Travels in the East in the San Francisco Chronicle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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!!!

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

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

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!

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

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"

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

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"

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

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!