#tokyo weekender

[redsamuraiii]

Shinto Motifs in Silent Hill f by tokyoweekender

[4eternal-life]

Tokyo Photobook "White Noise": Photographer Takehiko Nakafuji's Love-Hate Relationship with the City

ph source: © 2020 - 2021 TOKYO WEEKENDER

[wearejapanese]

Racism in Japan: A Conversation With Anthropology Professor John G. Russell | Tokyo Weekender

Looking back at 50 years of race relations, professor John G. Russell dispels myths and shines light on misunderstood issues of race in Japan.

By Tracy Jones

In the early ‘80s, Harlem-native John G. Russell was at a Tokyo psychiatric ward, visiting the ward’s patients as an anthropology grad student at the time. While among them, a different kind of psychosis emerged — Japan’s version of blackface appeared on Japanese TV. “What is this?” he asked, struck by the strange black figures on the screen. Russell was familiar with Japan’s literary portrayal of Black people, but since he didn’t have a TV at his Tokyo home, this was the first time that he had seen blackface on Japanese TV.

After returning to the States to finish his Ph.D. at Harvard University, Russell became keenly attentive toward the presence of Japanese politicians in American media. “Almost every year, you had a Japanese politician saying something nasty about Black folks,” he says. The various racist statements that Russell cited were like American zombies crawling out shallow graves: “NAKASONE PUTS FOOT IN MELTING POT,” read a 1986 Chicago Tribune headline. During a televised Liberal Democratic Party meeting, then-Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro said, “Since there are Black people, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans in the United States, its level of intelligence is lower on the average.” He cited Japan’s supposed homogenous population as an advantage over the West, describing Japan as a “high-level information society.”

Read more...

https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2020/10/racism-in-japan-professor-john-russell/

[konich7n]

Nana Komatsu for Tokyo Weekender (November 2019 edition)

[vampsbloodandrocknroll]

GACKT ~ Tokyo Weekender ~ https://www.instagram.com/tokyoweekender/

[redsamuraiii]

Unmasking Noh: A Guide to the Soulful Faces of Japanese Theater by Tokyo Weekender

Originally, there were 60 types of noh masks, but today there are over 200, including — but very much not limited to — okina (old man) masks, onna (woman) masks and onryo (ghost and spirit) masks. 

The most popular one is hannya masks which depict vengeful female spirits. Usually making an appearance in tragic love stories that teach lessons about the dangers of unchecked emotions, hannya masks are some of the most striking omote in the dance-theater.

With their menacing horns, facial contours twisted in unholy ways and sharp fangs, the masks are meant to frighten the audience but also make them empathize with the suffering female spirit’s torment.

Read more : Tokyo Weekender

[redsamuraiii]

SOUND OF KYOTO — 公式予告編 | Official Trailer

Following the success of his critically acclaimed short music film Sound of Vladivostok, Marios Joannou Elia was asked to create something similar for a city that reigned as the capital of Japan for more than 1,000 years. 

And so, in 2018 began his latest endeavor: Sound of Kyoto.

Over three years, 560 musicians, 18 original compositions, 4,000 video clips, 10,300 documentary photos and 1,650 sounds later, the ambitious project is now in post-production, with screening details coming soon.

To read more of this ambitious project, read it at Tokyo Weekender! Official Website : Sound of Kyoto

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@yoshikiofficial