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Peak Japan: a Canadian dispensary using the name of the capital city of a nation where cannabis is illegal

Join me, @patrickmacias.bsky.social, and "very special guests" Ultraman, all three of The Mysterians, Slim Goodbody, McGruff the Crime Dog, and Leonard Nimoy's mid-Seventies mustache for the latest episode of PURE TOKYOSCOPE! www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

Pure TokyoScope Podcast 174: Sixty Years of Ultraman! The Mysterians in 4K!Patrick Macias and Matt Alt bring you pop culture direct from Japan!www.tokyoscope.blog

How to become a Japanese DJ in just a few easy steps

This is a really odd translation of this new term for an extremely hot day. The NYT renders 酷暑日 (kokushobi) as “cruel heat day.” But that implies an agency that weather cannot have. “Brutally hot day” is a better localization.

The newest episode of Pure Tokyoscope is a gas gas gas as @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I plunge into the two hottest drops in Japanese pop culture of the moment: the new remakes of “The Human Vapor” and “Ghost in the Shell”: www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

Pure TokyoScope Podcast 173: The Human Vapor! New Ghost in the Shell Anime! Totally Insane Toy Collections!Patrick Macias and Matt Alt bring you pop culture direct from Japan!www.tokyoscope.blog

Licca-chan, which outsells Barbie in Japan, is set to make a comeback to the US this year. Licca-chan was designed by the woman who worked on the very first Barbie dolls, which for some reason Mattel doesn’t want you to know were made entirely in Japan. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/an-america...

An American Icon, Made in JapanBarbie has a secret: she may have been dreamed up in the US, but she came to life in a Tokyo hotel room.blog.pureinventionbook.com

This is a really cool site that compiles Japanese station melodies, and profiles the musician who made some of the most famous ones. The 1989 ones really brought back memories. sheets.works/data-viz/bel...

Station Melodies of Greater TokyoA listening museum documenting the departure melodies (hassha melodies) of Greater Tokyo's train stations. Archives 2,400+ stations, from the Yamanote loop to the Chichibu peaks.sheets.works

Now that the Japanese government has officially registered “Japanese tea” as a regional brand, it’s time to revive the debate about whether the same should be done for anime and manga, which are arguably even MORE copied globally. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/anime-is-t...

Anime is the Champagne of JapanErsatz "anime" abounds. It's time to make "Japanese Anime" a protected designation.blog.pureinventionbook.com

On the latest episode of Pure Tokyoscope, @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I reminisce about the legendary Miwa Akihiro, who passed away last week. Why isn’t “Black Lizard” out on Blu-Ray?!? www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

I was in the ABC Radio National lobby when this was recorded LOL!!!!

I checked in on the New Cool Japan Strategy. It isn’t going too well. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/meet-the-n...

Fight! Japanese BureaucratMeet the New Cool Japan Strategy: same as the old Cool Japan strategyblog.pureinventionbook.com

This week marks the sixtieth anniversary of the debut of a global classic: Ultraman! To celebrate, I interviewed one of my childhood heroines, Hiroko Sakurai, who played Akiko Fuji of the Science Patrol. Read it here! allabout-japan.com/en/article/1...

For Every Ultraman . . . There's an Ultra Woman | All About JapanIn the classic sixties TV show Ultraman, Hiroko Sakurai played Akiko Fuji, the female lead to the super-sized superhero. In an exclusive interview marking the show's 60th anniversary, she shares her m...allabout-japan.com

So let’s take a little look under the hood of the New Cool Japan Strategy: blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/meet-the-n...

Meet the New Cool Japan StrategySame as the old Cool Japan strategyblog.pureinventionbook.com

On this Very Specual Episode of Pure Tokyoscope, @patrickmacias.bsky.social discuss Princess Leia and Obi-Wan doing the “fent fold” on Nakano Broadway. www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

Can you spot the shopkeeper in this pic taken by my friend, the photographer Irwin Wong? It’s a perfect example of the cutter spaces I wrote about several years ago for @aeon.co. aeon.co/essays/the-l...

The latest PURE TOKYOSCOPE is here! Are the Skull Tanks coming for Cool Japan? Join @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I to find out. www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

If you needed any further evidence of just how entrenched institutional sexism is in Japan, look no further than the government tying itself in knots trying to do anything rather than let a princess ascend to the throne. mainichi.jp/english/arti...

32% oppose Imperial Family adoption proposal; Japan Cabinet approval flat at 51%: poll - The MainichiTOKYO -- Thirty-two percent of respondents to a nationwide Mainichi Shimbun opinion poll conducted on June 20 and 21 opposed a proposal tomainichi.jp

Featuring "'Priest or Monk,' a brand new video primer on Buddhism and pop culture as depicted in the Wicked Priest films by Patrick Macias and Matt Alt"

Hear me out. It's time for an UNCOOL Japan Fund. Who's in? blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/make-japan...

Make Japan Uncool AgainJapan's best pop culture isn't "cool." It's dorky, weird, and out-there.blog.pureinventionbook.com

Some real food for thought in this essay by @hirokoyoda.bsky.social on the different ways in which the US and Japan are grappling with what it means to be American or Japanese: www.noahpinion.blog/p/what-defin...

What defines Japan's national identity?A guest post by Hiroko Yoda.www.noahpinion.blog