AsiaAlive is a free, interactive, drop-in program for all ages featuring live artist demonstrations, hands-on activities, and information on rotating themes.

Fridays through Sundays, August 7 through 23
12:00 noon–4:00 pm, North Court.
FREE with general admission

In conjunction with Lords of the Samurai, AsiaAlive showcases three Japanese martial art forms.

August 7-9 (Friday through Sunday): Northern California Kendo Federation and Northern California Iaido Association demonstrate kendo kata, fundamental techniques of attacking and counter-attacking with swords.

August 15-16 (Saturday and Sunday) : Northern California Kyudo Federation presents Kyudo, Japanese archery.

August 21-23 (Friday through Sunday): Japanese sword polishing demonstration by Jimmy Hayashi.

Source: http://www.asianart.org/asiaalive.htm

This post was submitted by Larushka.

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Colloquium: Japan’s Political Climate
by Masaki Taniguchi, University of Tokyo
Free and Open to the Public

IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6F [View Directions]

In his talk, Prof. Taniguchi will be discussing the current state of Japanese politics. He will provide the audience with up-to-date analysis on the “Divided Diet” in which opposing parties control the Upper and Lower Houses, the Fukuda Cabinet resignation after only one year in office, and the agendas of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan as they gear up for the upcoming general election. Offering some predictions for the election, Prof. Taniguchi will examine the future of Japanese politics.

Masaki Taniguchi is Associate Professor of Japanese Politics at the Graduate School for Law and Politics, University of Tokyo. He is a member of the National Committee for the Management of Political Funds, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Study Group on the Replacement Candidacy, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Prof. Taniguchi’s recent publications include: Changing Media, Changing Politics (co-edited with Samuel Popkin and Ikuo Kabashima), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, forthcoming; Electoral Reform in Japan, Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2004; Politics and Democracy (co-edited with Arihiro Fukuda), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2002; Representatives and Money: A Report of National Political Funding Research (co-edited with Takeshi Sasaki, Shin’ichi Yoshida, and Shuji Yamamoto), Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1999.

Talk moderated by: T. J. Pempel, Political Science, UCB
Co-sponsored by: Consulate General of Japan, San Francisco
Supported by: The Japan Society of Northern California

For more information visit: http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2008.10.23.html

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Panel Title: Local Bay Area Anime Fans

Location: Panels 1 – Mariott Salons I & II at Fanime

Organized by BayAnime!

Panel Overview:
Gathering, brainstorming, and discussion panel for local Bay Area anime fans! Make new friends! We’ll be generating ideas and brainstorming solutions for how to improve anime-oriented activities in the Bay Area. We’ll discuss things like getting special discounts at local shops, starting new and enhancing existing anime groups and activities, how to get involved in your local anime community, making industry connections in the Bay Area, and anything else the attendees can think of!

Panel Description:
Are you a Bay Area local? Meet other anime fans in the area and make new friends! Help us brainstorm ideas and solutions that will improve anime-oriented activities in the Bay Area.

Thanks to ultramike for designing our flyer!

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What: Film screening and panel for Isao Takahata’s World War II anime film, Grave of the Fireflies. This event is free and open to the public.

Where: Pacific Film Archive Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way at Bowditch [View Map]

Tickets: The box office will open at 1pm. The free tickets will be distributed day of show and are on a first come, first serve basis. Seating begins 20 minutes before the start time.

Panelists:
Susan Napier, author of Anime from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle
Frederik Schodt, author of Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics
Ian Condry, author of Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization
Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica
Dan O’Neill, UC Berkeley, Moderator

Sponsors: Center for Japanese Studies, JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization)

For more details visit: http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2008.09.27.html

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Location: UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall A

Tickets: $16/$24/$30. Sold Out! You can try checking with the ticket office for availability, sign up for the waiting list, or buy a ticket off Craigslist.

Claiming a global readership and internationally recognized as Japan’s leading novelist, writer, and translator, Haruki Murakami is winner of the Yomiuri Prize for his critically acclaimed The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. The author’s numerous works, which have been translated into 36 languages, lead the reader along the interstices between the mundane and the sublime. Murakami’s reading and lecture in Japanese and English will be followed by a conversation with Roland Kelts (Tokyo University lecturer and author of Japanamerica) and a question and answer period with the audience. Presented in association with the Center for Japanese Studies.

Source: Cal Performances

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Format: Symposium. Free and open to the public.

Location: UC Berkeley Alumni House [View Directions]

Panel:
“Crazed Translator Gives Japanese Author Excedrin Headache”
Jay Rubin – (Harvard Univ.) translator of Murakami’s Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, author of Murakami Haruki and the Music of Words

“Lost in Translation? Murakami Haruki and the Japanization of the English Language”
Rebecca Suter – (Univ. of Sydney) author of The Japanization of Modernity: Murakami Haruki between Japan and the United States

“A Spatial Odyssey or, It’s All Greek to Me: East Meets West in Murakami Haruki’s Kafka On the Shore”
Matthew Strecher – (Winona State Univ.) author of Dances with Sheep: The Quest for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki and Haruki Murakami’s Wind-up Bird Chronicle: A Reader’s Guide

“Are There Any More Like You at Home? Cloning Murakami Haruki for the US Market”
Stephen Snyder – (Middlebury College) translator of novels by Natsuo Kirino, Kenzaburo Oe, and Ryu Murakami

Moderated by H. Mack Horton (UC Berkeley) and Alan Tansman (UC Berkeley)

Event details: http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2008.10.12.html

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Location: 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor conference room
Free and open to the public
Leading scholars of Japanese popular culture, literature, and film will discuss Hayao Miyazaki’s work and his international influence in a roundtable panel discussion.

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From the Japanese Society of Northern California website:

To commemorate the millennium anniversary of Murasaki Shikibu’s literary classic, The Tale of Genji, we are pleased to present a series of events that celebrate this historic novel. Lecture events will include a brief overview of the major themes in the work, so prior familiarity with the story will be helpful but is not required to enjoy each presentation.

Co-sponsored by the Institute of East Asian Studies, the Mechanics’ Institute and USF Center for the Pacific Rim

Time: 6:00 Registration, 6:30-8:00 Program
Location: Mechanics’ Institute, 57 Post Street, San Francisco [View Map]
Cost: $5 Students, $10 General Admission, free for Japan Society members & members of cosponsoring organizations

For more information and to pay online: japansocietyofnortherncalifornia.myshopify.com/products/genji-manga

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