
TV | CULTURE NOTES Dec 6, 2019
by Patrick St. Michel
With Marie Kondo's new online store garnering mixed reactions, the year ended almost as it began, with people arguing about the tidying consultant.
With Marie Kondo's new online store garnering mixed reactions, the year ended almost as it began, with people arguing about the tidying consultant.
Japan's 'Beyonce' makes her mark, as the nation's influencers are revealed
With a list of the top social media influencers in Japan having been released, it appears Cool Japan is making its mark on pop culture in the country
Aichi Triennale: Our freedoms are not dead just yet
The sudden Aug. 3 closure of "After 'Freedom of Expression?'" — a multiartist exhibit at the Aichi Triennale 2019 — clearly highlighted the ongoing struggles some people have with that very issue of freedoms in Japan. Ironically, too, that exhibit comprised contributions that, according to ...
Among the many absurdist opera stories in existence, nothing is more preposterous than the happy ending generally used for Giacomo Puccini's final opera "Turandot," in which Princess Turandot suddenly accepts Prince Calaf's wooing right after the suicide of Liu, a slave, as if her ...
Marie Kondo and Momo: The new faces of Japanese culture
Japanese soft power has seen two faces in 2019. One is that of tidying guru Marie Kondo. The other is the horrifying visage of Momo, an unsettling sculpture turned viral hoax. The two couldn't be more different — Kondo encourages viewers to de-clutter their closets, ...
Will 'Queer Eye' show a different view of Japanese culture?
Netflix's popular reality series "Queer Eye" recently wrapped up filming for a number of special Japan-based episodes. The footage from the recent trip to the country won't air until later in the year, so curious viewers will have to wait to see just how ...
Could Domo-kun at 20 mean Domo-kun 2.0?
Whatever happened to Domo-kun, the furry brown monster with the jagged maw? When I first got to Japan I used to see him everywhere. Now Chiitan, the masochistic Otter who reps the city of Susaki in Kochi Prefecture, stacks my social media feeds with ...