Private Worlds

Lives spent lurking too long in the shadows of the virtual.

Roland Kelts
|
19 Oct 2009
|
15 comments

japan

Mareen Fischinger

Late last year when Japan’s master animation artist Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Totoro) addressed a room of mostly Western journalists in Tokyo, many of us were expecting him to talk about his latest fantastical feature film, Ponyo, which was just about to open worldwide. Instead, the 68-year-old director spent 15 minutes issuing a stern warning about the dangers and delusions of living through virtual media.

Article

Japanese Simplicity

The only way to leave a smaller footprint would be to die.

Roland Kelts
|
25 Aug 2009
|
31 comments

Photo: Noh Mask, Koomote

Japanese architect Tokujin Yoshioka compared his native sense of design to a cube of tofu. Upon first encounter, the smooth, white, slightly pocked surface might appear inorganic or even inedible. But the first bite unleashes a richness of flavor and exquisite texture that can only come from hours of careful preparation.

Article

The Soul of Japan

Japan's crisis is not political, but psychological.

Roland Kelts
|
10 Aug 2009
|
31 comments

Japan has a curiously utopian image in the West right now. Everything from anime and manga to sushi and sudoku seems to emit the whiff of cool culture in the globalized 21st century.

Article

Wabi Sabi

A look at how the Japanese town Kamikatsu will banish waste by 2020.

Amelia Newcomb
|
12 May 2009
|
12 comments

Tucked almost imperceptibly into cedar-blanketed mountains an hour’s winding drive from the

nearest metropolis, Kamikatsu, Japan seems an unlikely spot for a revolution. But try to throw even a candy wrapper away here, and it’s quickly apparent that residents are radically reshaping their relationship to the environment.

Article

Dame-Ren (No Good People)

A glimpse into Japan's embrace of Western-style capitalism.

Roland Kelts
|
19 Mar 2009
|
11 comments

Essay

Big in Japan

The popularity of a bleak, 20th-century novel points to tectonic shifts beneath the surface of Japanese society. (Photo by Yoshinori Kon)

Leo Lewis
Roland Kelts
|
09 Dec 2008
|
17 comments

Photo: "Zombie Alone" by Yoshinori Kon

Commentary

Too Big To Fail?

If global capitalism is to die, it will be a death of a million stings.

Sarah Lazare
|
17 Sep 2008
|
16 comments

Photo: Newscom

It was the final day of actions against the G8, and we were marching on a small, winding road through the hills of Hokkaido. At least two rows of police lined both sides of the march, their dark uniforms and long batons cutting strange forms against the misty landscape.

Essay

We Grew Up Too Comfortable to Take Risks

What if Japan, the face of the future, is showing us who we are becoming – as a kind of proverbial 'canary in a coal mine,' a Cassandra of our trans-cultural futures.

Roland Kelts
|
13 Aug 2008
|
24 comments

We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.

Now 83,840 strong!

Join Us >>