<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Just in Japan, a few books caught my eye and made my bags that much heavier. I thought I'd note them for the list (sort of hoping those in Japan would post messages like this for those of us far from the bookstores). <DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-style-span"><I>Bunka to Toso: Toho Sogi 1946-1948 </I>(Tokyo: Shinyosha, 2007) is written by Inoue Masao. The author is an economist at Rikkyo and has previously written about labor history. His first foray into film is something else---500 pages of close history concerning the three waves of the strike, drawing on a treasure trove of primary materials. Aside from the unusually careful use of primary materials, one thing that sets this book far, far apart is that he tells you where you yourself might find these materials in the 100, count 'em, 100 pages of small-type footnotes. ISBN: 978-4-7885-1037-1</SPAN></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><I>Kinema no Bungakushi </I>(Tokyo: Shin'yasoshosha, 2006), edited by Saito Shinji, is a nice collection of essays on film by all the famous, and many not-so-famous, literary figures. There must be a hundred short pieces, from 1908 to 2000. I've been jumping around the text and so far, the book offers many pleasures. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-style-span">Two more books on subtitling, which always amazes me. One is a bunko-ban and fairly interesting: Ota Naoko's <I>Jimakuya wa Ginmaku no Katasumi de Nihongo ga Hen Da to Sakebu </I>(Kobunsha, 2007). The other is the latest from Toda Natsuko, <I>Screen no Mukogawa. </I> I realize I may be the only person on the list interested in these two, but I mention them simply out of amazement. A woodworker could count the number of subtitling books in English on one hand. In Japan they keep coming. And the Toda book, a slight effort if there ever was one, is a hardback on beautiful paper and with full color throughout! </SPAN></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Finally, I bought the Otona no Kagaku Magazine book on paper projectors, which was thick but thankfully light. I highly recommend this to anyone with jet lag problems. Upon return to the states, my son and I spent hours putting the intricate projector together to avoid falling asleep early....and when we finally got it together, the movies promptly put us to sleep. My 7 year old opted for the Yamamura animation rather than Aoyama's piece. I look forward to watching the other short films included, but you've got to extract each and every sprocket hole. Whoever thought of that either wasn't thinking, has a real mean streak, or is simply anal and enjoys that kind of thing. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Oh, and the Roppa catalog from Waseda's exhibition is wonderful. You can pick it up at the Banpaku when you see the exhibit itself, which is well worth it. The exhibition has been extended to 8/5, so time is running out. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Markus</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>A. M. Nornes</DIV><DIV>Professor</DIV><DIV>Department of Asian Languages and Cultures</DIV><DIV>Department of Screen Arts and Cultures</DIV><DIV>University of Michigan</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV></BODY></HTML>