Metropolis Community

“In my reading of cultural critic Slavoj Zizek, the cultured captains of capitalism intend the masses to give up genuine material security for the allusion of conspicuous gratification. Perhaps the most conspicuous example is the famous Enumclaw horse sex case, when Boeing engineer Kenneth Pinyan died in 2005 from a punctured colon after fraternizing with [...]

“Japan’s St. Moritz is an international winter playground”

I’ve never been to either, but from talking to people who have and from seeing photos and film, I’m pretty sure that Niseko is nothing like St. Moritz. It is Japan after all.

“Can’t Stop the K-Pop J-pop is losing the popularity contest in the West” I think you need to define your terms as non-hyphenated Americans by and large couldn’t care less about J-Pop or K-Pop and most American teens would draw a blank if you used that shorthand name with them. Yes, there is a tiny [...]

You know, that would have been a remarkable shot if you hadn’t played with the processing. Now it’s completely artificial looking as if you’ve layered two different shots rather inexpertly.

Can’t one just visit Danny Choo’s web site for this stuff. : )

Metropolis, you can start by apologizing to the expat wives of Tokyo. Then you need to apologize to women in general. Sincerely, Jacob K. * * * * * And you, Jacob K., can start by getting a grip. The fact that you’d never even heard of the Tokyo American Club means that your knowledge [...]

“Detroit punk legends feted in DVD/CD package”

Who?

“TigrouMeow | October 4, 2011 at 10:57 am | Be careful with HDR :p” Seconded, but no smiley emoticom. “Fang Ke | October 13, 2011 at 8:06 pm | I’ve seen hundreds of photos of these torii but this really stands out” That’s because of the artificially color saturation. I guess if one wants his [...]

Actually, I was thinking that there are at least a half dozen contributors, Sanger near the top of the list, who really don’t know *&$%-all about Japan and never should have been included. I don’t know how long the Metropolis editorial staff has been in Japan, but when Sanger was NYT Tokyo bureau chief back [...]

Seconding Charltzy, it’s actually much worse in the U.S. simply because of our place in world affairs – world’s worst debtor nation and close to default, an idiotically overblown military that no one in the government is seriously thinking of cutting, and a religiously intolerant right wing that is willing to drag the country straight [...]

“Like a lot of people, I’ve been guilty of passing my fashion apathy off as a political statement—claiming I’m less shallow than people who dress purposefully because I’m not as careful about my appearance. But complacency is toxic no matter how you spin it, and it’s the not caring part that underpins the spending habits [...]

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post Pantheon of Japanese Rock Gods

Wow! What an odd list. How, for example, could you leave off Sakamoto Ryuichi? The Southern Allstars? Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi? Spitz?
Were the primary criterion being derivative, dressing “extravagantly” and loudness? Songwriting and vocals counted for nothing?

  12 months ago · View

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post Listening to Nature

I think the “youth” (or lack thereof) meme has been beaten to death and I’m not convinced that immigration is the solution for Japan. Rather, I think the country would be best served by making use of it’s greatest and most under used resource – women.

  1 year, 1 month ago · View

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post An Inexcusable Truth

Where did this nonsense come from – “US-imposed medical marijuana laws.”
Japan is a sovereign state, so it can decide its own drug policy. Blaming its poorly considered drug policies on a law the U.S. wrote during the occupation over 60 years ago is weak tea at best.

  1 year, 2 months ago · View

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post Brave New Japan

I’d say Mr. Veverka has got it just about covered.
The U.S. will continue to sink deeper into debt because of an unwillingness to do the only two things that can and should be done to stem the red ink – raise taxes, particularly on the rich, and cut the military budget, which [...]

  1 year, 3 months ago · View

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post Let’s Get It On

“Phil Kaberry is a former journalist doing hard time in an eikaiwa for crimes against fashion.”
Puleeese. Eikaiwa is a lifestyle choice and you know it.

  1 year, 5 months ago · View

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post (Central) Eastern Promises

“It’s the Tokyo neighborhood tipped for greatness. So why does it feel like Nagoya?”
Whoa there, big fella! Thems fightin’ words! I guess you haven’t been to Nagoya recently.

  1 year, 5 months ago · View

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post Does J-pop Suck?

You need to be careful here because your thesis that we obtuse Westerners somehow can’t appreciate the essence of Japanese pop music is the same tired old Nihon-jin ron that helped explain why European skis wouldn’t work properly on Japanese snow and how the Japanese have a unique digestive system and therefore can’t stomach imported [...]

  1 year, 5 months ago · View

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post Grounding the JET

“No one has ever proven that providing native speakers to Japanese schools is of any help to students (with their English).”
As this was never the intention of the JET program, you can’t judge to be a failure. JET has always been 3 parts cultural and 1 part language.
“Another troubling aspect of JET is the [...]

  1 year, 6 months ago · View

Jeff Huffman commented on the blog post Strung-Up Cutie

Wow. Creepy to say the least.

  1 year, 7 months ago · View