Flip fantasia: Engaging an audience with kamishibai

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, October 20, 2011)

TOKYO (TR) – Developing an understanding of the present global financial debacle has perplexed experts and laymen worldwide. One difficulty is that obscure topics like “sub-prime loan” and “sovereign risk” make little sense without a detailed explanation. Another challenge lies in comprehending the mechanics for how these elements came together to fuel the crisis.

The October 1 issue of Tokyo-based weekly business magazine Shukan Diamond took a unique approach to simplify things. Over ten consecutive even-numbered pages — excluding a subscription insert — the publication printed a single descriptive phrase above a half-page cartoon, each　representing a stage in the crisis, to accompany the charts, tables, and main text of an article about the problem.

In the first drawing, a sharply dressed banker is seen handing over home loan agreements (stamped “sub-prime”) to citizens atop a stick of lit dynamite; next, Barack Obama, former Prime Minister Taro Aso, and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao drop armfuls of cash from the basket of a hot-air balloon floating just beneath a darkened sky; and so on. The idea is that a reader will turn each page, almost like a flipbook, and easily comprehend how, for example, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers influenced the lowering of Japan’s credit rating. Read more

Yasukuni Shrine on New Year’s Day

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, January 1, 2012) Read more

New Year’s Eve in Shibuya

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, December 31, 2011) Read more

Keirin ‘Grand Prix 2011′ in Hiratsuka

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, December 30, 2011) Read more

Floats of the Nebuta Festival in Aomori

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, August 17, 2011) Read more

Tori no Ichi Festival in Tokyo’s Asakusa district

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, November 26, 2011) Read more

Tokyo Motor Show rolls out green vehicles

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, December 2, 2011)

TOKYO (TR) – Beginning Saturday, the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show will highlight the latest in environmentally friendly vehicles from automakers worldwide.

The week-long event, held at Tokyo Big Sight in Koto Ward, will feature cars powered by plug-in hybrid, fuel-cell, and next generation hybrid systems from among the approximately 179 exhibitors expected to attend.

Yet attracting the most attention at a press event on Wednesday was a flashy prototype from Toyota for which the power source is undecided. The Fun-Vii is a slim and sleek three-seat concept car that uses capacitance-screen technology to emit messages on its door panels. “It’s a four-wheeled smart phone,” said Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota. Read more

Ex-Olympus chairman Woodford back in Japan, would consider return to helm

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, November 25, 2011)

TOKYO (TR) – Former Olympus president Michael Woodford said on Friday that he would consider a return to the top of the embattled camera and endoscope maker if the shareholders approved, though he is not obsessed by the idea.

“If I’m not wanted back, and the shareholders will make that decision, then that’s fine by me,” said the 53-year-old at a press conference at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. “I’m prepared to go back, I have a commitment to the employees.” Read more

Major developer Sumitomo acquires site of former gangster headquarters in Roppongi

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, November 3, 2011)

TOKYO (TR) – Sumitomo Realty & Development last month acquired a controversial property once used as the headquarters for a yakuza organization in Tokyo’s Roppongi entertainment district, public records show.

Documents obtained from the real estate section of the Minato Ward branch of the legal affairs bureau indicate that on October 11 Sumitomo took title of the 3,800-square-meter property that was once occupied by the infamous TSK.CCC Terminal building, situated midway between the Tokyo Midtown and Roppongi Hills complexes. Read more

Tokyo fest opens with ‘The Three Musketeers,’ Noda offers thanks for Tohoku support

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, October 22, 2011)

TOKYO (TR) – Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was among those in attendance on Saturday in the Roppongi entertainment district of Tokyo for the opening night of the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival, a week-long event that will feature more than 200 films.

Just outside one of the main screening theaters, biz luminaries strode along the ceremonial “green carpet” — a symbol of the fest’s ecological theme — laid upon Keyakizaka-dori at the Roppongi Hills complex in Minato Ward as the assembled crowd snapped photos and sought autographs. Read more

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