February 06, 2009
Kurt lands in Tokyo's Shibuya -- glitzy and bustling, it makes Times Square look quaint, and it’s the epicenter of teen culture. Kurt meets up with blogger Lisa Katayama, who takes Kurt to a girl haven: the sticker picture booth. Striking poses against glittery pink and purple backdrops just might be Japan's secret to happiness.
Check out Studio 360's travelblog
The Japanese schoolgirl image was made famous by comic books and cartoons. But not everyone thinks they’re so kawaii (cute). What do Japanese women make of this archetype? Lisa Katayama met three young art stars whose work reclaims and re-invents female pop imagery, in some disturbing ways. But don’t call them feminists.
Toast Girl in Action:
Roland Kelts, an expert in Japanese pop culture, takes Kurt to Akihabara, a retail paradise for otaku -- obsessive fans of manga and other Japanese culture. But a recent tragedy casts a shadow over the fun and games.
Kurt Geeks Out in Akihabara:
Young adults in Japan are unemployed, disenchanted, and depressed. Roland Kelts talks to poet Misumi Mizuki, novelist Ryu Murakami, and other artists to understand why. And he finds that Japan’s troubled youth might be changing the country for the better.
Kurt stumbles into a temple for classical music fans, with scratchy records played at the altar.
What is essentially Japanese in design? One designer compares it to tofu. Architects Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Shigeru Ban, designer Reiko Sudo, and poet Shuntaro Tanikawa show Kurt how Japan brings tradition and innovation together. His search takes him through the streets of old Tokyo to an island in the Inland Sea.
Travel writer Pico Iyer has lived in Japan for 20 years. And while he knows the locals still see him as an outsider, he told Kurt that this status helps him pay attention to his surroundings.
(Aired January 30, 2009)
The tea ceremony is a 400-year-old ritual for serving green tea. But in Japan's techno-centric society (increasingly fueled by coffee) can the tea ceremony survive? Studio 360’s Jenny Lawton talked with tea masters, old and young.
(Aired January 30, 2009)
Aokigahara is the forest at the foot of Mount Fuji. It’s mythologized in Japanese literature as a sacred place for people to end their lives -– and every year close to a hundred suicides are committed there. Studio 360’s Pejk Malinovski went there to uncover why it lingers in the Japanese psyche.
(Aired January 30, 2009)
Studio 360 in Japan is supported, in part, by the Freeman Foundation and the United States-Japan Foundation.
Special thanks to David D’Heilly, Shizu Yuasa, Junko Takeuchi, Ken Marks, Chris Bannon, Amy Busam, Alex Villari, Anna Boiko-Weyrauch, Ralph Samuelson, Yoko Shioya, David Janes, Kazuo Kawamura, Lisa Kato, and On the Media.
Studio 360 is a co-production of
Public
Radio International and
WNYC New York Public Radio, and is funded in part by
Ken and Lucy Lehman, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Studio 360's American Icons series is supported in part by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 
