TOYS AS MEDIA: Bandai, Giant Robots, and Future Entertainment Panel Discussion
Katsuhiro Izumi, BANDAI, Chief Product Designer Adam Newman, BANDAI, International Business Strategy Ian Condry, MIT, Foreign Languages and Literatures/CMS Bandai, one of Japan’s leading toy companies, faces challenges as an entertainment business in the midst of transition: China is now the center of manufacturing; Japan’s low birthrate means fewer children nationally; and overseas markets prove complex. Nevertheless, Bandai has been successful creating toys from Japan’s character businesses – animation, TV heroes, comic books – aimed at both children and adults. Ian Condry will discuss giant robot Gundam toys and their pivotal role in anime history; Katsuhiro Izumi will describe product design for the “expensive toys” market; and Adam Newman will comment on Bandai’s international strategies. In contrast to the variety of digital media now dominating headlines, this panel will examine toys, a media form that still depends on the physical package – its tangibility, sociability, and appeal.
Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 PM
Location: 5-217
Anime Screening and discussion with the director
Anime director Mamoru Hosoda will screen and discuss his feature film "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (Toki o kakeru shojo, 2006, Kadokawa/Mad House), which was awarded Best Animation by the Media Arts Festival 2007. This high school drama is based on a classic short story by sci-fi writer Tsutsui. Hosoda reinterprets the tale for today's generation of youth through crisp storytelling and stylish visuals. This preview screening is free and open to the public, though space is limited to the first 300 guests. This film would be appropriate for teens and up.
Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: 32-123 (MIT Stata Center)
"Hip-Hop Japan" book launch and discussion
MIT Professor Ian Condry will discuss his recently published book Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization (2006, Duke University Press). Discussion will be lead by local hip-hop scholars Thomas DeFrantz, MIT, author Dancing Revelations (2004, Oxford) and Murray Forman, Northeastern University, author of The 'Hood Comes First (2002, Wesleyan). Free and open to the public. Reception to follow.
Date: Thursday, March 1, 2007
Time: 4:00 - 5:30PM
Location: 4-237 (MIT)
Miss Monday female rapper from Japan, with her group. Her major label albums include "&I" (2006), "Miss Rainbow" (2004), "Natural" (2003), and "Free Ya" (2002). More information and sound samples online: http://www.missmonday.com
Don't miss this opportunity to hear irrepressible Japanese hip-hop from one of Tokyo's hottest artists. this show will also feature local hip-hop stars Akrobatik and Danielle Scott.
Date: Thursday, March 1, 2007
Time: 8:30 PM (Doors), 9:00 PM (Show)
Location: The Middle East (Upstairs)
(272 Mass Ave. Cambridge)
Panel Discussion: "Love and War in Japanese Pop Culture"
The Visual (1:00 PM)
Susan Napier (Tufts/University of Texas) - author, Anime: from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle
Roland Kelts (University of Tokyo) - author, Japanamerica: how Japanese pop culture invaded the US
Adam Kern (Harvard) - author, Manga from the Floating World: comicbook culture and kibyoshi of Edo Japan
Design (3:00 PM)
Marcos Novak (USCB) - artist, transarchitect, and designer, http://www.centrifuge.org
Kostas Terzidis (Harvard) - author, Algorhithmic Architecture
Larry Kubota (GLOCOM) - filmmaker, Black Current Productions
Date: Friday, March 2, 2007
Time: 1:00 - 5:00PM
Location: CGIS (South), Room 020
(Harvard: 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge)
Afro Samurai screening and talk with creator Takashi Okazaki
Manga artist Takashi Okazaki will discuss the concept and origins of Afro Samurai, a character he created in an indies comic, and which has been remade by Tokyo-based Gonzo studios as an anime mini-series, starring Samuel L. Jackson, for SpikeTV. Free and open to the public.
Date: Friday, March 2, 2007
Time: 7:0 PM
Location: Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium,
Harvard Graduate School of Design
(48 Quincy St., Cambridge)
Panel Discussion: "Love and War in Japanese Pop Culture"
Culture (1:00 PM)
Laura Miller (Loyola) - author, Beauty Up: exploring Japanese beauty aesthetics
Christine Yano (U Hawaii) - author, Tears of Longing: nostalgia and nation in Japanese popular song
Ian Condry (MIT / Harvard) - author, Hip-Hop Japan: rap and the paths of cultural globalization
Politics (3:00 PM)
David Leheny (U Wisconsin) - author, Think Global, Fear Local: sex, violence, anxiety in contemporary Japan
Ted Gilman (Harvard) - author, No Miracles Here: fighting urban decline in Japan and the US
Ueno Toshiya (Wako U) - author, Urban Tribal Studies: a sociology of club and party cultures
The presentations will take place as panels that will encourage discussion and dialogue with the audience. Free and open to the public.
Date: Saturday, March 3, 2007
Time: 1:00 - 5:00PM
Location: 32-124 (MIT Stata Center)