Wrong About Japan
Comments: 9
Peter Carey has a new book coming out next month called Wrong About Japan. I’ve been working with Carey’s Japanese translator, Yoko Miyagi, for more than 10 years (we’re finishing 30 Days in Sydney now) and we had the pleasure of accompanying him and his son to Studio Ghibli during one of their trips to Tokyo.
The Guardian has an excerpt. Can’t wait to see the final book.
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Posted to Books • 2004.12.18 (Sat) • 02:12
Comments
Posted by Durf 2004.12.18, 21:01
Anime is a French word? Gaijin literally means “barbarian”? Hotaru no Haka was set in Tokyo? Here’s hoping he got a good editor for the final version of the book. (It does look interesting, though.)
Posted by eB 2004.12.19, 04:03
Sez here “derived from the French word for ‘animated’”, who knew?
http://www.suzakuseishi.com/FushigiYuugi/Dictionary/
eB
Posted by niji 2004.12.19, 18:57
this book is already out. i saw it in singapore this morning. it is very thin book which i was able to read (tachiyomi) about one third of it in 15 minutes or so.
Posted by jh 2004.12.19, 23:27
I had no idea about the French derivation of “anime” myself, but I guess it makes sense: isn’t there a fairly strong comix culture there, too?
niji — it’s out here, as well. I picked up the Faber edition yesterday at Kinokuniya in Shinjuku.
Posted by Masahiro Morioka 2004.12.26, 07:14
This book seems very interesting. Comments on the questions from a former person. “Anime” is probably an abbreviation of “animation”, just like “Maccu” is an abbreviation of “McDonald’s”. “Gaijin” literally means “outside person”. “Hotaru no Haka” was a story in Nishinomiya and Kobe, Kansai area (not Tokyo).
Posted by him 2004.12.26, 17:23
I just picked up this book in Kinokuniya, here in Bangkok. It’s very enjoyable, easy to read and very short :( Also, is it meant to be out yet? I ask because the copyright pages all say “first published in 2005” and barring some weird Thai time travel experiments, I’m certain it’s still 2004 :)
Posted by Tesco 2004.12.28, 04:54
Recently when the book was serialized on BBC Radio Four, I heard them mention a book, “Little Adventures in Tokyo” which is published by the company I work for. Funny enough, long after the Careys’ trip, do we now have the book, “Cruising the Anime City.” I think Carey’s son deserves a copy!
Posted by Durf 2005.01.04, 13:22
@ Masahiro: Thanks for your comment. I actually know that the gaijin and Hotaru no Haka things are wrong in that article; that’s why I commented on them. The Nihongo Daijiten lists animêshon as derived form the English word, which is also what I expect … If it came from French it would be something like animashion, non?
Posted by Riccardo Sartori 2006.03.07, 05:55
@ Durf: Actually “barbarian” originally means “stranger”, so…
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