Some Cool Links (updated 3/15/07)
Academic
University of Chicago Department of
East Asian Languages & Civilizations:
my new home as a faculty member (2007-present)
University
of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies
UCLA Department of Asian
Languages & Cultures: my first
home as a faculty member (1996-2007)
UCLA Terasaki Center
for Japanese Studies
International Christian
University: my Tokyo home-away-from-home
2005-2007
Cornell
University: where I did my graduate
work.
Cornell University East Asia
Program
Macalester College:
my alma mater in
Arts
& Letters Daily: nice
comprehensive site of all that’s happening in the worlds of culture and
scholarship.
Japanese Literature and
Intellectual Life (Japanese-language only, except where noted)
Japan Focus . Terrific site maintained by Mark Selden and others: recent
political commentary from and about Japan.
(English)
Tōhoku
University Department of Japanese Literature
Webcat: On-line
union catalog of virtually every research library in
Kindai digital library:
An amazing site – the National Diet Library has digitized thousands of
Meiji-period books and provided full access to them. You can look at first editions of virtually
anything that was published in Meiji
Kamei Hideo’s
website.
An important scholar of modern Japanese literature.
Karatani Kōjin’s website. One of the most important
social and literary critics in contemporary
Kōno
Kensuke’s blog. One of the most interesting
scholars in Japanese literature today.
Aozora bunko. Massive
collection of full-text versions of works of Japanese literature, both
classical and modern.
Shimazaki Tōson
Memorial Museum in Magome,
Japanese Association for the Study of Popular Music.
Museum of Modern Japanese
Literature.
Goyablog. Blog by Gerald Figal (
Japanese Popular Culture
Tokyo
Ramen.
Mark Schilling’s site with lots of information on
Japanese film. (English)
Midnight Eye. Great
site for info on Japanese film, with an emphasis on cult film. (English)
MovieWalker. Great source of info on
Japanese films. (Japanese)
Ryuganji. Frequently
updated clearinghouse for news about Japanese film. (English)
Dorama Database. Good source on Japanese TV dramas (English).
J-Dorama. Another
Japanese TV drama website (English).
Terebi dorama database. Comprehensive database on
TV dramas. (Japanese)
Nippop. Terrific site on all forms
of Japanese popular music.
(English)
Japanese Music
Archive.
Guide to contemporary Japanese underground and indies
music. (English)
J-Music Ignited. Covers contemporary
Japanese pop-rock.
Shibuya
link.
A site about Shibuya-kei pop-rock
in
Recommended J-POP
CD list. I stumbled on this useful site
by accident; I’m not sure I agree with all the choices, but it’s a nice starter
set of 300+ CDs, plus editorial comments on each, perfect for someone who wants to get acquainted with Japanese
popular music since 1945. (English)
National Film Center: They have schedules here for the daily film
screenings at their Center in
Neojaponisme. Fine blog on contemporary
Japanese arts and culture.
(English)
Music
The best Kinks’ website, updated
regularly. Good links section, recent
news, tour dates, discography, etc.
Ray Davies’
MySpace page. Singer/songwriter for the
Kinks; all-around genius.
Dave Davies’ homepage. Lead guitarist for the Kinks. Dave regularly answers questions from fans
here.
Peter Pan: one of the last authentic rock coffee shops
remaining in
Tribute webpage to the Flamin’ Oh’s, one of the great bands from
Twin/Tone
Records, the label that recorded many
Robert Christgau’s
website: the “Dean” of rock
critics. You can search through past
Consumer Guides, etc.
Greil
Marcus’ website: another legendary
rock critic.
Holler If Ya
Hear Me: Weblog maintained by,
among others, rock critic Dave Marsh.
The Negro Problem: one of my favorite LA-based bands.
The
Eels: another great LA-based band,
lots of video and music clips.
Reel Radio Top 40 Airchecks. An amazing site: on-the-air recordings of many legendary radio
DJs—Alan Freed, Dewey Phillips, etc.
Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise: Wonderful blog by the New Yorker’s
music critic, covering classical, jazz, pop and
everything else.
Sports
Sumo Kyōkai: the ruling body of sumo; both English and
Japanese available. They provide live
video feeds during tournaments here.
Sumo Forum: A great discussion board for sumo fans.
Sumo
Techniques.
The Japan Times’ very helpful guide to sumo
techniques (English).
Sumo Talk. Nice site with daily updates by columnists
during sumo tournaments (English)
Sumo Fan Magazine. Self explanatory. (English)
Twins Geek: He's back on-line, and that's a very good
thing for Twins’ fans.
Warning
Track Power:
Another great Twins’ blog.
Elysian Fields Quarterly. Literary baseball review; always fun.
AaronGleeman.com. Essental Twins’ blog.
Newspapers
Chicago Tribune (the staid local
Republican daily)
Chicago Sun-Times (our local
tabloid)
Chicago Reader (our weekly
“alternative” newspaper)
Hyde Park Herald (our
neighborhood weekly newspaper)
Chicago Maroon (weekly
newspaper run by students at the University of Chicago)
Minneapolis Star/Tribune
(the newspaper I used to deliver when I was a wee lad)
St. Paul Pioneer Press (my
other hometown rag)
MinnPost.com
(new on-line, non-profit journalistic site covering all things Minnesota)
Kahoku Shinpō (
The
Japan Times (most extensive English-language daily newspaper in
Daily Yomiuri (English-language
daily in
Asahi
newspaper (Japanese-language daily)
Tokyo
Shinbun (one of the better Japanese-language
daily newspapers in Tokyo)
Gendai (Japanese-language daily tabloid newspaper)
Los
Angeles Times (best Asian coverage of any
LA
Weekly (Los Angeles alternative weekly newspaper)
City
Pages (Twin Cities alternative weekly newspaper)
Daily Bruin (UCLA student-run daily newspaper)
Politics
The Nation. I've been reading
this weekly since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.
Counterpunch. Fire-breathing
lefties, where I go to find out how meek my own political leanings are
Z-Net. A clearinghouse
for various issue- and topic-specific postings.
Tikkun. A terrific attempt
to keep alive the left-liberal traditions in the
TomPaine.com On-line home for a number of
interesting writers and journalists.
In These Times: Website for the magazine.
Informed Comment. Intelligent
commentary and news from the Middle East by Juan Cole (University of Michigan)
Crooks and Liars. Good place to keep up on what’s going in the
New Left Review. A forum for public
intellectuals, intelligent and usually well written.
Liberal Oasis: One of my favorite blogs, and a good set
of links.
Huffington Post. A useful clearinghouse, updated often, of
blogs and other commentary and news.
Public Knowledge. A group devoted to
preserving the public domain in knowledge and information