Some Cool Links (updated 8/14/12)
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
in 2005-2007
Tōhoku University Department of Japanese Literature: my Sendai home-away-from home in 1993-1994
and 2000-2001
Association for
Japanese Literary Studies
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)
The Asia-Pacific
Journal: Japan Focus .
Terrific site maintained by Mark Selden and others: recent political commentary from and about
Japan. (English)
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.
North American Coordinating Council on
Japanese Library Resources (English)
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)
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)
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)
Jason
Gray: Blog by a veteran observer of
contemporary Japanese film. (English)
Make
Believe Melodies: Excellent blog covering Japanese music scene by Patrick
St. Michel. (English)
Clear and Refreshing:
Another fine blog covering Japanese pop, rock and indies
by Ian Martin. (English)
Music
The best Kinks’ website, updated
regularly. Good links section, recent
news, tour dates, discography, etc.
Ray Davies hompage. 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.
Holler If Ya
Hear Me: Weblog maintained by,
among others, rock critic Dave Marsh.
Stew/The Negro Problem: one of my favorite LA-based musicians/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.
Turn It Up:
Blog by Greg Kot,
the Chicago Tribune’s popular music
critic.
Hyde Park Jazz Society: Terrific organization dedicated to keeping the
neighborhood jazz scene alive here on the South Side.
Pitchfork: Always a good place to discover new
music.
The Daily Swarm: Digest of news from
the world of pop music.
The Rest is Noise: Alex Ross’s blog
covering classical and other forms of music.
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 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.
Elysian Fields Quarterly. Literary baseball review;
always fun, but sadly discontinued.
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
(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 Japan)
Asahi
newspaper (Japanese-language daily)
Tokyo
Shinbun (one of the better Japanese-language
daily newspapers in Tokyo)
Gendai (Japanese-language daily tabloid newspaper)
Japan
Today (English-language digest of Japanese news)
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)
Global
Post (web-based news source for in-depth international reporting)
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
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
Huffington
Post. A useful clearinghouse,
updated often, of blogs and other commentary and news (they have a Chicago page, too)
Public Knowledge. A group devoted to
preserving the public domain in knowledge and information.
Talking
Points Memo. Useful
source for commentary and investigative reporting.
Ta-Nehishi Coates:
Thoughtful commentary from a writer for The Atlantic magazine.