Jean Snow [.net]

Month: September 2003

  • Shi Mian Mai Fu

    —

    Great, great news from the MonkeyPeaches site (covers Asian film news). Seems like Zhang Yimou has started work on his HERO follow-up, and it’s going to be another martial-arts film. Starring Zhang Ziyi, it brings togeter a few HK stars (and Takeshi Kaneshiro) in a film that promises to be another must-see (for those who…

  • Tateyama

    —

    Found this English site on the mountain we’ll be visiting, Tateyama. Here’s a description from the site: Along with Mt. Fuji and Mt. Hakusan, Tateyama is one of Japan’s Three Sacred Mountains and has been worshiped since ancient times. Tateyama Range is a spectacular and solemn display of peaks, soaring to an altitude of 3,000…

  • Alps

    —

    This weekend is going to be a new experience for me as we’re going hiking in the Japanese alps, not far from Nagano. I can’t say that I’ve really had a chance to see Japan outside of big cities, so I’m really looking forward to this. We leave by bus from Shinjuku late tonight, get…

  • Superfuture Again

    —

    I finish off this Omotesando theme week with another look at the Superfuture display.

  • Nocturne

    —

    I’m not at all familiar with the world of stage, and it’s not something I’ve had great interest in exploring, but this show at the New National Theatre Tokyo Play House (September 8-21) called NOCTURNE sounds very interesting. Here’s what REALTOKYO says: Those who have been waiting patiently are finally rewarded with Ishin-ha’s performance in…

  • The Hard Return

    —

    Coming back home on Wednesday night was a real bitch. Tokyo and its surrounding areas were hit by a huge thunderstorm, which paralyzed the Yamanote line. I was teaching in the Chiba area, and when I got back to Tokyo and switched at Nippori, I hopped on a Yamanote train that was not about to…

  • Japlish

    —

    The very nice exhibit is unfortunately marred by this bit of Japlish. Don’t they have anyone who can check this stuff! If not, I’ll volunteer my services.

  • Kitano’s Zatoichi

    —

    Takeshi Kitano’s ZATOICHI is opening in Japan this Saturday, and he’s at the Venice Film Festival right now promoting it. Seems like he’s already won a special Visual Arts prize for it, but the big awards haven’t been announced yet. Today’s DAILY YOMIURI has this article about the festival, as well as a review of…