Minae Mizumura THE FALL OF LANGUAGE IN THE AGE OF ENGLISH Reviewed by JAY RUBIN The wonder of this book is that it exists at all. The author tells us of her native language: “What a bizarre and amusing language Japanese is . . . Fast and loose in its logic . . . ”… Read More The Fall of Language in the Age of English
Why did Japanese Confucians enthusiastically support Imperial Japan’s murderous conquest of China, the homeland of Confucius? Shaun O’Dwyer At the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (1946-48), convened to try Japanese military and civilian leaders for war crimes, one defendant delivered a puzzling explanation for Japan’s 1937-45 war against China. The aim of the… Read More Chastising little brother
First posted June 05, 2013 By Adam Johnson. Photography by Jungyeon Roh North Korea is a mythically strange land, an Absurdistan, where almost nothing is known about the people or, more important, their missile-launching leaders. There is, however, one man—a humble sushi chef from Japan—who infiltrated the inner sanctum, becoming the Dear Leader’s cook, confidant,… Read More Dear Leader Dreams of Sushi: What life was like serving Kim Jong-il and his heir
Adam Tooze Born and raised in Tokyo, Hiroshi Hamaya is one of the most eminent Japanese documentary photographers of the 20th century. Working as an aeronautical photographer and a freelance contributor to magazines during the 1930s, Hamaya began his career documenting his hometown from the sky and the streets. An assignment in 1939 gave Hamaya the… Read More Hamaya Hiroshi (1915-1999); visual chronicler of 20th century Japan
First posted February 11, 2016 NB: The paragraphs on ‘national religion’ (highlighted in red) in the first-person account below, are particularly significant for the argument that fascism is a form of right-wing atheism – especially given the contemporary emergence of the Nation as a substitute for God: DS The Tripartite Pact linking Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and… Read More Brian Victoria: The Zen of Hitler Jugend
A short overview of Kojin Karatani’s Marxist influenced focus on modes of exchange as revealing the Borromean ring of Capital-Nation-State, and the import of this ring for religion. By Martin Shuster Kojin Karatani is one of the most interesting Marxist theorists of the last century. I put his work, as a form of “non-traditional” Marxism, in the… Read More Kojin Karatani’s theorising on modes of exchange and the ring of Capital-Nation-State
NAM will not destroy capitalism; it will only try to make it die quietly Harry Harootunian If the news from Japan during the last decade has concentrated on the depressing symptoms of decline of what once had been hailed as a miracle model of capitalist development, the announcement last year of the establishment of the… Read More The New Associationist Movement
By Dan Bilefsky The Japanese philosopher was the recipient of the $1 Million award for 2022, which is given to thinkers whose ideas have “provided wisdom and self-understanding in a rapidly changing world.”.. Mr. Karatani had promoted a modern form of “reciprocity” he had observed in ancient Ionian culture and that he had sought to apply… Read More Kojin Karatani Wins Berggruen Prize (2022)
First posted May 04, 2020 Unit 731 Museum: UNIT 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development wing of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. Commanded by General Shiro Ishii, an officer in the Kwantung Army, the exact number… Read More Unit 731 Museum Harbin, China: the Japanese Army site for ‘medical experimentation’ on prisoners of war
Displacing and destroying peoples by colonisation is not just a historical Western evil but a global and contemporary one Lachlan McNamee In 1931, Japan invaded northeast China and established a client state called Manchukuo (Manchuria). To secure control over Manchuria, over the next 14 years, the Japanese government lured 270,000 settlers there by offering free… Read More Settler colonialism
After the truth-shower 