Sushi and Anime

Here in Los Angeles, there’s a local English language newspaper which caters to the Japanese-American community, which runs as its subhead, “Because there’s more to Japanese culture than sushi and anime.” Well dear readers, we here at the Black Moon are here to take a different stance. While we are the first to admit that yes, there is more to Japanese culture than these two facets… these two are important facets, and furthermore, they are the two facets that Westerners are the most familiar with. I can guarantee you, that in the past 10 years, that more young folks around the world have become interested in Japan because of the big-eyed characters of anime, than because of the classic woodblock prints of Hiroshige (and if you don’t believe me, I have a Polish anime magazine I can show you, which has several articles on Japanese food, culture, and language.)

On the Black Moon, therefore, you can expect a little bit of everything. We understand that there is tremendous interaction between Japan and the west, interaction that has been going on for hundreds of years, so we won’t be afraid to ponder, pontificate, question, support or malign, all the many issues that have and will come up from this continual exchange. As our blog sits on the Western side of the Pacific rim, we will also focus on issues in American popular culture, what’s going on in the Asian-American community…. But always with an eye for history, art, culture, and mutual understanding. So while I work on my grand opus, to prove how Sailor Moon was inspired by the psychedelic British film Wonderwall…. enjoy our occasional musings, attend some great events, and always, be ready to learn something new. (posted by J.)