GEEKY GOODNESS Regarding “Are you A Geek In Japan?” (Book Review, Aug 25): We’re giving away three copies of Hector Garcia’s new book, A Geek In Japan. Simply tell us your name and what makes you a geek in Japan in the comments, and Hector will choose his three favorites and personally inscribe a copy ...
BENTO BROUHAHA Regarding “Come Clean for the Kids” (Last Word, August 12): Isn’t there a Japanese saying along the lines of “the nail that sticks out the farthest gets hit first?” Methinks that is in play here. We still drink mineral water to this day and have no intention of changing back to tap water ...
SMELLS LIKE MEAN SPIRITS “Why don’t Japanese men wear deodorant like foreigners? Because Japanese men don’t smell bad like foreigners.” This was the conclusion of a J-TV program, so my student tells me. Discuss! —Henry BUSTED GRILL I was dismayed to heartbroken to discover this week that one of my favorite places to go for ...
LETTER OF THE WEEK: FUNKY WHITE BOY Regarding “Brush Up Your Style” (Body & Soul, May 20): Regarding Howard’s advice to “Afro-Caribbeans” to “keep it tight or grow it out proud and big”, I suggest he confine his advice to a realm in which he has personal experience—specifically, styles appropriate for straight hair. One with ...
Extended pantheon Regarding “Pantheon of Japanese Rock Gods” (Japan Beat, May 20): Wow! What an odd list. How, for example, could you leave off Sakamoto Ryuichi? The Southern Allstars? Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi? Spitz? Were the primary criteria being derivative, dressing “extravagantly” and loudness? Songwriting and vocals counted for nothing? —jeffrey What about someone like Kiyoharu? Seems ...
Send us your comments via: letters@metropolis.co.jp I know you guys are probably busy, this mag doesn’t run itself; but why not post video game articles in your arts and entertainment section? —anonoymous Just a suggestion: Design Festa should go on tour worldwide. Why the biggest German professional fairs are opening new shows anywhere and the ...
MOVIE TONE NEWS Please, please find another movie reviewer besides Don Morton. He occasionally writes insightful comments, but has all the hallmarks of a jaded critic. Few films impress, and those that do are mostly the typical European foreign films, arthouse dramas, and Academy Award bait. Any kind of popular comedy, action movie, Hollywood blockbuster, ...
Size matters Regarding “Little Tools” (The Small Print, Apr 7): I know Metropolis loves to denigrate mommy-boy herbivore Japanese men with Lolita complexes, but starting your last issue with bogus stats about inferior Japanese penis size is the most outright racist thing I have ever seen in this magazine. Some of your readers are Japanese, ...
THE BEST OF THE WORST? Regarding “Listening to Nature” (The Last Word, Apr 7): 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 its greatest and most ...
HELPING HANDS We have set up the Japan Disaster Advice Group on Facebook (http://meturl.com/facebookjdag) to do our bit with what’s happened in Japan over the last two weeks. Its aim is to help everyone we know, and their friends and family, keep up-to-date with information, help and advice. The situation will be up and down ...
Up and away Regarding “Above and Beyond,” (Star Struck, March 11): I have seen a few Cirque shows in Las Vegas and Boston. While they don’t perform the most technically challenging tricks, the overall production value is the highest. A few years ago, I watched the Shanghai Circus show in the Shanghai Ritz, and one ...
A wild (taxi) ride Regarding “Sic Transit” (The Last Word, March 4): Hahaha, brilliant—absolutely spot on. Just the other day, I was traveling to a school not 10 minutes away from the taxi stand, and I had to point at the GPS screen and say, “There! NO THERE! The friggin big school icon, can’t you ...
PUNK will NEVER DIE? Regarding “Akihiro Namba” (Japan Beat, February 18): Punk recycles itself with each generation. Before Namba, everyone was listening to The Blue Hearts. Hi-Standard was the rave for us ’90s punk kids, and this generation has more of an aggressive punk sound, but it hasn’t changed and punk will never die. —nightflesh** ...
SMUT FIENDS, BEGONE! Regarding “The Manga Wars” (The Last Word, February 18): Ishihara is right on this issue. I don’t get the tone of the column. The author is apparently worried that censorship of kiddy porn is the road to 1984, but acknowledges midway through that all this is doing is bringing Tokyo Prefecture—one very ...
MEAN STREETS Regarding “Nishinari” (Travel, February 11): This is the kind of article I would love to see more of in Metropolis—a real atmosphere piece that’s actually not tied to promoting some sponsor or advertiser for a change. A reason at last to pick up this magazine and read it! Well written, too. More!—kevcham* Nice ...
OF MALT AND MEN Regarding “Kick Out the Drams” (Feature, February 4): Interesting article, but it didn’t answer the question that’s always nagged me about Japanese whisky: why can I get a bottle of Yamazaki 12 for less money back in England than it costs in Japan? I think J-whisky would have become a lot ...
Lifeboat Japan Regarding “Brave New Japan” (The Last Word, January 28): I’d say Mr. Veverka has got it just about covered. The US 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 ...
Thanks for Listening Regarding “The Sound and the Fury” (The Last Word, January 21): The philosopher and professional grouch Yoshimichi Nakajima wrote on this subject eloquently and at some length in his 1999 book Urusai Nihon no Watashi. It is essentially a symptom of what I’ve taken to calling the nanny state, where no one ...
Correction Regarding “Disapproval” (Upfront Extra, Jan 14): Due to a production error, the graph depicting approval ratings of recent PMs was incorrect. The corrected graph is above. Star Shots Regarding “The Great Tokyo Michelin Scam” (The Last Word, January 14): Steve Trautlein’s salsification of Michelin’s ethnocentric chutzpah in trying to make money telling the Japanese ...
Rise Above It Your cover for the January 7 issue was totally insensitive to all African-Americans living here in Japan. I know the Japanese people don’t know any better, because you can expect nothing less from a homogeneous society. But your design people or your editor knows African-Americans are trying to get rid of these stereotypes. ...
Monsters Ink Regarding “Armand Vaquer” (Q&A, January 7): To us Godzilla fans, The Monster Movie Fan’s Guide to Japan is an interesting [book]. I, too, wondered where all the beautiful scenes were shot. Now I can find them. I saw Godzilla when it was a first run here in the States. That movie certainly has ...
Necrolog There were a few noticeable omissions in your roundup of notable Japanese people who died in 2010 (“In Memoriam,” The Last Word, Dec 24) in particular, three Americans who had a tangential, yet interesting, connection to Japan. William Hohri (died in November at age 83), the son of Japanese immigrants, became a lawyer who ...
Lettering us have it