FINALLY! Joe Inoue (井上ジョー) has released his first full album! Titled “ME! ME! ME!”, according to Joe himself it has “something for everyone”, from “ballads” to “death metal”. (Yes, Joe said it’s got death metal on it — I assume he’s talking about “Rage -Twenty Four-” and “Kuruma”) More »

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Keio Academy of New York will host an open house this Saturday, April 18, for their “Digital Media Creation” summer program. It’s a fantastic two-week English and Japanese bilingual summer program for American and Japanese students. An impressive lineup of guest speakers has already been confirmed, including Yuji Nunokawa, producer of “Naruto” and “Bleach“. Not to mention, students get $200 off the program when mentioning Ningin! More »

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The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is prepping for its annual Sakura Matsuri on May 2 & 3. The weekend-long family festival is a celebration of Japanese culture and arts. This year over 50 performances are scheduled that include taiko drumming, an anime voice actor panel, bonsai pruning workshops, Jpop DJs, and a traditional kimono show. In the meantime, you can keep track of the gradual blooming of the Garden’s more than 200 cherry trees online with the CherryWatch Blossom Status Map! More »

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If you’ve studied an Asian language in the US, there’s a good chance you know about educational publishers Cheng & Tsui. Based in Boston, their motto is “Bringing Asia to the World”™ with a wide range of language-learning materials, translated literature, dictionaries, reference books, films, and software. Cheng & Tsui’s catalog encompasses Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian languages. This year marks their 30th Anniversary! To celebrate, Cheng & Tsui are holding a 30th Anniversary Contest: “How Learning an Asian Language Affected My Life”. Submitting your story with a video or essay by June 1st. More »

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“Paco and the Magical Book” will have its American premiere in New York City, Tuesday, April 7 as part of New York-Tokyo’s ANA Nippon Eiga Series. The screening is free with RSVP, but seating is limited. “Paco and the Magical Book” is directed by Tetsuya Nakashima whose credits include “Kamikaze Girls” and “Memories of Matsuko” (an absolute favorite of mine). More »

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Here is yet another incident of racism and prejudices against people of Asian descent. I pulled out my lovely cell phone to look at some of headlines this past morning. Iowa Senator Grassley immediately grasps my attention with his fuming remarks against AIG. Who isn’t mad as hell at AIG these days? More »

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This summer, Keio Academy of New York will once again host “Digital Media Creation”, a two-week English and Japanese bilingual summer program for American and Japanese students. An impressive lineup of guest speakers and lecturers has already been confirmed, including Yuji Nunokawa, producer of “Naruto” and “Bleach“. More »

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If one were to paint an image of internationally renowned artist David Choe using only a palette of psychological disorders, you’d have yourself a portrait of schizophrenia, kleptomania, manic depression and sex addiction. Harry Kim’s documentary “Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe” isn’t so much this portrait, but a full-length visual collage of the genius that is David Choe. As an artist who proclaims he, “makes art for people that don’t give a fuck about art,” this documentary is a documentary for people who don’t normally watch documentaries. Think MTV’s “Jackass” but with an intellectual, cultural spin. More »

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YATTERMAN hit the big screen tonight in New York City, and hundreds of fans waited hours in below freezing weather for a world premiere seat. Ningin ningens Hoc Poeng, Mia Lerda, Jessica Dawson, Lara Visconti, Eddie Lebron, Samuel Javier, Amy Chang and myself braved the cold to see director Takashi Miike (三池 崇史) and actor-singer Sakurai Sho (櫻井 翔) live and in person - certainly a rare event! (Wow, we had a full Ningin team there!) But the coolest part of the night was the chance to meet our YATTERMAN contest winners in person! More »

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We had an incredible number of entries for the world premiere of YATTERMAN (ヤッターマン) with director Takashi Miike and actor and Arashi-singer Sho Sakurai! So what did we do about it? We got more tickets!

That’s right. Instead of five pairs of tickets, we’re giving out ten pairs of tickets. TEN. More »

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It’s the Year of the Ox, and we’re celebrating with contest after contest! This time, Ningin is combining forces with Subway Cinema to give out TEN free tickets to the world premiere of YATTERMAN (ヤッターマン). On Friday, February 6, at 8pm, director Takashi Miike (Crows Zero, Ichi the Killer, The Great Yokai War, Sukiyaki Western Django) and Sho Sakurai, actor and singer from Japanese boy band Arashi, will personally present YATTERMAN at New York City’s prestigious Director’s Guild Theater.

That’s right. World Premiere. This movie doesn’t even open in Japan until March. More »

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Hulu is bringing Japanese TV goodness to the US by partnering with NTV (Nippon TV).

Hulu will be streaming the Japanese game show, Gaki. Gaki is popular for is comedy team Downtown who do various stunts like Golf Club Assault Battle and Chili Bean Paste Smearing Battle. You can watch various Gaki episodes here.

In addition, you can watch the entire Nasubi series from Denpa Shonen, another show filled with Japanese humor.

Source: TokyoMango

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Ningin was able to catch a quick interview with award-winning filmmaker Kimi Takesue. Her latest short film SUSPENDED is screening at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Kimi’s films have screened at over 200 venues around the world, including the Locarno International Film Festival, Rotterdam International, San Diego Asian Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian International, Vancouver International, London’s Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Walker Art Center. Not only that, but her films have also aired on PBS, the Independent Film Channel (IFC), and the Sundance Channel.

SUSPENDED will screen again this Thursday, January 22, 11:30pm at the Library Center Theatre, Park City, Utah, as part of the Sundance US Short Films program. More »

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I was scheduled to speak with Kenichi Ebina at 1:00pm. Unfortunately, I failed to factor in the fact that we live on opposite coasts, making my phone call three hours late! What was I thinking? [clearly, not enough] Fortunately, Ebina is an understanding fellow and graciously spoke with me whilst he drove and made a pit stop at the drive-thru. More »

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Look up, it’s a bird, it’s a plane… nope, it’s a cloud? Yes that’s right, a super-cool rock band called ”Dear Cloud” to be exact. I would have never heard about this band if it wasn’t for the Hallyu hit drama Coffee Prince. Although the band was not featured on the shows soundtrack, they linked themselves to it in an interesting way. They acquired one of the young hot costars, of the show, for their debut music video. Kim Jae Wook who played half Japanese/Korean Romantic-Royal Waffletier Ryo SunKi in coffee prince. He was also the catalyst in Dear Cloud’s MV for Ice fortress. Jae Wook was already a fan favorite due to his model features and Japanese volubility, so anything he aligned himself with had instant interest from fangirls. Even more so interesting is that he is close friends with the members of the band he agreed to appear in the video for no charge. This was a lucky break for the indie band whose video shot into the spotlight along side K-pop superstars. With a musical range of deep ballads and edgy rock songs they have paved their path to popularity with a silver lining. More »

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This election year was one of the most exciting election years that we have had for more than a decade, some said in history. Many people were busy watching or directly participating in the election by phone banking and canvassing. I had the pleasure of speaking to James Yee about what happened on the night of the election in his neck of the woods. Here follows what he shared with me: More »

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A couple of weeks ago, I attended the 2nd Annual Asian Summit here in Cincinnati, presented by the Asian Community Alliance and hosted by Northern Kentucky University. I went with an open mind, not really knowing what to expect. It was good to meet people within the Asian-American community, but there was something missing—young people. So here’s a recap. I hope my coverage encourages you to get involved with similar events in your city.

At the opening session, I scoped out the fruit and doughnuts, then looked around for a table to eat with. A couple of white college students sat at a back table, but I felt that NOT sitting with them was my personal stand against segregation. A bunch of middle-aged Asian women were very glad when I brought out my secret weapon—a brag book of my adorable sons, aged almost three and eight months. Now, if you’ve read my blog at all, you know that my husband is Korean. One of the ladies asked me, “Will you send your sons to Korean school?” I hedged a bit, feeling that decision was better left to hubby. More »

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The Innovative Daniel H. Pink will be lecturing at The Japan Society of New York this Monday. The accomplished author will be speaking about his time in Japan when he studied the culture and society of Manga. As the writer of “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need, he breaks a new mold as the first American author of a business related Manga! Yes… you heard that right, this New York Times best seller’s new endeavor is in Manga format.

The lead protagonist of this Japanese style comic, Johnny Bunko, is a just your average Joe. He has never strayed from normal expected behavior like listening to his parents or teachers. What is wrong with this? Like so many of us, Johnny is stuck at a dead-end job that he doesn’t like, more so, he’s is just upset with the way his career path is going. He begins to suspect that his knowledge on balancing career and happiness is just plain lacking. One bizarre night in a Japanese restaurant, Johnny meets Diana, the unlikeliest career advisor he will ever meet.  Described as part Cameron Diaz, part Barbara Eden (I Dream of Genie) , she uses her otherworldly powers and wisdom to reveals the six essential lessons for thriving in the world of work.

Dan Pink’s past work have been published in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Wired (where he is also an contributing editor). His analysis of business & technology trends have been seen on CNN, CNBC, ABC, NPR, and other various national/international networks. Even more interesting is Dan held a position in the White House, where he served as chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore.

The Japan society is situated on 333 east 47th st, right across from a lovely park called Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. For ticket information on this or other events hosted there you can call the Box Office at (212) 715-1258.

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http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/governorlocke/bios/bio.htm

http://www.mltsf.com/lawyer-attorney-1067081.html

On Friday October 3, 2008, James Yee and other notables attended an Obama Victory Fund event at the home of Laurie and Scott Oki in Bellevue, WA. The Asian American Finance Committee also headed the event.

Representative Mike Honda was scheduled to attend this event, but he was unable to attend, because he was voting on the Emergency Bill to bail out Wall Street. The first person that spoke at this event was Washington State Senator, Maria Cantwell. She talked about why Obama is good for Washington State and for America. There were several people who were there from the Microsoft community. It was not surprising, because Microsoft is headquartered in Seattle. More »

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Here’s a note from one of the NYAF Organizer, Lance Fensterman:

There are only 2 weeks to the New York Anime Festival and you still don’t have a ticket! Buy your ticket today so you can spend the next few weeks deciding who you are going with, what you are wearing and how you are getting there. It’s easy to get tickets online and we highly recommend buying your tickets in advance. Choose from weekend passes, VIP, daily or if you are really popular and have 10 or more friends, you can each save money on your ticket and buy group tickets.

The New York Anime Festival features exclusive and extensive anime screenings, guests from America and Japan, manga, cosplay, video games, live-action Japanese cinema, fashion, food, and the cultural treasures that gave birth to Japanese pop culture. More »

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