ANIME at UMSL
SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER 2009
9:30 AM - 6:30 PM
J.C. Penney Auditorium, J.C. Penney Building, North Campus
University of Missouri-St. Louis
FREE and open to the community.
Sponsored by
Japan-America Society of St. Louis and
Center for International Studies, University of Missouri-St. Louis
?Many Americans are impacted each day by Japan’s most powerful export: contemporary culture. Whether we have glimpsed the Japan of the past or only experience a fragmented view of today’s Japan as presented in its popular media, there are deeper themes and greater ties to rich historical and anthropological constants to be enjoyed and uncovered. Please join us for a FREE day-long symposium where experts in the field of Japanese popular culture will share new and exciting research.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE - 3 October 2009
9:30 - 9:45 AM
Welcome and Introduction
9:45 - 10: 45 AM
The Other Magical Girls: Miko in Anime
Patrick Drazen
Looks at the fact and fiction of Shinto shrine maidens (miko), both well-known and lesser-known. Miko's reflection of Shinto's connection to spirits of nature is highlighted, in keeping with the symposium's emphasis on the female image in anime.
10:45 - 11:00 AM
Questions and Answers
11:00 - 11:05 AM
Break
11:05 - 11:45 AM
Third Order Simulacra and the Otaku "Moe" Phenomenon
Christopher Born
11:45 AM - 12:00 M
Questions and Answers
12:00 M - 1:15 PM
LUNCH - on own or bring your lunch and enjoy it out in the quadrangle
1:15 - 2:15 PM
The Soul of Japan: Japan's crisis is not political, but psychological
Roland Kelts
2:15 - 2:30 PM
Questions and Answers
2:30 - 2:35 PM
Break
2:35 - 3:30 PM
Notes and Comments on the film PAPRIKA
Gilles Poitras (via SKYPE)
3:30 - 3:40 PM
Break
3:40 PM - 5:10 PM
PAPRIKA Screening
Paprika website
Gilles Poitras' website
Notes on Paprika by Gilles Poitras
5:10 - 6:00 PM
Panel of Anime and Japanese Pop Culture experts discussing:
Pondering Paprika: What does this say about Japan?
Roland Nozomu Kelts is a half-Japanese American writer, editor and lecturer
who divides his time between New York and Tokyo and publishes in both
English and Japanese. He is the author of "Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop
Culture has Invaded the US" (www.japanamericabook.com <http://www.japanamericabook.com/> ). He is also a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, a contributing editor and writer for "Adbusters" magazine and "A Public Space" literary journal, and a columnist for "The Daily Yomiuri". His essays and stories can be found in the books "A Wild Haruki Chase," "Gamers," "Kuhaku," "Playboy's College Fiction," "Art Space Tokyo," "Zoetrope" and others. He is the Editor in Chief of the "Anime Masterpieces" screening and discussion series (www.animemasterpieces.com <http://www.animemasterpieces.com/> ). His forthcoming novel is called "Access."
Patrick Drazen remembers when the first anime came to America. Since then, he's lectured on anime, manga, and Japanese society, in his book "Anime Explosion" (published by Stone Bridge Press), for "Animation" magazine, "Time Out New York" and numerous other publications. Drazen has spoken at Yaoi-Con in San Francisco, Schoolgirls and Mobile Suits in Minneapolis, and was Master of Ceremonies at the 2006 Anime Marathon at the Smithsonian Institution.
Dr. Jeni Prough is Assistant Professor of Humanities and East Asian Studies at Valparaiso University. She received her Ph.D. from Duke University in Cultural Anthropology, where her research focused on the production of shojo manga in contemporary Japan. Her book on shojo manga in Japan is forthcoming, and in the meantime she has been working and teaching on issues related Japanese popular culture and the translation and importation of manga to the US.
Christopher Born graduated with a BA in East Asian Studies from Valparaiso University in 1998 and an MA in East Asian Studies from Washington University in St. Louis in 2003, focusing on modern Japanese literature. He currently is a lecturer in the Pierre Laclede Honors College at UMSL and has also served as an instructor in the Japanese department. He serves full time as the coordinator for educational technology and distance education curriculum at Concordia Seminary.
Fred Schodt is a writer, translator, and conference interpreter, based in the San Francisco Bay area. He has written and spoken widely on Japanese history, popular culture, and technology. Among his better known works are Mangga! The World of Japanese Comics (Kodansha International, 1983), Inside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechaironics, and the Coming Robotopia (Kodansha International, 1988), America and the four Japans: Friend, Foe, Model, Mirror (Stone Bridge Press, 1993), and Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga (Stone Bridge Press, 1996). His writing on manga, and his translations of them, helped tirgger the current popularity of Japanese comics in the English-speaking world, and in 2000 resultetd in his being awarded the Special Caategory of the Asahi Shimbun's prestigious Osamu Tezuka Culture Award. In the same year, his translation of Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama's 1931 pioneering graphic novel, The Four Immigrants Manga, was selected as a finalist in the Pen West USA translation award. His latest book, The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom , and the Mangag/Anime Revolution, was published by Stone Bridge Press in 2007. In 2009, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his work in helping to promote Japan's popular culture in the United States.
6:00 PM
Adjourn
BOOKS BY MOST OF OUR GUEST SPEAKERS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT THIS PROGRAM.
REGISTER FOR THIS PROGRAM
IMPORTANT LINKS
Roland Kelts
Patrick Drazen
Jeni Prough
Christopher Born
Fred Schodt
DIRECTIONS
UMSL Campus Map - J.C. Penney Building
View Larger Map
CONTACT INFORMATION
Christopher Born