This past week, I had the opportunity to eat at a Japanese restaurant called Menchanko-Tei and boy was it yummy.

I was there with my boyfriend to eat with a friend who was 15 mins late! It was really hard not to eat without her since the room was completely filled with the aroma of ramen. Looking over the menu, most of the items were inexpensive; however, I felt like there wasn’t much of a selection. It mainly consisted of ramen where you could add multiple toppings.
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Tags: menchanko-tei, new york, ramen, restaurant

The Korean American Film Festival NY (KAFFNY) is a one-day New York City showcase for emerging and established Korean filmmakers. KAFFNY 2009 is accepting short film submissions from filmmakers of ethnic Korean descent of any nationality around the world. All genres are welcome: narrative, animation, music video, documentary, experimental, etc. There is no entry fee. Submission deadline is November 30, 2008.

Please send DVD submissions, NTSC Region 0 or 1, to:
KAFFNY
c/o Barrel
23 W 36th Street, Suite 401
New York, NY 10018
USA

Dae Hoon Kim is one of the founders of the Korean American Film Festival New York (KAFFNY). Dae Hoon just wrapped up promoting his film “It Strikes Twice” at Pusan International Film Festival. He’ll be coming back to New York for KAFFNY in February 2009. We were able to catch up with him while he travels through Asia this month.
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Tags: Dae Hoon Kim, film, filmmaking, KAFFNY, korea, Korean American, movies, new york, Pusan

Written and created by SevenSense Inc. and the creative team of “JUMP“, “Break Out” has played all over the world, from India to Malaysia to Bangkok to Laos, and even at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the UK. The Seoul production of “Break Out” is still playing to sold out crowds back in Korea.

“Break Out” is one quarter story and three quarters a high-energy breakdance spectacle featuring some of Korea’s leading B-Boys from internationally winning crews such as Drifters Crew (Battle of the Year 2006 Finalists), Gamblers Crew (Battle of the Year 2005 Finalists) and Maximum Crew.
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Tags: break out, Chul-Hee Han, Dae-Hyeok Lim, dance, Jae-Hong Park, Ji-Hee Jang, Jin-Hee Kim, Jong-Wook Jeong, Jun-Beom Juen, korean, Kyung-Ah Han, new york, Seong-June Park, seoul, SevenSense, Show and Arts, Union Square Theatre, Won-Jun Song, Won-Kil Paek, Yong-Nam Song, Yoon-Hui Cho

Tora-san arrived on the screen when anything was possible if you worked hard enough, and people were forward-thinking and full of energy… A penniless, comic anti-hero, Tora-san lacked good looks and smarts and remained oblivious to the country’s modernization, living solely to bring happiness to those he loved.
–Yoji Yamada, Director

It’s a busy month for Japan Society in New York City! They spent an entire weekend at the New York Anime Festival, then invited us in for a private advance look at the new gallery exhibition New Bamboo. Then we dropped by to sit it on Dan Pink’s Adventures in Manga lecture. Now Monthly Classics begins again with Best of Tora-san on Friday, October 17, at 7:30pm!

Last year the Japan Society Film Program launched the highly successful Monthly Classics film series. A classic Japanese film was screened once a month as part of a curated series that ran for over several months. Last year’s series was the classic Nikkatsu films that defined the modern yakuza genre. The term Nikatsu came from Nikkatsu studio, Japan’s oldest film studio that produced many of the most popular yakuza films of the 1960s and 70s.

This year Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (Otoko wa tsuraiyo), the movie that introduced Tora-san to the world in 1969, kicks off the Best of Tora-san film series.
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Tags: films, Japan Society, Japanese Cinema, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Monthly Classics, movies, new york, Tora-san, Yoji Yamada

The New York - Tokyo Film Grand Prix (NYTFGP) 2008, New York-Tokyo’s annual film festival, is now underway with one more week of audience favorited Japanese films left. The NYTFGP2008 Festival represents the wide diversity of Japan’s creativity in film. The festival lineup of ten films is determined by audience votes and the New York-Tokyo staff.

Screening Schedule:
* Monday, 10/13, 7pm, 77BOADRUM, Anthology Archives, 32 Second Street, New York City
* Monday, 10/13, 9:15pm, 77BOADRUM (Appearance by Director Kawaguchi), Anthology Archives, 32 Second Street, New York City
* Tuesday, 10/14, 7pm, BLOODY SNAKE UNDER THE SUN (Appearance by Actor Shogen), Anthology Archives, 32 Second Street, New York City
* Thursday, 10/16, 7pm, KAMACHOP (Appearance by Director Matsumoto), Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street, New York City

For more details and to buy tickets, visit newyork-tokyo.com

“BLOODY SNAKE UNDER THE SUN” still image courtesy of Three Arrows Entertainment.

Tags: 77Boadrum, Bloody Snake Under the Sun, cinema, film, Kamachop, Kawaguchi, Matsumoto, movie, new york, NYTFGP, Shogen, Three Arrows, tokyo, Tribeca

Daniel Pink gave a greatly entertaining and informative lecture at Japan Society, New York, tonight about the incredible spread of manga around the world. Ningin blogger Mia Lerda and I thought we were going to hear more about Mr. Pink’s new book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need, but Mr. Pink gave a larger socio-economic lesson on the power of the dojinshi in Japan’s manga-based economy operating under amoku no ryokai. Sounds complex? Well, it is, or near impossible, in a lawsuit-prone USA. Mia’s writing a complete report to sort it out for you.
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Tags: amoku no ryokai, daniel pink, dojinshi, Japan Society, johnny bunko, manga, new york

We got a very special sneak peek of the incredible exhibition opening this weekend at Japan Society, New York City!

New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters is the first comprehensive overview of centuries-old methods of basketry using bamboo as a new medium for modern sculpture in Japan.

As soon as you walk into the lobby, you’ll be greeted by a large-scale, split-bamboo kakoi (enclosure) by bamboo master Kawana Tetsunori commissioned especially for the exhibition by Japan Society. Even the moss underneath the bamboo kakoi is specially selected by the artist. It’s an incredibly tasteful pairing of matching hues and textures. Along the walls, you’ll see a series of intricate bamboo constructions by the New York-based (and only non-Japanese) sculptor Stephen Talasnik, who illuminates Western architectural and engineering principles.

New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters presents 23 innovating artists, many of whom completed rigorous apprenticeships to become master basketmakers before breaking and bending the rules they so dutifully studied.

New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters opens October 4, 2008 and remains on view through January 11, 2009 at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street between First and Second Avenues, New York City.
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Tags: contemporary art, Japan Society, kakoi, modern art, New Bamboo, new york, Talasnik, Tetsunori

For three days of the NYAF our Ningin crew met so many interesting people. It was great to meet you; the creative people that make a weekend like this a great experience. I wish all our Ningin members could have been there with us to see the these Animated characters come to life. It was truly unbelievable! Costume clad Anime fans came from all over the world to converge in New York. Anime has truly been a wonderful influence on us all. It is something that goes beyond languages and borders and brings us all together. Especially when you realize that you may have grown up with an Anime show that also played in Europe or Asia or Africa.
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Tags: anime, convention, cosplay, new york, nyaf

Ohayo! New York Anime Festival is coming to an end as we start day 3, but let’s recap on day 2. Even before the doors were officially open, the Javits center was packed with cosplayers; it was pretty intense to see so many people there. As such, we were able to take way more photos for our Cosplay Photoshoot Contest. There were a lot of memorable cosplayers as everyone seems to bring their A-game. It’s amazing to think that some of these cosplays are put together by hand! We also met some of the artists and other exhibitionists. They were all really friendly and had some interesting merchandise. The day was a lot of fun but I’m going to let these pictures speak for themselves.

View the entire gallery: NYAF 2008 - Cosplay Photoshoot Contest Day 1 - Cosplay Photoshoot Contest Day 2
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Tags: anime, contest, convention, cosplay, fun, jacob javits center, manga, new york, new york anime festival, ningin, photoshoot

As Americans have Thanksgiving, Koreans have Chuseok. Every year on Chuseok, Korean families visit their hometowns and have a large feast with their families in this three-day holiday. But this year in NYC, we got our own experience of Chuseok although it wasn’t exactly traditional. This year at the Chuseok Festival in NYC, we got to see amazing performances from the talents from JYP Entertainment.

Upon arriving from the train station, we came across a park. We decided the logical thing was to follow the Koreans even though some of them didn’t know where they were going either. After walking for several minutes we decided that pathways were for squares and just walked on the grass. The whole time walking, we ranted and raved about the performance we were so excited to see. We found the festival in the up diagonal-ish direction in the park. After our experience with arrows, we decided that arrows are deceiving and evil.
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Tags: chuseok, david hou, fan girls, festival, flushing, gsoul, hoc poeng, interview, Jessica Dawson, jlim, jyp, korea, lan nguyen, Lara Visconti, mia lerda, min, new york, ningin, wondergirls