research on Asian pop and media

CFP films studies

2009-07-13T16:43:00.001-07:00

CALL FOR PAPERSCANADIAN JOURNAL OF FILM STUDIESREVUE CANADIENNE D’ÉTUDES CINÉMATOGRAPHIQUESwww.filmstudies.ca email: cjfsedit@filmstudies.ca The editors of CJFS/RCEC - Charles Acland (Communication Studies) and Catherine Russell (Cinema Studies) at Concordia University, Montreal - seek submissions of manuscripts in film and moving image studies for the following special topics issues: 1. FILM PUBLICS RECONSIDERED: Few concepts have been as influential to contemporary film studies as the concept of the public sphere, as theorized by Habermas, Negt and Kluge. Especially as advanced in Miriam Hansen’s Babel and Babylon, the public sphere has been a central way in which film and media scholars have written about the relationship between text, space and the prospects for democratic life. With this special issue, we are seeking work that reassesses the legacy of this framework. Papers may be exemplary applications of the concept of the public sphere (e.g. examining film festivals or non-theatrical exhibition) or may be theoretical surveys and evaluations. Deadline for FILM PUBLICS RECONSIDERED - September 1, 2009 2. STAR PERFORMANCE: Film and media stars, by definition multi-media figures, evolve as a complex mix of individually embodied- and industrially-generated assemblages of gesture, expression and narrative. This special issue seeks research that specifically addresses the intersection of performance and persona in star-making, and star-sustaining, enterprises. Papers may investigate star performance styles, cross-media manifestations of star personas, and star labour in creative cultural industries. Deadline for submission for STAR PERFORMANCE – December 1, 2009 3. EXPANDED SCREENS: The site, situation and occasion of moving image culture is so varied that it can no longer be contained under Gene Youngblood’s groundbreaking category of “expanded cinema.” Accordingly, this special issue will assemble research that explores the outermost boundaries of the implications and consequences of our broadening screen culture. Future cinema, miniaturized formats, clip culture, game aesthetics, and digital moving image circulation are all possible areas of research attention for contributions to this issue. Deadline for submission for EXPANDED SCREENS – March 1, 2010 As always, we continue to seek high quality research for general topic issues. The CJFS/RCEC is Canada’s leading scholarly venue for moving image studies, refereed using a double-blind review process. We publish innovated research on all topics and formats related to moving image studies. We also regularly publish book reviews. Complete guidelines for contributors can be found in each issue of the journal was well as on our website at www.filmstudies.ca. Send queries and manuscripts to cjfsedit@filmstudies.ca.

CFP

2008-08-17T11:47:00.001-07:00

Call for submissions for an edited volume on global media, cultures, and identities
We are seeking chapter proposals for an edited volume on global media, cultures, and identities. The volume will examine the relationship between culture, media, and identity in a global world from various disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, in different geographic locations, and with respect to a range of media, both old and new. The collection will combine theoretical reflections with concrete analyses of the modes in which global media shape cultural identities and, conversely, cultural formations influence the political economy of global media.

How do we conceptualize the global culture, media, and identity problematic after the interventions of postcolonialism and poststructuralism, for instance, or as anthropologists, scholars of communication, historians, and literary scholars? Is the global in global television the same as the global audience of the internet? What do media representations of specific cultural discourses of food, fashion, travel, community, or civic engagement tell us about the contingent nature of notions of global identity at work here? Through such questions, the collection will critically examine the very categories and imaginaries of global media, global culture, and global identity.

Submissions are welcome on all relevant topics related to the broad focus of the collection. Contributors are requested to submit a proposal of 500 words as well as a brief biographical note to Rohit Chopra at rchopra73_at_gmail.com by September 10, 2008. We will be seeking a publisher for the collection shortly afterward. Full chapters would be due by early 2009.

Project /Volume Editors

Rohit Chopra, Assistant Professor of Communication, Santa Clara University, Email: rchopra73_at_gmail.com

Radhika Gajjala, Associate Professor, Department of Interpersonal Communication, School of Communication Studies, Bowling Green State University, Email: radhik_at_bgsu.edu

Rohit Chopra
Department of Communication
Santa Clara University
Email: rchopra73@gmail.com

CFP Bremen

2008-08-17T10:05:00.001-07:00

CALL FOR PAPERS "MEDIA CULTURE IN CHANGE" Date: April 29th to May 1st 2009Venue: University of Bremen, Germany 54th Annual Conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) Our present cultures cannot be understood beyond the media. If one understands cultures in the widest sense of the word as the whole conflicting way of living, knowing and acting of a major group of people, then they are communicatively mediated: Through communication we become socialized within cultures, and cultural practices are to a large degree expressed in communication. These processes of communication occur increasingly via technical media, beginning with newspapers and journals, through television, radio and film up to the so-called hybrid media of computers and mobile phones. In this sense we can understand our present cultures as media cultures. Taking this as a starting point the conference “Media Culture in Change” has a threefold objective: First aim is to discuss how to describe media cultures within media and communication studies theoretically and empirically. Secondly, the subject of the conference is to reflect how change can be described adequately and also how it can be operationalised. Third, the conference addresses the question of the significance of research on media cultures for the theoretical development of media and communication studies. Papers on the following topic fields are welcome:• Concepts of media culture• Empirical media culture research• Historical dimension of media cultural change• Present relevance of media cultural change• Media politics, public sphere and political discourse cultures• Integration, segregation and conflicts in media cultures• Cultures of journalism, production and organisation• Contents, formats and discourses of media cultures• Everyday life, appropriation and socialisation in media cultures Invited keynote speakers are:• Hans Adler, University of Wisconsin, Madison• Claus Leggewie, Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen• Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science• David Morley, Goldsmiths College University of London For further information on the conference and the full call for papers please visit the web page http://www.dgpuk2009.de/index_en.html. Abstracts must be submitted by 15th October 2008 via the online abstract management system, accessible via this web page after 1st September 2008. Responsible for local organisation: Andreas Hepp (Andreas.Hepp@uni-bremen.de ).

seen in le monde; chinese blockbuster

2008-07-23T05:50:00.000-07:00

Un blockbuster chinois fait fureur en Asie

Epopée guerrière de John Woo et film le plus cher du cinéma chinois (80 millions de dollars), Red Cliff est en passe de battre les records de recette en Chine et en Asie - avant de se lancer à la conquête du reste du monde. Sorti le 10 juillet en Chine, il a franchi en quatre jours la barre des 100 millions de yuans (9,2 millions d'euros) de recettes, un record. Le démarrage fut excellent en Corée, à Hongkong et à Taïwan. Longue de cent quarante minutes, cette première partie d'un diptyque est exclusivement destinée à l'Asie. Le public y est familier de l'histoire, située il y a mille huit cents ans, à la période chaotique des Trois Royaumes, et déclinée dans d'innombrables adaptations ; l'Occident aura droit, en principe, à un seul film, plus digeste, en 2009.

En Chine, le distributeur de Red Cliff, le groupe d'Etat China Film, qui a le monopole de la distribution des superproductions étrangères, lui a fait place nette : pas moins de 1 400 copies ont été tirées, un record. Qu'importe que le réalisateur, John Woo, soit originaire de Hongkong et qu'il ait effectué le plus clair de sa carrière récente à Hollywood : ce tour de force visuel - effets spéciaux concoctés par l'Américain Craig Hayes (Robocop et Matrix), des figurants par milliers, une bataille navale - marque son retour triomphant en Chine. Et puis ce film sur son passé flamboyant renvoie à la Chine une image de grandeur qui permet d'éviter les débats auxquels mènent les scénarios contemporains.

Huit ans après Tigre et dragon, d'Ang Lee, un autre Chinois (Taïwanais) exilé, et plus gros succès "chinois" dans le monde à ce jour, on mesure les efforts déployés : une trentaine de films à gros budget ont cherché à renouveler le succès du film historique. Financé en Asie, Red Cliff rassemble les producteurs les plus ambitieux de la région, comme le japonais Avex, le coréen Showbox, le taïwanais CMC Entertainment Group, et une pléthore d'investisseurs chinois regroupés autour de China Film Group.

Brice Pedroletti

Source: lemonde.fr

CFP

2008-07-21T07:39:00.001-07:00

CALL FOR PAPERS
Rethinking Visual Narratives from Asia: Intercultural and Comparative Perspectives

The Department of Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong will host an international conference on Rethinking Visual Narratives from 8-9 June 2009. The conference will bring together approximately fifteen scholars presenting new and original research to discuss how visual narratives function in different cultures and exploring connections and interactions between the arts of Asia and that of Asia and the West. The papers and discussion will consolidate academic understanding of visual narrative theories and augment them through analysis of their potential as a tool for exploring inter-cultural interactions and questioning cross-cultural assumptions. The focus will be on the visual with a cross-cultural dimension and dating to any time period within a broadly defined art historical discipline and material culture studies.

Possible panel topics include, but are not limited to – The place of narrative: architecture and the disposition of imagery Theories of narration
Word and image: illustration and interpretation
Printed texts and images: semiotic dialogue
The social embeddedness of narrative
Narratology
The role of non-narrative or anti-narrative elements in imagery

Papers will be hosted on the conference website by the end of April 2009. It is expected that a conference proceedings will be published.

Abstracts due on 5 September 2008 by email to -

Dr. Alexandra Green
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Fine Arts, University of Hong Kong
Email: greenar@hkucc.hku.hk

Dr. Alexandra Green
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Fine Arts
Main Building Rm. 235
University of Hong Kong

Email: greenar@hkucc.hku.hk

CFP

2008-06-29T15:23:00.001-07:00

Journal of Media Practice Call for Papers Special Issue: A Decade of Media Practice: Changes, Challenges and Choices The Journal of Media Practice is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2009! To mark this anniversary, the Journal is looking for contributions from colleagues involved in media practice around the world, whether as teachers or practitioners. The current decade is witnessing vast changes in the production, consumption and forms of media. With digital technology, video art, documentary, film and other visual media are all going through interesting changes at the institutional, artistic and audience levels. Web 2.0 is blurring the lines between the production and consumption of media, and is opening up new spaces of expression in societies where state censorship hinders freedom of speech in traditional media. It is also instigating changes in web design. Satellite television is consolidating itself as the primary medium in places like the Middle East. Digital radio is opening up new possibilities for broadcasting. More synergies are being created between different media forms, whether between the internet and television, the internet and documentary, or any number of other possibilities. The Journal invites international contributions responding to the changes and challenges in the media practice landscape over the last decade, be it television, radio, video art, documentary, film, screenwriting, the internet, the press, or any other form of print, audio, visual or audiovisual media, and the choices that those changes and challenges have created for media practitioners, institutions and audiences. In addition to academic articles, the Journal encourages the submission of: - Interviews with key media personnel and artists - Reflections by media practitioners on their own practice (whether within institutions or as independent practitioners) - Reviews of exhibitions and other media events - Critical pieces about changes in technology, content and delivery of media products and tools, or the work of media institutions around the world Articles should be 5000 words, reviews 500-1000 words, and critical pieces and reflections between 1000-3000 words. The Editor is happy to discuss other possibilities with potential contributors prior to the deadline below. All submissions are subject to peer review. Please send all completed submissions to jmp@rhul.ac.uk. The deadline to receive all completed material (full articles, reviews etc.) is October 17, 2008. Informal queries, speculative abstracts and proposals can be sent to the Editor Lina Khatib: lina.khatib@rhul.ac.uk in advance of the October deadline. Dr Lina KhatibDepartment of Media ArtsRoyal Holloway, University of LondonEgham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UKhttp://www.rhul.ac.uk/Media-Arts/staff/khatib.htmEditor: Journal of Media PracticeCo-Editor: Middle East Journal of Culture & Communication_________________________________________________________________ http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/msnnkmgl0010000009ukm/direct/01/

CFP

2008-06-29T15:22:00.001-07:00

Seventh Annual Cultural Studies Association (U.S.)Marriott (at the Plaza), Kansas CityApril 16-18, 2009 Expected plenary speakers include:Michael Bérubé, Pennsylvania State UniversityMarc Bousquet, Santa Clara UniversityOrit Halpern, New School for Social ResearchMichele Janette, Kansas State UniversityE. Patrick Johnson, Northwestern UniversityKarim Murji, Open University (U.K.)Cary Nelson, University of IllinoisAmit Rai, Florida State UniversitySangeeta Ray, University of MarylandMaria Josefina Saldaña-Porillo, New York UniversityJeff Williams, Carnegie Mellon University Also, the popular Journal Salon feature will continue. Journals expectedare:Cultural CritiqueCultural Studies/ Critical Methodologies Dialectical AnthropologyFlowGendersMediations Deadline for Proposals: September 15, 2008. This conference, which uses Open Conference Systems developed by the PublicKnowledge Project , enables participants to submitabstracts online at http://www.csaus.pitt.edu/conf/submit.php?cf=5. Thewebsite for submissions will open August 15, 2008. Call for Papers and Sessions The Cultural Studies Association (U.S.) invites participation in its SeventhAnnual Meeting from all areas and on all topics of relevance to CulturalStudies, including but not limited to literature, history, sociology,geography, anthropology, communications, popular culture, cultural theory,queer studies, critical race studies, feminist studies, postcolonialstudies, media and film studies, material culture studies, performance andvisual arts studies. All participants in the Sixth Annual meeting must pay registration fees byMarch 16, 2009, to be listed and participate in the program. See theregistration page of this website for details about fees. If you have any questions about procedures for submission or other concerns,please e-mail us at: csaus@pitt.edu. We welcome proposals in the followingfour categories: 1. INDIVIDUAL PAPERS Proposals for individual papers are due September 15, 2008. Successful papers will reach several constituencies of the organization andwill connect analysis to social, political, economic, or ethical questions. They should be submitted online on the conference website. Successfulsubmission will be acknowledged. If you do not receive an acknowledgmentwithin 24 hours, please resubmit. The acknowledgment will say that yourproposal has been ''successfully submitted,'' which does NOT mean yourproposal has been accepted. All paper proposals require: a. The name, email address, department and institutional affiliation of theauthor, entered on the website.b. A 500-word abstract for the 20-minute paper entered on the website.c. Any needed audio-visual equipment must be noted following the abstract inthat space on the site. 2. PRE-CONSTITUTED PAPER SESSIONS, ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS, OR WORKSHOP SESSIONSProposals for pre-constituted sessions are due September 15, 2008. Roundtables are sessions in which panelists offer brief remarks, but thebulk of the session is devoted to discussion among the panelists andaudience members. Workshops are similarly devoted primarily to discussion,but they focus on practical problems in such areas as teaching, research, oractivism. No paper titles may be included for roundtables or workshops. Pre-constituted sessions should NOT be submitted on the website, but shouldbe sent to csaus@pitt.edu with the words ''Session Proposal'' in the subjectline. All proposals will be acknowledged, but please allow at least twobusiness days before inquiring. All session proposals require: a. The name, email address, phone number, and department and institutionalaffiliation of the proposer. b. The names, email addresses, and department and institutional affiliationsof each participant. c. A 500-word overview of the session, including identifying the type ofsession (panel, roundtable, workshop) proposed. For paper sessions, alsoinclude 500-word abstracts of each of the papers. Paper sessions should havethree or four papers. d. A request for any needed audio-visual equipment. All AV equipment must berequested with the proposal. 3. DIVISION SESSIONSDivision sessions are due September 15, 2008. A list of divisions is available at http://www.csaus.pitt.edu . Divisions may elect to post calls on thatsite for papers and procedures for submission to division sessions or handlethe creation of their two division sessions by other means. Division chairswill submit their two panels/workshops/roundtables directly to the programcommittee by September 15, 2008 (directions will be sent to the divisionchairs). Proposals for divisions should NOT be submitted on the website orto csaus@pitt.edu. 4. SEMINAR PROPOSALSProposals for seminars are due September 15, 2008. Seminars are small-group (maximum 15 individuals) discussion sessions forwhich participants prepare in advance of the conference. In previous years,preparation has involved shared readings, pre-circulated ''position papers''by seminar leaders and/or participants, and other forms of pre-conferencecollaboration. We particularly invite proposals for seminars designed toadvance emerging lines of inquiry and research/teaching initiatives withinCultural Studies broadly construed. We also invite seminars designed togenerate future collaborations among conference attendees. Once a limitednumber of seminar topics and leaders are chosen, the seminars will beannounced through the CSA's various public e-mail lists. Participants willcontact the seminar leader(s) directly who will then inform the ProgramCommittee who will participate in the seminar. Seminars will be marked inthe conference programs as either closed to non-participants or open toother conference attendees as auditors (or in other roles). Examples ofsuccessful seminar proposals from previous years are linked in here (if youare reading this on the website). All seminar proposals require:a. A 500-word overview of the topic designed to attract participants andclear instructions about how the seminar will work, including details aboutwhat advanced preparation will be required of seminar participants.b. The name, email address, phone number, mailing address, and departmentaland institutional affiliation of the leader(s) proposing the seminar.c. A brief bio or one page CV of the leader(s) proposing the seminar.d. A request for any needed audio-visual equipment. All AV equipment must berequested with the proposal. Since seminars typically involve discussion ofpreviously circulated papers, such requests must be explained. Seminar proposals should be sent to: Bruce Burgett, Professor and Interim Director, Interdisciplinary Arts andSciencesUniversity of Washington Bothellburgett@u.washington.edu and Colin Danby, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences,University of Washington Bothell danby@u.washington.edu Those interested in participating in (rather than leading) a seminar shouldconsult the list of seminars and the instructions for signing up for them,available at http://www.csaus.pitt.edu afterOctober 15, 2008. Deadline to sign up will be November 14, 2008. Deadlinefor seminar leaders to submit final lists of participants (minimum 8individuals, in addition to the seminar leader or leaders) will be November21, 2008.

publishing opp

2008-06-29T15:21:00.001-07:00

From: "Imre Szeman" Subject: [cultstud-l] Cultural Spaces (Book Series)To: g-csacont@mcmaster.ca, ,, Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" CULTURAL SPACES / University of Toronto Press CULTURAL SPACES is a book series that explores the rapidly changingtemporal, spatial, and theoretical boundaries of contemporary culturalstudies. Culture has long been understood as the force that defines anddelimits societies in fixed spaces. The recent intensification ofglobalizing processes, however, has meant that it is no longer possible– if it ever was – to imagine the world as a collection of autonomous,monadic spaces, whether these are imagined as localities, nations,regions within nations, or cultures demarcated by region or nation. Theaim of this interdisciplinary series is to publish bold new analysesand theories of the spaces of culture, as well as investigations of thehistorical construction of those cultural spaces that have influencedthe shape of the contemporary world. Series editors: Richard Cavell (University of British Columbia), JasminHabib (University of Waterloo) and Imre Szeman (McMaster University). Book proposals and manuscript submissions welcomed. Please contact: Siobhan McMenemy, smcmenemy@utpress.utoronto.ca, (416)978-2239 x231 For more information about the series, visit:http://www.utppublishing.com/pubstore/merchant.ihtml?id=58&step=2. Books in the Series: - Peter Ives, Gramsci’s Politics of Language: Engaging the BakhtinCircle and the Frankfurt School - Sarah Brophy, Witnessing AIDS: Writing, Testimony, and the Work ofMourning - Shane Gunster, Capitalizing on Culture: Critical Theory for CulturalStudies - Jasmin Habib, Israel, Diaspora, and the Routes of National Belonging - Serra Tinic, On Location: Canada’s Television Industry in a GlobalMarket - Evelyn Ruppert, The Moral Economy of Cities: Shaping Good Citizens - Mark Coté, Richard Day, and Greig de Peuter, eds, Utopian Pedagogy:Radical Experiments Against Neoliberal Globalization - Michael McKinnie, City Stages: Theatre and Urban Space in a GlobalCity - David Jefferess, Postcolonial Resistance: Culture, Liberation, andTransformation - Mary Gallagher, ed., World Writing: Poetics, Ethics, andGlobalization (forthcoming) - Maureen Moynagh, Political Tourism and Its Texts (forthcoming) Editors:Richard Cavell: rcavell@interchange.ubc.caJasmin Habib: jhabib@uwaterloo.caImre Szeman: szeman@mcmaster.ca Editorial Advisory Board:Lauren Berlant, University of ChicagoHomi K. Bhabha, Harvard UniversityHazel V. Carby, Yale UniversityRichard Day, Queen’s UniversityChristopher Gittings, University of Western OntarioLawrence Grossberg, University of North CarolinaMark Kingwell, University of TorontoHeather Murray, University of TorontoElspeth Probyn, University of SydneyRinaldo Walcott, OISE/University of Toronto

Crossroads 2008 in Jamaica

2008-06-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Well, for those willing to have an eye on my research, I'll be presenting a paper at Crossroads 2008 in Jamaica. Needless to say, the apprentice work + MBA + participation @ a student orchestra did not leave me a lot of time for research...

So, the paper is entitled "Watching TV makes sense". About the emergence of a possible public sphere in East Asia through the consumption of Asian TV programs...

Still have a week to write the paper ;)

Here's the outline from UMAT conf. Any comments are welcome ;)

Watching television makes sense
The consumption of Asian television programs in Asia: a forthcoming sign of an epistemic community in Asia
Ubiquitous media, Asian transformations
Public sphere in Asia
Aska Monty, iCAT (Institute for Communication Arts and Technology), Hallym University

Introduction
a phenomenon dating back to the 1980s 1990s preceded by the consumption of mainly Western programs
the consumption of Asian programs as “foreign programs in Asia translates/echoes/reflects technological changes in Asia, the emergence and confirmation of audiovisual powers, as producers of soft power and cultural contents, better designed for an Asian audience

Asian consumption: a two-fold phenomenon
a negative response to the Western media imperialism
a positive answer towards a multi-polar power system in Asia

Public sphere, epistemic community
Different stages of the formation and gathering of Asian people
from the grass root level of consumption to the political/utopian level of polity constitution
Why study television programs?
Television as an interface between the public and the private sphere leading to the constitution of the social welfare (Mandeville)
the role of market as established by Rosanvallon: Can Television, as well as market, pacify relations inter alii?

Television as a political tool
Television moulds preferences: the Nation/State defines what the audience watches
News and sports, reflection of the national psyche, last bastions to resist against transnational flows of television consumption?

Television as a soft power
Television as a source of political representativeness
A way to change perceptions
Television programmes as weapons of soft power in Asia (i.e. anime, dramas, films…)
Litterature on public sphere and epistemic community
The structural transformation of the public sphere. An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society (Habermas, 1989)

Communication and citizenship. Journalism and the public sphere (Dahlgreen, Sparks, 1991)

Imagined communities (Anderson)

Consumption in Asia (Chua)

Articles
UNESCO report (Nordenstreng and Varis, 1974): one-way flow of cultural production from the developed to the developing world

The economics of Television Program Production and Trade in Far East Asia (Waterman, Rogers, 2000)

Media imperialism revisited: some findings from the Asian case (Chadha, Kavoori 2000)

Methodology
Quantitative analysis:
Broadcasting strategies in eight Asian countries, among private and public broadcasters regarding imports of Asian programs

Qualitative analysis:
Interviews of television programs consumers about their viewing habits, their perception of foreign programs and their preferences

Raised issue:
Can the consumption of television programs in Asia foster and shoulder the emergence of a public sphere or an epistemic community in Asia?
Consumption of television and sharing common values; mould for a common epistemic community in Asia
1.1 The discovery of the sameness/closeness through television programs
Identification process in the making
Cross border allegiance of taste
An offer shaped by the audience (market driven approach)
A comprehension of the unknown other eased by television consumption

1.2 Hindrances
transnational flows based on pop culture… dramas, cartoons
is light entertainment able to erase cultural differences, misperceptions?
Counterbalanced by the distanced relation to the media and the reception theories
The burden of history (colonial past…) and biased perceptions of the other moulded by past propaganda

II. Consumption of television programs in Asia: a political stance
2.1 Contestation and resistance force
a voice for the repressed in some Asian regimes, a voice of contestation in Asian communist authoritarian regimes, hence an enlightenment process in Asia through media consumption?
a resistance to American cultural imperialism or a resistance to the Japanese cultural imperialism in some cases
to be qualified in the proportion of American programs broadcasted generally in Asia, reflection of the legacy of history and the effects of media liberalization (Uruguay round)
to be qualified by the proportion of Japanese anime, dramas, products of the Japanese soft power, in Asia. Japan as a benchmark in Asia

2.2 A means to build an Asian community, polity
Consumption of Asian television programs and the emergence of a new cultural, transnational geopolitical map in Asia: the cultural contents producers versus the cultural contents consumers, translating, echoing new balances of power in Asia
Importers and exporters; the role of the State in fostering television contents or placing watchdogs on television programming in Asia
A polity threatened by a new kind of media imperialism produced by leading Asian states?
Hindrances: the preference for the local in a number of television fields (news, entertainment)
Qualifying the possibility of detachment towards local programs, news as the very last bastion of national sovereignty (however qualified by the way people consume news, and the way the news programs are produced)
III. Consumption of television programs and epistemic community/Asian polity: a down top process led by heterogeneous social categories
3.1 Public sphere and Habermas approach: its validity to the Asian context
Interactive approach valid in the Asian context: the discursive reason
Studies still on the making about forums, fans communicating to each other concerning their consumption of television programs
Public sphere and Asian youth: alternative ways of consuming culture and constructing shared values; shifting patterns of consumption in Asian programs
The Asian prosumers in the web.20 context : consumers and passers by of Asian programs (cf youtube and the case of Korean dramas, online consumption of Asian dramas in China…)
Current stage: clusters and networks rather than a true public sphere, epistemic community on the making

3.2 Redefining public opinion and public sphere? New modalities
Consumption of television programs in Asia calling for a redefinition of the very notion of public sphere
the consumption of television programs blurs the limits/frontiers between public and private sphere
the personal taste, mark of the very intimate, is made public

conclusion
Asian public sphere, epistemic community as a horizon
Cultural transnational flows and consumption as a founding basis for Asian cosmopolitanism

arte & china

2008-05-14T02:32:00.000-07:00

TÉLÉVISION
Arte cherche à s'implanter sur l'immense marché chinois de la production audiovisuelle
LE MONDE | 12.05.08 | 14h42 • Mis à jour le 12.05.08 | 14h42PÉKIN ENVOYÉ SPÉCIAL

Avec, en moyenne, un milliard de téléspectateurs chaque jour, les télévisions chinoises intéressent les chaînes étrangères. Echanges et contacts se multiplient.

Fin mars, une délégation de la chaîne franco-allemande Arte, conduite par son président Gottfried Langenstein et son vice-président Jérôme Clément, s'est rendue à Pékin et à Shanghaï pour y rencontrer les patrons des chaînes chinoises, négocier la vente de programmes et esquisser des accords de production. "La Chine joue un rôle important dans nos programmes, confie M. Langenstein. Nous avons diffusé plus d'une trentaine de films et de fictions qui y ont été produits et nous comptons développer nos liens avec l'ensemble des télévisions chinoises."

Après avoir privilégié la coproduction cinématographique en investissant dans les films du réalisateur Wong Kar-Wai (2046) ou de Zhang Yimou (Les Triades de Shangai), Arte veut développer la coproduction de documentaires et de spectacles vivants (opéras, concerts...) appréciés des téléspectateurs chinois. "Il s'agit de proposer des émissions sur la Chine et de faire une place à ses créateurs", explique M. Clément. "Nous souhaitons montrer la formidable mutation politique et économique du pays en ne négligeant pas les questions qui fâchent", poursuit-il. Un discours accueilli "favorablement" par les responsables des groupes audiovisuels chinois (CCTV, Beijing TV, Shanghai Media Group).

Dans un premier temps, des échanges de catalogues vont être mis en place, puis Arte pourrait coproduire des documentaires historiques développés par les chaînes thématiques chinoises. Des négociations devraient aussi s'engager pour que la télévision franco-allemande ait accès aux archives des chaînes chinoises. Les dirigeants de l'audiovisuel chinois se sont dit intéressés par cette télévision diffusée en deux langues malgré le passé guerrier entre les deux pays. La direction de Beijing TV a ainsi souhaité que le rapprochement entre Chinois et Japonais suive la même voie. "La réconciliation entre les peuples passe souvent par la culture. Elle permet de mieux comprendre l'autre", a-t-elle souligné.

Le marché local de la production audiovisuelle est immense. Selon le State Administration for Radio, Film and Television, l'organisme officiel de régulation chinois, près de 150 000 heures de programmes seraient produites chaque année par plus d'un millier de chaînes, dont de nombreuses télévisions locales. La publicité, limitée à six minutes par heure, rapporterait près de 8 milliards d'euros par an. Ces statistiques officielles sont toutefois approximatives du fait de l'amalgame des moyens de diffusion (hertzien, câble, satellite).

Ainsi, les chaînes étrangères accessibles par le câble et en accès payant sont-elles théoriquement interdites. Seuls les résidences diplomatiques et les grands hôtels sont autorisés à les diffuser. Mais près de 10 millions de foyers les capteraient grâce à des antennes paraboliques illégales. "Pour beaucoup de Chinois, le petit écran est le seul moyen d'information et d'ouverture sur le monde, insiste Guo Hua, responsable des acquisitions internationales de CCTV6, la chaîne consacrée au cinéma qui diffuse des films étrangers sous-titrés en mandarin.

L'OEIL VIGILANT DE LA CENSURE

A leur manière, les chaînes relaient le discours politique sur la nouvelle "société harmonieuse" voulue par Pékin. On en trouve des traces dans les documentaires historiques, les séries policières, les feuilletons qui connaissent un succès grandissant dans le pays. Sous l'oeil vigilant de la censure, ces productions revisitent l'Histoire chinoise en gommant ses aspects les plus négatifs comme les excès de la Révolution culturelle et n'hésitent pas à aborder les problèmes de corruption, mal récurrent qui ronge le pays. La télé-réalité est aussi très regardée.

Mais cette ouverture a ses limites. Les productions étrangères - notamment les dessins animés nippons et de rares séries américaines - ne sont pas diffusées aux heures de grande écoute. Une décision politique pour limiter l'influence et les "déviances" occidentales auprès de téléspectateurs qui passent chaque jour trois heures devant la télévision.

Daniel Psenny
Article paru dans l'édition du 13.05.08.

to be read

2008-04-15T10:11:00.001-07:00

"Music That Moves: Popular Music, Distribution and Network Technologies" in Cultural Studies, 16:2 (2002), pp. 213-232.

book review

2008-04-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

Back to a serious mouse mode... gotta review this haha

CFP

2008-04-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Journal Culture, Language and Representation, ISSN: 1697-7750, seekscontributions for its 2009 and 2010 issues. The 2009 is an open call for original articles that engage in any relevant areaof cultural analysis: the Arts, literature, film, education, linguistics andcommunication, cultural history, anthropology, sociology, etc. Theoreticaldiscussions as well as empirical analysis of specific cases or texts arewelcome. The 2010 issue will be devoted to “Popular Culture in the Age ofGlobalization”. Deadline for submissions: Articles for the 2009 issue should reach the Editors no later than 30th, October2008.Articles for the 2010 issue should reach the Editors before the 15th, September2009. For any enquiries, you may contact Jose R. Prado at prado@ang.uji.es The guidelines for publication can be obtained from the Journal’s web page:www.clr.uji.esJournal Culture, Language and Representation is indexed in the MLA, ABELL, ISOC(CINDOC), and appears in the LATIN INDEX. Please send two hard copies and a WORD or RTF document of your completedmanuscript to:Jose R. PradoDept. Estudis AnglesosCampus Riu SecUniversitat Jaume I12071 CastellonSpain

CFP

2008-04-13T10:07:00.001-07:00

Call for Papers and PresentationsContinuities and Innovations: Popular Print Cultures – Past andPresent, Local and GlobalUniversity of AlbertaEdmonton, Alberta, Canada27-30 August 2008 Papers and presentations are invited for any aspect of the conferencetheme. Proposals should be 200 to 300 words in length and clearly statethe central theme or argument, the kind of popular print or relatedmedia to be considered, and its social and cultural location in timeand place.Please indicate any equipment requirements (data projector;conference computer; overhead projector; video or dvd player; audioplayer, etc). A brief resumé should accompany each proposal, statingthe proposer’s name, address, contact information, and relevantacademic, professional, or personal background and knowledge of form ofpopular print culture discussed.Send proposals and resumés by email as pasted-in documentsor attachments in an up-to-date format to: popprint@ualberta.caOr mail hard copies to: Popprint, Kirsten MacLeod,Department of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta,Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E5. Questions to either address.Deadline for proposals is 30 May 2008. But space on theprogram is limited, and proposals will be considered on a first-come,first-accommodated basis. This conference and popular arts festival consider what most peopleread, here and elsewhere, now and in the past. Popular printcharacteristically includes both words and images, and is intertwinedwith music and performance. In these forms it has been and continues tobe one of the most powerful cultural forces in history, morphing intonew media and new technologies, from the phonograph record throughradio, film, and television to video games and the internet.Popular print culture is now a global phenomenon, withstriking similarities in what most people read, anywhere. Yet there arealso striking local differences, inflections, and variations in whatmost people read, here or elsewhere. “Continuities and Innovations”will bring together all those interested in popular printculture--readers and writers, publishers and fans, librarians andcollectors, teachers and students, and of course researchers in manyacademic disciplines.Proposals are invited from all of these groups, directlyaddressing the conference theme, or taking up any aspect of “PopularPrint Cultures, Past and Present, Local and Global.” Topics can includerelations between popular print and other media, between popular and“high” literatures, between words and images, between words and music,between past and present forms, and so on. Presentations may be fromwriters, readers, publishers, teachers, students, distributors,sellers, librarians, illustrators, opponents, promoters, adapters toother media, fans, collectors, et al. Papers and presentations can beon any relevant topic—reading popular print and creating it, writing itand illustrating it, publishing it and selling it, counteracting it ortransforming it, adapting it and influencing it, censoring it andliving it, and more. Participants may consider popular print andpolitics, religion, sexuality, class, ethnicity, “race,” nationality,or any other theme.Google “Edmonton Alberta” and “University of Alberta” forinformation on the venue. Program and other information, includingtravel and accommodation details, regularly updated, will be availableon the conference website: www.arts.ualberta.ca/popprint -- Gary Kelly FRSCUniversity ProfessorDepartment of English and Film StudiesUniversity of AlbertaEdmonton, ABT6G 2E5Canada(780) 492-0561gkelly@ualberta.ca

CFP

2008-04-13T06:44:00.001-07:00

Call for Papers International Conference on "Globalization: Cultures, Institutions andSocioeconomics" To be held in Hong Kong, December 12-13, 2008 Co-Sponsored by The Chinese University of Hong Kong and WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis Along the recent trend of globalization, perhaps one of the most significantfocal points is the study on issues related to "Greater China," a notionthat originally entails potential economic integration of China, Taiwan, andHong Kong (including Macau) and has lately been broadened to includeSingapore, Southeast Asian Chinese communities, and overseas Chinese inother countries. Despite some political repercussions, Greater China hasbecome an indisputable economic reality today. But economy is not thestrongest element at play; rather, a more prevalent and consequential factoris culture and the underlying formal institutions and informal socialcustoms. This conference is designed to study the causes and consequences ofglobalization from cultural, institutional and socioeconomic perspectives,focusing more on topics related to Greater China. It invites scholars toinvestigate: * What perspectives can we deploy to investigate the different and yetsimilar cosmopolitan cultures of Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing,Singapore, Macau, Shenzhen, and others? * How do cultures of these cities work in practice and how are theyembedded in everyday-life situations as locatable phenomena? * What approaches can we use to explore the experience of place andspace, the dynamics between local and global, culture and economy, and thedilemmas of knowledge? * How do states, empires and nations, corporations, shops and goods,literature, music, film, etc., figure in our examination of the cultures ofconsumption and production? * How do places develop meanings for people? What are the strugglesover defining who belongs in a place? * What role do travel, information technology, and other means ofcommunication play in shaping a global city network among these three citiesand beyond? The conference will feature several distinguished keynote andplenary-session speakers, including Nobel Laureate Douglass North andProfessors Frank Dikotter, Robert Hegel, Chang-Tai Hsien, Gordon Mathews,Hui Wang, and Shaoguang Wang. All sessions will be held on the ChineseUniversity of Hong Kong campus, while the conference dinner will be housedat the world-known Hong Kong Jockey Club. Although we prefer complete papers, submissions of long abstracts will beconsidered. Submissions of organized sessions are also welcome. Allsubmissions must be made through e-mail to all the co-chairs of the programcommittee no later than May 31, 2008: Lingchei Letty Chen(llchen@artsci.wustl.edu), Ann Louise Huss (ahuss@cuhk.edu.hk), Laikwan Pang(crsdept@cuhk.edu.hk), and Ping Wang (pingwang@artsci.wustl.edu). Weanticipate having the preliminary program posted by June 15, 2008.

CFP

2008-04-13T06:38:00.001-07:00

Call for Papers 4th World Congress of Korean Studies Theme: Korean Studies Interfacing with the World The organizing committee of the 4th World Congress of Korean Studiesannounces a call for papers to all academics and professionals in Korean studies. TheWorld Congress, co-organized by the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) and Kyushu University, will be held from Sept. 22-24, 2008 at Kyushu University,Fukuoka, Japan. As one of the prominent Korean studies conference in the world, it willprovide scholars with an opportunity to share their latest academic achievements and developfriendships in the field of Korean studies. -Date: Mon. Sept. 22 ~ Weds. Sept. 24, 2008 -Venue: Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan -Official Languages: Korean, English -Jointly organized by the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), KyushuUniversity, International Society for Korean Studies (ISKS), Pacific and Asia Conference on Korean Studies (PACKS), Korean Studies Association of Australasia (KSAA), Association for Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE), Central Asian Association for Korean Studies (CAAKS) and the Committee on Korean Studies-Association for Asian Studies (CKS-AAS) -website:www.aks.ac.kr/congress -Schedule 21st of Sept. (Sun): Banquet 22nd of Sept. (Mon): Opening Ceremony, Sessions Keynote Speech - Robert Buswell(UCLA) - Masao Okonoki(Keio University) 23rd of Sept. (Tue): Sessions, Closing Ceremony 24th of Sept. (Weds): Post-conference Cultural Tour(Optional) ----Sessions---- 1. Designated Session (Individual Proposal) -History -Sociology -Culture/ Anthropology -Political Science -Economics/Trade/Industry -Law -Art -Folklore -Literature -Education -Science/Technology -Philosophy -Religion -Language 2. Free Paper Session (Panel Proposal) This session is to present participants' interests and reflections on Korean studies. A panel proposal including the topic of the session and organizingplan is required. 3. Special Session (Individual Proposal) -How Korea is Reflected in Foreign Textbooks -Korean Language Studies for Foreigners/Korean Nationals Residing Abroad -History of Cultural Exchange between Korea and Japan -National Studies in Korea vs. Korean Studies around the World *Each panelist has 30 minutes. There is a 20 minute time limit for thepresentation and 10 minute for discussion. ---Eligibility Scholars and professionals, including graduate students pursuing a master'sor doctorate ---Submission Paper submissions will only be accepted online through the World Congress ofKorean Studies homepage (www.aks.ac.kr/congress) from April 1 - May 10, 2008. Once you have submitted your paper, you will receive an e-mail confirmationwithin 2 working days. The abstracts will be reviewed based on content andsuitability. Selected presenters will be contacted individually by May 30, 2008 and notified aboutthe guidelines. Submission of the full paper (10-15 pages) is due via e-mail byAug. 31, 2008 to korea2008@aks.ac.kr. * The abstract cannot exceed 1000 words in English or 350 words in Korean. **For the free paper session, a panel proposal, abstract and CV of eachpanelist is required. ***Congress homepage will be accessible starting Tuesday, April 1, 2008. ---Accommodation & Fee Full meal coverage (Sept. 21 Dinner ~ 24 Breakfast) and 3 nights lodging(Sept. 21- 23, 2 per room) will be provided for all congress participants. (An extra feewill be charged if you require a single room.) -Registration fee: US$ 50, KRW 50,000, JPY 5,000 (Cultural Tour is notincluded.) (Student fee: US$ 30, KRW 30,000, JPY 3,000) ---Korean Studies Junior Scholar Thesis Award We cordially invite students in Korean studies to apply for the JuniorScholar Thesis Award. To apply, please check the box 'KOREAN STUDIES JUNIOR SCHOLAR THESIS AWARD' on your abstract submission form. The committee will screenyour paper and select the best thesis. Awardees will be acknowledged for theirachievements. Master and doctorate students are eligible to apply for this award. ---Contact Secretariat: The Academy of Korean Studies - website: www.aks.ac.kr/congress - E-mail: korea2008@aks.ac.kr - TEL: +82-31-709-9843 - FAX: +82-31-809-9945

CFP Call for papers

2008-04-09T01:44:00.000-07:00

2008-03-29T05:33:00.001-07:00

The new issue of Politics and Culture is now available forviewing/reading at: http://aspen.conncoll.edu/politicsandculture/arts.cfm?id=73

Interstice

2008-03-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Interstice: Literary and Cultural Studies ******************************************************
Table of Contents
"'Chav': The Emergence of a New Identity" by James K. Walker
"(Visual) Consumption of Cosmopolitanism in Taipei" byChien-ting Albert Lin
"The Mechanical Universe of Russell H. Greenan'sNightmare" by Tom Whalen
"Remapping Ethnic American Literature and Culture:Integrating Literary Texts and Traditions" by Yi-pingWu
"'Neither fish nor flesh': Leopold Bloom and Hybridityas Alternatives in James Joyce's Ulysses" by Shan-YunHuang

http://film.selfip.net/ojs/index.php/interstice

WS in Korea

2008-03-15T18:53:00.001-07:00

The 16th Cultural Program for Foreign Students and Scholars in KoreanStudies The Academy of Korean Studies is pleased to announce its 2008 CulturalProgram for Foreigners. As an important part of the mission of AKS is tocultivate scholars and young leaders who can contribute to the developmentof Korean studies, the Academy has organized this intensive culturalprogram for those in Korean Studies. The cultural program is composed ofvarious components such as special lectures on Korea, intensive readingsand discussions in Korean, field trips, excursions, and traditionalcultural activities. Program PeriodJuly 24 - August 21, 2008 (4 weeks) Language of the ProgramThe entire program will be conducted in Korean. It is crucial thatparticipants have sufficient fluency in Korean to understand undergraduatelevel lectures and participate in discussions. Qualifications and Application Requirements 1. Undergraduate students of second year or above and/or graduate studentsin Korean studiesa) Application Form with a photo (3.5 X 4.5 cm): You can download the formfrom our website at http://www.aks.ac.kr/EngHome. Download : http://www.aks.ac.kr/eng_home/upload/notice_file/Application2008.docb) All official university transcripts: Photocopies are not acceptable.Records of all courses must be in Korean or English. c) A copy of the score report for Korean language proficiency: Applicantsare required to submit their score on the Korean Proficiency Test conductedby Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation (http://www.kice.re.kr) orthe evaluation sheet included in the application form. d) Letter of Recommendation (1)? Letters of recommendation should be submitted in a sealed and signedenvelope with application. 2. Professional researchers and/or university lecturers in Korean Studiesa) Application Form with a photo b) Certificate of Employmentc) Curriculum Vitae * Applicants should initially send these documents by E-mail or fax andsubsequently send the original documents by mail no later than March 31 Period of submission February 1 - March 31. 2008Applications received after the deadline will be considered for thefollowing year's program. Notification of the Acceptance Applicants will be notified of their acceptance after the SelectionCommittee has completed the review of applications. Acceptance letters willbe sent to those accepted by April 20 by e-mail and announced at www.aks.ac.kr/eng_home/main/main.asp Financial SupportThe Academy of Korean Studies will cover the cost of registration, courses,accommodations, and meals during the program as well as expenses incurredduring field trips and excursions. All participants are responsible fortheir travel expenses to and from Korea. Arrival and DepartureParticipants should arrange their travel to arrive and depart Korea withina period of 2 days before and after the program. All participants areexpected to arrange their transportation between the AKS and the airport. PrivilegesParticipants will have access to the facilities of the Academy, includingthe library, photocopy room, tennis courts, and so on. Contact Address Ms. Nansook JungInternational Support DivisionThe Center for Information on Korean CultureThe Academy of Korean Studies50 Unjung-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, 463-791 Korea Tel : +82-31-709-9843 / Fax : +82-31-709-9945 / E-mail : lovekorea@aks.ac.kr

CFP Fukuoka

2008-03-14T00:59:00.001-07:00

4th World Congress of Korean Studies Theme: Korean Studies Interfacing with the World The organizing committee of the 4th World Congress of Korean Studiesannounces a call for papers to all academics and professionals in Koreanstudies. The World Congress, co-organized by the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) andKyushu University, will be held from Sept. 22-24, 2008 at KyushuUniversity, Fukuoka, Japan. As one of the prominent Korean studies conference in the world, it willprovide scholars with an opportunity to share their latest academicachievements and develop friendships in the field of Korean studies. - Date: Mon. Sept. 22 ~ Weds. Sept. 24, 2008 - Venue: Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan - Official Languages: Korean, English - Jointly organized by the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), KyushuUniversity, International Society for Korean Studies (ISKS), - Pacific and Asia Conference on Korean Studies (PACKS), KoreanStudies Association of Australasia (KSAA), - Association for Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE), - Central Asian Association for Korean Studies (CAAKS) and theCommittee on Korean Studies-Association for Asian Studies (CKS-AAS) Schedule Date Schedule - 21st of Sept. (Sun) Banquet 22nd of Sept. (Mon) Opening Ceremony Sessions 23rd of Sept. (Tue) SessionsClosing Ceremony 24th of Sept. (Weds) Post-conference Cultural Tour Optional Sessions - Designated Session (Individual Proposal) ? History ? Sociology ?Culture/ Anthropology ? Political Science ? Economics/Trade/Industry ? Law ? Art ? Folklore ? Literature ? Education ?Science/Technology ? Philosophy ? Religion ? Language - Free Paper Session (Panel Proposal) This session is to present participants? interests and reflections onKorean studies. A panel proposal including the topic of the session and organizing plan isrequired. - Special Session (Individual Proposal) ? How Korea is Reflected in Foreign Textbooks ? Korean Language Studies for Foreigners/Korean Nationals Residing Abroad ? History of Cultural Exchange between Korea and Japan ? National Studies(??) in Korea vs. Korean Studies around the World *Each panelist has 30 minutes. There is a 20 minute time limit for thepresentation and 10 minute for discussion. Eligibility Scholars and professionals, including graduate students pursuing amaster?s or doctorate Submission Paper submissions will only be accepted online through the World Congressof Korean Studies homepage (www.aks.ac.kr/congress) from April 1 - May 10,2008. Once you have submitted your paper, you will receive an e-mail confirmationwithin 2 working days. The abstracts will be reviewed based on content and suitability. Selected presenters will be contacted individually by May 30, 2008 andnotified about the guidelines. Submission of the full paper (10-15 pages) is due via e-mail by Aug. 31,2008 to korea2008@aks.ac.kr. * The abstract cannot exceed 1000 words in English or 350 words in Korean. **For the free paper session, a panel proposal, abstract and CV of eachpanelist is required. ***Congress homepage will be accessible starting Tuesday, April 1, 2008. Accommodation & Fee Full meal coverage (Sept. 21 Dinner ~ 24 Breakfast) and 3 nights lodging(Sept. 21- 23, 2 per room) will be provided for all congress participants. (An extra fee will be charged if you require a single room.) ? Registration fee: US$ 50, KRW 50,000, JPY 5,000 (Cultural Tour is notincluded.) (Student fee: US$ 30, KRW 30,000, JPY 3,000) Korean Studies Junior Scholar Thesis Award We cordially invite students in Korean studies to apply for the JuniorScholar Thesis Award. To apply, please check the box ?KOREAN STUDIES JUNIOR SCHOLAR THESISAWARD? on your abstract submission form. The committee will screen your paper and select the best thesis. Awardeeswill be acknowledged for their achievements. Master and doctorate students are eligible to apply for this award. Contact Secretariat: The Academy of Korean Studies - E-mail: korea2008@aks.ac.kr - TEL: +82-31-709-9843 -FAX: +82-31-809-9945

Conf in Athens, CFP

2008-03-11T15:36:00.001-07:00

CALL FOR PAPERS 3rd International Conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts DIMEA 2008 10-12 September 2008Athens Information Technology (AIT), Athens, GreeceConference Web site: http://www.dimea2008.org Paper and Art/Demos Submission Deadline: April 30ieth, 2008 =================================================================== The advances in computer entertainment, multi-player/online gaming, technology-enabled art, culture and performance have created new forms of entertainment that attract, immerse and absorb their participants. The phenomenal success of such a "culture" to initiate a mass audience in patterns and practices of its own consumption has supported the evolution ofan enormously powerful mass entertainment, digital art and performance industry extendingdeeply into every aspect of our lives, leading further to major societal and business contacting changes. The International Conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts (DIMEA),in cooperation with ACM, is the premier forum for the presentation of societal, businessand technological advances and research results in cross-disciplinary areas related withdigital interactive media in entertainment, art and creative technologies. This conferenceis dedicated to build common ground between research, design and development, learningand collaboration in its myriad digital media forms: one of its many objectives is theexploration of 'play & learn', demonstrating new arenas and applications for digital gaming and incorporating leading edge technologies, designs and models in our changingviews about what is involved in gaming. DIMEA 2008 is jointly organized by Athens Information Technology (AIT), ACM SpecialInterest Group on Computer Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI, Singapore Chapter) and theSociety for Excellence and Innovation in Interactive Experience Design (InExDe) DIMEA 2008 will bring together academics, technologists, artists, designers, and industry representatives to address and advance the leading edge of new digital andinteractive media. Who should attend: Academics, Animators, Artists, Designers, Developers, Educators, Engineers, Game Designers, Industry Professionals, Media Industry, Video Producers, Directors, Writers, Performers, Photographers, Videographers, Researchers, Students. Anyone who wants to be inspired to adopt advanced ways in industry, society, business, research and teaching, expand their knowledge on a wide variety of topics within the field of digital media, network with cross-disciplinary experts from digital media professionals to academic experts, and evolve with this ever-changing field! The following, non exclusive, topics are called for: - Entertainment, Art and TechnologyLocation-based and Pervasive Gaming, Mobile Entertainment, Digital Games in Practice, Computer Entertainment Research, Open-Source Gaming Engines, Implications for Multimedia and Web Design, Artistic Games, Commercial Games, Edutainment, Educational/Serious Games, Interactive Games, Games as Pedagogy, Analysis of Games, e-Performance (e-Opera, e-Theatre, e-Concert, ...), Virtual Exhibitions and Museums - New Media Emerging TechnologiesPersonal Broadcasting (Podcasting and Vlogging), Novel Applications for Mobile Phones, Social and Interactive Computing Applications, Collaborative Spaces/Environments, Innovative Applications of Technology in the Arts, Mixed Reality and Enhanced Visualization, Context-aware Environments and Devices, Immersive Learning Experiences, Communication Technologies and Systems for Digital Media, Advanced Authoring and Composition of Media, Advanced Interaction, Targeted/Personalized Media, Adaptable Media and AI - Code ArtAlgorithmic Art, Software Art, Net Art, Installation Art, Tangible Computing, Sonic Art - Digital Visual and Auditory MediaDigital Photography, Digital Imaging as Art, Advances in 3D Modelling, Digital Printing, Non-Photorealistic Rendering, Digital Sound and Music, Digital Music Synthesis and Composition, Graphics and Animations, Digital Comics - Moving MediaDigital Video, Distance Collaboration/Performance, Computer Animation, Interactive Movies - Culture of New MediaNetwork Culture, Philosophy of New Media, Digital Identity - Interactive StoriesDigital Narrative, Digital Asset Management, Semantic Web Technologies, Interactive Television and Cinema, Game Design and Storytelling SUBMISSIONS Full Paper Submissions======================Prospective authors are invited to submit full technical papers of not more than 8 pages, including tables, figures and references. Papers should present original research related to the above mentioned scientific areas, not published elsewhere. Full paper submissions should adhere to the ACM SIG Proceedings style guidelines. The respective templates may be found at: http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html Please use the style "Strict Adherence to SIGS style - (Sheridan Printing)" on that page. Demo/Art/Game Submissions=========================Practitioners in the DIMEA2008 areas are invited to submit not more than 1 page short description of their Digital Art Work/Demo/Game to be considered for demonstration at DIMEA2008. Papers or Demo/Art/Game short descriptions may be submitted electronically at the DIMEA2008 online paper submission service. Until the online paper submission system is opened up to prospective authors and practitioners, papers or demo/art/game short descriptions may be submitted by e-mail to: sots@ait.edu.gr In either submission process, authors are advised to contact the Conference Organizers (sots@ait.edu.gr), in case they have not received an acknowledgement of paper receipt within two days of submission. Full papers will be peer-reviewed by at least two reviewers from the International Technical Program Committee in a single-blind process. Demo/Art Work/Game submissions will be reviewed by the respective Chairs and their formulated committees. Tutorials and Seminars, Special Sessions, Exhibitions and Industrial Demos will additionally be organized during DIMEA2008. IMPORTANT DATES Full Paper Submission: April 30, 2008 Demo/Art Work/Game Submission: April 30, 2008Notification of Acceptance: May 30, 2008 Camera-ready Paper Submission: June 15, 2008 CONFERENCE SPONSORSHIP CALL Sponsorship offers an effective way of demonstrating your interest in and commitment to digital interactive media technologies and their impact in diverse applications fields spanning the entertainment and art areas. Corporate sponsorship can offer companies publicity and the ability to influence current and future leaders in digital interactive media technologies research and development. We will recognize and acknowledge the generosity of all of our sponsors on the DIMEA 2008 website (www.dimea2008.org) and in the conference program (to be available in print and on-line). Please send an e-mail to sots@ait.edu.gr , kpro@ait.edu.gr , mpal@ait.edu.gr if you would like to pledge your sponsorship. More details can be found at: http://www.dimea2008.org ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Honorary Conference ChairChristos Halkias, AIT, Greece General Conference ChairsSofia Tsekeridou, AIT, GreeceAdrian David Cheok, ACM SIGCHI, National University of Singapore, SingaporeKonstantinos Giannakis, InExDe, GreeceJohn Karigiannis, InExDe, Greece Technical Program ChairsRyohei Nakatsu, Kwansei Gakuin University, JapanKevin Wong, Murdoch University, AustraliaThanassis Tiropanis, University of Southampton, UK Special Sessions ChairsKrzysztof Walczak, Poznan University of Economics, PolandNikos Nikolaidis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Art & Demos ChairsNaoko Tosa, Kyoto University, JapanManthos Santorineos, School of Fine Arts, Fournos Center for Art and New Technology, GreeceThomas Rist, University of Augsburg, Germany Local Arrangements ChairsSofia Tsekeridou, AIT, GreeceAristodemos Pnevmatikakis, AIT, GreeceKonstantinos Giannakis, InExDe, GreeceJohn Karigiannis, InExDe, Greece Publications ChairAristodemos Pnevmatikakis, AIT, Greece Exhibitions ChairsDavid Fuschi, Giunti Interactive Labs, ItalyVassilis Kyriazis, Telmaco S.A., Greece TECHNICAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE (tentative) Antonis Argyros, University of Crete, FORTH, GreeceStephen Barrass, University of Canberra, AustraliaPhilip Branch, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia Andrew Brooks, MIT Media Lab, Cannytrophic Design LLC, USA Marcello Carrozzino, IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies, ItalyAndrew Chiou, Central Queensland University, AustraliaAngelo Ciarlini,Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, BrazilNuno Correia, New University of Lisbon, PortugalJohn Dack, Sonic Arts, Middlesex University, UKAbdennour El Rhalibi, Liverpool John Moores University, UKChek Yang Foo, Temasek Informatics & IT School, SingaporeLance Fung, Murdoch University, AustraliaAnastasia Georgaki, University of Athens, GreeceYutaka Ishibashi, Nagoya Institute of Technology, JapanArnav H. Jhala, North Carolina State University, USACarmen Juan, Technical University of Valencia, SpainHaruhiro Katayose, Kwansei Gakuin University, JapanDimitrios Kontarinis, Velti SA, GreeceMichael Kwok, IBM, CanadaPeter Loh Kok Keong, Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeArtur Lugmayr, Tampere University of Technology, FinlandMoises Manas, Polytechnical University of Valencia, SpainNipan Maniar, University of Portsmouth, UKPanos Markopoulos, Eindhoven University of Technology, NetherlandsCarsten Matysczok, UNITY AG, GermanyRamon Molla Vaya, Technical University of Valencia, SpainPeter Nelson, University of Edinburgh, UKElina M.I. Ollila, Nokia Research, FinlandSamir Otmane, Evry University, FranceNarcis Pares, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, SpainGeorge Pavlidis, Cultural and Educational Technology Institute, GreeceYusuf Pisan, University of Technology, AustraliaLazaros Polymenakos, Athens Information Technology, GreeceCristina Portales, Polytechnic University of Valencia, SpainShri Rai, Murdoch University, AustraliaChristian Reimann, Siemens AG, GermanyGemma San Cornelio, Open University of Catalonia, SpainShigeru Sakurazawa, Future University-Hakodate, JapanNobuya Suzuki, Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences, Japan Isis Truck, University Paris 8, FranceLucia Vera, University of Valencia, SpainCharles Woodward, VTT Technical Research Centre, FinlandR. Michael Young, North Carolina State University, USASebastian Zander, Swinburne University of Technology, AustraliaSuiping Zhou, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore ______________________________Dr. Sofia TsekeridouAssistant ProfessorAthens Information Technology - AITBuilding B7, 19.5 km Markopoulo Ave.PEANIA 190 02, Athens, GreeceTel: +30 210 6682804 (Int.: 5804)Fax: +30 210 6682703E-mail: sots@ait.edu.grwww.ait.edu.gr

CFP Conference in Leeds

2008-01-15T14:12:00.001-08:00

Call For Papers

Important Dates:

Abstracts (DEADLINE EXTENDED): 28 January 2008
Acceptance Notification: 3 March 2008
Full papers: 30 April 2008
Email: ics-pg-conference@leeds.ac.uk

Communication and Space/ Place

2nd Postgraduate Conference
University of Leeds, Institute of Communications Studies
Leeds, United Kingdom
Friday, 6 June 2008

Following the great success of last year's first PhD conference, the Institute of Communications Studies (ICS) at the University of Leeds will be hosting a second post-graduate conference for research in communications and media. We invite students from all disciplines at the Master's or Doctoral level to present research that pertains to the conceptualisation and/or observation of 'space/place' in relation to communication, media and culture.

Although Space and Place can be understood broadly, the theoretical and material implications of their relationship to media and communications are important to studies in this field. The two words, taken either together or separately, are crucial to all manner of media and communications structures/networks/economies/policies, such as the discursive 'space' of contemporary politics, shifting conceptions of public and private 'places', the focus on flows between locales in a global capitalist economy, the importance of creative 'space' in the culture industries, the decentralised 'space' of online 'citizen media', and so on. While a look at various definitions of either word reveals at once their potential compatibilities and irreconcilabilities, the linguistic convergence marked by each word's functionality as both verb and noun presents us with myriad possibilities of thinking Space and Place.
Spaces and places may be 'real' or 'virtual' environments and locales; sites of expansion or contraction; material realisations or policies of freedom or restriction. Space/Place can also be understood in terms of culture and discursive relationships; they can be formations where the identities of groups and individuals are explored and/or constructed, and where notions of human agency encounter forces and ideologies that influence and are influenced by the ways that social actors and institutions communicate.

The following are some possible areas of inquiry:

The problematic dichotomies of public-private, 'real'-virtual, spaces and places for the use/consumption of media.

Meaning/Representation: The spaces and places in which media and communication are produced and consumed have a profound relationship to how 'meaning' is derived from them. How are people from different cultures, ethnicities, etc. represented by and in media and communications?

What are the policies that shape the relationship of communication, space/place, and 'stakeholders' (public, state, market, NGOs etc) how is space/place regulated? How do space/place relate to prohibition of communication, or the use of various media as propaganda?

The spaces and places in which media and communication are produced and consumed have a profound relationship to how 'meaning' is derived from them. To what extent, and in which ways, are media and communications spaces/places contingent (or not) on aspects of each other and on media producers and consumers?

Are there barriers to participation in certain media/communications spaces/places? How does power operate in these spaces/places? How are new formations of power relationships developed with relation to space/place? How are old formations changing or being reinforced in contemporary media?

What happens at the edges and intersections of spaces/places, i.e. when traditional media meet the Internet, or when communications cross over between genres and media? Does a place necessarily constitute a space, and vice versa? Are they fluid; are they mutually exclusive?

Please submit an abstract by 28 January 2008 with a general description of your research paper, indicating your topic, theoretical framework, research questions or hypotheses, and methodological considerations. The abstract should not exceed 500 words and should be attached to your email in a common document format (MS Word compatible, Word Perfect). Should your proposal be accepted, we will ask you to provide a full paper before the conference.

All accepted full papers will be read, discussed and commented on by members of the academic staff from the Institute of Communications Studies who have expertise in your topic, method, or theoretical framework. This can be a golden opportunity for you to refine your thoughts, openly share your concerns, and receive constructive critique from professors and fellow postgraduate students working in your area. It is also a great chance to start building or expanding your professional and academic network. Following the conference your paper will be published in the forthcoming ICS Postgraduate Conference proceedings open access online journal.

Contact Information:

Email: ics-pg-conference@leeds.ac.uk
Conference Website: http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~cspaa/ics-pg-conference/

Important Dates:

Abstracts: 28 January 2008
Acceptance Notification: 3 March 2008
Full papers: 30 April 2008

Please indicate the following in the body of your email:

Title of presentation as it appears on the abstract
Name
Affiliaton (program and university)
Level and year of study (ex. Master's, 2nd year)
Phone number
E-mail address
Mailing address
A/V requirements (computer/projector, film projector, VCR/DVD, stereo, etc.)
Other requirements (table, easel, hooks, display materials).
Mobility and other special needs requirements (wheel chair access, etc.)

We look forward to receiving your abstracts, and thank you for your interest!

-The Organising Committee.

CFP on popular culture

2008-01-04T13:50:00.001-08:00

The Popular Culture Working Group of the International Association for Media and Communication Research announces its call for papers for the IAMCR Congress in Stockholm, Sweden (July 20-25, 2008). The conference theme for the 2008 Congress is "Media and Global Divides." Web details for the conference are available at: http://www.jmk.su.se/ contents/sidor/english/info/scientific_conference.phpIAMCR website: http://iamcr.org/ Papers from a range of perspectives on popular culture topics will be considered. Abstracts should be a maximum of 400 words, and should outline the proposed topic and give a clear indication of the general perspective and theoretical orientation of the paper. Please include your name and title (as you would like it to appear on the programme), job title, department, university, and full contact details. Email will be the normal form of communication with you. Abstracts must be received by me by February 1st 2008. Email as Word attachment or RTF attachment to garry.whannel@beds.ac.uk.I will let you know whether your proposed paper can be included in the programme by March 1st 2007.The deadline for full papers is June 15, 2008. Please note that as a policy, IAMCR does not permit multiple submission of identical abstracts to more than one section. Questions specifically about the Popular Culture Working Group should come to me at garry.whannel@beds.ac.uk. For general information about the conference, please do NOT contact me. Instead try the IAMCR website or the conference website (listed above). Please note that I have no responsibility for conference registration fees and cannot comment on your eligibility for reduced rates. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who would like to be involved in the Popular Culture Working Group, even if you do not intend to submit a proposed paper for 2008. I will then keep you informed of future plans. Email to Garry Whannel at garry.whannel@beds.ac.uk and please included your name and contact details. Professor Garry WhannelCentre for International Media Analysis, Research and ConsultancySchool of Media Art and DesignUniversity of Bedfordshire, UK

grants opportunity

2007-09-28T05:07:00.000-07:00

Message: 3Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:45:26 -0700From: "Buswell, Robert" Subject: Re: [KS] AAS Korea Research GrantsTo: Message-ID:<513E941A9575754C9471B37BBE1C60EA046013B3@hermes.humnet.ucla.edu>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Colleagues, It is my pleasure to tell you about the Korea-related grant opportunities available from the Northeast Asia Council (NEAC) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). The fall deadline is fast approaching: all applications must arrive at the AAS office in Ann Arbor, Michigan by October 1, 2007. The application process is relatively simple and there are a variety of categories in which to apply for funds. These include grants for research travel; small conferences on Korea; projects that enhance teaching about Korea; inviting distinguished speakers on Korea to speak at your institution, and support for graduate students whose papers have been selected for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies. Also, please note that the spring deadline for these applications is February 1, 2008. The application form and specific information on each grant category is available on the NEAC/AAS website: http://www.aasianst.org/grants/main.htm#NEAC-KOREAN For more information, please contact Jan Bardsley:bardsley@email.unc.eduJan BardsleyChair, Northeast Asia CouncilAssociate Professor, Japanese HumanitiesThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Korean grant

2007-09-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Found this on a Korean studies website, may be of interest for some of my readers

I would also like to introduce the Kyujanggak's annual travel grant program.
This grant provides administrative assistance in accessing the archives, as
well as 1,000,000 won for both foreign and Korean scholars, and up to
1,500,000 won for foreign scholars who require a longer-term stay (more than
3 weeks). Please contact me if you are interested.

Warmest regards,

Eun-su Cho
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
Editor, *Seoul Journal of Korean Studies*
Seoul National University
escho@snu.ac.kr

publishing opportunities: asian media

2007-09-11T07:47:00.001-07:00

Hallo everybody!
As the deadline approaches in three weeks here is another reminder:

Additional contributions are sought for a collection on global television
formats forthcoming from Routledge Press.

Programming formulae that are exchanged, adapted or cloned for production in
multiple localities worldwide have long been staples of international
television. Few televisual shifts, however, have so shaken the global media
environment as the current explosion of global format circulation. For some,
the global format itself constitutes an alternative model of media
globalization as contemporary increase in flow, trade, "pirate" adaptation
and visibility of global television formats challenge established
understandings and offer new theoretical models for scholars and critics.

When viewed historically, or in conjunction with technological developments,
industrial strategies and textual migrations beyond the boundaries of
nation, schedule, playback media, and viewing conventions, the current
television environment presents substantial and creative challenges for
media studies. Focusing on the global format, the collection features
contemporary scholarship that addresses the complex televisual exchanges of
format texts, styles, industries, regulatory institutions, audiences, and
meanings.

To complete the volume, we seek essays in the following categories:

*Geographical areas: Essays addressing contemporary or historical formats in
East Asia, Africa, The Arab world, or Europe.

*Beyond reality tv: Essays that engage with less visible global formats such
as sports and news programming (historical or contemporary).

*Institutions/Industries/Audience: Essays that approach the study of
television formats through institutional, technological, or viewership
perspectives.

*Global Television Studies: Studies that focus on style, generic convention
or the multiple contact zones of television as a global textual system.

Please send abstract of 500-900 words (or essay) by Sept. 30 to Tasha Oren
(tgoren@uwm.edu) and Sharon Shahaf (sharonsha@mail.utexas.edu) inquiries,
essays and abstracts are welcome anytime until the deadline.

============================
Tasha Oren
Associate Professor of English and Media Studies
Director, The Film Studies Program
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/English/film/
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Curtin Hall, PO Box 413,
Milwaukee, WI 53201 (414) 229-4869

--
Sharon Shahaf
Assistant Instructor, PhD candidate
Department of Radio-TV-Film
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station A0800
Austin, TX 78712-0108

Good news: publishing

2007-08-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

I am pretty happy and proud to tell that the first paper I presented at the UMAT conference will be published in French for the Critique Internationale review. Critique is edited by CERI (centre d'étude des relations internationales), a research lab related to Sciences Po, my former grad school. The article will be published in early 2008.
The article will tackle the consumption of Asian television programs in Easter Asia as a forthcoming sign of the emergence of a public sphere in Asia. Big program...

Asian dramas on mysoju.com

2007-08-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

If you are conducting some research on Korean and Asian dramas here is a great link
www.mysoju.com,
better than dailymotion and youtube ^^

conference at Temple univ

2007-07-17T18:52:00.001-07:00

[SSJ: 4484] YOUTH AND IMAGINATIVE LABOR: EAST ASIA AND BEYOND,Tokyo, July 21-22
From: David Slater
Date: 2007/07/05

YOUTH AND IMAGINATIVE LABOR: EAST ASIA AND BEYOND Temple University Japan, Tokyo JULY 21-22 www.tuj.ac.jp/imagineyouth/

The Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies (ICJS) at Temple University, Japan Campus, will host "Youth and Imaginative Labor: East Asia and Beyond,"
a two-day conference in July focused on the issue of youth today in the neoliberal economy of immaterial/affective labor, the social and political challenges young people face and their imaginative responses that creatively and critically transform their situations.

The conference will include leading scholars working on Japan, Korea, China and Hong Kong in academic panel sessions and will feature multi-media presentations by graduate students, performers and youth NPO advocates presenting work on and by youth in East Asia.

In addition to academic panel sessions, on Saturday evening (July 21), the conference will have a session at Super Deluxe in Roppongi, where NGO activists, designers, and academics studying youth culture will give short multi-media presentations as part of "Pecha Kucha University" (http://www.pecha-kucha.org/).
Following this, Donald Richie will introduce and discuss a screening of the anime film "Avalon,"
which will be followed by a Hip Hop party organized by Zulu Nation Japan, with live painting by Rinpa Eshidan and a Spoken Word performance by Marcellus Nealy.

See below for schedules, panel presenters and paper titles

Organizers:
Anne Allison (Duke University anne.allison@duke.edu) David Slater (Sophia University, d-slater@sophia.ac.jp) Kyle Cleveland (Temple University, cleveland@tuj.ac.jp)

Collaboration: Klein-Dytham Architects, Super-Deluxe, Embassy of the Republic of Poland, SurvivArt

Date & Time:
Saturday, July 21, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Sunday, July 22, 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Locations: TUJ Mita Hall in Minami Azabu / Super Deluxe in Nishi-Azabu Access to Temple University, Japan Campus (Mita Hall):
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps
(Saturday night events after 6 p.m. will be at Super Deluxe. Click here
for map.)
Cost: 1500 yen for the Saturday evening event (only); the academic panel sessions at TUJ are free of charge.

To register and for further information:

Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ)
Email: icjs@tuj.ac.jp
Tel. 03-5441-9800
Web. www.tuj.ac.jp/imagineyouth/

Conference Schedule :
Youth & Imaginative Labor: East Asia & Beyond

Saturday, July 21st (Temple University, Japan Campus, Mita Hall)
10:00-12:30: Panel Session I: New Forms of Sociality and Subjectivity
12:30-1:30: Lunch
1:30-4:00: Panel Session II: Imaginative, Connected, and Popular

Evening Session: (Super Deluxe in Roppongi)
6:00: Doors Open
6:30:-9:00: Pecha Kucha University Presentations:
Digital Youth
9:00-11:00: Screening of Avalon with commentary by Donald Richie
11:30-2:00: Hip Hop Afterparty w/ Zulu Nation Japan
Live Painting by Rinpa Eshidhan
Spoken Word by Marcellus Nealy

Sunday, July 22nd: (Temple University, Japan Campus, Mita Hall)
1:00-3:00: Pecha Kucha University Presentations:
Youth Politics, Sociality and Engagement
3:30-4:00: Coffee Break
4:00-5:30: Plenary Panel: The Politics of Youth Culture
5:30: Reception (light food and drinks served)

________________________________
Sat. 10am - 4pm; Sun. 1pm - 7pm
Temple University, Japan Campus
Mita Hall, room #502

Panel Presentations

*******Panel I: Forms of Sociality and Subjectivity (Saturday 10:00-12:30)

Anne Allison (Anthropology, Duke U.)
"The Sociality of Neoliberalism: Affect, Family, and Japanese Kids"

James Farrer (Sociology, Sophia U)
"A Moral Economy Perspective on Youth Sexuality in China and Japan"

Nozomu Shibuya (Sociology, Chiba U)
"The Invention of Resistance: the Pre-individual and Neoliberal Culture"

David Slater (Anthropology, Sophia U.)
"The Freeterization of Labor and the Collapse of Capitalist Imagination in Japan"

******Panel II: Imaginative, Connected, and Popular
(Saturday1:30-4:00)

Hiroshi Aoyagi (Anthropology, Kokushikan U.) " Reviving Local Lifeworld Through Pop Music: Okinawan Youngsters and the Imaginative Labor of Oki-Pop "

Cho Hae-joang , (Anthropology, Yonsei U.) "Youth as New Dwellers of Network Society in South Korea"

Anthony Y. H. Fung (Communications, Chinese U of HK) "Fandom, Youth, and Consumption in China"

Whang, Sang-Min, (Psychology, Yonsei U.) "The Emerging Features of Korean Youth Culture in Cyberspace"

******Roundtable: The Politics of Youth Culture (Sunday 4:00-5:30)
Convener: Yoshimi Shunya (Cultural Studies, Tokyo U.)

Presenter: Ken Wissoker (Editorial Director, Duke U.
Press) "Temporalities and Transnationalism in Youth Culture"

________________________________
July 21: Sat. 6pm - 2am
Super Deluxe (SDLX) in Roppongi

PECHA KUCHA UNIVERSITY Vol. 1
"The sound of conversation" in a marketplace of ideas outside the classroom www.pecha-kucha.org

The inaugural installment of Pecha Kucha U. will feature short-form multimedia presentations (20 slides, 20 seconds each) by graduate students, NPO activists, and artists dealing with youth culture. Pecha Kucha sessions will be Saturday and Sunday afternoons at TUJ and Saturday evening at SDLX*.

*Specific order and time of Pecha Kucha presentations to be announced: see - www.tuj.ac.jp.imagineyouth

*******Youth Politics, Sociality and Engagement

Alberto Fonseca, Ricardo Yamamoto, Brazilian youth labor in Japan Robin O'Day, Flexible labor, freeters, and protest Sachiko Kaneko, The moral panic of "net cafes" in Japan Nate Smith, Right-wing youth and mediated activism Mo, Hyunjoo, Fabulous single &
doenjangnyo: politics of consumption of single career women in their 20's and 30's Tolvonen Tuukka , What happens when 'youth', 'independence', and 'policy'
mingle: the case of the Japanese wakamono jiritsu juku Ota Satoshi, It's not a big deal: Taiwanese young women in 'service' industry Mary Reisel, Sex, massage and "health" services - rising labor for the new age Kim, Jiho; Park, Junpyo; Park, Gunha; Shin, Jeoungsu; Kim, Heewon, Introduction of Learning Ecosystem Project Julian Seltzer, James Seltzer, Ayu Tanaka and Go, F.L.O. (Free Lance Outcasts), Making manga: The birth of Cross-War Koga Wakako, (NPO: Sodateage) Hikikomori, NEET and readjustment into society Saito Takashi, Rutsuko Nakajima, (NPO: Kodomo Social Work
Association) Family support for hikikomori Catherine Hagan, Hiromi Aoki, From Tokyo to Chennai: youth in NGOs reaching across borders

*******Digital Youth

Jee-yeon Kim, Ki-Tae Ryu , Consumption patterns in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
(MMORPG): World of Warcraft (WoW) and Lineage II Sang-Won Yoo, Regina Kim , Communications in
cyberspace: how and why do Cyworld users communicate with each other?
Youngyim Doh, New life exploration in Mabinogi, an on-line game.
Le Han, Female anime fans and Chinese doujin writing online Patrick Galbraith, Moe: Intimate meanings, erotic tensions, and capitalist designs in "blossoming"
otaku passion Gunnar Hempel, Dojinshi life and labor in Tokyo Sunny Lam, Imaginary power of young designers and animators:
contribution to or exploitation by the creative industries Chunghan Lee, Popular music and affective labour Eve Leung, The emergence of adolescent labour in Hong Kong popular music industry Dwayne Dixon , Shoumouhin/Shoumou(in):Tokyo skateboarders and the expendability of shoes and self Kim, Heewon, Can I make money with virtual products? - the irony of UCC (User Created-Content) Kang, Yoonjung, Lee, Kyuho Mysterious English land

________________________________
JAPANESE CINEMA ECLECTICS (Sat. SDLX 9pm)

A Multi-part Series Devoted to Unexplored Tangents of the Japanese Film

AVALON (film screening with commentary by Donald Richie)
Directed by Oshii Mamoru, written by Ito Kazunori 2001

A road not taken. Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) Mamoru's brilliant and beautiful live-action anime about the perils of alternate reality games. Set in ruined Europe, it shows us our Polish heroine's finding a hidden level in the Game. Involving and involved, the film won foreign prizes but no imitators - the experiment was never repeated.

Curated by Donald Richie
Named by TIME magazine, "the dean of Japan's art critics," and acknowledged as the foremost authority on Japanese cinema, Donald Richie has also written widely - some forty books in all - on other aspects of the country and its people. The Inland Sea has been called a classic and its film version has won prizes at international film festivals as well as the National Geographic Earth Award. His Public People, Private People has been called "unforgettable" by Tom Wolfe and of his two collections of essays, A Lateral View and Partial Views, Susan Sontag has said: "Donald Richie writes about Japan with an unrivaled range, acuity, and wit."

Richie has lived in Japan for most of his life.
Arriving on New Year's Day, 1947, he worked as feature-writer and film critic for The Pacific Stars and Stripes. After graduating from Columbia University in 1953, he returned to Japan as film citic for The Japan Times. He has written for Newsweek, The Nation, Variety, The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, and all major films magazines. In addition he presented the first retrospective of the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu at the 1962 Berlin Film Festival and has since acted as guest director of the Telluride Film Festival, and served on the juries at the Hawaii, Lacarno, Thessaloniki, and Kerala Festivals.

In addition to writing a column for The Japan Times, lecturing around the world, and continuing to lend his distinctive voice to Japanese studies, Donald Richie teaches film at Temple University's Japan Campus.

_________________________________________
Hip Hop Party hosted by ZULU NATION JAPAN (SAT. SDLX,
11:30pm) www.zulujapan.com

Rinpa Eshidan , Live Painting and Pecha Kucha http://rinpaeshidan.jp

Marcellus Nealy - Spoken Word
www.light-walker.com - www.modernday-soothsayers.com

________________________________
NOTE: This conference is being held at two venues:
Temple University's Japan Campus in Minami Azabu during the daytime on Saturday and Sunday, and at "Super-Deluxe" in Nishi Azabu on Saturday evening.
The Saturday evening event is conjoined to the academic conference, and contains presentations and performances which evoke the academic content of the conference.

Access to Temple University, Japan Campus :
www.tuj.ac.jp/maps
4-1-27 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0073
Mita Hall, room #502
Tel: 0120-86-1026 (03-5441-9800)

Access to Super Deluxe: www.super-deluxe.com/map B1F
3.1.25 Nishi Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0031, Japan
T: 03.5412.0515 | F: 03.5412.0516

COLLABORATION

www.tuj.ac.jp/icjs
www.tuj.ac.jp/imagineyouth
www.super-deluxe.com
www.klein-dytham.com
www.pecha-kucha.org
http://rinpaeshidan.jp
www.light-walker.com
www.modernday-soothsayers.com
www.zulujapan.com
www./survivart.net/
www.poland.or.jp/en/embassy.html

--
David H. Slater, Ph.D.
Faculty of Liberal Arts
Sophia University, Tokyo

The Sophia server rejects emails at times. Should your mail to me get returned, please resend to:
dhslater@gmail.com. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Article from Libération about manga

2007-07-11T05:08:00.001-07:00

Maudits mangas
A l’heure où Tokyo décerne le premier «prix Nobel du manga», la frange la plus conservatrice du pays s’alarme de l’impact nocif de ces BD ultraviolentes. On les accuse même d’avoir inspiré deux crimes récents.
Par Michel Temman
QUOTIDIEN : mercredi 11 juillet 2007
3 réactions
Il a 43 ans. Il est Chinois. Il s’appelle Lee Chi Ching. Ce dessinateur hongkongais n’a pas que du talent. Il est aussi le premier lauréat du Prix international du manga, créé en mai à Tokyo pour récompenser des illustrateurs étrangers. Lundi 2 juillet, c’est le ministre japonais des Affaires étrangères, Taro Aso en personne, qui lui a remis son trophée, pour sa BD l’Art de la guerre, adaptée du traité de stratégie militaire de Sun Tzu (Ve siècle av. J.-C.). Cent quarante-cinq candidats de vingt-six pays étaient en lice.

Sur le même sujet
Déferlante de bulles japonaises

Avec ce «prix Nobel du manga», comme l’a appelé Taro Aso, le Japon vend son image et vante sa pop culture (BD, dessins animés, jeux vidéo, etc.). Il était temps. Car depuis des années, le succès à l’export de ses mangas et autres an ime (films d’animation) est foudroyant. Le Japon a même créé en 2004 une statistique pour mesurer le succès global de ses produits culturels, le PNC (Produit National Cool). Véritables produits d’appel, les mangas (littéralement «images dérisoires», «images du monde flottant») inondent les jeux vidéo, le cinéma, Internet, la mode, l’art contemporain, la musique pop ou électronique.
Le triomphe est tel que le marché sature. Les chiffres donnent le tournis. Au moins 40 millions de Japonais lisent un manga par semaine. Parmi les quinze magazines imprimés à plus d’un million d’exemplaires, dix sont des revues de mangas de 250 à 500 pages, dont le tirage peut avoisiner 6 millions d’exemplaires.
Comme le constate Nicolas Finet, directeur d’ouvrage du futur Dicomanga (en librairie fin 2007 aux éditions Fleurus) et chargé de mission pour l’Asie du festival d’Angoulême, «avec ses mangas, gigantesque industrie de papier, le Japon a réussi à bâtir une synergie de l’image qui triomphe dans le monde entier».
Mais le succès a aussi son revers : les mangas de plus en plus gore favoriseraient, pêle-mêle, la rébellion antiparentale et antisociale, la violence à l’école, les délits sexuels, la délinquance juvénile. Dans un récent rapport, vingt-cinq parlementaires japonais souhaitent ainsi que soit «considéré un contrôle» sur «l’expression excessive de la violence et du sexe», compte tenu de son «impact négatif sur les jeunes». Au gré de la polémique alimentée par des élus conservateurs, la police, des sectes religieuses, des associations de familles ou de parents d’élèves, une frange de l’opinion réclame donc des lois, un contrôle des éditeurs, une police des mœurs.
Spectres et démons
«Il y a un boom sur les mangas violents et ceux destinés aux fantasmes masculins», confirme Tomomi Fujita. Perruque violette, costume de Candy et lentilles de contact bleu translucide, Tomomi est vendeuse au grand magasin Mandarake, un eldorado du manga qui offre la palette complète du genre : histoire, science-fiction, eroguro (érotiques et grotesques), gekiga (sociaux et réalistes), josei muke (pour femmes), seinen (pour adultes), shojo (pour jeunes filles), honen (pour garçons), etc. «Devil Man, dit-elle, est un des titres les plus adulés des lycéens. Si on le lit, la tête déraille. On finit le cœur brisé. Cassé en deux.» Ce manga est aussi le préféré de Taro, 19 ans, étudiant en droit à l’université Chuo à Tokyo. «Ma mère m’interdit de le lire. Car c’est très violent, avec des têtes coupées, du sang qui gicle à chaque page. La fin est un cauchemar.»
Pour avoir la paix, Taro va le lire en douce dans des mangas kissa. Dans ces cybercafés ouverts vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre, les bédéphiles viennent se repaître de planches aux dessins frisant la perfection, peuplées de personnages déments, de jeunes filles dévergondées ou suicidaires, d’un enfant sauvant le monde de l’apocalypse nucléaire, d’attendrissantes majorettes protégeant le Japon de l’attaque d’un mouton géant, de collégiens persécutés, de pilotes kamikazes, de héros cybernétiques, de fantômes et spectres inquiétants. Amitiés blessées, rancunes, trahisons, vengeances, ijime (persécutions à l’école), jalousie sont des thèmes récurrents. Certains ouvrages sont très morbides. Dans d’autres, le sexe s’étale, souvent pervers et sans tabou (hormis la représentation des poils pubiens, toujours officiellement interdite par la censure).
Matsu Akira, sénatrice de choc élue sous l’étiquette du Nouveau Komeito (parti proche du PLD au pouvoir et de la secte bouddhiste Sôka Gakkai), est convaincue de la nécessité d’un contrôle. Dès 2004, face à une commission parlementaire, elle affirmait que «les contenus extrêmes des mangas ont un impact très nocif sur les jeunes. La Constitution garantit la liberté d’expression. Mais dans le cas des mangas, nous ne pouvons pas admettre que cette liberté soit illimitée.» Un discours qui gagne du terrain.
Depuis que l’Association de protection infantile a fait savoir, l’hiver dernier, que «30% des mangas adultes en vente sur Internet, contiennent des descriptions d’actes sexuels impliquant des enfants», la police a fermement invité certains éditeurs à la «retenue». Et ce, au nom de la «loi sur les livres nuisibles» (sic). Quatre titres «nuisibles» ont déjà été retirés de la vente. Après Osaka, l’an passé, la préfecture de Kyoto a annoncé, en juin, qu’elle s’attaquait aux «mangas nuisibles».
Deux crimes récents donnent des arguments aux censeurs. En mars, une Britannique de 22 ans, Lindsay Ann Hawker, prof d’anglais dans une école de langues à Chiba (est de Tokyo, a été assassinée. Son corps nu, ecchymosé, a été retrouvé gisant sur le balcon du studio d’un de ses élèves. Quand la police a débarqué chez le suspect, Tatsuya Ichihashi, un chômeur de 28 ans, celui-ci a réussi à prendre la fuite. Depuis, tous les flics du Japon sont à ses trousses. Venu à Tokyo récupérer le corps de sa fille, le père de la victime a crié son horreur devant les caméras de télé. Aux obsèques, à Coventry, l’ambassadeur du Japon en Grande-Bretagne était là. Très vite, la police a ciblé les lectures du jeune homme. Etablissant un lien entre le meurtre et les piles de hentaï mangas (érotiques et pornos) retrouvés chez lui : il est «fort possible que Tatsuya Ichihashi, fan de mangas, ait élaboré sa macabre mise en scène en s’inspirant de l’histoire d’un hentaï manga. Les seijin mangas [pour adultes], très populaires au Japon, contiennent pour la plupart des scènes obscènes de jeunes filles et femmes violées et torturées», a déclaré un policier.
Mère décapitée
Bien moins banale, la seconde affaire a ébranlé tout le pays. Le 15 mai, un adolescent de 17 ans, qui n’allait plus trop au lycée, s’est présenté à 7 heures du matin à un commissariat de AizuWakamatsu (préfecture de Fukushima) avec la tête de sa mère dans un sac. Vers 1 heure du matin, alors que sa mère dormait, le jeune homme l’a décapitée avec un couteau de cuisine. Puis, il lui a coupé un bras, qu’il a peint en blanc et déposé dans un pot de fleurs. Ahuris, les policiers ont découvert le corps sans tête sur un futon ensanglanté. La mère, qui n’habitait plus avec son fils, était venue lui rendre visite. A la recherche d’explications, les enquêteurs et des tabloïds ont incriminé «l’influence des mangas». Chez l’ado, les enquêteurs ont mis la main sur une panoplie de BD ultraviolentes. Interrogé par des psychiatres, le jeune homme aurait dit avoir «senti sur [ lui] l’influence négative des mangas, de certains films et anime».
Pour Mafumi Usui, professeur à l’université Seiryo de Niigata, célèbre expert en psychologie sociale et criminelle, «les jeunes, au Japon, sont des takaramono [«des trésors»] pour leurs parents qui ne leur refusent rien. Ce sont surtout des enfants gâtés, emmurés, formatés ayant perdu le goût du risque et pas autonomes». Pour autant, dit-il, l’influence néfaste des mangas reste à prouver.
«Certes, des mangas peuvent causer des hallucinations et abîmer l’esprit, explique le professeur à Libération. Mais en matière de délits, l’environnement social est aussi en cause. Il reflète les maladies de la société. Quand des jeunes isolés et désemparés décrochent, que leur effondrement psychologique entraîne un passage à l’acte, il y a plusieurs motifs. Ce jeune qui a décapité sa mère ne la haïssait sans doute pas. Mais peut-être que cette mère le harcelait ou l’étouffait depuis son enfance. En fait, ce type de crimes familiaux incombe moins aux désordres mentaux qu’aux maux de notre société. Le Japon est riche et opulent. Mais il maintient sur ses enfants une pression telle que ceux-ci, parfois, se rebellent et font des erreurs. Les adultes sont eux aussi responsables de ces erreurs.»
«Fonction cathartique»
«Insinuer que certains mangas extrêmes poussent au crime et détraquent le mental des jeunes ne tient pas, s’emporte de son côté Nicolas Finet, le directeur d’ouvrages . Ce serait faire peu de cas de leur fonction cathartique. Faut-il dès lors conclure qu’au cinéma, les Kill Bill, Massacres à la tronçonneuse et autre Scream fabriquent chez les ados américains de futurs délinquants et assassins ? Bien sûr que non !»
Reste que l’addiction aux mangas n’est pas près de disparaître. «C’est une passion», résume Makoto, étudiant de 20 ans, cheveux ébouriffés et look hip-hop. «Cela m’a toujours aidé à libérer le stress accumulé au collège, au lycée et à la maison avec mes parents. » Makoto a peu d’amis. Pas de petite amie. Mais se sent «proche» de ses personnages favoris, comme le samouraï Musashi Miyamoto, héros de la série Vagabond. «Grâce aux mangas, dit-il, je voyage dans des mondes parallèles. Des univers surréels et merveilleux.» Pour lui, la violence des mangas libère les jeunes de la violence qu’ils affrontent au quotidien. «C’est dur de vivre au Japon», soupire Makoto. Pas étonnant qu’il continue de s’y vendre plus de 2 milliards de mangas par an.

[Talk of the town] Soap star king (2007/06/06)

2007-06-07T17:51:00.002-07:00

[Talk of the town] Soap star king (2007/06/06)

Bae Yong-joon, the sweetheart of the Korean Wave, is coming back as the king of an ancient kingdom, following a four-year break.
This is Bae's first TV drama since the "Winter Sonata", which was a mega hit in Japan in 2002. The show turned Bae into a living legend, especially in Japan.
Bae's new TV drama, "Taewang Sashingi" (or "Legend") was written by Song Ji-na and directed by Kim Jong-hak. Song and Kim have previously produced hits like "Morae Sigye" (Sandglass). Bae plays Damdeok, the great king of the Goguryeo dynasty. The cast includes other big names such as Moon So-ri and macho actor Choi Min-soo.
According to Kim Jong-hak Production, the company behind "Legend", a total of 24 episodes have been shot over the last two years, in advance of first airing, which is a rarity in Korea. Many Korean TV dramas are still in the course of shooting when they first air. Forty-two billion won ($45.3 million) has been invested in the drama, a record for Korean TV. "Legend" will debut on the 25th of this month on MBC, and will be aired on NHK in Japan as well.

Source : joongangdaily.joins.c... ( Anglais Coréen )

KOCCA introduces its own Content Export Specialists Group (2007/06/06)

2007-06-07T17:51:00.001-07:00

KOCCA introduces its own Content Export Specialists Group (2007/06/06)

"Advancing into foreign markets must continue. However, it should be preceded with thorough preparation. The success of Korean cultural content in foreign markets depends on how well we know the market and how thoroughly we prepare for it. A group of specialists will serve as guides to ensure the successful export of our cultural content".

* 11 content export specialists who participated in the inauguration ceremony and set to work

The Korea Culture and Content Agency (KOCCA, CEO: Suh, Byung-Moon) recently introduced its own elite team of content export consultancy specialists, which is comprised of 11 Korean international export specialists. This group's systematic consultancy effort will propel the export of Korean cultural content to foreign markets, which is an opportunity used to be enjoyed only by a handful of companies. This time, however, companies that wish to advance into foreign markets are assisted by the best support teams, and this group will function as an export policy team of the highest caliber.

These 11 specialists in export consultancy are veteran exporters who have worked at least for five years in various fields of content export, engaging in the successful export of products such as animation, cartoon, and mobile content. "Each individual in this specialist group is a veteran who has over 10 years of export experience", said Im, Kwan-Oh, director of KOCCA's Export Support Team. "It is expected that these specialists, who belong to the first generation of Korean content producers that advanced into foreign markets, will offer practical consultancy services based on their experience and expertise".

The Source : CT News

Source : www.koreacontent.org... ( Anglais Coréen )

Family Home of Ryoo Si-won a Popular Tourist Spot (2007/06/07)

2007-06-07T17:48:00.002-07:00

Family Home of Ryoo Si-won a Popular Tourist Spot (2007/06/07)

A Japanese travel agency has introduced a package that includes a visit to the family house of Korean star Ryoo Si-won in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province.

During the three-day tour of Ryoo's family house in Andong, tourists can see beautiful natural scenery and experience traditional Korean culture. They will also get to sleep in Damyeonjae, where Queen Elizabeth II was given a birthday party and watched the Hahoi mask dance during her visit to Korea in April 1999.

Ryoo's fans should particularly enjoy this tour package, since Ryoo's mother will personally cook Korean dishes for the tourists and tell stories from his childhood.

Source : english.kbs.co.kr... ( Anglais )

'China becoming future Hollywood' (2007/06/07)

2007-06-07T17:48:00.001-07:00

'China becoming future Hollywood' (2007/06/07)

Lee Soo-man, 54, founder and producer of SM Entertainment, expects that China will emerge as the world's largest entertainment market in years to come.

The former singer and show host, who helped turn Korea's pop music industry into big business, made the prediction in his lecture on the future of Asian entertainment to about 50 Harvard MBA students who visited the company's headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday.

Lee emphasized that the biggest star always comes from the biggest market, and thus the Asian market will become the most important source of the world's top entertainers, as it includes China, which is what he believes to be a "future Hollywood".

"Our advanced know-how in star management will contribute much to bringing huge benefits to Northeast Asia then, combined with Japanese capital and Chinese human resources", said Lee.

Next month, the head producer behind such big stars as Boa, TVXQ, Kang Ta and Super Junior will become the new president of SMAC, a joint company of SM, Japanese Avex and Chinese Chengtian Entertainment, which he announced to be the essence of his company's innovative spirit. "Korean pop culture's popularity in Asia is moving into a new phase, the third stage of the Korean Wave", Lee said.

He noted that the first stage was initiated and led by Korean cultural content and artists born in Korea, such as now disbanded boy band H.O.T., and the singer Boa. The second one came, he said, when local agencies turned their eyes to neighboring markets -- China and Japan -- to make their talent and content big in Korea and elsewhere in Asia with the help of Super Junior's Chinese member Han kyung and Jang Ri-in, the 18-year-old Chinese girl who won the Best New Solo Artist Award at the MKMF Music Video Festival.

"The second stage was important only as a transition to prepare the third one. In the third stage, Korea, Japan and China will exert control over global entertainment market through their cooperation", Lee said. In that case, "made by Korea", should be more important than "made in Korea", he continued.

The lecture was part of a Harvard MBA student annual field trip to Korea titled "HBS Korea Trip", through which potential future global business leaders meet with the country's leading political and business figures. The week-long trip ends today.

Also attending Tuesday's lecture were celebrities under the company's management, including Boa, Kang Ta, Lee Yeon-hee and Han Kyung.

Introducing Boa to the students, Lee jokingly called the star, who is fluent in both English and Japanese, "the most expensive interpreter", which triggered laughter in the audience. After the lecture, the students had fun together with the stars on the stage, taking photos together.

"It was impressive and very useful too", said Michael Cohen, a student from Boston, who used to work for Sony USA as an intern.

"The lecture was wonderful for business purposes because how to appeal to your audience is really understanding what their need is supposed to", said Marie-Jose Bahnam, a female student from Lebanon.

By Lee Yong-sung

Source : www.koreaherald.co.kr... ( Anglais Coréen )

Cannes and Asian films

2007-05-28T01:15:00.001-07:00

Palme d'or

4 mois, 3 semaines et 2 jours de Cristian Mungiu (Roumanie)
Grand prix
Mogari no mori de Naomi Kawase (Japon)
Prix du 60e anniversaire
Paranoid Park de Gus Van Sant (Etats-Unis)
Prix du scénario
Auf der anderen Seite de Fatih Akin (Allemagne)
Prix d'interprétation féminine
Jeon Do-yeon dans Secret Sunshine de Lee Chang-dong (Corée du Sud)
Prix d'interprétation masculine
Konstantin Lavronenko dans Izgnanie d'Andreï Zviaguintsev (Russie)
Prix de la mise en scène
Julian Schnabel pour le Scaphandre et le Papillon (France)
Prix du jury
Persepolis de Marjane Satrapi et Vincent Paronnaud (France) et Stellet Licht de Carlos Reygadas (Mexique)
Caméra d'or
Les Méduses d'Etgar Keret (Israël)

Un certain
regard
California Dreamin' de Cristian Nemescu (Roumanie), lire page 4
Prix spécial du jury
Le Rêve de la nuit d'avant de Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi (France)
Prix coup de coeur
La Visite de la fanfare d'Eran Kolirin (Israël)
Prix de la critique internationale
4 mois, 3 semaines et 2 jours de Cristian Mungiu (Roumanie)

Secret sunshine

2007-05-28T01:11:00.000-07:00

60e Festival de Cannes. Sélection officielle. Le sobre «Secret Sunshine» sonde les limites de l'être humain.
Lee Chang-dong en éclat de crise
Par Didier PERON
QUOTIDIEN : lundi 28 mai 2007
Secret Sunshine de Lee Chang-dong (Corée du Sud), avec Jeon Do-yeon, Song Khang-Ho... 2 h 22.
0 réaction
Une jeune femme, Sin-ae, quitte Séoul avec son fils Jun, 7 ans, pour s'installer dans la petite ville de Myriang où était né son mari, mort dans un accident de voiture. Elle veut repartir à zéro, acheter un terrain, se faire construire une maison et donner des cours de piano pour gagner sa vie. Mais, à peine arrivée, son fils est enlevé puis finalement retrouvé mort, noyé dans un canal. Le coupable est vite retrouvé et mis en prison. Sin-ae, fauchée par cette nouvelle tragédie qui endeuille son existence déjà sombre, est sur le point de devenir folle de douleur quand elle découvre la religion et se met à fréquenter assidûment le temple de la ville.

Sur le même sujet
«4 mois, 3 semaines» et une palme
Cannes canin
Gala pour la Casamance
La phrase du jour
Vive John Wayne
«Persepolis» palmé par la banlieue
Au travail
Mais qui SMS?
Bello Marcello
Le Palais se fait une beauté
Stars au jasmin
Kusturica d'école
«California Dreamin'», Nemescu gagnant
De l'autre côté
La tentation monumentale
Palmarès officiel
Les Roumains reprennent la main

Mélodramatique. Le réalisateur sud-coréen Lee Chang-dong a d'abord été romancier avant de passer à la réalisation et de devenir, pendant un an, en 2003, le ministre de la Culture de son pays. C'est à la fois un intellectuel réputé et un cinéaste à succès. Peppermint Candy puis Oasis sont sortis en France, mais sans recueillir d'autres suffrages que ceux d'une critique elle-même relativement décontenancée par la fibre mélodramatique du cinéaste qui n'hésite pas à inventer des situations que d'aucun jugerait impossibles à filmer. Oasis, qui devait remporter plusieurs prix à la Mostra de Venise, racontait par exemple une histoire d'amour entre un jeune homme débile léger et une paraplégique. Réussir la séquence où l'un et l'autre avaient à même le sol leur première relation sexuelle est soit un exploit dans le registre de l'obscène soit la preuve d'une délicatesse de fond. Et peut-être les deux !
Lieu d'une crise. L'humain saisi dans ses états limites, physiques et psychologiques, le cinéma comme lieu d'une crise et non d'une catharsis, c'est à nouveau ainsi qu'on se prend en pleine figure Secret Sunshine . En fait de «rayon de soleil secret» ou de «lumière invisible», le récit interroge à travers la personnalité erratique de Sin-ae, déchirée par la double dépossession mortelle, d'abord de son mari puis de son fils, le statut de la créature en proie aux affres d'une existence dont elle cherche à comprendre le sens, les valeurs supérieures, par-delà ou en deça des épreuves et des obstacles. Y a-t-il un dieu qui regarde nos actes ? Pourquoi laisse-t-il assassiner un enfant innocent ? Pourquoi apporte-t-il la paix au criminel qui a rencontré la foi en prison ? Lee Chang-dong ne nous conduit pas vers une vérité ultime, et le temps qu'il prend, le sérieux qu'il met à regarder son personnage reprendre confiance au sein du groupe religieux ne rendent que plus intense le retour d'incrédulité qui pousse Sin-ae à bout et oblige ses proches à la faire interner. Le cinéaste, comme à son habitude, met toutes ses forces dans la vraisemblance des situations qu'il écrit et met en scène, et son style est le moins ramenard qu'on puisse imaginer. Cette sobriété était bienvenue, après un Festival dominé par des effets de signatures.
Rayonnante. Dans le rôle de Sin-ae, Jeon Do-yeon est tout simplement exceptionnelle. Elle est pendant deux heures vingt à l'écran, d'abord rayonnante puis hébétée, illuminée de Dieu puis ravagée par le sentiment du désespoir et de la déréliction.

Comments from the mouse: Oasis and Peppermint are two films I really loved, so I guess I'll love Secret Sunshine too...

Japanese soft power in Korea: Japanese anime, dubbed in Korean

2007-05-27T05:28:00.000-07:00

Students from Hanguk University, Broadcasting association, did a performance during the Daehangro Festival.
They dubbed live a few episodes from Japanese anime: Crayon Shin Chan and Kerokero.
Needless to say that Crayon Shin chan is very popular in Korea!

Manhwa bar in Seoul

2007-05-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

A place where you can read in a cosy coach some manhwa. Pay per hour.
Where? In a street in Hyehwa, close to the cats' bar

Second hand Japanese mangas in Seoul

2007-05-27T05:25:00.000-07:00

This ajoshi was selling second hand mangas translated in Japanese. There were series of Dragon Ball Z among others.
Where? In a street in Hyehwa, Seoul

"Dans la bataille des images, l'Europe doit constituer un pôle fort face aux USA et à l'Asie"

2007-05-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

HERVÉ CHABALIER, PDG DE L'AGENCE CAPA
"Dans la bataille des images, l'Europe doit constituer un pôle fort face aux USA et à l'Asie"
LE MONDE | 23.05.07 | 15h46 • Mis à jour le 23.05.07 | 15h46
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ous êtes à l'origine du premier Festival européen des quatre écrans, dédié aux images de cinéma, télévision, net et mobile et qui se tiendra du 27 au 29 septembre à Paris. Quelle philosophie préside au rapprochement de ces médias ?

La création de ce festival résulte du constat que l'image ne se consomme plus exclusivement par la télévision et ses grands rendez-vous, mais aussi sur

Internet et les téléphones portables. Le cinéma est également touché par cette révolution numérique.

Aujourd'hui, c'est le consommateur qui choisit et décide quand il veut, comme il veut, ou il veut. En complément des genres plus accessibles que sont le divertissement, l'animation, l'humour, il faut offrir au public des programmes où l'image est outil d'intelligence et de connaissance de notre temps.

En plus des projections et des trois compétitions (télé, Net, mobile), se tiendra l'université de l'image à la Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF) où seront débattues toutes ces questions liées à ces nouveaux modes de diffusion : modèles économiques, production d'informations, problèmes juridiques, etc.

Vous-même, comme patron de presse, êtes-vous inquiet de la concurrence des images amateurs captées par téléphone ou diffusées par Internet ?

C'est pour moi, et je suppose pour tous les patrons de sociétés de production, une préoccupation essentielle : faire entrer mon entreprise dans le monde numérique. Etre capable, à partir d'une même idée, de décliner des programmes adaptés à chacun des supports. Par ailleurs, c'est vrai qu'une partie de notre travail, en tant que producteurs d'images, sera, dans l'avenir, de recevoir des images amateurs et de les labéliser par une contre-enquête et une vérification des sources. Cette révolution du numérique s'accompagne d'un redéploiement du marché publicitaire. Nous sommes dans une période de digestion, de réflexion, qui doit associer tout le monde, professionnels et public averti. C'est le rôle de ce festival d'y contribuer.

Dénominateur commun aux reportages, documentaires et fictions qui seront montrés au cinéma MK2 Bibliothèque à Paris lors de ce festival présidé par Jorge Semprun : "Les images du réel" : qu'entendez-vous par là ?

Toutes ces images visent à permettre de mieux comprendre l'actualité, la réalité, les phénomènes de société. Ce festival est une manifestation volontariste, parce qu'il se nourrit de la conviction qu'un citoyen mieux informé, mieux éduqué au décryptage de toutes ces images qu'il reçoit, est un citoyen averti, plus libre, plus responsable.

Vous tenez beaucoup à la dimension européenne du festival ?

Oui, parce que dans la bataille, la confrontation et l'affrontement des images, l'Europe doit constituer un pôle fort, grand producteur d'images face aux Etats-Unis et à l'Asie qui monte en puissance.

Propos recueillis par Macha Séry
Article paru dans l'édition du 24.05.07.

LEE Byeong-heon Cast in High Profile Japanese Film (2007/04/20)

2007-05-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

LEE Byeong-heon Cast in High Profile Japanese Film (2007/04/20)

The cast of the Japanese film Hero has been complemented with Korean leading man Lee Byeong-Heon. LEE will play a Busan based elite South Korean detective opposite of the Japanese star Takuya Kimura.

LEE has become a favorite of Japanese audiences through the release of his popular and acclaimed films in Japan, including Kim Ji-woon's "A Bittersweet Life" (Dalkeomhan Insaeng, 2005) and Park Chan-wook's "JSA - Joint Security Area" (Gongdonggyeongbigooyeok JSA, 2000).

Hero is based on a hit Japanese television drama about a prosecutor with an own particular style for investigating crimes, played by Kimura. Kimura's character joins forces with LEE's character to solve a manslaughter case.

Kimura made an impressive feature film debut in last year's Love and Honour. Masayuki Suzuki is directing Hero. Filming has already started and the project is scheduled for a release in September. The television drama version of Hero holds the highest rating record for a drama in Japan.

Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)

Source : www.koreanfilm.or.kr... ( Anglais Coréen )

'Winter Sonata' Fever Continues in Japan (2007/04/20)

2007-05-01T01:28:00.001-07:00

'Winter Sonata' Fever Continues in Japan (2007/04/20)

The blockbuster drama "Winter Sonata", credited for the Korean Hallyu boom in Japan, will be aired at a movie theater at Tokyo's Nakano Sun Plaza on May 6 & 7.

Screenings will occur three times each day.

The event will include a talk show with actor Jeong Dong-hwan and actress Song Ok-seok--who played the father and mother, respectively--of the male lead "Junsang", played by Bae Yong-joon.

Pianist Lee Ji-su, who helped with the drama's original soundtrack, will also perform along with a mini concert given by Seo Jin-young, who sang the theme for "Summer Scent", another of producer Yoon Seok-ho's four season-themed drama series.

Source : english.kbs.co.kr... ( Anglais )

キム・テヒ　日本で“ソウル大学出身の韓流スター”関心爆発

2007-04-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

キム・テヒ　日本で“ソウル大学出身の韓流スター”関心爆発

　
キム・テヒが韓流スターとしての人気と可能性を認められた。

日本・TBSのスペシャル番組＜日本列島改造計画＞が、名門大出身のキム・テヒについて言及し、注目を集めるものと期待されている。

TBS＜日本列島改造計画＞は、世界各国の様々な法律条項を日本国内に導入することについて話し合う討論形式の番組。今回の放送分では、韓国の“英才教育振興法”を紹介し、韓国の素晴らしい教育環境と英才たちに関する話をしながら、日本でも知られている韓流スターもいい教育を受け、知的水準が優秀だという内容が含まれる予定だ。

この過程で韓国の代表的なスターキム・テヒに注目し、ソウル大学出身のスターとして知性と美貌を兼備した、韓国の代表的な韓流スターとして紹介する。

日本でも『天国の階段』などが人気を博しながら放送され、韓流スターとしての地位を確実に固めたキム・テヒは、25日夕方7時から2時間放送されるTBSスペシャルを通じて、日本の視聴者たちに韓流スターの新しい一面を見せる予定だ。

Copyrights(C)gonews ＆ etimes Syndicate ＆ wowkorea.jp

日本　韓国ドラマのリメイク版放送…韓流“再点火”

2007-04-29T15:20:00.001-07:00

日本　韓国ドラマのリメイク版放送…韓流“再点火”

日本の民営テレビ局が、韓流ブームの火付け役となった“元祖韓国ドラマ”をリメイクし、放送を開始した。日本・テレビ朝日は、日本版『ホテリアー』を19日から放送している。韓国ドラマ『ホテリアー』に、日本人タレントをキャスティングしリメイクしたものだが、韓流トップスターペ・ヨンジュンが友情出演し、放送前から話題を集めた。日本のビデオリサーチによると、初回放送で11.1％という比較的低調な視聴率を記録したが、韓流ファンが多い関西地方や名古屋などでは、16～17％の視聴率を記録した。日本版『ホテリアー』に友情出演したペ・ヨンジュンの人気も健在だ。『ホテリアー』公式ホームページには、ペ・ヨンジュンの演技にファンの賛辞が殺到し、“ヨン様”の人気を改めて証明している。

ペ・ヨンジュンは25日付けの朝日新聞とのインタビューで「日本でリメイクしたドラマに出演したことが、一番の思い出で光栄」と伝え、リメイクドラマに再び出演する意思があることを伺わせた。

他の民営放送局たちは『ホテリアー』の視聴率推移を見守りながら、4年前日本で韓流ブームを巻き起こした『冬のソナタ』をリメイクし、放送する計画だと伝えられている。日本テレビのドラマ責任者は「各TV局は、リメイクドラマで韓流ブームを再び呼び起こし、ドラマ視聴率を高めようという計画」と伝えた。

Copyrights(C)segye.com ＆ etimes Syndicate ＆ wowkorea.jp

2007/04/26 13:48:10 入力

『HERO』のイ・ビョンホン＆木村拓哉　釜山で記者会見

2007-04-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

『HERO』のイ・ビョンホン＆木村拓哉　釜山で記者会見

日本映画『HERO』のロケのために釜山を訪れた主演俳優の木村拓哉が、この映画に友情出演する俳優イ・ビョンホンとともに、26日に釜山市内のホテルで記者会見を開いた。この映画は同名の人気ドラマを映画化したもの。
　
木村拓哉は「きょう初めて会ったが、とても親しい仲のような感じがした。一緒にできる撮影が楽しみだ」と、イ・ビョンホンの出演を喜んだ。また、空港での韓国人ファンの熱烈な歓迎にも感謝の言葉を述べた。

イ・ビョンホンは「初めて友情出演のオファーがあった時には、一歩間違えば物語の流れを妨げることになるのではないかと内心悩んだ。映画を台無しにしないことを願っている」と話した。イ・ビョンホンは映画の中で、ドラマと同じ検事役の木村拓哉が事件調査のために韓国を訪れたのを、手助けする役を演じる。

以下は一問一答。

―互いに対する印象は？　
木村拓哉「テレビコマーシャルや映画で見て、俳優として大きな影響力を持つ人だと思った。会見前に簡単に話をしたが、初めて会った気がしないほどリラックスできた」

イ・ビョンホン「まだ日本の映像文化について何も知らなかったころ、ミュージックビデオのために日本を訪れたことがある。どこに行っても屋外広告に同じ男性の写真があり、それが木村拓哉という有名な俳優だと知った。その時強い印象を残した俳優と一緒に仕事できることになり、うれしい」

―人気ドラマ『HERO』の魅力は？　
木村拓哉「主人公は自分の信念を最後まで貫く人物。韓国でもケーブルテレビなどで放映されたが、あまり人気はなかったと聞いた。しかし人気に関係なく、映画を撮ること自体が楽しみだ。撮影を無事終えて、いい作品を韓国のファンにみせたい」

イ・ビョンホン「どんなドラマなのか知ろうと、2時間のスペシャル版を見た。それだけでドラマがすべてわかったとは言えないが、作品の一番大きな長所は、検察が犯罪を解決するというどうかすると重くなりやすい内容を、軽快でユーモラスに引っ張っていく点だと言えるだろう」

―ファンにひと言。
イ・ビョンホン「残念なことに僕が出る部分は長くない。イ・ビョンホンが出たのか出ていないのかわからないくらい映画に自然に溶け込むのが、最も大きな目標だ。どんな形に仕上がるか、ファンのみなさんも一緒に期待してほしい」

木村拓哉「きょうが3回目の訪韓だが、これからも映画やドラマ以外のいろいろな角度から韓国のファンと会えるといい」

Copyright 2006(C)YONHAPNEWS. All rights reserved.

2007/04/27 11:56:39 入力

box office, Korean films, as of March April 2007

2007-04-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

The Best Selling Films of 2007 (admissions to March 25) Korean Films Nationwide Seoul Release Weeks
1 Voice of a Murderer 3,162,000 n/a Feb 1 4
2 Miracle on 1st Street 2,683,000 n/a Feb 14 5
3 A Day for an Affair 1,798,600 n/a Feb 8 4
4 Highway Star 1,601,700 n/a Feb 14 4
5 Mapado 2 1,318,000 n/a Jan 18 2
6 Herb 1,286,300 n/a Jan 11 3
7 A Perfect Couple 1,257,100 n/a Jan 25 3
8 Master Kims 915,200 n/a Feb 8 2
9 Robot Taekwon V 616,100 n/a Jan 18 3
10 Yobi the Five-Tailed Fox 420,000 n/a Jan 25 3

All Films Nationwide Seoul Release Weeks
1 Voice of a Murderer (Korea) 3,162,000 n/a Feb 1 4
2 Miracle on 1st Street (Korea) 2,683,000 n/a Feb 14 5
3 300 (US) 1,912,500 n/a Mar 14 2*
4 A Day for an Affair (Korea) 1,798,600 n/a Feb 8 4
5 Highway Star (Korea) 1,601,700 n/a Feb 14 4
6 Mapado 2 (Korea) 1,318,000 n/a Jan 18 2
7 Herb (Korea) 1,286,300 n/a Jan 11 3
8 A Perfect Couple (Korea) 1,257,100 n/a Jan 25 3
9 Master Kims (Korea) 915,200 n/a Feb 8 2
10 Curse of the Golden Flower (China) 897,400 n/a Jan 25 3

Seoul population: 10.32 million
Nationwide population: 47.9 million

Films in Korea are usually priced at 7000 won (~$6.00). The above figures indicate the cumulative
number of tickets sold in each region. 'Weeks' indicates the number of weekends that a
film placed in the top 10, and an asterisk indicates that the film is still on release.

Figures are taken from Film 2.0 and KOFIC's quarterly box office reports.
Source: koreanfilm.org

『春のワルツ』ソ・ドヨン「完結編ではなく、新たな愛の始まり」

2007-04-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

『春のワルツ』ソ・ドヨン「完結編ではなく、新たな愛の始まり」

　

『秋の童話』『冬のソナタ』『夏の香り』に続く、ユン・ソクホ監督の“四季シリーズ”完結編といわれるドラマ『春のワルツ』。NHK地上波での放送も始まった同ドラマで、主人公ユン・ジェハを演じる俳優ソ・ドヨンが来日した。

実際に見るソ・ドヨンは、元ファッションモデルというだけあって、すらりとした長身と小さな顔に、はっきりとした目鼻立ちの、彫刻のような美青年。今回は、韓国観光公社に招聘されて来日に至ったもの。5月16日と17日には、東京国際フォーラムで開催される＜ユン・ソクホ　ドラマコンサート冬のソナタ～春のワルツまで＞への出演も決まっている。

－来日は何回目ですか？　
ソ・ドヨン「5回目です。東京のほか、大阪、北海道の札幌へもファンミーティングで行きました。」

－日本のファンと韓国のファンの違いは…
ソ・ドヨン「特に違いはないと思います。僕を愛して応援してくださる気持ちは同じで、その表現方法が少し違うだけではないでしょうか。」

－もともとはモデルとして活躍されていたそうですが、芸能界デビューのきっかけは？　
ソ・ドヨン「オーディションです。それでデザイナーの方に認められて、モデルとして活動するようになりました。『春のワルツ』は、ユン・ソクホ監督からお声をかけていただき、オーディションを受けて、キャスティングされました。」

－『春のワルツ』は、巨匠ユン・ソクホ監督の四季シリーズ完結編ということですが、キャスティングされた時、プレッシャーは？　
ソ・ドヨン「まだ新人であるにも関わらず、大役を下さったことに感謝しました。『春のワルツ』以前にも、『海神』など、ドラマ出演の経験はあったのですが、主人公としてドラマを作り上げて行かなければならないので、プレッシャーが大きかったですね。」

－ドラマに主演するにあたって、どのような役作りを？　難しかったことは？　
ソ・ドヨン「演じるにあたって大変だったのは、ユン・ジェハの全体像をつかみとることですね。自分ではなく他人の人生を生きるわけです

から、彼の感情を理解し、表現することが難しかったように思います。」

－『春のワルツ』はオーストリアでロケが行われていますが、一番印象に残ったことは？　
ソ・ドヨン「ザルツブルグのハシュタット湖です。景色が非常に美しいといわれる場所なんですが、僕らが行った時は霧が立ち込めていて、撮影もできないほどだったんですね。
そのシーンで、フィリップ(ダニエル・ヘニー)のセリフの中に、“霧が晴れてすべてがはっきりした”という言葉があるんですが、そのセリフを口にしたとたん、本当に霧が晴れて…そうしたら、湖と山が現れて、本当に美しくて、とても感動的でした。」

－『春のワルツ』は地上波放送が始まったばかりなので、まだ見ていない方のために、見どころを教えてください。
ソ・ドヨン「僕が一番気に入っているのは第14話の青山島(チョンサンド)で、ジェハが自分が誰を愛しているのかに気づき、感情をたかぶらせるシーンです。韓国放映時、とても評判の良かったシーンですし、ぜひご覧いただきたいです。」

－ピアニストの役ですが、もともとピアノはやっていらしたのでしょうか。
ソ・ドヨン「いいえ、まったくできませんでした。そのために、ドラマ撮影中は苦労しました。やはり弾けるようになった方がいいのではないかと思い、撮影終了後、少しずつレッスンを始めたんです。」

－国際フォーラムのドラマコンサートでは、そのピアノ演奏を披露されるそうですが、自信のほどは？　また、どんな準備を？　
ソ・ドヨン「『春のワルツ』の第10話で、ハン・ヒョジュさんと2人でピアノを弾くシーンがあるんですね。コンサートでは、ピアニストのイ・ジスさんと一緒に、そのシーンを再現する予定です。まだまだ未熟だとは思いますが、できる限り皆さんに楽しんでいただけるよう、がんばります。」

－コンサートでも『春のワルツ』の主題歌『Flower』を歌われるそうですが、歌手として活動するお考えは？　
ソ・ドヨン「歌手として活動する予定は、具体的にはありません。主人公ユン・ジェハの感情を、歌でも表現できるのではと思い、主題歌を歌うことになったんです。僕にとっては新たな挑戦でしたが、自分なりに上手く表現できるのではと思い、トライしてみました。」

－ドラマコンサートは、ユン・ソクホ監督のプロデュースによる一大イベントになると思いますが、意気込みは…
ソ・ドヨン「やはり、今まで聞いてもらう機会のなかったピアノの演奏を、皆さんに披露できることですね。ぜひ期待してほしいです。」

－プロフィールを拝見しますと、先週、お誕生日を迎えられたようですが、どんなお祝いを？　
ソ・ドヨン「母と一緒にデパートに行って、服をプレゼントしました。誕生日にはいつも母からプレゼントをもらっていたのですが、僕を生んでくれたことへの感謝の気持ちを伝えたくて、何かしてあげたいと思っていたんです。今回、それを叶えることができました。」

－デビュー前、兵役についていた時、教官を務めていたということですが、具体的にどのような指導を？　
ソ・ドヨン「新人を、民間人から軍人に教育する仕事です。先生みたいなものですね。13のカリキュラムを通じて、軍人としての心構えを教えていました。」

－入隊を回避しようとする芸能人もいると聞きましたが、それをどう思われますか。
ソ・ドヨン「行くべきでしょう（笑）　韓国人として守るべき義務であり権利ですから。」

－最後に、日本のファンにメッセージをお願いします。
ソ・ドヨン「『春のワルツ』が地上波放送されることになり、さらに多くの方に見ていただけることになって、嬉しく思います。これまでと変わらず、多くの愛と関心をお願いします。『春のワルツ』は、ユン・ソクホ監督の“四季シリーズ完結編”といわれますが、愛の物語の終わりというわけではなく、違う愛の物語の始まりとして、ご覧いただければと思います。」

2007.04.17　都内にて

Copyrights(C)wowkorea.jp

東京ドーム公演を控えたRain(ピ)「5月25日に会いましょう！　」

2007-04-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

東京ドーム公演を控えたRain(ピ)「5月25日に会いましょう！　」

　

18日、記者会見でのRain(ピ)

昨年12月、ソウル・オリンピックスタジアムを皮切りにスタートしたRain(ピ)のワールドツアー＜RAIN’S COMING　06/07 RAIN WORLD TOUR＞。同ツアーの日本公演を控え、4月18日、Rainが緊急来日。同日、東京ドームホテルで記者会見を行った。

会見では4thアルバムのタイトル曲『I’m Coming』のライブ映像が上映され、噂どおりのダイナミックなステージに、会場にも緊張感が走る。いよいよRainが登場すると、カメラのフラッシュとともに、一斉に拍手が沸き起こった。
この日、Rainは日本公演の日程を発表するとともに、「今回のコンサートは、今まで見たことのないような、ファンタスティックなものになると思う」「最高のパフォーマンスを皆さんにお届けできるよう、ベストを尽くす」と、ワールドツアーにかける意気込みを語った。

＜RAIN’S COMING　06/07 RAIN WORLD TOUR＞は、構想1年、総制作費380億ウォン（日本円約50億円）。公演3か月前から毎日11時間のダンスレッスンと5時間のヴォイストレーニングを行い、200人のスタッフが作り上げる総重量300tの巨大な舞台装置に130基の照明。
舞台監督と振り付けは、マドンナやクリスティーナ・アギレラのステージを手がけたジェイミー・キングが担当。映像監督、プロダクション・デザイナーにも米ショウビズ界の大物を起用し、すでにアメリカ、中国、台湾、香港、タイ、ベトナム、マレーシア、シンガポール、オーストラリアなど、12カ国35公演で約60万人を動員。驚異的な大成功を収めた。日本公演は、来たる5月25日、東京ドームで行われる。

－コンサートの見どころを教えてください
Rain「あまりにも多すぎて…(笑)　そうですね、コンサート中、伝統打楽器にあわせて、鳥のような振り付けで踊る演出があるのですが、それは特に気に入ってます。ぜひ見てほしいですね。」

－日本語の曲を歌われるお考えは？　
Rain「確定はしていませんが、歌う可能性はあります。」

－各国での公演で、演出の違いはありますか？　
Rain「今回のツアーは2年前から念入りに企画したものなので、ベースがきちんと整っています。ですからどこの国でも、基本的に変わりはありません。ただ、日本公演の際は、できるだけMCは日本語でと思っています。」

－日本語の実力は？　
Rain「まだまだですね。勉強中です。」

－日本語でお話していただけますか？　
Rain「コンニチハ。レインデス。5ガツ25ニチ…トウキョウドーム…デ？　アイマショウ（笑）。」

－東京ドームでコンサートを行うにあたり、ご感想を…
Rain「まず、会場が広くていいですね（笑）　今回のツアーは、会場が大きくないと…もちろん、観客が大勢いてこそ、コンサートが盛り上がるものですが。5月25日は、本当に楽しいコンサートになると思いますよ。」

－韓国人歌手としては初のドーム公演になりますが
Rain「非常に光栄です。僕は、東京ドームは、東京の心臓部だと思うんですね。ですから、とても嬉しく思いますし、会場の広さを生かしたいいステージを作り上げて、たくさんの方々に見てもらえればと思います。」

－ワールドツアーで世界を回られて、印象的だった国は？　
Rain「香港はパパラッチが多くて、食事をするにもコソコソ外出しなければならなかったのが印象的です。それはそれで、ちょっと楽しい経験でした。」

－ぜひもう一度、コンサートをやってみたい国は？　
Rain「マレーシアです。宗教上の理由で、女性は外出する際、布で顔を覆わなければならないんですね。そういった国なので、客席の反応も少ないのではと思っていたのですが、実際に公演が始まってみると、皆さん非常に情熱的で、とても楽しいコンサートになりました。」

－今回のコンサートは、これまでの日本公演とはかなりイメージが違いますが、ご不安は？　
Rain「不安は…ありますよ。ファンの皆さんががっかりするかもしれないですし…それに、もともとコンサートというもの自体、ハプニングがつきものですから。今回のコンサートを、無事に、成功裏に終えられればと思います。」

－以前より痩せて、日焼けされたようですが、やはりツアーのためですか？　
Rain「あまりにも苦労が多くて…外を走り回らされたり…ちょっと助けて下さいよ～（一同笑）
というのは冗談ですけど(笑)、今回のツアーは本当に大変なんです。日焼けはともかく、緊張して食事がとれなかったり…舞台装置や演出にもすべて参加しているので、ストレスが大きいですね。でも、これまでの公演はすべて成功裏に終えることができましたし、東京ドームでの公演も無事に終えられればと思います。」

－ヘアスタイルが変わられたようですが、ヘアスタイルや衣装などもご自分で？　
Rain「はい。僕とスタイリストが話し合ってスタイルやデザインを決めています。」

－デビュー当時と今とでは、音楽的に大きく変化していると思われますが、ご自身の中で変わられた部分は？　
Rain「変わったことといえば、余裕ができたというでしょうか。それが一番大きな変化ですね。仕事だけでなく、あらゆる面で、以前より余裕ができたように思います。」

－“ワールドスター”になられたわけですが、実感は？　
Rain「まだ“ワールドスター”とまでは…本格的にアメリカへ進出して、いい結果が得られるよう、一生懸命がんばります。」

－歌手として目指しているものは？　
Rain「そうですね…一日一日を大切に、ベストを尽くしていれば、10年後には立派な人間になっているのではないでしょうか。歌手としてだけでなく、僕の人生における目標でもあります。」

－日本アルバムリリース、ドラマ出演など、今後の計画を教えてください
Rain「今後の予定は何も決まっていません。ワールドツアーを成功させることが第一の目標なので、今はそれ以外、何も考えられませんね。」

－最後に、ファンへのメッセージをお願いします
Rain「いつも応援してくださり、ありがとうございます。日本に来る度に歓迎してくださるので、幸せを感じています。5月25日のコンサートでお会いしましょう！　」

2007.04.19　東京ドームホテルにて

Copyrights(C)wowkorea.jp

チャングム”イ・ヨンエ　東京ドームで4万人とファンミーティング

2007-04-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

チャングム”イ・ヨンエ　東京ドームで4万人とファンミーティング

“長今（チャングム）”ことイ・ヨンエが、ドラマ『宮廷女官チャングムの誓い』のチームと共に、ファンミーティングのため8月11日に東京へ向かう予定だ。イ・ヨンエ、チ・ジニ、パク・ウネ、キョン・ミリら『宮廷女官チャングムの誓い』の出演者が総出動するファンミーティングとなる。

イ・ヨンエの日本肖像権事業などを担当しているエンターテイメント会社などが、東京ドームで4万人以上が参加する大規模なファンミーティングを企画している。イ・ヨンエと他の出演者に契約書を渡し交渉中だ。ファンイベントの“花”イ・ヨンエは、同行事について肯定的に検討中であり、出演にはすでに合意したものとされる。

行事関係者は「イ・ヨンエ氏は出演について前向きな返事をしたと聞いている。また、残りの出演者も交渉中だ」とし「現在日本で人気が高まっているドラマ『宮廷女官チャングムの誓い』を通じて韓流を再点火する契機にする、との意図」と伝えた。イベントでは舞台あいさつを行ない、抽選を通じて出演者らが所有していたグッズなどをファンにプレゼントする計画だ。

Copyright 2006(C)JOONGANGILBO NEWS. All rights reserved.

2007/04/16 16:36:37 入力

source: wow Korea

イ・ビョンホン　映画『HERO』で木村拓哉と競演

2007-04-22T22:14:00.001-07:00

イ・ビョンホン　映画『HERO』で木村拓哉と競演

　
“ビョン様”イ・ビョンホンが、日本の国民的スター木村拓哉と競演する。

イ・ビョンホンは今年9月、日本で公開される木村拓哉主演映画『HERO ヒーロー』(監督：鈴木雅之)に、スペシャルゲストとして参加。日韓両国のトップスターがタッグを組むという、最高の話題を提供する。

映画『HERO』は、去る2001年にフジテレビ系で放送され、日本歴代ドラマ視聴率1位となる34.3％の平均視聴率を記録した、同名ドラマの映画化。木村拓哉、松たか子など、ドラマのオリジナルメンバーが再び集まる話題作で、イ・ビョンホンは事件の調査で韓国を訪れた木村拓哉(久利生公平)を援護する検事“カン・ミヌ”役で出演。友情のハーモニーを奏でる。

“ヨン様”ペ・ヨンジュンとともに、日本の韓流を最前線でリードしているイ・ビョンホンは、友情出演ではあるが、日本の看板スター木村拓哉と魅力を競い合うと見られている。

今回のイ・ビョンホン出演は、日本の制作側からオファーがあったもの。今月末、釜山（プサン）でロケが行われる『HERO』制作陣は、韓国での撮影分に登場してくれるよう、イ・ビョンホンに“ラブコール”を送り、イ・ビョンホンは映画『いいやつ、悪いやつ、変なやつ』の撮影の合間をぬって、『HERO』の韓国ロケへの参加を決めたという。

source: wowow Korea

Japanese Fans Keen on Drama 'Mawang' ("Devil") (2007/04/13)

2007-04-20T06:24:00.001-07:00

Japanese Fans Keen on Drama 'Mawang' ("Devil") (2007/04/13)

The KBS drama "Mawang" ("Devil"), currently airing in Korea, will soon be shown in Japan, targeting fans of the earlier hit Korean series "Revenge".

Mawang ("Devil")'s production agency Olive Nine said the drama will air on the cable channel So-net TV from October and that the drama's film set will soon be unveiled to Japanese viewers.

Japan's interest in Mawang ("Devil") is largely due to the Korean drama Resurrection, which is currently airing on Tokyo MXTV every Wednesday night. So-net TV had aired it last September and will begin reruns next month.

An Olive Nine official said Resurrection is very popular in Japan, citing its airing on multiple Japanese channels including FBC Fukuoka TV and Hokkaido TV.

The two dramas are by the same director and writing staff.

Source : english.kbs.co.kr... ( Anglais )

Actress Kim Seon-ah Publishes 'Samsoon' in Japan (2007/04/16)

2007-04-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

Actress Kim Seon-ah Publishes 'Samsoon' in Japan (2007/04/16)

Actress Kim Seon-ah has published a book on her previous hit drama "My Name is Kim Sam-soon" in Japan.

The Japanese media reported Saturday that the book published by the Asahi daily publishing house is gaining popularity as it introduces the Korean drama in detail. 'Sam-soon' was especially popular among Korean women in their 20s and 30s.

The book explains Kim's surrounding characters in the drama and includes an interview with male lead Hyeon Bin and a message by script writer Kim Do-woo. In the book, producer Kim Hyeon-cheol also compares Kim Seon-ah with the character Sam-soon, whom she played.

Many Japanese women have said they empathize with the chapter of the book entitled "Life in Kim Seon-ah Style" addressing the identity of 30-something single women.

Source : www.... ( Anglais )

Star Lee Hyo-lee Stirring Interest in Japan (2007/04/16)

2007-04-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

Star Lee Hyo-lee Stirring Interest in Japan (2007/04/16)

Japan's Fuji TV network is showing extraordinary interest in sexy Korean star Lee Hyo-lee.

Most of the Korean celebrities who are popular in Japan are men, such as Bae Yong-joon, Lee Byeong-Heon, Song Seung-heon and kwon Sang-woo. Only a few female Korean stars are well-known there, including Choi Ji-woo and Boa. Because most of the Japanese fans fueling the "Korean wave" are female, it has mostly been men who have surfed the wave to popularity in Japan.

Fuji TV, however, has decided to air Lee Hyo-lee's musical drama "If in Love Like Them" on its cable channel and will closely watch how she does. The network has invited Lee to Japan to help promote the show, and is prepared to give her the VIP treatment.

During her stay in Japan, Lee will be provided with the same high-end hotel and services afforded to top-level foreign celebrities. Fuji TV will also film her five-day trip, from arrival to departure.

Lee's management agency said, "When Lee visited Japan in the past, she had some private time for shopping and other things, but that doesn't seem possible this time. This kind of exceptional treatment shows Fuji TV's expectation for Lee".

The controversial drama "If in Love Like Them" was the talk of the town here when it aired on Seoul Broadcasting System. Fuji will broadcast the show on its CS TV channel for two weeks from June 17.

Lee is also scheduled to appear as a special guest at an SG Wannabe concert at the Tokyo International Forum on June 3.

Source : www.chosun.com... ( Anglais Chinois Coréen Japonais )

[Talk of the town] JAPANESE HALLYU FANS FLOCK TO SEE SEO DO-YEONG (2007/04/17)

2007-04-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

[Talk of the town] JAPANESE HALLYU FANS FLOCK TO SEE SEO DO-YEONG (2007/04/17)

Tickets to the Korea Day event in Japan were sold out in less than an hour last week after a group of ardent hallyu (Korean wave) fans found out that actor Seo Do-yeong will be holding his first meeting with fans on that day.
Seo is known for his role in the recent television drama "Spring Waltz".
Shortly after 9 a.m. on April 6, news that Seo will hold a series of meetings with fans was released. Within one hour, a total of 9,000 tickets for three events were sold out. Seo will meet fans in Tokyo (April 18), Osaka (April 20) and Fukuoka (April 23).
"Spring Waltz" is one of four seasonal television series produced by Yoon Seok-ho.
His winter drama, "Winter Sonata", was the first to be introduced in Japan, bringing fame to Bae Yong-joon, or "Yonsama" as he's known in Japan. "Spring Waltz" is Yoon's second release in Japan.
Top hallyu stars have been participating in Japan's annual Korea Day event since it began.
This year was no exception, and the organizers of the event had to deal with floods of phone calls asking about ticket reservations, said a Korean Tourism Organization official.

By Lee Min-a Staff Writer

Source : joongangdaily.joins.c... ( Anglais Coréen )

The Good and the not so good (2007/04/17)

2007-04-20T06:17:00.001-07:00

The Good and the not so good (2007/04/17)

Deauville Asian Film Festival 2007

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

South Asia Correspondent

There are a million film festivals through the year, but there are some that sparkle. The Deauville Asian Film Festival on the French Atlantic coast in Normandy is one, and this year it gave in its recent ninth edition some interesting strips of celluloid.

My favourite was a South Korean movie by Lee Yoon-ki, "Ad-Lib Night". Shot in 10 days and in a chronological order to mark a single night, this film conveys the anguish of a young girl (played with remarkable sensitivity by television star Han Hyo-joo) when two men pick her up on a crowded Seoul street and take her to a dying man with a plea that she act his daughter. The girl hesitates in the beginning, but later relents, and the journey helps her in the end to understand who she herself is, and come closer to her mother.

"Ad-Lib Night" is obviously a series of night scenes created to produce an effect of a sombre tragedy — of a man dying alone without his family. Yet, Lee does not resort to any melodrama or mood pulls to tell the story. In an extremely restrained way, he structures his narrative to portray the dilemma of the girl, who finds herself in a situation that can be right or wrong, depending on the way one looks at it.

"Ad-Lib Night" won the International Critics Prize as the best feature in the nine-entry Competition section.

The main jury at Deauville had other ideas of what constituted the best. It gave the top Grand Prize to a Thai movie, "Syndromes and a Century" by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Part of the Venice Competition in 2006, the film meanders in a magical way, and focuses on two doctors (based on the director's parents) working in a hospital. Weerasethakul does not make his work a depressing report of disease and death. Rather, he takes us on a journey of herbal cures, holistic healing techniques, hospital romance and the quirky private lives of monks.

(I am told that two scenes among a few more – of doctors drinking on the hospital campus and a doctor kissing his girlfriend in the locker-room – were points of objection in Thailand, where the medical fraternity and the government felt that such sequences seemed improper in the context. The helmer was asked to excise the offending parts, but he refused. The picture's release has been delayed: it was to open in two Bangkok screens on April 19, 2007.)

Funded by the city of Vienna as part of the celebration marking the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, "Syndromes and a Century" blurs the line between the past and present, and has been compared to a Harold Pinter play exploring the subjectivity of memory. Based on the director's memory of his doctor parents before they fell in love, "Syndromes and a Century", like his earlier "Tropical Malady" (which won a Jury Prize at Cannes in 2004) is divided into two parts, set 40 years apart.

Just like the way our memory plays with us, "Syndromes and a Century" often appears like snippets and keeps wandering from one slot to another, though the path it takes is often witty. Here are some examples. A dentist wants to become a singer and takes an interest in one of his patients. A Buddhist monk dreams of becoming a disc jockey. A doctor fumbles before proclaiming his passionate love for a fellow doctor, when she tells him about her infatuation for an orchid expert. A woman doctor hides a pint of liquor inside a prosthetic limb. A monk tells a doctor of some bad dreams he has been having about chickens. A young patient with carbon monoxide poisoning bats tennis balls down a long hospital corridor.

Such images can confuse a viewer, but that best thing is to let the movie sink in, particularly when it speeds from the real to the surreal. However, in the final analysis, "Syndromes and a Century" leaves you in a trance.

The Jury's Prize went to South Korea's "The King and the Clown" by Lee Joon-ik. Set in the 1500s Korea during the Chosun dynasty, the film is an opulence of colour and glitz that underlines a deep political message. Two clowns are arrested by the king when they stage a satire on him, a satire that can be interpreted as downright vulgar in modern times, but which passed for humour then. The jesters make a deal with the king. If they can make him laugh, they should be freed, but the plot slips into a couple of alleys of jealousy and homosexuality, somewhat diluting the theme.

"The King and the Clown" was South Korea's official entry for the Oscars this year.

Besides these award winners, there were a few more movies in Competition that caught my attention for the right and the wrong reason. A trend I noticed this year at Deauville was the inclusion of entries that dealt with para-normal phenomenon. Songyos Sugmakanan's "Dorm" (Thailand) runs like a ghost story seen through the eyes of a 12-year-Old Boy, who feels that his school hostel swimming pool is haunted by the spirit of a student who drowned there. It may catch the fancy of a teenager, but I found it quiet juvenile for adult viewing.

"Route 225" (Japan, Nakamura Yoshihiro) is another bizarre tale of two schoolchildren who find that they have been pushed into the nether world of their dead parents. A confusing film at best, it is, though, extremely well paced and well acted out by its two child artists, Tabe Mikako (as Eriko) and Iwata Chikara (Daigo).

Two movies from China: Yuxin Zhuang's "Teeth of Love" chronicles the love affairs of a young Chinese woman as she moves though the country's turbulent decade from 1977. The director often juxtaposes her mental turmoil with that of China's. Although no patch on China's "Summer Palace" (part of the 2006 Cannes Competition) by Lou Ye (where two lovers play out their erotic love/hate relationship in the backdrop of the nation's intense political unrest), "Teeth of Love" touched me by its intimacy and uncomplicated way of story telling.

Zhang Yang's "Getting Home", was also a simple and straight narrative of a man who carries his Dead Friend, often on his back, across China to his home in Three Georges. Seemingly a film about commitment and honour, "Getting Home" had a hidden agenda. It was propagandist to the core, where the director played PR to the administration by painting a goody-goody picture of his country. Here are some examples. A highway gangster returns the money he robs from the man when he realises his mission. A schoolgirl offers her share of water to the man. A priest embalms the body free of charge. A policeman escorts the man to the dead guy's home. Well, what a fairytale of a China!

Not the best of selection in the three years that I have been to Deauville, but, nonetheless, the effort to showcase Asian cinema in an essentially French city — and which is very well patronised by the locals — is commendable.

Source : www.theseoultimes.com... ( Anglais )

Singer Kang Ta to Begin Activities in Japan (2007/04/17)

2007-04-20T06:15:00.001-07:00

Singer Kang Ta to Begin Activities in Japan (2007/04/17)

Singer Kang Ta, a significant contributor to the Hallyu boom in China, is set to advance to Japan.

He will hold his first fan meeting and live concert June 10 at the NHK Osaka hall, which can seat 1,300 audience members.

A former member of the sensational boy band HOT, Kangta was named a goodwill ambassador for the 2007 Korea-China Exchange Year in light of his great popularity in China.

The Osaka event will include a mini live concert as well as talk show and games, all to be enjoyed with his Japanese fans.

Source : english.kbs.co.kr... ( Anglais )

Japan to Show Encore Films by Director Kim Ki-duk (2007/04/18)

2007-04-20T06:11:00.001-07:00

Japan to Show Encore Films by Director Kim Ki-duk (2007/04/18)

To mark the Japanese release of director Kim Ki-duk's 1996 debut film "Crocodile", a special showing under the title of "Continuing Mandala of Ki-duk" will be held in Euro Space in Tokyo on April 28th. It appears that the name Kim Ki-duk has become a brand in and of itself.

The film "Crocodile" will be shown twice a day until May 18th, together with six other works by Kim--"Birdcage Inn", "The Coast Guard", "Address Unknown", "The Isle", "Bad Guy", and "3-Iron".

Separate from this event, Kim's 2006 film "Time" has been playing at a Japanese theater since March 10th under the title of "Love of Absolute".

Another special presentation of director Kim's films titled "Super Ki-duk Mandala" took place between February 24th and March 16th at the same locale. Starting on the 7th of next month, the two most lauded films from "Super Ki-duk Mandala"--"Wild Animals" and "Real Fiction"--will be shown again.

Eom Tae-woong to Meet with Japanese Fans in Seoul (2007/04/18)

2007-04-20T06:10:00.001-07:00

Eom Tae-woong to Meet with Japanese Fans in Seoul (2007/04/18)

Actor Eom Tae-woong, whose popularity has risen further due to his role in his latest TV drama "Devil", will meet with his Japanese fans in Korea.

Some 130 Japanese fans of the drama will visit the drama's shooting location in Pyeongtaek on April 21 and attend Eom's fan meeting that same evening at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul.

The Japanese fans will present the cast of "Devil" with 10,000 folded-paper cranes to wish success for the drama. Journalists from some 20 Japanese media outlets will reportedly accompany the fans.

Eom has gained popularity in Japan for his role in the TV drama "Revenge". "Devil", which has drawn significant attention in Japan, will air in that country in October on a satellite TV channel.

Source : english.kbs.co.kr... ( Anglais )

Cannes and Korean films

2007-04-20T06:07:00.004-07:00

Two S. Korean films to compete in Cannes Film Festival (2007/04/19)

SEOUL, April 19 (Yonhap) -- Two homegrown films about love have been invited to compete in this year's Cannes International Film Festival, the films' distributors said Thursday.

The two are "Secret Sunshine", the fourth feature film directed by Lee Chang-dong, and "Breath" the fourteenth film of director Kim Ki-duk.

Ryoo's Single 2nd on Oricon Chart (2007/04/19)

2007-04-20T06:07:00.003-07:00

Ryoo's Single 2nd on Oricon Chart (2007/04/19)

Singer and actor Ryoo Si-won's fifth Japanese single "Babylon" ranked second on the Oricon chart upon its release Wednesday.

Babylon features dance music, which is a first for Ryu since his debut. He was coached by the former member "Sam" of Japan's top 90s dance group TRF.

Ryo's regular album "With You" will come out May 23rd and his 2007 nationwide Japanese concert tour will begin June 23rd. He has held the tours for the last two years.

Ryoo's Single 2nd on Oricon Chart (2007/04/19)

2007-04-20T06:07:00.001-07:00

Rain to Perform at Prestigious Tokyo Dome (2007/04/19)

2007-04-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

Would be really really interesting to see whether the sociological profile of the fans I saw at the Lee Byung Hun fan event would be the same as the Rain Pi's fans profile...

Rain to Perform at Prestigious Tokyo Dome (2007/04/19)

In yet another confirmation of his stature as an international star, Rain is scheduled to be the first Korean singer to hold a concert at Japan's Tokyo Dome stadium. The pop sensation traveled to Japan on Wednesday, two days after returning from last week's successful performance in Australia, and announced his plans to perform at the Tokyo Dome at an official press conference.

Star M Entertainment, which is promoting Rain's world tour, recently agreed to bring the "Rain's Coming" tour to the Tokyo Dome on May 25. The Dome has hosted the world's top talents, such as Mariah Carey, the Rolling Stones, and Beyonce. The Dome, which is also the home of the Yomiuri Giants and Korean slugger Lee Seung-yeop, is the ultimate dream of many Japanese performers, but only top-drawer local acts have ascended its stage, including Ayumi Hamasaki, Glay, and SMAP.

Star M Entertainment announced the news in Japan with Rain and said, "With Japan as the axis, Rain spread the wave to Southeast Asia. Now he's reconfirming his stature with the concert at the Tokyo Dome".

The performance at the Tokyo Dome means Rain is one step further from being just an Asian celebrity and one step closer to being a world star. The Dome can hold up to 42,000 people but it requires a minimum of 35,000 tickets to be sold. Only top-selling performers attempt to play there. Among Korean celebrities, Lee Byung-heon held a fan meeting at the Dome last June with 42,000 guests. The Japanese press at the time made a great fuss, calling it the biggest event in the history of the "Korean Wave".

Lingering rumors say that Star M Entertainment was worried about bringing Rain's tour to the Dome, which would mean just once performance there. Rain, however, decided to go ahead with the idea, believing himself to be "Asia's singer" and eager to be the first Korean singer to perform at the fabled stadium. It is said that the concert promoter's Japanese partner UAE strongly pushed for the concert at the massive stadium.

Source : www.chosun.com... ( Anglais Chinois Coréen Japonais )

'Tutor' Teaches No-Fun Lesson (2007/04/19)

2007-04-20T04:41:00.000-07:00

'Tutor' Teaches No-Fun Lesson (2007/04/19)

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

"My Tutor Friend Lesson II" is being promoted as a sequel to the 2003 hit romantic comedy of the same name. It only follows the basic theme of a boy and girl of the same age that happen to meet as student and tutor, and later fall in love.

New actors are cast in this movie. But ironically little changes. It is a typical high-teen romance with a cast of wacky youngsters _ you can easily guess how things turn out. The only big change is that it is worse than the original.

Directed by Kim Ho-jung and Ji Kil-woong, the film is a romantic tale between a Korean man and Japanese woman.

Junko (played by Lee Cheong-ah) is a Japanese of Korean ancestry, who falls in love with a Korean student in Japan. As he goes back to Seoul, she decides to visit him.

Junko finally comes to Seoul as an exchange student to the same university as her sweetheart. She finds lodging at a guesthouse that provides room and board.

She dreams of meeting her love and confessing her true feelings for him in Korean, but things turn out to be more challenging than she expected.

Junko discovers that her sweetheart has gone into the army, and the guesthouse is full of wacky boys including Jong-man (by Park Ki-woong), the son of the place's owner.

When Junko wants to leave the guesthouse, Jong-man entices her to stay by lying to her that her sweetheart used to live in her very room. And Jong-man's father offers her private Korean lessons from his son.

The first half of the film attempts to produce fun moments from the cultural differences between Korea and Japan, which are often exaggerated. For example, Junko is shocked by the Korean dining culture, in which people eat the same soup using their own spoon.

The film also exploits the fact that she is under the influence of the mischievous boy. Junko often finds herself in awkward situations when she practices her Korean. Jong-man has taught her mostly slang or inappropriate expressions.

Supporting characters do not help the film. They are too wacky to be part of the story. It is like a short television comedy show is added to the film out of blue, and tragic of all it adds no charm or humor.

As a pathetic effort to produce hilarious moments, the film includes a scene where the main characters sing karaoke with strange performances. It is just like the scenes that we have seen too often in other films such as "My Boss, My Hero" and "Almost Love".

In the later half, the film suddenly turns serious, uncovering Jong-man's secret _ why this talented boxer has stopped boxing and instead spends most of time to earn and save money.

As you can easily expect, Jong-man gets over his agony with the help of Junko. The rest of the film simply follows a generic high school girl's romance storyline.

Though the basic idea is quite appealing, it could have been much more fun had it been developed with a stronger and better-written script. It's a problem that has plagued local films recently.

Source : www.koreatimes.co.kr... ( Anglais Coréen ) Films/dramas liés à l'actualité

My Tutor Friend Lesson II
(동갑내기 과외하기 레슨 II - 2007)
Almost Love
(청춘만화 - 2006)

My Tutor Friend
(동갑내기 과외하기 - 2003)
My Boss, My Hero
(두사부일체 (頭師父一體) - 2001)

Daniel Miller at Hallym University

2007-04-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

For those who are interested, the following event takes place at my univ.
It's at Hallym Univ, Chuncheon

60th Hallym Communication Colloquium

What is a mobile phone relationship?

Daniel Miller (Anthropology, University College of London)

일시: 2007. 4. 18. (수) 오후 5:00-6:30PM
장소: 한림대학교 다산관 5층 사회과학연구원 회의실

blogs on pop

2007-04-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

this is a blog I found recently
www.popseoul.com
enjoy

blog on Asian pop

2007-04-12T01:57:00.000-07:00

Came across this blog in my research promenade of the day:
http://koreapopwars.blogspot.com
bonne lecture ^^

Arirang

2007-04-10T01:34:00.000-07:00

For those who are interested in Korean TV, Arirang let you watch online their Korean TV programs if you register for free on their website. It's in Korean, subtitled in English.

Korean wave in Japan (metropolis article)

2007-04-05T22:17:00.001-07:00

You gotta have Seoul:
Korea Reconsidered
Differing views of history as portrayed in a school textbook have again sent diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan into a deep freeze. But at the grassroots things are warming up. Dan Grunebaum looks beyond the government line.
Shoppers in trendy Shibuya flock to Parco's Tondaemon Ichiba Korean clothes market, devour the latest Korean films and popular music, and book trips to Seoul in record numbers. Korean food no longer means only yakiniku. K-pop is cool. What's more, one of Japan's biggest stars, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi of SMAP, is trying to make it big in South Korea as well.
Although hard to quantify, it's clear that something is changing in Japan. In droves, Japanese are discovering their neighbor, a country whose culture was systematically repressed in the prewar years and then systematically ignored in the postwar era as Japan became besotted with American Big Macs and rock'n'roll.

When it comes to history, the Japanese feel reserve towards Koreans. But the young don't feel this.

Quixotic quest
A tour through this wave of Korean culture now sweeping Japan begins at 1am on Friday nights, when Kusanagi of the omnipresent pop group SMAP takes his quixotic quest to conquer Korea onto Fuji Television, in an unusual pseudo-documentary program entitled “Chonan Kan.” A distinctly serious alternative to the usual lowbrow late night fare, the show features Kusanagi as Chonan Kan, an alter ego distinct from his familiar identity as the sensitive guy of SMAP.
Kusanagi's search for success takes him to Seoul and through various strata of Korean society and its entertainment industry. Along the way, Kusanagi, who learned Hangul (Korean) for the program, is forced to confront the realities of Korean perceptions of Japan, and to reconsider his own identity as a Japanese. A recent episode of the program, which began last April and will continue until March, featured Kusanagi drinking with a Korean soldier. The young man had broken up with his first love in the course of his mandatory military duty, and castigated the selfishness and lack of a sense of duty among the Japanese.
Fuji Television's Itsuko Onuki says Kusanagi launched the program because he wanted to boost his profile in Korea to match that of hunkier SMAP member Takuya Kimura, who is already popular there. But along the way, the program seems to have metamorphosed into a sometimes-profound reconsideration of Korean and Japanese identities, albeit with comic overtones.
Onuki says that the program is producing strong ratings and that viewer response has been overwhelming. “Not only Kusanagi fans, but various [other] people are watching. Viewers have been particularly impressed with his attempts to master Korean. Some say he has inspired them to return to their studies, while others who had no interest are becoming interested in Korea.”
The program hasn't shied away from historical problems including, recently, a discussion of the thorny textbook issue. Things don't always go smoothly, says Onuki. “But with a top Japanese star trying to articulate Korean culture to a Japanese audience, Japanese-Koreans in particular are very appreciative.” The show might not solve any political problems, she grants. “But it can serve as a bridge between people and create a positive image for each other's cultures.”

Kool sites
Over in the more freewheeling realm of cyberspace, meanwhile, a vibrant and unprecedented exchange between Koreans and Japanese is taking place at all levels, from the casual to the academic. A recent segment on NHK's flagship evening news program featured young Japanese traveling to Korea to meet Korean peers they had first contacted over the Internet. At a party organized at a disco in Seoul, the teenagers struggled to communicate but were clearly infatuated with each other.
In a more intellectual vein, a number of websites exist with the intention of fostering serious dialogue between the two peoples. Kim Myung-Soo, a Japan-born Korean sociology professor at Kyoto Koka Women's University, launched The HAN World (www.han.org) in 1995. Standing for “Habitants of Alienation Network,” the trilingual site (Japanese, Korean and English) offers a bulletin board and links to a wealth of resources.
Kim says that the site has seen steady growth since its launch and now receives about 1,000 hits per day. He notes that, as with “Chonan Kan,” his website is prompting Japanese to reconsider their identity. “Many Japanese don't have a sense of national identity,” he says. “Through a consideration of Korean-Japanese identity, Japanese first begin to consider their own identity.”
Kim adds that when he first launched the site, what surprised him most was how many Japanese wrote to apologize. “More than half the messages I received were from Japanese,” he says. “What surprised me even more was the fact that many of them apologized for the colonial occupation of Korea by Japan.”
When asked about a perceived Korea boom in Japan, Kim observed that, as with much popular culture, young Japanese women are in the vanguard. “Among females, from three years ago when the World Cup was decided, there has been a boom in travel and food and Korean esthŽ.” Japanese men, he says, still retain a more limited view. “Recently, complex issues of culture and identity are beginning to be considered, but men are still focused on politics.”

Kogyaru fashion
For a clearer picture of the impact of women on the Korea boom, take a stroll over to Tondaemon Ichiba market (Tondemun Sijan in Korean), which occupies two floors of Shibuya's youth culture Mecca, Parco department store. Opened in September 2000, the market is named for Seoul's Tondemun East Gate, an area that houses small-scale Korean apparel manufacturers and retailers that have become popular with Japanese tourists.
Less well-known is the role these manufacturers played in the kogyaru boom of the last few years. Because they were able to accommodate the rush orders of kogyaru designers like Egoist, the Korean manufacturers caught the attention of Japan's Market Production Co., which invited them to set up shop in Parco last year.
While the fashions are perhaps more Japanese than Korean, one aspect of the market is distinctly Korean: shoppers are encouraged to bargain, with discounts of up to 20 percent possible for the skillful negotiator. Tondaemon manager Mikio Minami says that his market is in it for the long haul. “In the beginning we were boosted by phenomenal media coverage,” he says. “But we're still doing well. As K-pop and Korean movies get popular, we are seeing steadily growing interest. Rather than any temporary boom related to World Cup soccer, we have long-term business and cultural exchange in mind.”
With the success of the first Tondaemon Ichiba, a second, even larger outlet was opened in March in Yokohama's World Porters, with plans, says Minami, to expand to Shinjuku and Osaka in the near future. Elsewhere in the fashion world, the organizers of the Seoul Collection fashion show are planning a joint Korean-Japan fashion show to coincide with the World Cup, with ten designers from each country to be invited.

K-pop on top
Another window on Seoul can be found in Korean popular music's increasingly high profile in Japan, perhaps not a surprising development considering the closeness of K-pop and J-pop, and the links between fashion and music.
Korean acts like hip hop duo Drunken Tiger and dance group H.O.T. are gaining visibility in Japan, while leading J-pop label Avex Trax recently inked a deal with leading Korean record company SM Entertainment to sell the latest sounds from South Korea.
For a closer look, turn to cable music channel Space Shower's “Korean Wave” program, which features a weekly Korean Top 20 countdown on Thursday nights from 9:30-10pm. The program is produced by Korean music channel m.net, which also started trial broadcasting of its own in Japan in June. The director of “Korean Wave,” Hwang Joon-Ho, explains the appeal of K-pop: “Idoru (idol) music is big in Korea, and its similarity to Japanese bands like SMAP and the Kinki Kids makes it accessible to Japanese.”
Space Shower's Taniyuki Osawa adds that even before Korea relaxed its laws restricting Japanese cultural imports in 1998, there was mutual interest at the grassroots level. “Young Japanese and Korean artists have been collaborating for some time now,” he says. “Famous Japanese visual-kei band Glay, for example, has invited Korean bands to join them onstage. Japanese artists are actively approaching Korean musicians.” The logical conclusion to this is Y2K, a rock group consisting of 18-year-old Yuichi Matsuo of Japan, his 15-year-old brother Koji, and 20-year-old Ko Jieh-Gun of South Korea, who are enjoying considerable popularity in both countries. Korean bands, meanwhile, are also now a regular feature at the leading Fuji Rock Festival.

Celluloid revolution
Many trace the roots of the Korea boom to Shuri, the film tracing the struggles of North and South Korean agents that was a big hit in 2000. The movie launched a wave of Korean films that will see more than ten feature flicks shown in Japan through next year.
The liberalization of Japanese culture in Korea also enabled the launching of co-productions, one of which was last year's Peppermint Candy, a joint production of South Korea's East Film and Japan's public broadcaster, NHK. “With the ending of the law preventing broadcast of Japanese media, we had the freedom to show such a film in South Korea,” says NHK producer Makoto Ueda. “Up until now we had co-productions, but as a result of the Japan connection we weren't able to show them. Being able to show them in both countries was one reason for us to begin this co-production.”
Peppermint Candy recalls the May 1980 Kwanju Incident, in which Korean police violently quelled a student demonstration, and, Ueda says, it was well received in Japan despite its intense theme. “We were worried about how it would be received, as it has a rather serious subject matter, but Japanese audiences liked it and were very interested in it. People who saw it said it was very moving.”
Ueda believes that the current Korea boom provides a welcome opportunity for Japanese to get to understand Korea and vice versa. “I don't know if it will continue,” he concludes. “But I do hope that it will, and that it will progress even in the midst of this recession.”

Seoul food
Others point to the increasingly high quality of Korean goods as a factor behind the boom, a phenomenon that reaches its apex at some of the Korean haute cuisine restaurants that have recently sprung up around Tokyo. One of these is Li Nam Ha, the flagship eatery in Daikanyama named for the “Grand Chef” of the Chanto chain of 31 restaurants.
Commenting on the recent interest in authentic Korean dining, Li notes that until very recently Korean food in Japan meant the inevitable yakiniku. “Korean food has not been viewed as a gourmet cuisine,” he says. “That is the present reality. So we are trying to educate people about truly excellent Korean food.” He says Korean cuisine is healthy and includes a lot of vegetables, and so sits well with the current trend towards vegetarian and natural food.
Fashionable Aoyama eatery Jap Cho Ok perfectly represents this trend, offering the finest and freshest ingredients prepared to reflect the best in traditional and contemporary Korean dining. Designed to evoke a Buddhist temple, the highlight of the menu is a 15-course vegetarian set that includes such exotic flavors as fried ginseng and steaming hot vegetable bibimpap (sizzling stone pot rice).
With all the hype surrounding the World Cup, and the Japanese government's current eagerness to put the textbook issue and other problems behind it, a bit of skepticism is in order regarding any so-called “Korea boom.” And, in the country's current fascination with Korea, one detects a certain sense of reflexive nostalgia for a more innocent, bygone Japan. This came to an apex in the outpouring of emotion unleashed when Korean student Lee Su-Hyon gave his life trying to save a drunken Japanese man at Tokyo's Shin-Okubo station last January, but also finds expression in the '70s retro clothing worn by SMAP's Kusanagi in his role as Chonan Kan. Yet even if the current vogue for things Korean passes, few can argue that opportunities for cultural interaction are on the rise.
Some observe, however, that all this unprecedented cultural interaction may have an unintended consequence. “When it comes to history, [older] Japanese feel reserve towards Koreans,” says Professor Kim. “But the young don't feel this.” As they come into contact with Koreans who are decidedly more nationalistic than they are, he says, "The Japanese may come to dislike Koreans and develop a nationalistic streak themselves."

http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/406/feat/feature.asp

Japan's Empire of Cool

2007-04-05T22:04:00.001-07:00

Japan's Empire of Cool
Country's Culture Becomes Its Biggest Export

By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 27, 2003; Page A01

TOKYO -- In the supercharged air of Shibuya, Tokyo's fiercely hip teen quarter, music videos by Japanese pop stars topping the charts throughout Asia boom from towering, outdoor liquid-crystal display screens. The streets below are clogged with hordes of young women wearing the Japanese schoolgirl look -- streetwalker's makeup, sexy stockings and plaid miniskirts -- styled by international fashion magazines as the height of child-delinquent chic.

Under a galaxy of neon, cubicle-sized stores sell trendy trinkets, including phone mascots -- cute characters first dangled off cell phones here years ago, now common in Seoul and Hong Kong and seen in Sydney, New York and Paris.

Customers browse shelves packed with comic books, or manga, at Mandarake, a national chain and the world's largest seller of manga and anime. "If it's Japanese, the world wants it," says the chain's president. "Japan is hot." (Kenei Sato For The Washington Post)

_____News From Japan_____

• Koizumi, Hu Meet to Address Tensions (The Washington Post, Apr 24, 2005)
• Koizumi, Hu to Meet At Weekend Summit (The Washington Post, Apr 23, 2005)
• Japan Honors War Dead and Opens Neighbors' Wounds (The Washington Post, Apr 23, 2005)
• More News from Japan

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In the cacophony of cool, foreigners mingle with streams of Japanese descending by a cave-like hole into the entrance of Mandarake, the world's largest Japanese manga -- comics -- and anime department store. They buy original celluloids, or cels, from Japanese animation, most at about $30 each, along with comic books, action figures, posters and CDs. Hundreds of online orders come in daily to operators speaking Japanese, English, Spanish, French and Korean.

Company President Masuzo Furukawa, whose office is entered through an anime-like tube with round, orange electronic doors, is direct about the reason: "If it's Japanese, the world wants it. Japan is hot."

Even as this country of 127 million has lost its status as a global economic superpower and the national confidence has been sapped by a 13-year economic slump, Japan is reinventing itself -- this time as the coolest nation on Earth.

Analysts are marveling at the breadth of a recent explosion in cultural exports, and many argue that the international embrace of Japan's pop culture, film, food, style and arts is second only to that of the United States. Business leaders and government officials are now referring to Japan's "gross national cool" as a new engine for economic growth and societal buoyancy.

Revenue from royalties and sales of music, video games, anime, art, films and fashion soared to $12.5 billion in 2002, up 300 percent from 1992. During the same period, Japanese exports overall increased by only 15 percent. Its cultural exports are now worth three and a half times the value of all the televisions this nation exported in 2002, according to a report by the research arm of the trade conglomerate Marubeni.

"Japan is finding a new place in the world, and new benefits, through the worldwide obsession with its culture -- especially pop culture," said Tsutomu Sugiura, director of the Marubeni Research Institute. "The global embrace of things Japanese has given us a new kind of influence, different than what Japan once had, but influence nonetheless."

Sushi in Sao Paulo

A new crop of internationally famous architects have led Japan's emergence as a force in international design.

Shigeru Ban recently won the competition for the new Pompidou Center in Metz, France, and Tadao Ando, winner of both the Pritzker Prize and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal, designed the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. Ando is currently working on the spectacular and huge Francois Pinault Foundation for Contemporary Art on an island in the Seine in suburban Paris.

Takashi Murakami, whose "superflat" art movement has earned him the reputation as a new Andy Warhol, inaugurated a whimsical, high-profile, anime-like sculpture at Rockefeller Center this fall. His playful works on canvas, scooped up mainly by foreign buyers, have fetched prices near $600,000 at New York art auctions. Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs collaborated with Murakami to create a series of Vuitton handbags that was one of its top sellers last year.

Rei Kawakubo, who established Comme des Garcons, and the houses of Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto have for years been at the top of international fashion. But they now hold court alongside younger Japanese designers such as Jun Takahashi of the Undercover label, dubbed by several leading fashion editors as the hottest breakout designer in years. Junya Watanabe, a Kawakubo protege, has also made a big stir in fashion circles.

Japan's culture of kawaii, or cute, epitomized by playful designs in ice cream colors such as cherry-blossom pink and tea green, is increasingly as recognizable around the world as Americana. France's Pierre Herme, the Paris dessert chef and retailer, picked kawaii as the theme for his fall/winter 2003 designs, with fantasy pastries in the soft, silky hues of kimonos and anime.

Sushi, once an urban trend, has become as globally ubiquitous as the Big Mac. Brazil's Veja Magazine reported this month that there are now more sushi restaurants than Brazilian barbeques in Sao Paulo, South America's largest city, where residents consume an estimated 278 sushi rolls per minute. And in Paris, on the Rue de la Gaite, the entire street has filled with sushi restaurants over just the past two years, said Patrice Jorland, cultural attaché at the French Embassy in Tokyo. "This is Paris, yes, Paris," he said.

Even traditional Japanese culture, which long ago influenced the French Impressionists and furniture design in Europe, is reaching farther afield. A school of ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, recently opened in South Africa, and ikebana conventions have been held in Zimbabwe and Taiwan. The next one is scheduled for Vienna next year. The drumming group Kodo has won international acclaim, playing New York's Carnegie Hall as well as the Acropolis in Athens.

And a tea-ceremony school recently opened in Nova Scotia. "We had one nurse come in and say she wanted to learn the way of tea and wear a kimono just because she had read all the books coming out on geisha life," said John McGee, a 30-year master of Japanese tea who left Kyoto in the 1990s to found the school near Halifax. "It has gotten completely out of control."

Beyond Hello Kitty

Inside the anime department store, Andy, a 42-year-old from London, was buying dozens of original anime cels -- paintings on transparent plastic sheets used to create an animation -- for his own collection and resale at home. One cel frame depicted a doe-eyed young man who looked like a character from "G-Force," a Japanese cartoon popular in the United States during the 1980s. "Forget it; this character is much newer," he said, unwilling to give his last name for fear such resales may not be entirely legal. "If that were really 'G-Force,' it would be vintage. We're talking eight times the price, more, back in London."

Lighter-fare manga and anime franchises such as Pokemon, translated into more than 30 languages and available in 65 countries, are still hugely popular and contributing to the global fascination with Japan's youth culture. But around the world, Japan is not just about Hello Kitty anymore. Shonen Jump, a leading Japanese comic, was launched in the United States last year and has reached a monthly circulation of 540,000. Video games with Japanese themes, such as Tenchu and The Way of the Samurai, rank among the hottest sellers worldwide.

"There are millions of kids around the world listening to the Japanese language, sometimes without even realizing it, when they play a video game," said Noriyuki Asakura, a former "J-pop" star who composes musical scores for Sony PlayStation video games. "Our audience has never been greater."

The mania has also touched Hollywood. Spoken partly in Japanese and with a long anime sequence, Quentin Tarantino's hit "Kill Bill" incorporates Japan's ancient traditions and Tokyo's modern pop culture in an homage to Japanese coolness. Tom Cruise joined a host of celebrated Japanese actors in the new epic "The Last Samurai." And the costumes and atmosphere of the recently concluded "Matrix" series were rooted primarily in Japanese manga.

In Japanese film, Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" won the Oscar this year for best animated feature, while Takeshi Kitano's "Zatoichi" walked away with the coveted best director's award at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Japan's emergence today as a cultural superpower is, observers say, the product of various factors. In the United States, Japanese anime and manga, the key source of Japan's newfound popularity, were embraced during the 1970s and 1980s by a fertile subculture of technology-minded Americans, some of whom went on to spark the dot-com explosion.

"The geeks who read manga as kids went on to become the millionaires of the 1990s," said Washington-based journalist Douglas McGray, who wrote an article in Foreign Policy magazine on Japan's gross national cool and is credited with coining the term. "They spread their interest in things Japanese."

A record 3 million people around the world are now studying the Japanese language, compared with only 127,000 in 1997, according to the Japan Foundation and Tokyo's Marubeni Research Institute.

David Janes, program officer for the New York-based U.S.-Japan Foundation, attributes the huge increase in Japanese-language students to the spread of Japan's pop culture. He said he visited a high school in Iowa with 80 kids in a Japanese program and "what really amazed me is that when we asked why they were studying the language, the majority of them didn't hesitate. They said manga and anime."

Cultural Kaleidoscope

Japan's role in the world has changed dramatically over the decades, from expansionist military empire in the first half of the 20th century to global economic superpower in the 1980s. Although its economy is still the second-largest in the world, the bursting of Japan's economic bubble in 1990 and its limping economy of the past decade have dimmed the American perception of Japan as a global financial competitor.

Meanwhile, outside the United States, Japan is being viewed as a more neutral, alternative source of entertainment at a time when anti-Americanism is running high.

In Asia, where resentment of Japanese invasions before and during World War II still runs deep and Japanese cultural imports in many countries were banned, Japan's pop icons have easily overtaken their U.S. counterparts.

A ban in South Korea only increased the cache of Japan's pop culture among many young South Koreans, and created a huge black market in Seoul for Japanese magazines, comics, music and films. As the two nations have moved toward closer ties in recent years, those restrictions have gradually loosened, with the ban scheduled to be completely lifted in 2004.

Across East Asia, J-pop -- a cuter, softer and Japanized version of American pop -- rules supreme. Groups such as Kinki Kids and Glay, both Japanese boy bands, have topped the charts in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. Despite the still-frosty relations between Japan and China, Glay played to one of their largest crowds ever in October 2002 in Beijing, luring a sold-out audience of 35,000.

"Japan led the funk and punk culture of the young generation," said Karl Hwang, a Seoul-based Korean entertainment-industry analyst. "For Korean kids, coming out of the military era, Japanese culture was full of those things that Koreans were deprived of. The Japanese successfully transformed Western culture into their own. And for Koreans and other Asians, the similarity in appearance helped us accept Japanized Western culture rather than directly copying Western culture. Take blue jeans for example. Japanese made blue jeans are much more comfortable in size, fit and design for Koreans than U.S.-made jeans."

Critics say that Japan is merely a cultural prism, absorbing influences from abroad and reflecting them back, albeit altered to Japanese taste. But many say that it is precisely the attraction.

"Japanese culture absorbs things, but then puts a different interpretation to it," said Naoki Takizawa, a top designer for the fashion house of Issey Miyake. "Some people may say that we don't correctly understand the history of what has come from overseas. But we attach a different creativeness to things . . . our own sense of beauty. If you take a look at Shibuya, you see an energetic performance going on there, all the girls who want to be like dolls, like characters [in anime]. . . . Japan is a creative culture and the world is beginning to understand that."

Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.

Comics Soar as New Korean Wave

2007-04-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Comics Soar as New Korean Wave
Jeong Yang-hwan Reporter
The Dong-a Ilbo photo

news
Korean comic books are making inroads overseas. The domestic market for comics is not that good. Foreign works, mostly Japanese, account for more than 80 percent of the market, according to industry figures. This would be less of an evil if the market itself was growing, but it is steadily shrinking year by year.

Though the situation looks bleak, growth in the export of Korean comic books is raising hopes. According to an industry white paper, exports of comics have grown from a mere US$240,000 in 1999 to US$1.9 million in 2004 and then US$3.26 million in 2006. In addition, while Korean comics were sold mainly to Japan and a few other Asian countries in the past, they are now grabbing readers in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia.

“Until recently Korean comics were largely regarded as poor cousins of the Japanese ones, but they are now growing in popularity thanks to the authors’ individuality,” says a representative from Editions S.E.E.B.D., the publishing company that has introduced Korean comics to France.

Comics Version of TV Drama Leads the Way

“Palace Story” (Goong, Seoul Cultural Publishers) by Park So-hee was also a hit when dramatized for TV. While the overseas success of the drama series, titled “Princess Hours,” is anticipated, the comic book series has already become popular in its own right, leading the Korean wave in comics, or manhwa.

“Palace Story” is popular not only in Asian countries such as China, Japan and Hong Kong, but also in France and Italy. It has racked up sales of over 110,000 and 80,000 copies in Taiwan and Vietnam respectively, and its release in the United States is planned for early 2007.

“Chonchu” by Kim Sung-jae and “Yureka” by Son Hee-joon and Kim Youn-gyeong (Haksan Publishing Ltd.) have been enthusiastically received both inside and outside Korea. Winner of the 2003 Korean Cartoonists Association Award, “Chonchu” was released the same year in France, where 15 volumes have been published so far. Local readers have fallen for the tough drawings and tragic story, so much so that over 20,000 copies of the first volume have been published.

As for “Yureka,” the most popular serial carried in the comic magazine “Chance,” the number of copies published so far in France tops 15,000. It is acclaimed for its colorful characters and its setting in a computer game.

Park Hee-jeong’s “Hotel Africa” and “Fever” (Seoul Cultural Publishers) are so popular in French-speaking countries that the author has held autograph sessions in France and Switzerland. Her elegant drawings and story-telling style have gained her a strong following.

On the strength of the French edition’s success, plans are being made to publish an English edition in early 2007 for release in the United States and other English-speaking countries. Park’s next series, “Martin and John,” and the short work, “Too Long,” will also be released in both French and English.

Online Versions Spread Popularity

The rage for Korean comics is not limited to comic books; they are becoming popular online at the same time. The Internet comics site www.ecomix.co.kr is exploring the American online market.

Ecomix has established a separate American site, www.netcomics.com, and is offering 30 titles (some 80 volumes in total). The cost for reading one volume is only US$1 so the number of visitors is growing. On average the site attracts 2,000-3,000 people per day. Ecomix expects the number will rise five-fold within the next year.

Ecomix’s strong point is that it offers a new series simultaneously to both Korean and foreign readers. Some of the site’s most sought out titles are “Almost Highly Classified” by Kim Jin-tae, “June” by Lee Young-ran and “100% Perfect Girl” by Wann.

Daewon C.I. also has a good export record and is now considering simultaneous publication in Korean and other languages and offering titles online as they unfold. The company’s major titles include “Arcana” by Lee So-yeong and “The President’s Daughter” by Lim Ju-yeon.

“Exports were first limited in area and mostly dependent on foreign agencies,” says Kim Nam-ho, international licensing manager at Daewon C.I. “Recently, however, we’ve been concluding contracts on our own in America and Europe and profits have improved greatly.”

[ Dec. 23, 2006 ]

Japanese Actor Ken Watanabe to Make First Visit to Korea (2007/03/30)

2007-04-05T18:31:00.001-07:00

World famous Japanese actor Ken Watanabe will make his first visit to Korea to participate in the press preview of his latest film "Memories of Tomorrow", scheduled to be released in Korea on April 23.

Watanabe has become famous worldwide for his charismatic acting shown in Hollywood films such as "Last Samurai", "Batman Begins", and "Memoirs of a Geisha". He has many fans in Korea.

The Japanese actor is committed to promoting his latest film because it is his first work where he not only played a leading role but also participated in the production. He was nominated for the best leading actor award at the recently-held Asian Film Awards for his role, which is completely different from his past masculine, tough roles, along with Korean actor Song Kang-ho ("The Host") and Jeong Ji-hoon, the real name of singer Rain ("I'm Cyborg, But That's Ok").

Source : english.kbs.co.kr... ( Anglais )

Jeon Ji-hyeon Cedes Advertising Power to Jang Dong-gun (2007/03/30)

2007-04-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Consumers no longer feel that Jeon Ji-hyun is the most bankable advertising model and instead name Jang Dong-gun. The finding is the result of a survey of 1,465 people in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province by brand consultancy Brand38 from March 5 until 15. The interviewees were asked to choose three stars they think are most appealing as commercial models. Jeon, who had always ranked top or second from the top in the biannual survey that started in 2003, fell to fifth place.

◆ Jeon Ji-hyeon out, Jang Dong-gun in

Jeon took the top spot five times and second place three times in a total of eight surveys by Brand38, beating out superstars like Lee Young-ae, Lee Hyo-lee, Kim Tae-hee, Song Hye-kyo and Lee Na-young. But in the latest survey Jeon surrendered her place to Jang Dong-gun, the last survey's runner-up, and ended up in the fifth place.

What the two stars have in common is that they have done nothing but appear in commercials for quite some time. So why is one falling and the other rising? "Jeon still has name value as the most bankable commercial model, but it seems consumers are getting tired of her eternal sexy image and so-called "mystery" which has meant she appears on hardly any TV programs except commercials", Brand38 says. "By contrast, Jang has successfully changed his image through commercials from unapproachable aristocrat to guy next door".

◆ Where have all the pretty boys gone?

Comedian and TV presenter Yoo Jae-seok rose to second place from 15th in the previous survey. Other comedians like Park Myeong-soo (17th) and No Hong-cheol (31st) also rose. The three saw their popularity grow on MBC's popular TV show "Infinite Challenge".

The consultancy says appearance still matters when it comes to commercials, but it is getting less and less important. "Economic hardship and harsh realities throughout society seem to make comedians more appealing to consumers", it explains. "In the previous survey in the first half of 2006, Lee Joon-ki -- the star of the film 'The King and the Clown' -- and Daniel Henney, who rose to stardom with MBC hit drama 'My Name is Kim Sam-soon', ranked near the top in fourth and 12th respectively, but they both fell below 50th this time. That shows that good-looking stars tend to experience a sudden rise and fall".

◆ Who is suitable for what?

The survey also focused on what type of advertising is suitable for which star according to his or her image. Jang Dong-gun, who is thought of as "handsome" and "gentlemanly", was thought to be suitable for fashion and car advertising. Singer Rain, who is associated with "passion", was judged to be perfect for telecom commercials, and "sexy" and "pretty" Jeon Ji-hyeon and "sexy" and "attractive" Lee Hyo-lee were thought best suited to fashion advertising.

◆ Politicians make it on the list

With a political season coming up with the presidential election, politicians, made their way into the list of the top 50. Former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak ranked 40th and former Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye 44th. Among businessmen, Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee shared 40th place with the former mayor.

Source : www.chosun.com... ( Anglais Chinois Coréen Japonais ) Films/dramas liés à l'actualité

Sociology of Japanese pop culture fans The case of Japanese literature

2007-04-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

Main sources:

- field work conducted at Hallym University and Yonsei University, May 2006 and at Kyobo Bookshop, Spring 2007

- To be read, Aoyagi, 2005, the island of eight million smiles…

Two or three opening remarks

- Literature may be considered as a peculiar object of idolatry in the branch of pop culture, yet some contemporary writers’ novels will be considered as object of pop culture.

- Since pop culture usually involves individuals (i.e. singers, actors), that incarnate/embody the object of desire in the eyes of their fans, what may motivate/or be the focus of interest, in literature, might be then the narrative, a characteristic shared with television serials for instance.

- Literature and television serials may share one characteristic in common: the language of emotions. What explains the success of Korean dramas, for instance, is the very fact that Korean actors express naturally their emotions (field trip, Japan, Spring 2006). Korean dramas were often dubbed as “tearjerkers” for that particular reason. Serials have managed to overcome the frontier/hurdle of language, cultural differences to speak to people’s heart (to be developed in a coming paper on Korean audiovisual production and tears, 2007).

Japanese contemporary literature: why should it be an object of critical interest?

- pop culture is quite pervasive in our everyday lives, yet the presence of J pop in Korea should be qualified because of the quota systems and the long ban on Japanese pop culture in Korea

- “popular” Japanese pop culture commodities in Korea: mangas, J Pop, dramas, entertainment programs. So, what room is left for Japanese literature? Why should it be deemed as a “popular” Japanese pop culture?

- Contemporary literature as a new weapon of soft power (Nye, 2004) for Japan

- Japanese literature, the threshold to a more Japanese-scented cultural commodity (reference to the concept of cultural odour, Iwabuchi, 2002), the acceptance of the Japanese identity in cultural contents

Japanese literature fans in South Korea: who are you?

- mainly popular among the youth (high school student, college students), as well as young adults (see pictures for proof) in South Korea

- both genders are represented, though it may be thought that Japanese literature could first and foremost appeal to feminine audiences

Japanese literature fans in South Korea: why do you read such novels?

- an apathy towards local literature, deemed as obscure, complex (interviews conducted in Spring 2006)

- a fresh insight of the Japanese society, as some of the novels give clues about the contemporary everyday life in Japan… though these clues sometimes only reflect the effects of nowadays globalisation process. You want to see in someone else’s culture what you already have in your own culture. Grass always seems greener in the neighbour’s garden…

Final disclaimer: this is only the beginning…

- these remarks emanate from a few interviews conducted in Spring 2006 and “ethnographic” observation in bookshops, as well as Japanese/Korean newspapers articles on this rather recent phenomenon

- it should be completed by statistical work through semi-conducted interviews

- it should be completed by in-depth interviews conducted among Korean readers of Japanese literature

- current main hurdle for the research: my poor Korean language abilities, as well as Koreans’ shyness when it comes to speaking in English!

- Aim of the field during Spring 2007-Summer 2007:
· elaborate a questionnaire in Korean, to be submitted to Korean people, randomly if possible
· chase for Korean readers fond of Japanese literature... may this blog/website be the interface for that purpose too… So, if you are a Korean fan of Japanese literature, came by chance to this page, and feel like chatting with me (face to face interview, msn chat, skype chat), do feel free to leave me a comment on this page so that I can contact you. Well, of course, any Asian interested in Japanese contemporary literature is an interesting subject of interview in case I enlarge the scope of my study…

Cheers to all, Aska

introducing...

2007-04-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hi,

So, in a few words, I'll introduce myself.

I have graduated from Ecole Doctorale de l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, from which I hold a MA (Master Recherche mention sociétés et politiques comparées, spécialité Asie).

My MA thesis was entitled: When South Korea and Japan encounter. Soft power and pop culture, the Korean-Japanese case

It was conducted by Professor Jean-Marie Bouissou (CERI Sciences Po) and Professor Kim Shin-Dong (iCAT/Hallym University).

To put it in a nutshell, I tackled there topics such as:
- the emergence of two soft powers (State-led logic versus market logic),
- sociology of pop culture fans in Japan and South Korea based on field work observations,
- mapping of Korean enclaves in Japan and their shift in perception since the hanryu in Japan
- effects of pop culture commodities consumption on the perception of the Otherness,
- the emergence of an epistemic community based on shared values,
- the presence of Korean actors in Japanese advertising and entertainment programs as an externality of the Korean soft power

From September 2006 to December 2006, I was part of the Asia Culture Academy Youth Workshop among 15 participants from 9 countries.
www.asiafellow.net

In this framework, I took part to the Asia Culture Forum in Gwangju
www.asiacultureforum.org
I had the opportunity to present there a part of my MA thesis dealing with Japanese advertising.
"Taming the Otherness: the taming and institutionalisation process of Korean actors in Japanese medias" was presented during the "Doing Cultural Spaces" part of Asia Culture Forum, in a roundtable moderated by Yoon Tae Jin.

Nowadays, until August 2007, I am research associate at iCAT (Institute for Communication Arts and Technology), Hallym University, Chuncheon, South Korea. My research is supervised by Pr Kim Shin-Dong.

Current research projects include:

- A book chapter that should get published in Fall 2007 at New York University Press.
The book deals with hanryu, and my chapter is devoted to Korean actors in Japanese medias.
Temptative title of the book chapter: "Taming the Hatred Beloved Other: the representation of Korean actors in Japanese advertising and entertainment programs". This research project will be presented during Cultural Typhoon in July 2007 in Nagoya, Japan, and during NAJAKS 2007 in August 2007 at Copenhagen University, Denmark.

- A survey on Asian media.
I edited a compilation of quantitative data and qualitative data collected by my comrades from ACA Youth Workshop.
I should start soon an article about the compilation of data.
Temptative title: Asian television. An international outlook at domestic and foreign programs.

That's it for today.
I'll post soon my "sources" for the first article on advertising, as well as any relevant info and other research topics.

Please feel free to leave any comment. I hope this blog will not remain a window to my research projects. I wish it also becomes a platform of discussion among young researchers as me on pop culture & media as well as pop culture fans.

Cheers, Aska

debut

2007-04-03T23:45:00.000-07:00

This blog will be devoted to my research project on Asian pop culture and Asian media. Please feel free to contact me through the comments during my research!
Cheers,
Aska

research on Asian pop and media

CFP films studies

CFP

CFP Bremen

seen in le monde; chinese blockbuster

CFP

CFP

CFP

publishing opp

Crossroads 2008 in Jamaica

arte & china

to be read

book review

CFP

CFP

CFP

CFP

CFP Call for papers

Interstice

WS in Korea

CFP Fukuoka

Conf in Athens, CFP

CFP Conference in Leeds

CFP on popular culture

grants opportunity

Korean grant

publishing opportunities: asian media

Good news: publishing

Asian dramas on mysoju.com

conference at Temple univ

Article from Libération about manga

[Talk of the town] Soap star king (2007/06/06)

KOCCA introduces its own Content Export Specialists Group (2007/06/06)

Family Home of Ryoo Si-won a Popular Tourist Spot (2007/06/07)

'China becoming future Hollywood' (2007/06/07)

Cannes and Asian films

Secret sunshine

Japanese soft power in Korea: Japanese anime, dubbed in Korean

Manhwa bar in Seoul

Second hand Japanese mangas in Seoul

"Dans la bataille des images, l'Europe doit constituer un pôle fort face aux USA et à l'Asie"

LEE Byeong-heon Cast in High Profile Japanese Film (2007/04/20)

'Winter Sonata' Fever Continues in Japan (2007/04/20)

キム・テヒ 日本で“ソウル大学出身の韓流スター”関心爆発

日本 韓国ドラマのリメイク版放送…韓流“再点火”

『HERO』のイ・ビョンホン＆木村拓哉 釜山で記者会見

box office, Korean films, as of March April 2007

『春のワルツ』ソ・ドヨン 「完結編ではなく、新たな愛の始まり」

東京ドーム公演を控えたRain(ピ)「5月25日に会いましょう！ 」

チャングム”イ・ヨンエ 東京ドームで4万人とファンミーティング

イ・ビョンホン 映画『HERO』で木村拓哉と競演

Japanese Fans Keen on Drama 'Mawang' ("Devil") (2007/04/13)

Actress Kim Seon-ah Publishes 'Samsoon' in Japan (2007/04/16)

Star Lee Hyo-lee Stirring Interest in Japan (2007/04/16)

[Talk of the town] JAPANESE HALLYU FANS FLOCK TO SEE SEO DO-YEONG (2007/04/17)

The Good and the not so good (2007/04/17)

Singer Kang Ta to Begin Activities in Japan (2007/04/17)

Japan to Show Encore Films by Director Kim Ki-duk (2007/04/18)

Eom Tae-woong to Meet with Japanese Fans in Seoul (2007/04/18)

Cannes and Korean films

Ryoo's Single 2nd on Oricon Chart (2007/04/19)

Ryoo's Single 2nd on Oricon Chart (2007/04/19)

Rain to Perform at Prestigious Tokyo Dome (2007/04/19)

'Tutor' Teaches No-Fun Lesson (2007/04/19)

Daniel Miller at Hallym University

blogs on pop

blog on Asian pop

Arirang

Korean wave in Japan (metropolis article)

Japan's Empire of Cool

Comics Soar as New Korean Wave

Japanese Actor Ken Watanabe to Make First Visit to Korea (2007/03/30)

Jeon Ji-hyeon Cedes Advertising Power to Jang Dong-gun (2007/03/30)

Sociology of Japanese pop culture fans The case of Japanese literature

introducing...

debut

キム・テヒ　日本で“ソウル大学出身の韓流スター”関心爆発

日本　韓国ドラマのリメイク版放送…韓流“再点火”

『HERO』のイ・ビョンホン＆木村拓哉　釜山で記者会見

『春のワルツ』ソ・ドヨン「完結編ではなく、新たな愛の始まり」

東京ドーム公演を控えたRain(ピ)「5月25日に会いましょう！　」

チャングム”イ・ヨンエ　東京ドームで4万人とファンミーティング

イ・ビョンホン　映画『HERO』で木村拓哉と競演