New Books

[Mark Nornes]

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).

Bunka to Toso: Toho Sogi 1946-1948 (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

Kinema no Bungakushi (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.

Two more books on subtitling, which always amazes me. One is a bunko- 
ban and fairly interesting: Ota Naoko's Jimakuya wa Ginmaku no  
Katasumi de Nihongo ga Hen Da to Sakebu  (Kobunsha, 2007). The other  
is the latest from Toda Natsuko, Screen no Mukogawa.  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!

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.

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.

Markus




A. M. Nornes
Professor
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
Department of Screen Arts and Cultures
University of Michigan


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