anything we can do to go direct to readers is going to be better for us and better for our customers. Bookstores thus "disintermediated" will have to make do with selling journals, calendars, bargain books, and chai I suppose, or will have to do what they should have done years ago: accept that the publishing world is changing and that digital publishing in the form of Print on Demand and ebooks is going to be a big part of the mix in the years to come. (Why bookstores continually miss out on obvious trends is a mystery to me. I'll write more about this later.)

Kindle 2.0 no doubt will have a slicker design, less clunky navigation tools, a lower price, better response time, a workable internet browser. But for a first try, I rate it a great success. I like the world that it represents. It expands the reach and influence of publishers and writers at just the time when it is getting harder to find readers and much more costly economically and environmentally to get the content they want into their hands. Who needs hands when you've got screens?

*****

Yes, we mourn the loss of the bound book. But I wonder if that's not just blind attachment to tradition. In 2-3 generations, who will care, and what is it exactly that will really be lost? I'd be curious to know what you all think about that.

Birthing the Book, Against All Odds

2008-09-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

I've just spent the last two days battling the likes of the US Post Office, DHL, ATT, and a bunch of other vendors of goods and services. I'm sure you all know the routine. Call, get placed on hold, lose the connection, redial, wait, talk to someone in Bombay with a silver tongue who knows less than you do. It's frustrating.

How disturbing and humbling it is, then, to find out that some customers and colleagues are just as frustrated with me. In the same two days, Stone Bridge has had an irate retail shop complain about what they perceived as poor service, and I've had more than one author express frustration at my, um, lack of promptness at communicating. I always tell people it's OK to prod me, and by now I guess I'm so used to being nagged that I rely on it as a form of triage to determine which crises I will attend to first.

So, in the midst of ongoing incompetence and carelessness, not a small amount of it of my own making, it's a wonder that our books ever get out the door and make it to the correct shelf of your average neighborhood bookstore (thanks to DHL, sometimes they just don't). It strikes me that over the years the process of publishing books has evolved to guard against quintessentially human failures. The author writes, and writes well, but the editors edit and edit and edit again. Then there are the fact checkers and the proofreaders, the peer reviewers, the publicists, the designers, all of whom poke and tweak and meticulously chase down what we in the trade call "infelicities."

In the end we have what we hope is bullet-proof, a good read and a solid production. The world around it may be going to hell, but, dammit, this little book is going to be birthed without typos, grammatical errors, or clashing text and display fonts.

Maybe that's one reason we value books. They are one little corner of existence treated as if being right or not counts for something. One aspect of civilization that goes down better when produced slowly, like a pig buried in a pit of coals and covered over for a day or two or three to let the goodness cook through. Books are the antithesis of our instant blog culture, which is why they will endure or, for that matter, die out.

Chinese Business Etiquette readies for new release

2008-08-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

Now that the Olympics are over, it’s back to business! Dreaming of selling every person in China 1 widget and a thingie? Learn the ropes, and fast, with our just-launching Chinese Business Etiquette: The Practical Pocket Guide by business expert Stefan H. Verstappen. This short handbook covers everything from travel tips to negotiating strategies, with insight into culture and demeanor to help you figure out what’s going on and what you need to do to succeed. Competition is fierce. Personal connections count like nowhere else. Are you prepared? Preorder today!

Here’s what Stefan has to say about how to deal with one very popular technique for making you vulnerable during your business trip:

Attrition
Chinese negotiators have been known to wear down foreign negotiators by various diversions and extended discussions. Taking clients out for a dinner, karaoke, and drinking games into the early hours of the morning before important meetings is a favorite tactic.

Countermove
By preparing yourself and insuring due diligence ahead of your trip, you will be better able to deal with unexpected developments and make smart decisions despite suffering from lack of sleep and a possible hangover. Treat your trip to China like a marathon race. Pace yourself accordingly. Follow the Confucian model of moderation in all things to help you stay sharp and unfrazzled during what is ordinarily an exhilarating but taxing experience.

Any questions?

2008-08-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

From Peter Goodman, Publisher

Thanks to ace publicist and communications master Ari Messer, who has left SBP and will be pursuing a writing career. The only people who make less than publishers are writers! But Ari knows what he's doing and I'm sure will be using his deft sentences and great intelligence to entertain and inform us in some fashion or another for years to come.

Which explains my I'm taking over the blogging, at least for a while. So as long as I've got the opportunity, let me do a publishing shout-out (absent a proper colophon) to Nina, Reiko, Chris, and Jaime. Hope you guys are all doing well.

It's been a wild year, to say the least. Yohan in Japan went bankrupt, and here in the US so did Cody's Books. We had family connections to both companies, and while we're not a part of either our future plans have certainly been affected. It's been hard knowing that a lot of good publishing people have lost their jobs and that an encyclopedic amount of bookselling intelligence and experience is gone or at best lies dormant.

I've been reading a lot of gleeful grave-dancing slaps at Yohan. Good riddance to the greedy bastards, I think is the thrust of public opinion. Well, as a one-time member of the Yohan family I can tell you that these were all good people who loved books, not a bunch of rapacious merchants. The Japan market had special costs that probably many of you are unaware of. For example, because many of the bookstores had no expertise in English, the Yohan salespeople had to constantly visit store after store, trimming up the shelves and counting stock. Every book imported had to be removed from its shipping carton and have an inventory tag hand-inserted in it because that's what the retailers insisted on, even though by all accounts it is in practical terms unnecessary, thanks to computers and barcodes. Return rates were high. And as you know, Amazon was pushing big discounts, and fuel charges were soaring (and are you aware that most Yohan stock was flown in from New York so that materials reached Japan soon after publication in the US?).

Look, I'm no apologist for Yohan. Obviously, they did a lot of things wrong. But you need to look at the bookselling industry as a whole and how it's changing. And also look at how consumers demand cheaper and cheaper. Everyone says they're in favor of independent booksellers and independent publishers, but in the end many of us shop at Amazon, Walmart, or wherever we think we can get the best deal. With gasoline in the US topping $4 a gallon (yes, I know that's cheap to you folks who live in Belgium), you can't blame people for stretching their dollars and trying their best to survive. Yohan, and Cody's, are in some respects just another Darwinian casualty.

Well, as long as I'm blogging here for a while, if anyone has any questions for me about publishing, Stone Bridge, or what's up, just leave a comment here.

And I'm always interested in the next big thing. Any trends out there you think we should know about?

China Today

2008-08-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

Larry and Qin Herzberg, authors of China Survival Guide, the first humorous guide to travel in China, are featured on the Calvin College website today, and the news story includes a clip from their forthcoming educational video about China.

Read the article and watch the video:

China Today: Chapters 1-3 & 22 from Calvin College on Vimeo.

Be sure to grab a copy of the China Survival Guide if you're heading overseas (or if you're already there). And if you're watching the Olympics and marveling at the lauded and shrouded architecture in Beijing, it might be time to pick up Frank S. Fang's China Fever, which details the economic and political history of growth and land use in China.

The Astro Boy Essays on Animated Views

2008-08-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

Over at Animated Views, Raz Greenberg reviews Frederik L. Schodt's The Astro Boy Essays, writing that Schodt's story of Osamu Tezuka and his best-known creation, Astro Boy, is "wonderful...[the] first comprehensive study in English about one of the most important people in the history of both comics and animation." (read more...)

Another reminder to read the book on the plane to London for the Tezuka retrospective in September!

Wear Your Crazy Wisdom: Smiling Budd(n)a now at Cafe Press

2008-08-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

If you have been enjoying Wes "Scoop" Nisker's new book, Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!, then you were likely as mesmerized as we were by the cover design.

Now that same Buddha-in-DNA is available in countless different shapes and sizes, from coffee mugs to t-shirts, at Cafe Press.

And while we're at it, Obama Kana and Anime Classics Zettai! designs are still available!

McCarthy to curate major Tezuka retrospective

2008-08-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

We're excited to announce that Anime Encyclopedia co-author Helen McCarthy will be curating the first major retrospective in the West of Osamu Tezuka, Japan's "God of Manga." The film festival will take place at the Barbican in London, September 18-24.

The full lineup is yet to be confirmed, but McCarthy told us that many of the films will be screening in the UK for the first time, and there have been some sneak peaks popping up around the Web...

The Astro Boy Essays, Frederik L. Schodt's remarkable book about Astro Boy, the manga/anime industry, Tezuka, and Schodt's personal relationship with the master artist, is available now. Take a copy with you on the plane, and we'll see you in London!

Murakami is coming to Berkeley

2008-07-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

This just in! Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, who rarely makes public appearances, will be speaking at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall on October 11. Tickets go on sale August 10. His reading and lecture in Japanese and English will be followed by a conversation with A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World contributor Roland Kelts. Sue Gilmore of the Contra Costa Times (and also of related papers, such as the Mercury News), was so excited to learn of Murakami's speaking engagement that "her world brightened" when she heard the news. She also gives a great shout out to A Wild Haruki Chase in that article. Thanks, Sue!

During the discussion between Kelts and Murakami, we're sure many of the issues discussed in A Wild Haruki Chase will arise, so get your copy today, bring it to your book group, read it on the BART, and start thinking of the best questions you can.

The word on the street is that there will be an academic discussion about Murakami's work the following day, including a presentation by translator (and A Wild Haruki Chase contributor) Jay Rubin. We'll post more info soon. Both events are presented in association with our friends at the Center for Japanese Studies.

Wes "Scoop" Nisker at Book Passage tonight

2008-07-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

"Brilliant, consciousness expanding, profound, mysterious, and very funny." --Jack Kornfield

Wes "Scoop" Nisker will bring his signature blend of Buddhism, science, and humor (and, if the audience is good, a little song and dance) to Book Passage in Corte Madera tonight, beginning at 7 p.m.

Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again! will be available for purchase, and Scoop will sign books after his presentation! (INFO)

New excerpts from The Berkeley Book of College Essays

2008-07-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

Are you or your children looking to get a head start on those pesky college admissions essays?

Stone Bridge Press has made a new series of excerpts--including complete, successful admissions essays--from The Berkeley Book of College Essays available online. Just go to the book page, click on "EXCERPT," and get ready to get inspired!

“This is a useful, provocative, and entertaining new book. It is radically different in wholesome ways from most of the other ‘How To’ essay books that crowd the bookstore shelves…. And it is a great cultural survey of Berkeley: female Boy Scouts, male dancers, you name it. What a great group of kids.”
--Jonathan Reider, Director of College Counseling at San Francisco University High School and former Admissions Officer at Stanford University

In the Blogs: Kurosawa's other half and a Kyoto guide for locals

2008-07-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Following Teruyo Nogami's sold-out appearance at the Japan Society in New York, she and her book, Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa, have been popping up all over the blogosphere. Chris MaGee and Jason Gray talk about the (Japanese) Cinema Today article on Nogami-san, and Karl Ufert and (Stone Bridge author) Patrick Galloway report on the New York event. Perhaps the Flavorpill listing helped pull in that sold out crowd?

Ufert saw Nogami-san as a "magical 81 year-old lady with [a] shock of white hair, vibrant personality and lightning fast responses (through a translator)." (more...)

Also in the blogs, Dancing on Temple Tops takes a peak at Judith Clancy's Exploring Kyoto: On Foot in the Ancient Capital, noting that while the book is great for tourists, it's "also the guide that even we Kyoto residents buy and use." Awesome!

Teruyo Nogami in the New York Sun, at Japan Society tonight

2008-06-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

Using the Nakadai retrospective at Film Forum as a chance to reflect on Akira Kurosawa's life and legacy, Bruce Bennett interviewed Teruyo Nogami for the New York Sun yesterday, writing:

If one were to say that Kurosawa is one of the 20th century's filmmaking deities, Ms. Nogami was his archangel. (read more...)

Nogami-san will speaking at the Japan Society in New York City tonight to support the release of her Stone Bridge book, Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa.

Stone Bridge Press Sponsors the New York Asian Film Festival, Which Opens Tonight!

2008-06-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

Stone Bridge Press is proud to be a sponsor of this year's New York Asian Film Festival, which opens tonight and runs through July 6. There are too many great films to name this year! Whatever you decide to see, look out for giveaways of Stone Bridge film titles, including The Films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Anime Classics Zettai!, Asia Shock, and The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film, throughout the festival.

What a time for film lovers to be in New York. A major Nakadai retrospective opens at Film Forum tonight, and Teruyo Nogami, author of Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa, will be making some very special appearances in New York and D.C.

Journalist Fumio Matsuo to Speak in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Palo Alto

2008-06-20T13:57:00.001-07:00

Ever wondered what the Japanese think of American history? Curious how the Japanese media is portraying the US presidential election? Democracy with a Gun author and veteran international journalist Fumio Matsuo will be speaking on these topics in Los Angeles on June 24 and in the Bay Area on June 28 and 30.

---Los Angeles Event---
Tuesday, June 24
"Citizen Forum: Hiroshima-Pearl Harbor Reconciliation"
6:30 p.m.
Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena CA
Free admission / Reservations recommended To RSVP, email to info@culturalnews.com or call Cultural News at (213) 819-4100.
(more info...)

Program moderated by Hugh Leonard of Los Angeles, a business consultant specializing in providing services to Japan-based American companies.
Co-sponsored by Armory Center for the Arts, Cultural News and Japan America Society of Southern California.

---Bay Area Events---
"Democracy with a Gun: A Conversation with Fumio Matsuo"

Please join the Japan Society of Northern California as we co-sponsor two special talks with Mr. Fumio Matsuo, the author of Democracy with a Gun: America and the Policy of Force. In this book, one of Japan’s best-known international journalists traces America’s position today as the world’s sole superpower. With a foreign perspective rarely provided by English-language media pundits, Mr. Matsuo provides in-depth, controversial analysis of America’s use of force to achieve its goals.

Mr. Matsuo will be speaking about his book, as well as providing insight on Japan’s views of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, on the following dates:

Saturday, June 28
Time: 2:00-4:00 pm
Place: Japanese American Association
of Northern California
Address: 1759 Sutter Street, San Francisco [map]
This talk will be in Japanese; it is free and open to the public.
Questions: 415.567.4824
Co-sponsored by the Japanese American Association
of Northern California

Monday, June 30
Time: 6:30-8:45 pm
Place: Morrison and Foerster, International Room
Address: 755 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto [map]
Fees: $10 General Admission
This talk will be in Japanese. Registration deadline is Friday, June 27. To register, please contact 650.522.8500 or mail@jccnc.org.
Co-sponsored by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California

Fumio Matsuo worked for the Kyodo News Service from 1956 to 2002, serving as Washington Bureau Chief from 1981 to 1984. Democracy with a Gun was first published in Japanese in 2004 and then in English in 2007; it won the 52nd Annual Award of the Japan Essayist Club.

(more info...)

Haruki Murakami book in the Hipster Book Club and Life in the Cul-de-Sac on the rgdinmalaysia blog

2008-06-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World was recently reviewed at the Hipster Book Club, where Michael Ward writes:

A Wild Haruki Chase is a fine collection of essays touching on a number of subjects including globalization, postmodernism, and translation issues. . . . The volume represents a work of criticism that is open not only to Japanese literature scholars but Murakami fans in general.
(read more...)

Also, in the blogs, Senji Kuroi's Life in the Cul-de-Sac, translated by Philip Gabriel, recently showed up at rgdinmalaysia, where it is interestingly compared to Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio.

China for Businesswomen in the Wall Street Journal's "Faux Pas"

2008-06-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

In her Wall Street Journal "Faux Pas" column on karaoke as a business tool in East Asia, Emily Flitter quotes China for Businesswomen author and international business expert Tracey Wilen-Daugenti. Check it out. The story has a great opener:

The first deal Paula Beroza ever struck in China was sealed after she sang "Red River Valley" at a luncheon.

Rock on!

Linguist-Violonist Teaches China Survival

2008-06-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

In an exciting lead-up to the China Survival Guide booksigning at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 21, The Grand Rapids Press ran a feature on full-time violinist and full-time language professor (and full-time China Survival Guide co-author) Larry Herzberg on Sunday. The article's full of gems from the multi-talented instructor, especially this one:

"Music, of course, is the universal language. And every language, spoken well, is music."

Herzberg, who speaks eight languages (Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, French, and...English), is a big fan of felines. From the article:

He's cat crazy. He started a newsletter for symphony members called COMA -- Cats of Musicians Association. "I once spent a three-hour train ride with him just talking about his cats," says Aaron Lester, a Calvin College student who went on one of Herzberg's China trips. "He can talk about his cats for hours."

Larry's wife Qin, co-author of the China Survival Guide, comments in the article on Larry's splendid sense of humor (something which comes across bright and clear in the travel guide!):

"It's impossible for him not to make a humorous comment every few minutes," says Qin, who teaches upper-level Chinese at Calvin. "If you see a group of people standing together laughing, there's a good chance Larry is in there making jokes for them."
(read more!)

Business Passport to Japan in Rotary and OchTamale

2008-06-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Sue Shinomiya and Brian Szepkouski's new book, Business Passport to Japan, recently popped up in OchTamale, the University of Redlands magazine (Szepkouski is an alumni) and In Flight, the paper of Rotary International District 7470. OchTamale calls the book "a practical how-to guide," and In Flight tells the intriguing story of Szepkouski's journey from student to teacher to scholar to international businessman, based in New Jersey with his heart in Japan.

Teruyo Nogami is Coming to New York and DC!

2008-05-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

"A wonderfully intimate and beautifully written portrait of one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived...essential reading.”
--Martin Scorsese

The legendary Teruyo Nogami, author of Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa, will be traveling on the East Coast with actor Tatsuya Nakadai in June 2008, supporting the HUGE Nakadai retrospective at Film Forum. In addition to numerous film screenings, in-person events include:

June 21: Tatsuya Nakadai and Teruyo Nogami at Kinokuniya Bookstore, Bryant Park, 1073 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 3 p.m. in the 2F Event Space
June 22: Yojimbo screening with Nakadai and Nogami, Freer Gallery (Smithsonian Institution) and I Am a Cat at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
June 25: 50 Years with Akira Kurosawa: An Evening with Teruyo Nogami, Japan Society, New York, NY

Scoop on the Bonnie Simmons Show tonight

2008-05-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again! author Wes "Scoop" Nisker will be on the Bonnie Simmons Show on KPFA tonight, 8pm-10pm, supporting his new book and his upcoming performances at The Marsh in San Francisco and The Freight in Berkeley. If you don't like the news, buy a copy anyway!

Here's a preview that the San Francisco Bay Guardian wrote for a different Scoop show a little bit ago. Still applies:

Wes "Scoop" Nisker is probably best known as the KFOG news commentator who ended each broadcast with the words "And if you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own." Nisker, the author of several books and a leader of Buddhist meditation groups, is full of good-humored, wry insight into the political and social questions of the day.

(They also listed the opening at the Marsh here)

China Survival Guide Feature and Booksigning

2008-04-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

The Grand Rapids Press recently ran a feature about Larry and Qin Herzberg, co-authors of the China Survival Guide. Speaking to the Press' Nardy Baeza Bickel about the need for a humorous and detailed travel guide to China, Larry noted:

"There are all sorts of planners that talk about what to see, where to see. But they don't tell you the nitty-gritty."
(read more...)

Larry and Qin will be doing an in-store booksigning at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 21 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Put it on your calendars! Details TBA.

McCarthy and Sharp at the Barbican and Beyond

2008-04-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

The Anime Encyclopedia co-author Helen McCarthy is as busy as ever. Upcoming events include:

May 3: Kihachiro Kawamoto films at the Barbican Cinema in London. McCarthy will be joined by Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film co-author (and Barbican Senior Curator) Jasper Sharp to discuss Kawamoto's work before the third program at 4:15 p.m. (more info...)

May 11: Bristol International Comic Expo. McCarthy leads a panel on Osamu Tezuka's impact on the anime and manga industries. (more info...)

May 31-June 1: McCarthy at A-Kon in Dallas, Texas.

September 11-16: McCarthy curates a film season at the Barbican Cinema devoted to Osamu Tezuka to mark the 80th anniversary of his birth. Screenings will include titles previously unseen in Britain. A further short season in Spring 2009 will continue the celebration.

Wes "Scoop" Nisker on West Coast Live and Green 960

2008-04-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

Two more upcoming radio appearances for Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again! author Wes "Scoop" Nisker!

May 11: "The Peter Laufer Show" on Green 960AM, 9 a.m. - 10 a.m., San Francisco

May 24: Sedge Thomson's nationally syndicated "West Coast Live," 10 a.m. - noon, taping at the Ferry Building, San Francisco, followed by a booksigning (you can buy tickets to attend the show and signing)

March/April News & Reviews

2008-04-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

In the Spring issue of Film Quarterly, Stephen Prince reviews Teruyo Nogami's Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa. Prince writes:

"This exemplary memoir showcasing Nogami's devotion to Kurosawa and to the art of cinema is a treasure trove filled with passionate, funny, wry, and incisive portraits of a golden age in Japanese film."

Waiting on the Weather was also reviewed in The Asian Reporter, where Mike Street wrote that "Weather is both enjoyable and essential...film students as well as Kurosawa fans will find it revealing and engaging."

Josephine Yun, author of jrock, ink., contributed a four-page feature on the current state of J-Rock to the April issue of Otaku USA.

The new Stone Bridge Classics edition of Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Isabella L. Bird's intrepid 1880 travelogue, was excerpted in the Asia Weekly and reviewed in the April issue of Metropolis, where C.B. Liddell writes:

"The fact that it doesn't try to please a modern audience is one of the book's charms, but its main virtue is that it provides us with a vivid and unforgettable picture of Meiji Japan..."

In the April 27 Japan Times, Gregory Clark reviewed veteran Japanese journalist Fumio Matsuo's Democracy with a Gun: America and the Policy of Force, writing:

"Matsuo is...meticulous in trying to find how the initially democratic and humane aspirations of the early Americans could evolve into the cruelty of today's military interventions around the globe."

Harvard University Press released Eve Zimmerman's new book, Out of the Alleyway: Nakagami Kenji and the Poetics of Outcaste Fiction. Great timing, as Stone Bridge concurrently released a Stone Bridge Fiction edition of Zimmerman's award-winning translation of The Cape and Other Stories from the Japanese Ghetto.

In The Asian Reporter, Josephine Bridges complimented Fumio Shiozawa's "lovely and surreal illustrations" in Divining the Asian Zodiac: Anient Guide to Life and Love.

Tonight! Wes "Scoop" Nisker at City Lights

2008-04-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

Wes "Scoop" Nisker will be reading and signing at City Lights Books in San Francisco tonight at 7 p.m. to celebrate the release of Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!. Come on by for Buddhism, humor, "The Evolution Sutra," and maybe even a little song and dance...
(more info...)

Four New Releases from Stone Bridge Press

2008-04-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Out now!

Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!:
Handbook for a Spiritual Revolution
by Wes "Scoop" Nisker
This seriously funny investigation of religion, evolution, cosmology, and Buddhism -- the second Cody's Book from Stone Bridge Press -- is a self-help book for people interested in helping more than just themselves.

A Wild Haruki Chase:
Reading Murakami Around the World
Compiled and translated by The Japan Foundation
Jay Rubin, Richard Powers, Kim Choon Mie, Inuhiko Yomota, Roland Kelts, Shozo Fujii, Shinya Machida, Ivan Sergeevich Logatchov, Koichi Oi, and Issey Ogata, with a special essay on translation by Haruki Murakami
Novelists, translators, and critics explore novelist Haruki Murakami’s phenomenal international appeal.

Exploring Kyoto:
On Foot in the Ancient Capital
by Judith Clancy
With detailed maps and two new walks, the essential guide to exploring Kyoto on foot is now even better!

The Cape:
and Other Stories from the Japanese Ghetto
by Kenji Nakagami, trans. Eve Zimmerman
A new Stone Bridge Fiction edition of the award-winning translation of Kenji Nakagami's riveting stories from the Japanese ghetto.

Reminder: Frederik L. Schodt at the LA Times Festival of the Book this weekend!

2008-04-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

Frederik L. Schodt, author of The Astro Boy Essays and numerous other books about anime, manga, and Japan, will be at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend. Schodt will appear on the "Reading Manga" panel, which will be moderated by Charles Solomon. Librarians, readers, booksellers, take note -- this is your chance to get a great read on one of the fastest growing industries in the world!

Schodt will be available to sign books after the panel discussion.

Reading Manga: A Japanese Phenomenon Comes to America
Panel 1114
3 p.m.
Saturday, April 26
Location: Humanities A51
(more info...)

Two new interviews with Yoga Poems author Leza Lowitz

2008-04-23T13:46:00.001-07:00

The April issue of WOW! Women on Writing features an extensive interview by Suzanne Kamata with Yoga Poems author Leza Lowitz. Read it online here. Kamata notes that Lowitz just published her fifteenth book!

Also, in "The Art of Gentle Surrender," Lee Peau speaks with Lowitz, who runs the Sun and Moon Yoga Studio in Tokyo, about the connection between yoga and writing in Wingspan, All Nippon Airways' in-flight magazine.

Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements on the BBC

2008-04-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Stone Bridge authors and energetic anime experts Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements appeared on the BBC's Woman's Hour this week to discuss "controversial Japanese comics." The show is archived here.

Tomorrow, 4/20, McCarthy will be on BBC Radio 4's Go4It, discussing anime with children aged 7-11. The show streams from here.

Inspired? Order your copy of The Anime Encyclopedia today!

Tonight! Crazy Wisdom book release at new Cody's Books

2008-04-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

Join Wes "Scoop" Nisker and Stone Bridge Press tonight at the new Cody's Books store in downtown Berkeley to celebrate the release of Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!, Nisker's seriously funny new book on Buddhism and science. Leah Garchik mentions the release in her column for the San Francisco Chronicle today, and Buddhist master Jack Kornfield recently had this to say:

“Brilliant, consciousness expanding, profound, mysterious, and very funny. Ah, the audacious joy of crazy wisdom!”

Tom Robbins, author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, loved Nisker's The Essential Crazy Wisdom:

“Twenty-three times more liberating than the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran combined. It may be crazy to say such a thing but it is also wise.”

Monday, April 14, 2008
7 p.m. in the store
Cody's Books
2201 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley
(more info...)

Author Events Update: Schodt in Japan, Fang on Radio, Scoop in the Bay Area, and Bacarr on Playboy TV

2008-03-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

The Astro Boy Essays author Frederik L. Schodt has upcoming events in Japan and Los Angeles:
March 22: "Tezuka Osamu, Astro Boy, and the Roots of Modern Manga and Anime," JAT meeting, Shibuya, Tokyo, 14:00-17:00
March 24: "Osamu Tezuka and Astro Boy," presentation to Paul Sutcliffe's manga class, Temple University Japan, Tokyo, 11:30-12:30
April 26: "Reading Manga" panel discussion at the LA Times Festival of Books.
(More info on Schodt's events)

***
China Fever author Frank S. Fang has become a frequent radio guest. Appearances past and upcoming:
March 19: WMTR Radio Morning Show (OH)
March 21: WBIG Radio Morning Show (Chicago, IL)
March 21: Charles Barone's No Boundaries Radio Show, 8-9pm EST (MA) listen live
March 25: Michael Dresser Show, 6pm EST listen live
April 8: KGAB Radio Morning Show (WY) check it out
Many more appearences TBA -- stay tuned!

***
Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again! author Wes "Scoop" Nisker will be appearing throughout the Bay Area in April and May:
April 14: Book release at Cody’s Books, Berkeley, CA
April 29: Reading at City Lights Books, San Francisco, CA
May 16–17; 23–24: Comic routine at The Marsh, San Francisco, CA
May 29–30: Comic routine at the Freight & Salvage Coffee House, Berkeley, CA

***
The Japanese Art of Sex author Jina Bacarr will be on the "Naked Sushi" episode of Playboy TV's 69 Things to Do Before You Die. Details TBA, but for now check out the great promo video!

Frederik L. Schodt to Speak at USF on Tuesday!

2008-02-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

February 26, 2008, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
USF Main Campus, Xavier Hall, Maraschi Room

The Anime/Manga Revolution: Osamu Tezuka and 'Astro Boy'
A public lecture by Frederik L. Schodt

In this illustrated presentation, noted Japan expert Frederik L. Schodt examines the art of manga and anime, the connection between fantasy robots and technology, and the lifework of Osamu Tezuka (1928-89), the pioneering genius of manga and TV animation in Japan. Tetsuwan Atomu, or 'Mighty Atom,' (known in the United States as 'Astro Boy'), is his life's masterwork because of the character's profound cultural impact. Befriended by Mr. Osamu, Frederik Schodt combines the pespectives of friend and cultural historian in assessing the growing significance of both anime and manga in his new Stone Bridge Press book, The Astro Boy Essays.

Presented by the USF Asian Studies Degree Program. Coponsored by the University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim.

China for Businesswomen in Bay Area Business Woman

2008-02-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

Business expert Tracey Wilen-Daugenti's new Stone Bridge Press release, China For Businesswomen: A Strategic Guide to Travel, Negotiating, and Cultural Differences, was featured prominently in the January 2008 issue of Bay Area Business Woman in an article by Julia Dodge titled "China is doing business with women." Dodge was clearly inspired by the book, ending her analysis with this: "So don't believe the hype...women can do business in China!"

The Astro Boy Essays at the Comics Village

2008-02-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

The Comics Village features a review of Frederik L. Schodt's The Astro Boy Essays today. Reviewer Michael Aronson writes: "It’s hard to go wrong with Schodt at the helm. . . . [T]hat which he offers up is particularly revealing"
(read more...)

Frederik L. Schodt Around the World

2008-02-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

This photo from The Astro Boy Essays author Frederik L. Schodt's recent talk at Mission San Jose High School demonstrates just how fun Schodt's presentations on Japanese culture are for all ages!

Schodt will be all over the world in the coming months. Here is an up-to-date list of his events. Check back often for updates.

Feb 9: With Tim Hornyak on Robots in Japanese science and fiction. At the Kennedy Center (Millienium Stage) in Washington D.C. 3 p.m. Free! (more info...)

Feb 26: Presentation on manga/anime and Osamu Tezuka at the University of San Francisco. Details coming soon.

March 19: Lecture at The College Women's Association of Japan in Tokyo. More info coming soon here.

March 23: Book talk at Good Day Books in Tokyo. More info coming soon!

April 26-27: Author appearance at the LA Times Festival of Books in Los Angeles. More details coming soon!

Roland Kelts at the Japan Society in San Francisco

2008-02-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica and contributor to the April 2008 Stone Bridge release A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World, will be speaking at the Japan Society in San Francisco on Wednesday, February 6. More info.

Anime Classics Zettai! in School Library Journal

2008-02-01T17:33:00.001-08:00

School Library Journal is the newest fan of Anime Classics Zettai!: 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces by Brian Camp and Julie Davis. In SLJ's February 1 issue, reviewer Jamie Watson writes:

"The book will be of interest to teens and also serve as a great reference for collection development. . . . Indispensable for anyone with an interest in anime."
(read more...)

Travels in the East in the San Francisco Chronicle

2008-01-22T11:32:00.000-08:00

Donald Richie's new book of travel writing, Travels in the East, was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle's Book Review on Sunday, January 20. In the extensive review, Reagan Upshaw writes:

"For more than 50 years now, Donald Richie has been Our Man in Japan. . . . Richie writes about Vietnam in 1996, Cambodia and Egypt in 2001, Yap in 2004, and a dozen other places. . . . [He] remains a consummate guide to a disappearing world."
(read more...)

Anime Classics Zettai! on Ain't It Cool News

2008-01-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

Over in the anime corner of Ain't It Cool News, Scott Green has some great things to say about Anime Classics Zettai!: 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces by Brian Camp and Julie Davis. Green writes:

"Of all the English language anime guide books, Anime Classics Zettai! offers one of the best gateways to a literacy of the anime tradition." (read more...)

Travels in the East in National Geographic Traveler

2008-01-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

In National Geographic Traveler's online "Travel Lit" column this month, Don George has a mention of Donald Richie's forthcoming, wide-ranging book Travels in the East. George writes that Travels in the East presents "Japan-based scholar Donald Richie's newest collection of incisive and insightful travel essays from all over Asia and the Pacific, from Mongolia to Borneo."
(read more...)

The Films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa in Boyce McClain's Collectors' Corner

2008-01-17T10:52:00.000-08:00

This month, The Films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Master of Fear by Jerry White is on the front page of issue of Boyce McClain's Collectors' Corner! Collectors' Corner has been an essential resource for the comics and collecting communities since 1992, and we appreciate the attention!

McClain writes that White's book "examines the long career of Kiyoshi through a personal interview and essays accompanied by screenshots, film images and a descriptive filmography."
read the issue (PDF)

Democracy with a Gun in Cultural News

2008-01-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

The January issue of Cultural News features an article by Albert Brown about Democracy with a Gun author Fumio Matsuo's book launch at the Japan Information and Culture Center of the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC.

In the carefully observed piece, Brown highlights Matsuo-san's efforts at urging "reconciliation between Japan and the US over World War II scars," noting that "throughout the lecture and discussion, it was very clear that Mr. Matsuo believes that Japan, still, to this day, feels a lack of closure with its past."

Wabi-Sabi in the Financial Times

2008-01-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

In "Tremendous Trifles," his "Slow Lane" column in last weekend's Financial Times, Harry Eyres describes Leonard Koren's Wabi-Sabi as "the most interesting short book on aesthetics I've read for a long time," and discusses Wabi-Sabi in relation to Beethoven's "minor works."

Anime Classics Zettai! in the Los Angeles Journal

2008-01-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

In The Los Angeles Journal, Ed Rampell raves about Anime Classics Zettai!: 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces by Brian Camp and Julie Davis, calling the slick reference book "an invaluable resource." Rampell concludes that "after reading Zettai!, this anime agnostic was not only convinced, but converted." Thanks, Ed!

Donald Richie's "Tractate" in Metropolis, The Japan Times, and the Ang Lee interview in Sight and Sound

2008-01-03T12:02:00.001-08:00

Donald Richie's newest book, A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics, is turning heads left and right. In The Japan Times, Michael Dunn writes that "there must be a lot more to Japanese culture and how it is perceived than is immediately apparent. Indeed there is, and Richie helps us more than anyone else has before in the English language, by explaining many of the essential aesthetic concepts needed for understanding and appreciation."

C. B. Liddell, in Metropolis, remarks that in the book, "Japanese aesthetics are revealed as the product of [a] social competitiveness, of the desire to find yet more subtle shades of meaning and beauty than the next guy."

And Nick James, in his interview with director Ang Lee in this month's Sight and Sound, works the "Tractate" into an interview question: "There's a beautiful little book by Donald Richie that explains Japanese aesthetics. I wish there was an equivalent for the Chinese," he says. This was picked up on the City of Sound blog, with some interesting comments, including one by influential composer Paul Schutze. Check out the discussion here.

With Richie's highly anticipated new book of travel writing, Travels in the East, coming to bookstores in a few weeks, there couldn't be a better time to celebrate his writing!

The Astro Boy Essays in Metropolis and Cultural News

2007-12-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

This month, Cultural News and Metropolis both weighed in on Frederik L. Schodt's The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution!

Cultural News:
In a sophisticated take on Tezuka's life and art, Schodt explores Astro Boy's immense cultural impact in Japan and overseas.

Metropolis:
Frederik L. Schodt is without doubt the Western world’s leading authority on Japanese manga.
(read more...)

"Gift books for the otaku on your list"

2007-12-14T10:27:00.000-08:00

In the Daily Yomiuri today, Japanamerica author Roland Kelts recommends books by Stone Bridge authors Gilles Poitras and Frederik L. Schodt:

Beyond the ivy walls, you'll find the magic of Frederik Schodt's Manga! Manga!, first published in 1983, but not dated a whit. I met Schodt in San Francisco during my tour, just before his latest book, The Astro Boy Essays--essential and infectious accounts of the life and work of Osamu Tezuka--was released to coincide with the first overseas Tezuka exhibition.

In the same city, I also met Gilles Poitras, author of the Anime Companion series, illustrated guides to the "Japaneseness" of anime and manga that provide children and parents with a deeper appreciation of the cultural traditions embedded in the art.

Frederik L. Schodt on Newsarama

2007-12-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

Today, Newsarama features an interview with Frederik L. Schodt about his new book, The Astro Boy Essays. In response to interviewer Chris Arrant's query about Schodt's personal memories of Tezuka-san, Schodt recalls Tezuka's astounding amount of energy:

"I also have many memories of his extraordinary energy. He was always working or doing something, and it was often hard for much younger people to keep up with him. Once, in Florida, we had been working on a documentary, adhering to a typically inhuman schedule. The TV crew, which had flown from Japan, was exhausted, and I actually remember seeing a young man in charge of lighting for an instant fall asleep on his feet on the shoot (I had heard this was possible, but never actually seen it before, so it made a big impression on me).

"When the work was all over and everyone stumbled back to their hotel rooms exhausted, I remember saying goodnight to Tezuka. In the morning, when I met him, he handed me the manga pages he had been working on. It was extraordinary. He hadn't slept, and had completed about fifteen or twenty pages, with panels and balloons with dialog indicated in pencil, main characters penciled and inked, and directions for his assistants back in Japan to fill in the backgrounds. Some people find it hard to believe that Tezuka could do so much of his own work, but I can attest to the fact that he did. In terms of his productivity, he was super-human."
(read more...)

Brian Camp, Josephine Yun, and Patrick Macias at the New York Anime Festival!!!

2007-12-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

Although Stone Bridge Press will not have a booth at the New York Anime Festival this weekend, three of our esteemed authors will be there! Saturday, Saturday, Saturday!

Brian Camp, co-author of Anime Classics Zettai!,
will be at Kinokuniya Bookstore's booth signing books and will also be at the
Anime & Manga Research Roundtable:
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Saturday, Dec 8
Anime Culture Panel Room
Anime News Network's Mikhail Koulikov moderates an update on the current state of scholarship and academic research into all aspects of anime and manga. This panel will help you identify your own topics to research, introduce you to other scholars in the field, and maybe even help you publish your latest thoughts on why Neon Genesis Evangelion is the most incisive commentary on the current state of Western society ever. Panelists include Brian Camp, co-author of ANIME CLASSICS ZETTAI!, and professors from NYC colleges.

Josephine Yun, author of jrock, ink., will be joining forces with the totally awesome Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour. Come by the Rockstar Taste of Chaos booth on
Saturday December 8th
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Meet Josephine Yun, author of "Jrock, Ink". Buy her book on the 40 most influential and important bands in the JRock scene and pick her brain on who you need to hear next. While you are at it, get an autograph.

Patrick Macias, co-author of Cruising the Anime City and editor of the sweet new magazine Otaku USA, will also be speaking on Saturday:
OTAKU USA
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Saturday, Dec 8
Manga Panel Room
Join Patrick Macias, the editor of chief of OTAKU USA, as he gabs about the inner workings of the new bi-monthly magazine devoted to anime, manga, gaming, J-Pop, and cosplay. Other contributors to the magazine and special guests will be joining him for jokes, giveaways, and Q&A from you, the readers. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Frederik L. Schodt in Kansai Time Out and IMAGI

2007-12-03T15:38:00.000-08:00

Visit the Imagi Animation Studios website for an extensive interview with Frederik L. Schodt, author of The Astro Boy Essays. Imagi is making the CG-animated theatrical feature film AstroBoy for worldwide release in 2009 by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Weinstein Company, so this was a great chance for everyone to learn a little more about the lovable android! From the Imagi homepage, go to "What's New," and then to the interview.

Also, the gorgeously produced magazine Kansai Time Out features an excerpt from The Astro Boy Essays in its new issue! The cover includes classic Astro Boy imagery of the type featured in The Astro Boy Essays.

Democracy with a Drum

2007-12-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

On his "Drums in the Global Village" website, Todd S. Burroughs reviews Democracy with a Gun by Fumio Matsuo, writing that "Matsuo, a longtime American correspondent and former Washington Bureau Chief for the Kyodo News Service, creates a masterful outline of American political and legal history from the point of view of the gun. ...The work is completely thorough."
(read more...)

The San Francisco Chronicle Loves the Asian Folktales Retold Series!

2007-11-26T11:04:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Chronicle's Jeff Yang features our Asian Folktales Retold series in his Asian Pop Holiday Gift Guide this year:

Heian, a division of Asian culture specialist Stone Bridge Press, offers a striking set of picture books translating some of Asia's most beloved traditional children's stories in its Asian Folktales Retold series; titles like "Vietnamese Tales of Rabbits and Watermelons" and "Indonesian Tales of Treasures and Brides" show an appealing tongue-in-cheekiness, while fanciful hand-painted illustrations depict the fables, yet leave plenty of room for growing imaginations.

The Intimacy of Waiting on the Weather

2007-11-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

In the final moments of the "Kurosawa Blog-a-Thon" on filmsquish.com, Andrew Connell reviews Teruyo Nogami's Waiting on the Weather, praising the engaging memoir as "probably the most intimate look at the work of Akira Kurosawa, topping even Kurosawa's own Something Like An Autobiography."

Library Journal recommends The Astro Boy Essays "for all collections"

2007-11-20T12:15:00.000-08:00

The Astro Boy Essays is reviewed in the November 15th issue of Library Journal. Reviewer Steve Raiteri writes:

This engaging book will be of wide interest to fans and pop-culture students; recommended for all collections.
(read more...)

Also, back in July, LJ ran a feature titled "Anime's Brave New World." It presented annotated listings of six Stone Bridge titles considered essential print resources: The Anime Encyclopedia, Anime Explosion!, The Anime Companion, The Anime Companion 2, Anime Essentials, and Watching Anime, Reading Manga. The feature is now online!

"America's Manga Mentor" on GalleyCat

2007-11-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

GalleyCat posted a great item today about The Astro Boy Essays author Frederik L. Schodt's recent Japan Society presentation on Osamu Tezuka, noting that "Schodt is eminently qualified to speak on the subject."

Meanwhile, "Jog - The Blog" posted an extensive review of The Astro Boy Essays, and The Comics Journal's Journalista blog posted a link to it.

Brian Camp on CUNY TV's "City Talk"

2007-11-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

Hot on the heels of a hugely successful appeareance at the new Bryant Park Kinokuniya Bookstore, Brian Camp, co-author of Anime Classics Zettai!, was the guest on Professor Doug Muzzio's CUNY TV program, "City Talk," this morning. Watch it online here!

The Astro Boy Essays in Otaku USA

2007-10-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

The December 2007 issue of Otaku USA features a two-page review of The Astro Boy Essays by Frederik L. Schodt. Invoking the full-color, classic Astro Boy images in the book, the review includes some wonderful full-color illustrations. Daryl Surat writes:

[Schodt] is perhaps the top English-language authority on the subject of the "God of Manga and Anime." Not only is [The Astro Boy Essays] an excellent resource on Astro Boy, but...it also serves as a biography on the life of Osamu Tezuka and a historical overview of the development of modern Japanese animation and comics.

Remember to RSVP for the special AUTHOR TALK AND BOOK SIGNING with Schodt at the Japan Society of Northern California on November 14th!

The Japan Journals in Education About Asia

2007-10-31T13:58:00.001-07:00

In the new issue (Fall 2007; Volume 12, Number 2) of Education About Asia, Andrea Kempf reviews Donald Richie's The Japan Journals: 1947-2004. Kempf writes:

The journals explore the inner man; they examine the appeal of being an "other" in Japan....Anyone who teaches about twentieth-century Japanese culture will find the Japan Journals an invaluable insight into the man whose life work it was to make Japan accessible to the west.

Kempf notes a number of Richie's books, and calls The Inland Sea "his most enduring work."

Eve Kushner in the San Francisco Chronicle

2007-10-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

In today's San Francisco Chronicle, Berkeley writer and Kanji devotee Eve Kushner, author of the forthcoming Stone Bridge title Crazy for Kanji: A Student's Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters, reviews Wendy Nelson Tokunaga's new novel, Midori By Moonlight. Read the review here, and look out for Crazy for Kanji in early 2008!

New Japanimation Season at the Barbican with Helen McCarthy and, on October 30th, Jonathan Clements!

2007-10-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hold on to your hats, film lovers of the UK, it's time once again for Japanimation, a thrilling season of events exploring the relationship between Japanese animation and Western cinema at the Barbican in London! The last season of events -- also hosted by Helen McCarthy, co-author of The Anime Encyclopedia, and also pairing a screening of a hot anime film with discussion of the film's influences -- was a huge success, and this new season, with one event every month (except for December) through March, is even bigger and better!

The first screening, Romeo X Juliet (inspired by...well, not by King Lear) on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007, will be introduced by Helen McCarthy and followed by discussion with Jonathan Clements & the President of GDH International!
(the details for this event)
(the details for the series)

Anime Classics Zettai! in New York Times article on new Kinokuniya Bookstore

2007-10-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

In a New York Times article today about the stunning new three-story Bryant Park Kinokuniya Bookstore, Motoko Rich quotes Shigeharu Ono, director of Kinokuniya in New York, who says that English-language titles will likely be in the majority at the new location: "At the old store the main purpose was to sell to the Japanese community....We want to expand our audience." Rich notes that Stone Bridge's own Brian Camp, co-author of Anime Classics Zettai!, will be presenting at the new store in November.

There are three November events with Stone Bridge authors at the new Kinokuniya! Here are the details:

"Lost Classics of Anime"
A visual presentation and booksigning with Brian Camp
Including historical commentary, and clips from films rarely seen or never released in the US!
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007
5:00 p.m.

"Democracy with a Gun: America and the Policy of Force"
A reading and booksigning with Democracy with a Gun author and veteran international journalist Fumio Matsuo
Monday, November 12th, 2007
5:00 p.m.

"JAPAN: Land of Rising Business Opporunities"
What you need to know
A must-attend mini-seminar with Business Passport to Japan authors Sue Shinomiya and Brian Szepkouski
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
5:30 p.m.

All events at:
Kinokuniya Bookstore (note new location!)
1073 Avenue of the Americas
Across from Bryant Park between 40th & 41st Streets
New York, NY 10018
(212) 869-1700
Presented by Kinokuniya Bookstore and Stone Bridge Press

Asia Shock in MovieMaker

2007-10-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

We finally got our hands on the Summer 2007 issue (#70) of MovieMaker magazine, "the nation's leading magazine on the art and business of making movies and the most widely read magazine on independent film in the world." Why did we grab a copy and devour it? Because we were entranced by Jodie Foster's strange, pensive gaze on the cover? Because we're tired of books and we want to make movies? No, alas, our 7-hour samurai epic set in BART stations and the Berkeley hills is, well, still in the planning stage.

We picked up MovieMaker because it contains Travis Crawford's review of Patrick Galloway's excellent guidebook, Asia Shock: Horror and Dark Cinema from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Crawford writes:

Author Patick Galloway ...[brings] a level of keen insight to accompany his equally infectious enthusiasm for these films. His book emerges as an entertaining read for longtime devotees of Asian genre cinema and an outstanding primer for newcomers.
(read Galloway's comments on the review)

Tokyopop on The Astro Boy Essays

2007-10-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

Tokyopop.com posted a 5-star review of Frederik L. Schodt's The Astro Boy Essays today. Ada Palmer Putrocca, who also made the book a "Featured Publication" on TezukaInEnglish.com, writes:

In his long-awaited Astro Boy Essays, Schodt gives a concise and detailed introduction to the life, influence and significance of Tezuka in the history of Japan and the international comics world. ....All the material is presented in a format beginners can understand, but with enough details that even experts will find themselves learning more with every page.
(read more)

Fumio Matsuo in Conversation with CBS White House Correspondent Bill Plante

2007-10-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

Stone Bridge Press and the Embassy of Japan are pleased to announce a lecture by Democracy with a Gun author and veteran international journalist Fumio Matsuo, moderated by CBS White House Correspondent Bill Plante.

"Voice of the Author Series"
The Japan Information and Culture Center
Embassy of Japan, Washington D.C.
Wednesday, November 7^th
6:30pm
Copies of Democracy with a Gun: America and the Policy of Force will be available for purchase.
More info (PDF)

“The Japanese have long been fascinated by what Americans think of Japan, but what do the Japanese think of America? Fumio Matsuo, a veteran journalist, provides one answer in Democracy with a Gun. Matsuo comments on everything from U.S. history to the Iraq conflict, blending sincere admiration with honest critique.”
—Steven Vogel, Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley

Frederik L. Schodt to Speak at the Japan Society

2007-10-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Make your reservations today for a very special evening at the Japan Society of Northern California with The Astro Boy Essays author Frederik L. Schodt!

"Frederik L. Schodt on Osamu Tezuka: The Astro Boy Essays"

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Japan Society
500 Washington Street, Suite 500, San Francisco

Time:
5:30 pm Reception
6:00 pm Program
7:00 pm Book Signing

Cost:
Free for Members / $5 Non Members

More info/reservations

New Donald Richie Book Previewed in the WaterBridge Review

2007-10-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of the WaterBridge Review, an online magazine run by the same great folks behind the Kiriyama Prize, features a review of Travels in the East, a remarkable new collection of travel essays by Donald Richie, coming this December from Stone Bridge Press (don't forget, Richie's new A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics is out now!). James D. Rosenthal writes about Travels in the East:

Fortunately for us, Richie has not limited his attention to Japan. He has also been an inveterate traveler around the rest of Asia and beyond. Travels in the East, his latest slender volume, includes several essays and articles on his various destinations over the past 10 years. This is not a guidebook, though Richie's descriptions of what he sees and hears are eminently perceptive and useful to any traveler. Rather, his writings focus on the travel experience per se—the atmosphere, the overall "feeling" of a place, and above all how it affects him personally and inwardly. His unusual insight offers the reader a new and different perspective on what it means to be a traveler.
(read the review)

Yoga Poems in the Pacific Rim Review of Books

2007-10-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

The Summer 2007 issue of The Pacific Rim Review of Books features a review of Yoga Poems by Leza Lowitz. Christina Morita Clancy, a yoga teacher at Cove Yoga in Victoria, BC, writes:

Lowitz hangs her poems on a frame work of Patanjali's eight limbs -- eight essential steps on the yogi's path....Any reader will recognize the moment when challenges are viewed as an opportunity to learn and grow.
(purchase the issue)

Brian Camp to Present at MoCCA on Monday, October 22nd

2007-10-18T11:40:00.001-07:00

What's more fun than watching awesome anime? Watching it while learning about it from Anime Classics Zettai! co-author Brian Camp! Camp will be giving a special visual presentation at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City next week, and we hope you can make it:

Monday, October 22nd, 2007
6:30 p.m.
MoCCA, 594 Broadway (map)
Anime Adaptations of Manga Classics
There's always been a special relationship between comics and animation in Japan. Speaker Brian Camp (Anime Classics Zettai! 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces) discusses the special challenges animators face in their adaptations -- including introduction of cinematic techniques and fidelity to the original manga work -- in this visual lecture. (event info)

Stone Bridge Press Thrives at the Frankfurt Book Fair

2007-10-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

Stone Bridge Press editor and publisher Peter Goodman reports back on the overall Frankfurt Book Fair experience:

My first Frankfurt Book Fair in 26 years was a stimulating and exhausting experience. So many books, so little time! Being in the midst of publishers of every size and from every country forces one to wonder: Where do we fit in? Does the world need more books? The need to communicate seems biologically driven, and the Book Fair thus represents a physical expression of our most basic needs. One gets the sense almost that we would still be making books even if there were no readers for them (some folks believe we are already there!).

But according to some fairgoers, this year had lower attendance and less energy, an indication that Frankfurt is in decline, and with it the book publishing industry. E-media are to blame, of course. With digitalization of books we can save trees, petroleum, labor.

I've been hearing this gloomy prognosis for years, and I don't think we're any closer to it now. Electronic media are just another format to invigorate content. Big encyclopedias and dictionaries and travel guides may indeed migrate to digital form, but books will always be the best way to create self-contained worlds of imagination, opinion, and personal expression. In fact, next to the bland stew of infinitely malleable and assemblable digital content, books are almost a radical innovation: finite, focused, personal. I look forward to making more of them.

I've uploaded some photos from the Frankfurt trip. You can judge the size of Hall 8, for English-language publishers. There were 3 (or more?) other halls of this size devoted to other languages, children's publishing, comics, etc. No way to see it all. Somewhere (row N, stand 935 to be exact) the Stone Bridge Press booth had its home. There was a constant hum of traffic. We answered lots of questions and gave out information. And we met with some of our key publishing partners, such as Angela Reynolds (our agent in Barcelona) and (in a surprise visit) Julie Schaper of Consortium. There was also much serendipity, which may or may not turn into new SBP projects down the road.

And in the huh? category was a full-size Japanese torii arch in the middle of nowhere, glimpsed from the access corridor that leads from the parking lot to Hall 8. Some Friendship Committee is responsible no doubt. There is always a shrine building somewhere near the arch, which I guess makes Hall 8 the logical choice, books being made of 'kami' and . . . oh forget it. Dumb joke.

Jonathan Clements to Present on Erotic Anime at SAND 2007

2007-10-17T15:52:00.001-07:00

Anime Encyclopedia co-author Jonathan Clements is returning to the Swansea Animation Days (SAND 2007) in Wales (UK) next month to give a lecture on the history and development of Japanese animated erotica. The week-long animation conference also features speakers from Pixar and Double Negative, and screenings of the anime Paprika, 5cm and Tekkonkinkreet. Clements' presentation will take place on Nov. 30th.

Peter Goodman at the Frankfurt Book Fair

2007-10-12T10:36:00.001-07:00

Stone Bridge Press editor and publisher Peter Goodman is having a great time at the Frankfurt Book Fair! We are excited to share his recent update:

Spent my first day at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 26 years, and much has changed. Not the size of the fair, however. The only thing larger than the Frankfurt Book Fair is the size of the platter of potatoes, sauerkraut, and sausages you can buy for lunch. We had some nice meetings with the friendly Yohan staff and with a number of our distributors and customers. Sonja Merz, our Far East sales agent, reports that our books continue to receive great interest in Singapore and across southern Asia.

Our new Shikosha design titles are a big hit: people love the look, the feel, and especially the very reasonable $16.95 price.

I had a chance to sit in the booth and observe the passing scene. Frankfurt seems to be as much about renewing contacts as it is about buying and selling. Yes, people come with business objectives in mind, but I am told that even after people retire from the industry they are inexorably drawn to Frankfurter just to wander the halls and say hi to old friends. I certainly saw a lot of that on the floor: one person stopped dead in her tracks as she recognized another and then reached for a big hug. Now, if only they could practice not doing that sort of thing in the crowded aisles!

Oh, and note to self: Next year, be sure to order tables, chairs, and lights to avoid what happened this year: standing in line at the furniture counter and then dashing out to the ATM to grab hundreds of euros to pay the charges for last-minute rentals (no credit cards accepted).

The Astro Boy Essays in Foreword

2007-10-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

The new issue of Foreword includes a review of Frederik L. Schodt's The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution. Reviewer Lance Eaton looks at Schodt's take on the "God of Manga":

Schodt explores Osamu [Tezuka] and one of his earliest commercial successes, providing readers with an in-depth look at the man and how he conceptualized, created, loved, and hated the series in all its different manifestations. ...He succeeds in this synthesis of pop culture, biography, and history. [more]

New Astro Boy Website Features Frederik L. Schodt and The Astro Boy Essays

2007-10-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

Anime producer and distributor Right Stuf, Inc. and Nozomi Entertainment have launched astroboy.rightstuf.com, the official Web site celebrating Osamu Tezuka’s groundbreaking 1963 ASTRO BOY anime series.

At astroboy.rightstuf.com, visitors can view the trailer of this fan favorite, download Astro Boy wallpapers and avatars, and listen to an exclusive interview with Frederik L. Schodt, author of The Astro Boy Essays, about the significance of Dr. Tezuka’s works worldwide, the differences between the Astro Boy manga and its anime adaptations, and Tezuka’s love-hate relationship with his best-known creation.

Animation Insider Interviews Frederik L. Schodt

2007-09-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

Cool banner designed by Cody Silfies!

Animation Insider has posted one of the most extensive interviews yet with Japan expert Frederik L. Schodt, author of The Astro Boy Essays. With Osamu Tezuka, Japan's "God of Manga," gaining more and more popularity in the West, the timing for this interview with one of Tezuka's main translators couldn't be better. In the interview, Schodt says:

Tezuka had a real gift for being able to communicate with people on an equal level. When I worked with him, I was always struck by the way he could communicate with small children--and adults too--from what seemed to be all walks of life. I think that he was genuinely interested in people, and that made them feel comfortable. They probably didn't realize it, of course, but when they were talking to Tezuka, he was also sucking ideas out of their brains for future stories.
(read more...)

Robotech News

2007-09-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to report great news on the Robotech front, related to the gorgeous, glossy release The Art of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles:

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles will be showing at a theater near you on September 19th as a part of the Anime Bento Festival!
(more info)

Also, Warner Bros. is going to make a live action Robotech feature, produced by Tobey Maguire through Maguire Entertainment!
(more info)

The Astro Boy Essays in Frames Per Second

2007-09-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

Aaron H. Bynum reviews Frederik L. Schodt's The Astro Boy Essays in the insightful animation magazine, Frames Per Second, writing:

Schodt accurately documents the knowledge, experiences, and inspirations of a Japanese artist whose personal meditations have largely been out of the reach of Western readers....With engaging examples, meaningful analysis and excellent research, Fred Schodt offers readers a 360-degree perspective on the man whose nation calls him the God of Manga...
(read more)

September issue of Animation Magazine highlights The Art of Robotech and The Astro Boy Essays

2007-09-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

The Art of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and The Astro Boy Essays both get prime treatment from reviewer Ramin Zahed in the September issue of Animation Magazine.

On The Art of Robotech:
A visually arresting collection....Packed in the glossy 140-plus pages of [The Art of Robotech] are numerous images and insightful essays on the evolution of the show and the anime world over the past three decades.

On The Astro Boy Essays:
We're lucky to have Frederik L. Schodt, a long-time American friend and translator guide us to the world of Tezuka and his creation in [this] charming volume....Schodt's essays take us through the exquisite, beautifully crafted world of Astro and reveal the people, events and beliefs that shaped the Japanese master's world.