In 2002 The New York Times carried a several interesting reviews of books related to Japan, both of them tangentially providing good places to start learning about contemporary Japanese life and its historical antecedents. Two, reviews by Jeff Giles and Michiko Kakutani of the popular Japanese author Haruki Murakami's newest translated set of short stories, AFTER THE QUAKE, find in these stories (all transpiring in the one month period between the Great Kansai Earthquake of January 1995 and the Sarin Gas Attack on the Tokyo subway system of March 1995) a meaningful resonance with the aftermath of the events of September 11th in Washington and New York City. The second article, a review by Dennis Washburn of Peter Duus' EMPEROR OF JAPAN, a major biography of the nation's first modern monarch, succinctly covers many of the major historical changes taking place in Japan during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Both articles provide lots of food for thought in addition to intriguing assessments of the books themselves.

Another link worth exploring: Japanese Anti-English (from Morning Edition, Monday, August 19, 2002 -- you will need the free RealOne Player on your computer to hear this report) relates a story about Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi being out to cleanse the Japanese language of English influences. He's launching a Japanese Language Task Force to make people aware of the English words and phrases that have become part of Japanese, with the hopes they'll stop using them. But experts say language is difficult to tame, and the Japanese have transformed so many English words it may be impossible to weed them all out. NPR's Eric Weiner reports. (4:31)

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES:

"How the World Sees Japan", Time Asia (vol 157, no 17), April 30, 2001

Andrew Gordon, "From Modern Girls to Parasites: The Enduring Discourse of Women in Japan", Tsushin (Vol. 7, No. 2), Fall 2001. 

J. Sean Curtin, et. al., "Parasite Singles: International Perspective and Analysis", email correspondence (August 2001).

"Is Japan Still the Future?", WIRED 9.09, September 2001.

Elizabeth Andoh, "Home Kitchens: Cluttered with Conveniences", article archieved on the Tokyo Food Page.

James Brooke, "A Wizard of Animation Has Japan Under His Spell", The New York Times, January 3, 2002.

Japan Today (look under Metropolis and click on FEATURES at the top of the page for one list) provides a wealth of entertaining information on numerous aspects of contemporary popular culture; pay particular attention to the following short articles:

Hello Kitty
Maneki-neko
Pocket Monsters
Fujio Akatsuka