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- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (1.0) Table of Contents
-
- (1.0) Table of Contents
- (2.0) Copyright and Redistribution
- (2.1) Credits
- (2.2) Any mailing list for soc.culture.japan?
- (2.3) How to obtain the latest version of this FAQ
- (2.4) Format of this document
- (3.0) About soc.culture.japan
- (3.1) History of the groups
- (3.2) What topics are appropriate for discussion here?
- (3.2.1) Binary posts
- (3.2.2) Commercial posts
- (3.2.3) Spamming
- (3.2.4) soc.culture.japan.moderated
- (3.3) What to do before posting
- (3.4) How to use kill files
- (3.5) Some frequently argued topics
- (3.5.1) Japan's involvement in World War II
- (3.5.2) Is "Gaijin" a derogatory term?
- (3.6) Why are there so few Japanese posters in SCJ?
- (4.0) Bibliography
- (5.0) Japanese culture and customs
- (5.1) Japanese Films and TV Programs
- (5.1.1) Japanese pop music
- (5.2) Language
- (6.0) Traveling and living in Japan
- (6.1) Finding a job (for non-Japanese)
- (6.1.1) JET
- (6.1.2) Other English teaching jobs
- (6.2) Travel Info
- (6.3) Gifts to and from Japan
- (6.4) Taking electronics to Japan
- (6.5) Lodging
- (6.5.1) Home stays
- (6.6) Money
- (6.6.1) Bank accounts and services for foreigners
- (6.6.2) Credit cards for foreigners
- (6.6.3) Currency exchange; sending cash to/from Japan
- (6.7) What are the laws for Japanese citizenship at birth?
- (7.0) Japanese information processing
- (7.1) How to get Internet access in Japan
- + (7.2) Finding an email address for XXX in Japan
- (7.3) How can I read or write Japanese on my computer?
- (7.3.1) Japanese on the Macintosh
- (7.3.2) Japanese on MS-DOS and Windows
- (7.3.3) Japanese on UNIX, X-Windows
- (7.4) Internet resources on Japan
- (7.4.1) FTP/gopher sites
- (7.4.2) WWW sites
- (7.4.3) Newsgroups
- (7.4.4) Mailing lists
- (8.0) Japanese media
- (8.1) Japanese short-wave radio
- (8.2) Overseas subscriptions to Japan Times
- (99.0) Miscellaneous topics
-
-
- [+] revised entry
- [!] new entry
-
- This list is maintained by
- Shimpei Yamashita <shimpei+scjfaq@gol.com>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (2.0) Copyright and Redistribution
-
- Last update: 5/98
-
- This document copyright (c) 1994-1998 by Shimpei Yamashita
- <shimpei@socrates.caltech.edu>. Portions copyright (c) 1987 through
- 1995 by Jerry Blanton, Norman Diamond, Mike Fester, KASEGAWA Masataka,
- Satoru Miyazaki, Mike Rosenlof, and Michiaki Masuda. All rights
- reserved.
-
- This document may be quoted freely for non-commercial purposes; please
- make appropriate acknowledgment when doing so. "From the soc.culture.
- japan FAQ" will be sufficient.
-
- This document may be freely redistributed by electronic or printed
- means provided that no money is charged for its distribution and that
- this copyright and redistribution notice remains attached. Any
- modification to the original text must be explicitly documented. This
- document may not be redistributed commercially (e.g., on a CD-ROM)
- without an explicit written permission from the copyright owner. Any
- distributor that does obtain a permission will be required to keep
- this entire document intact, and explicitly notify its customers that
- the newest revisions of this document may be freely obtained from
- other sources.
-
- This document carries no guarantee of accuracy whatsoever. No mention
- of a product in this document constitutes a recommendation or an
- endorsement for its use by the authors. Some efforts have been made to
- provide varying degrees of accuracy of the information presented here,
- but some estimates have not been verified or updated with time. Should
- you find any mistakes, please contact the maintainer.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (2.1) Credits
-
- Last update: 7/97
-
- As the editor, I have attempted to credit original authors wherever
- possible. Please inform me if you see any errors in the credits.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (2.2) Is there any mailing list for soc.culture.japan?
-
- Last update: 7/97
-
- I get a fair number of emails asking me if there is any way to
- "subscribe" to soc.culture.japan and soc.culture.japan.moderated
- through mailing lists. To the best of my knowledge, no such mailing
- list exists (the fact that the group gets 200 posts a day doesn't
- really help). If there is one, I'd love to hear about it. Meanwhile,
- the only suggestion I can give to these people is to get an account
- with an Internet provider that gives access to Usenet. If you can
- telnet from another account, nyx.net will give you a free account
- (albeit a severely limited one in terms of resources and capability)
- that can be used to read news. zippo.com also gives out Usenet reading
- accounts, accessible over the web.
-
- There is, however, an ftp archive of posts to scj maintained at
- <ftp://kuso.shef.ac.uk/pub/News/soc/culture/japan/>.
- If you are looking for specific articles, though, it may be easier to
- useUsenet search engines like the one at <http://www.deja.com/>, which
- not only has a friendlier interface but also keeps articles far
- longer than kuso (to the best of my knowledge).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (2.3) How to obtain the latest version of this FAQ
-
- Last update: 7/97
-
- This FAQ is posted on the 4th of every month to soc.culture.japan,
- soc.culture.japan.moderated, news.answers and soc.answers.It is
- available via anonymous FTP from
-
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/soc.culture.japan/>
-
- and via the World Wide Web from
-
- <http://www2.gol.com/users/shimpei/scjfaq/>
-
- and
-
- <http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/japan/faq/>
-
- In addition, many Japanese-oriented Web pages have links to the
- FAQ.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (2.4) Format of this document
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- This document is typeset in minimal digest format for easy navigation
- in newsreaders like trn. See
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/faqs/minimal-digest-format>
- for specifications of this format.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.0) About soc.culture.japan
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.1) History of the groups
-
- Last update: 7/97
-
- Soc.culture.japan started out as a BITNET mailing list that was
- administered from one of the machines at MIT. Sometime in or around
- 1987, the newsgroup soc.culture.japan was created, and the articles
- between scj and the mailing list were gated back and forth for quite
- a while. The mailing list apparently no longer exists, and the audience
- for scj has grown much wider since.
-
- In June 1996, a group of scj readers unhappy with the high noise level
- in scj created soc.culture.japan.moderated as an alternative to scj.
- The group's aim was to have a relatively low-noise forum for free
- The full version of scjm's history may be found in the scjm FAQ mentioned
- in section 3.2.4.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.2) What topics are appropriate for discussion here?
-
- Last update: 7/97
-
- (This section mostly applies to s.c.j.moderated as well; the chief
- difference is that the moderators can and will enforce some of these
- policies, whereas s.c.j. relies on the honor system. Please read the
- s.c.j.m FAQ described in 3.2.4 for details.)
-
- At my site, s.c.j. is described as "Everything Japanese, except the
- Japanese language." What is meant by "Everything Japanese" is not entirely
- clear. Please use your judgment when posting.
-
- Like most other big newsgroups, s.c.j. has its share of regular flame
- fodders. These are discussed in more detail in section 3.4. If you would
- like to voice your opinion on these subjects, you would do well to lurk
- for a while to hear what others have to say about it. (This is a sound
- advice for any topic in any newsgroup, but people tend to forget it.)
-
- Customarily, posts to s.c.j. are in English. Many readers outside Japan
- have trouble reading posts written in kana (in fact, some readers have
- complained because their terminals go crazy when dealing with 8-bit
- characters), so it is advisable to post strictly with ASCII characters
- if you want everyone to read what your wrote. Many Japanese-literate
- posters circumvent this problem by writing in romaji when necessary.
- If you do not understand Japanese and would like to know what a particular
- post was saying, most posters would be happy to translate the passage for
- you if you email them and ask.
-
- Lastly, remember that many of the posts to s.c.j. are written by people
- who use English as their second language. As such, misunderstandings due
- to language difficulties are very likely. If you feel compelled to fix
- grammatical mistakes, please email the poster and save the rest of the
- net the agony of reading cheap grammar flames.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.2.1) Binary posts
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- In interest of people with small news spools, please refrain from posting
- binaries to this group. If you feel you have binaries worth sharing with
- us, please post them to alt.binaries.pictures.misc and post a pointer
- to scj.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.2.2) Commercial posts
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- Commercial posts are generally discouraged unless it has specifically to do
- with Japan and there is no other newsgroup more appropriate for the subject.
- Those posting about job opportunities in Japan are encouraged to add the
- string "Jobs offered" in the title so that those who are not looking for
- jobs can run kill files on them.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.2.3) Spamming
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- Two words: NO SPAMMING! (See the FAQ for alt.current-events.net-abuse for
- the definition of spamming.) It is a highly disliked activity on the Usenet,
- as well as an effective way to lose your account really fast.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.2.4) soc.culture.japan.moderated
-
- Last update: 11/96
-
- soc.culture.japan.moderated is a moderated alternative to
- soc.culture.japan. A FAQ on the group's moderation policy is to be
- posted regularly to the group; the current maintainer is Akira Ijuin
- <aijuin@best.com>. The most important restriction is that the group
- allows no external cross-posting except to soc.culture.japan; the
- moderators do watch for off-topic posts but tend to be fairly generous
- in approving articles.
-
- Properly configured news servers will automatically forward any posts
- to moderated newsgroups to the appropriate moderators; if this is not
- the case at your site, you may submit posts by mailing them to
- <scjm@eyrie.org>. The moderators can be contacted at
- <scjmmod@eyrie.org>.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.3) What to do before posting
-
- Last update: 7/97
-
- Read news.announce.newusers.
-
- Read the rest of this FAQ.
-
- Read up on Japan, and the issue you wish to discuss, before posting.
- Nothing kills a good discussion faster than ignorant generalizations
- by someone who has strong opinions about an issue with no facts behind
- them. Keep an open mind when reading the sources. Do the same when
- reading this newsgroup. The bibliography included in this FAQ should
- get you started.
-
- None of us like political correctness more than you do, but you should
- nevertheless refrain from using derogatory terms. "Jap" is a very
- strong derogatory term for "Japanese," and using "Gaijin" for "foreigner"
- is offensive to many foreigners. I included a short discussion about
- this in section 3.5.
-
- Is soc.culture.japan and/or soc.culture.japan.moderated the most
- appropriate group for posting? Below is a list of other newsgroups
- that may better fit what you want to talk about:
-
- soc.culture.asian.american
- soc.culture.korean
- soc.culture.china
- soc.culture.taiwan
- soc.culture.hongkong
- soc.culture.usa
- soc.culture.europe
- ...
- soc.history.world-war-ii
- sci.lang.japan
- rec.arts.manga
- rec.arts.anime
- comp.research.japan
- alt.japanese.text
-
- The fj hierarchy comes to some sites outside Japan, but you need to have
- a Japanese-capable terminal to read it. See section 8 for details. An
- exception is fj.life.in-japan, which is mainly in English.
-
- Should you post to soc.culture.japan or soc.culture.japan.moderated?
- The latter has much better signal-to-noise ratio and a more manageable
- traffic level, but the former allows crossposting to other groups and
- is unmoderated, which prevents moderators from rejecting your
- posts. If you feel that your post should be visible in both groups,
- you may crosspost between scj and scjm.
-
- Lastly, read all of section 3 one more time. This group represents a
- cross section of many different cultures with different attitudes
- toward Usenet. Remembering that not everyone is like you will go a
- long way toward preventing unnecessary quibbles.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.4) Kill files
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- Kill files are great for shutting out posts you do not wish to read in
- a high-noise group like s.c.j. This instruction is for rn(1) and
- trn(1) only. If you use another newsreader, check the manuals for
- instructions.
-
- In all of the examples below, strings for searches, those inside
- slash (/) characters may be regular expressions like those used in
- ed(1). Searches are generally NOT case sensitive.
-
- When reading articles from any newsgroup, control-K allows you to
- edit the KILL file for that newsgroup (note: that's control-SHIFT-k.)
-
- To discard articles with subject lines matching a string, add a line
- like
-
- /unwanted topic/:j
-
- the string within the slash characters is searched for on all article
- subject lines, and when found, the command 'j' (junk the article) is
- executed. If you add a ':=' to the end of the command it will
- print that subject line so you can go back and read it anyway if you
- like.
-
- /unwanted topic/:j:=
-
- To discard articles cross posted to a particular newsgroup, add a line like
-
- /Newsgroups:.*bad.group.name/h:j:=
-
- to be strictly correct, you would add a backslash (\) before
- the dots in the group name, but this is usually OK.
-
- To discard articles from a particular author, add a line like
-
- /From:.*Author Name/h:j:=
-
- or this works in my version of trn
-
- /Author Name/f:j:=
-
- This looks for the author's name as it's reported in the article header.
- The name can be either the real name or e-mail address.
-
- More detailed information can be found in the man page on rn(1) or trn(1).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.5) Some frequently argued topics
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- There is a document covering the Frequently Argued Topics (FAT)
- currently in the works. Contact Mike Fester <mfester@iisc.com>
- for details.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.5.1) Japan's involvement in World War II
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- This is a sticky issue that pops up periodically in this newsgroup and
- inevitably causes considerable flamage. I have attempted several times to
- write an objective overview of the issue, but it is simply too hard to
- write anything substantial on the issue without offending somebody.
- If you wish to discuss this topic, please make an effort to maintain
- constructive discussions (as opposed to finger-pointing and blanket
- accusations, which is prone to happen during heated debates). If you
- want a more controlled atmosphere, you may also want to try
- <news:soc.history.world-war-ii>, a moderated newsgroup.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.5.2) Is "Gaijin" a derogatory term?
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- This issue crops up occasionally as a heated debate in this newsgroup.
-
- Gaijin is a contraction of the word gaikokujin, and literally means
- "foreigner". The Japanese language has several cases of using "gai"
- (outside) with a noun to indicate one of <noun> from another country.
- Gaisha for foreign cars, gaijin for foreign people, gaika for foreign
- currencies.
-
- Some people are deeply offended by the word, saying that "gaijin" refers
- to outsiders rife with undesirable characteristics. There is no doubt that
- is one meaning of the word.
-
- "Gaijin" is also used in many cases where it is probably not intended
- as a negative statement. Consider that it is common in the Japanese
- language to address people whose names are not known, or even if names
- are known, by titles: omawari san, Mr. Policeman; sushiya san, Mr.
- Sushi Shop. It is not unusual for a Japanese speaker to call a non
- Japanese who is otherwise not known, "gaijin san".
-
- It should be noted that:
-
- The language also has much stronger words for cases where a speaker
- wants to discriminate or insult.
-
- and
-
- Non-Asian foreigners _will_ be called "gaijin" by many Japanese.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (3.6) Why are there so few Japanese posters in SCJ?
-
- Last update: 11/95
- From: Michiaki Masuda (masuda@ncifcrf.gov)
-
- Some netters visit SCJ expecting that they may be able to find a
- number of Japanese netters to communicate with. However, they
- usually find that their expectation is rather betrayed. It would be
- safe to say that Japanese netters have never been a majority in this
- group despite its name. In 1991, when I started to read this group, there
- were only a couple of Japanese netters who post articles once in a while.
- Even though the number of Japanese SCJers has apparently increased since
- then, their number would be still too small for the group to live up to some
- netters' expectation.
-
- Since SCJ appears to have been initiated by some netters in the US as a
- mailing list for them to exchange information on Japan, its existence might
- not be known to many Japanese at first. However, this should no longer be
- the case. Today, a significantly large number of Japanese have USENET
- access, and quite a few of them are said to read SCJ. A number of Japanese
- are also actively communicating with each other in Japanese domestic
- groups, such as those under the "fj" hierarchy.
-
- There are probably three major reasons why they are not interested in
- actively speaking up in SCJ.
-
- [1] English problem
- Most of Japanese netters, like other netters, are under the impression that
- they have to use English in SCJ although there is no such restriction. In
- general, Japanese feel uncomfortable when they have to express themselves in
- English whether their English skills are actually passable or not.
-
- [2] Uninteresting topics
- Some of the topics often discussed in SCJ are not major interests or
- concerns of the Japanese netters, especially those living in Japan. They
- can find somewhere else to go to (e.g., fj groups) to talk about current
- issues more closely related to their life. It seems also true that some
- netters use SCJ to deliver their anti-Japan(ense) sentiment in a rather
- revealing manner. Whether those pieces of message are to the point or not,
- many Japanese may feel like staying away from them as a natural response.
-
- [3] Different argument styles
- Due to the larger number of American or European netters, it appears
- that the Western style of debate or argument is accepted as a general standard
- in SCJ. Although the Western style has its own virtue and merits, it may
- come out as something too straightforward, too explicit, too aggressive, or
- even too impolite to the eyes of Japanese netters. Obvioulsy, not many
- Japanese netters are willing to adapt themselves to a different standard.
-
- Since we cannot really hear from those Japanese netters who decide not to
- speak up in SCJ, we can only speculate about the reasons. However, those
- listed above seem to give us the most plausible explanation. Whether SCJ
- should encourage more Japanese netters to participate or not may be a
- controversial issue. If it should, however, netters -- both Japanese and
- non-Japanse -- may want to keep these factors in mind when they post an
- article or respond to others.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (4.0) Bibliography
-
- Last update: 2/97
-
- There is a lot of material written about many aspects of Japanese
- culture, and available from many more authoritative sources than a
- computer news group. This bibliography lists a few widely available
- titles that are aimed toward general readers, not sociologists. Some
- of the books listed have their own bibliographies for further study. A
- search of any good library's catalog will list many more.
-
- Note: for sake of consistency, all Japanese names in this FAQ are written
- given names first.
-
- Japanese Society and Culture:
-
- The Japanese Mind; Robert C. Christopher
- A general introduction to Japanese society. Widely available. Includes
- a bibliography.
-
- Learning to Bow; Bruce Feiler
- An American teaching English at public jr. high schools in rural
- Japan. Describes the educational system, relations between Japanese
- and foreigners, and other aspects of current culture.
-
- Japanese Things; Basil Hall Chamberlain
- Describes Japan at the beginning of the Meiji era (from 1868). Some
- parts are dated, and therefore more of a historical reference, others
- still apply.
-
- The Book of Tea; Kakuzo (Tenshin) Okakura
- The book that made tea ceremony famous around the world. The book
- itself is rather old, but it is an overview of the tea culture that
- is insightful even to native Japanese.
-
-
- History:
-
- Japan; Edwin O. Reischauer
- A brief introduction to the long history of Japan. Not great, but
- widely available.
-
- History of Japan; Sir George B. Sansom
- A considerably more extensive history. 3 volumes.
-
-
-
- Literature:
-
- Yasunari Kawabata
- Snow Country
- Thousand Cranes
- _Snow_Country_ is one of the most famous novels in Japan. It
- describes the relationship of a teacher from Tokyo and a geisha
- at a small hot spring resort.
-
- Soseki Natsume
- Botchan
- Kokoro
- Sorekara (published in English as _And Then_)
- Soseki is considered by many to be Japan's greatest author, and
- _Kokoro_ is often considered his most important novel. Botchan
- is earlier in his career, a much more lighthearted story.
-
- Yukio Mishima
- Temple of the Golden Pavillion
- Mishima is perhaps, as famous for his 1970 storming of the Japan Self
- Defense Forces headquarters and subsequent suicide as for his writing.
- Many of his novels have been translated to English. Mishima is probably
- more popular outside Japan than at home.
-
- Junichiro Tanizaki
- The Makioka Sisters
- The Key
- Some Prefer Nettles
- Tanizaki lived through approximately the same time as Mishima, but
- was much more popular in Japan than Mishima. "The Makioka Sisters"
- and "Some Prefer Nettles" have the transition from traditional to
- modern (westernized) Japan. Widely available in English.
-
- Ryunosuke Akutagawa
- Rashomon
- The Hell Screen (Jigokuhen)
- Words of a Fool (Shuju no Kotoba)
- Akutagawa was active in the early 1900's. His short stories
- are often inspired by _Konjaku Monogatari_, a collection of
- stories from the Heian era. Akira Kurosawa's movie _Rashomon_
- was inspired by his short story of the same name. His stories
- are available in English in the collections "Kappa," "Tales
- Grotesque and Curious," and "Rashomon and other stories."
-
- The following authors and collections represent modern Japan. They may
- never reach the stature as the authors listed above, but some are popular
- and all represent to some degree what's happening in Japan now.
-
- Kobo Abe
- The Woman of the Dunes
- Beyond the Curve (short stories)
- Abe is sometimes called the Edgar Allen Poe of Japan. Similar
- macabre or twisted type stories. Died in January 1993.
-
- Kenzaburo Oe
- Man-en Gannen no Futtoboru (English title: The Silent Cry)
- Kojinteki na Taiken (English title: A Personal Matter)
- Winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in literature, Oe is said to
- be heavily influenced by Western writings; his bold style contrasts
- with the sensitive style pursued by Kawabata and others.
-
- Haruki Murakami
- A Wild Sheep Chase
- The Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
- Murakami is a current best selling author in Japan. These
- two novels are (sometimes wild) fantasy adventures.
-
- Shuusaku Endo
- Silence
- The Sea and the Poison
- Endo passed away in 1996. A devout Roman Catholic, Endo explored
- the problem of morality (and lack thereof) in contemporary
- Japanese society. He was also an excellent humorist, although
- few--if any--of his humorous works have been translated into English.
-
- The Showa Anthology; Van C. Gessel * Tomone Matsumoto Ed.
- Includes stories by some of Japan's most
- respected authors.
-
- New Japanese Voices; Helen Mistios Ed.
- More recent than _The_Showa_Anthology_.
-
- Monkey Brain Sushi; Alfred Birnhaum, Ed.
- Also very recent. 11 short stories by authors including
- Murakami, Masahiko Shimada, and Amy Yamada.
-
- Banana Yoshimoto
- Kitchen
- A popular female author.
-
- Economics and Business:
-
- Made In Japan ; Akio Morita
- Widely available in the U.S. Morita is the founder of Sony. Describes
- where Japan went right, and others.
-
- The Political Economy of Japan; K. Yamamura and A. Y. Yasuba, eds.
- Covers many aspects of Japanese economics and Politics, easy for
- non-specialists to read.
-
-
-
- Religion:
-
- On Understanding Japanese Religion; Joseph M. Kitagawa
- A collection of essays, on topics ranging from prehistoric background
- of Japanese religion, cross-cultural influences, folk religion,
- Shinto, Buddhism and Kobo Daishi, Confusiansim, and New Religions.
-
- H. Byron Earhart
- _Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity_, 1982
-
- H. Byron Earhart
- _Religions of Japan: Many Traditions within One Sacred Way_, 1984
-
- Ichiro Hori
- _Folk Religion in Japan: Continuity and Change_, 1968
-
- Ian Reader
- _Religion in Contemporary Japan_, 1991
-
- The following are OK, but not great references.
-
- Shinto, The Kami Way
- Tuttle publishing. A brief overview of Shinto organization and practices.
-
- Japanese Pilgrimage; Oliver Statler
- Partly historical fiction, partly Statler's writing about walking a
- pilgrimage to 88 temples in Shikoku.
-
-
- Computing:
-
- Understanding Japanese Information Processing; Ken Lunde
- The author has been a frequent SCJ contributer in the area of Japanese
- text processing. It comes highly recommended from several sources.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (5.0) Japanese culture and customs
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (5.1) Japanese Films and TV Programs
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- There are a number of books on Japanese film. The following is an
- introduction.
-
- Beverley Bare Buehrer,
- Japanese Films: A Filmography and Commentary, 1921-1989
- Contains credits, plot synopsis and comments on a number of Japanese
- films that are available dubbed or with English subtitles.
-
- Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi are considered by many film critics
- to be the greatest of Japan's directors. Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai"
- and Mizoguchi's "Ugetsu Monogatari" along with Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo
- Story" have at times appeared on the Sight and Sound magazine's once
- every ten years poll of film critics.
-
- Kon Ichikawa has directed a few movies that have made it to the U.S. and
- Juzo Itami has been popular for "Tampopo" and "A Taxing Woman".
-
- The following companies are sources of Japanese movies, some on film,
- some on video.
-
- Sony Video Software, 1700 Broadway, N.Y., NY 10019
- Balzac Video, 1253 Tanager Lane, West Chester, PA 19382
- Embassy Home Entertainment, 1901 Avenue of the Starts, L.A., CA 90067
- Connoisseur Video Collection, 8455 Beverly Blvd., Suite 302, L.A., CA 90048
- Video Yesteryear, PO Box C, Sandy Hook, Conn. 06482
- New Yorker Films, 16 W. 61 St., N.Y., NY 10023
- Historical Films, PO Box 29035, Chicago, IL 60629
- Media Home Entertainment, 5730 Buckingham Parkway, Culver City, CA 90230
- Pacific Arts, 50 N. La Cienega Blvd., Suite 210, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
- Corinth Films, 34 Gransevoort St., N.Y., NY 10014
- Republic Pictures Home Video, 12636 Beatrice St., L.A., CA 90066
-
-
- In many larger cities, especially on the west coast of the United
- States, there are Video stores that rent tapes of movies and TV
- programs directly from Japan. These tapes are generally NOT subtitled,
- and TV programs have commercials and everything. Some of these rental
- outlets are in grocery or book stores that carry a lot of Japanese
- goods.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (5.1.1) Japanese pop music
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- Try
- <ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/>
- for graphics and other such stuff.
-
- There are two mailing lists available for discussion of Japanese pop music.
- 1) send the command
- subscribe jpop
- to majordomo@tcp.com
- 2) send the command
- subscribe
- to jpop-request@ferkel.ucsb.edu
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: (5.2) Language
-
- Last update: <11/95
-
- Language issues come up regularly in this newsgroup. Even though
- language and culture are directly linked, the newsgroup sci.lang.japan
- is preferred for discussions about the language. The newsgroup is also
- linked to the NIHONGO mailing list. The FAQ for sci.lang.japan is posted
- from time to time.
-
- To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to:
- Listserv@mitvma.mit.edu or
- Listserv@mitvma.bitnet
- with no subject and the line
- SUB Nihongo <your REAL name>
- Please don't send messages for subscription or unsubscription to
- the addresses for posting on the list.
-
- To post an article or question, just send it as normal e-mail to:
- Nihongo@mitvma.mit.edu or
- Nihongo@mitvma.bitnet
- The article will be distributed to all the readers of the list and
- posted automatically in the newsgroup sci.lang.japan.
- Please don't send articles to the addresses of subscription and
- unsubscription.
-
- To do other things, send an e-mail message to:
- Listserv@mitvma.mit.edu or
- Listserv@mitvma.bitnet
- with no subject and the line
- HELP
- as the message
-
- The FAQ file has info on computer programs for learning Japanese,
- other Japanese-study information, and information about text processing
- on various computers that may or may not be more up to date than this
- FAQ.
-
- The sci.lang.japan FAQ is available at
- <http://www.mickey.ai.kyutech.ac.jp/cgi-bin/japanese> (Japan)
- or
- <http://131.188.190.131/~bdruemen/FAQSLJ.index.html> (Europe)
-
- ------------------------------
-