The protest movements of the world are increasingly rallying around anime imagery. Is the US next? blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/anime-acti...

Si te gusta la cultura #japonesa, te recomiendo los libros de @hirokoyoda.bsky.social y @mattalt.bsky.social dedicados a yūrei, yōkai, ninjas y todo lo que mola en esta y en la otra vida: labibliotecadelfenix.com/2025/09/19/y... vía @bibliotecadelfenix.bsky.social

There are some intriguing similarities between the political chaos in Japan in the late Sixties, and the political chaos unfolding in America today. I wonder if there is anything to learn from that. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/politics-c...

“America plushies” as seen by Japan. I could think of a few others… what about you?

Podcast drop! Japan's long known toys aren't just for kids. In this episode, @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I explore how adult collectors are transforming global markets! www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aVN... Jujutsu Whatsit!? The Japanese spirituality hiding in your favorite anime. From AnimeNYC 2025! by @mattalt.bsky.social and @hirokoyoda.bsky.social

@hirokoyoda.bsky.social’s talk from AnimeNYC 2025 about spirituality in anime is now online! Details here! blog.hirokoyoda.com/p/animated-s...

Join @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I in a discussion about AnimeNYC, Shonen Jump, and my article about Kagurabachi for the New Yorker, on the latest PURE TOKYOSCOPE! www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

This is a great dive: by turns technical and cultural, with a nice arc about how Americans struggled to comprehend, let alone localize, anime for Western audiences.

a unique glimpse into the manga mega industry through the eyes of one of its creators. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the current manga and anime boom. #manga #anime #boom #narrative #industrial #complex

Thanks to @comixace.bsky.social for this reaction to my New Yorker feature about Shonen Jump. She compares manga's dynamism to American comics, which she argues are stuck in a creative rut of sequels and reboots of decades-old characters. Can the US compete? www.comicsbeat.com/the-story-th...

Labubus are huge everywhere but Japan. The reasons why illuminate a lot of things about our current moment. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/no-labubus...

Awwww yiiis! @mattalt.bsky.social’s article for New Yorker magazine about the manga IP creation powerhouse Shonen Jump / Shueisha, featuring his time with “Kagurabachi” creator Takeru Hokazono is in this week’s issue! Run the newsstands to get your copy! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

I embedded with the creative team behind “Kagurabachi” to learn how manga are made at Weekly Shonen Jump, which is Japan’s - and the world’s - top manga magazine. You can read all about it in my feature for the New Yorker: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Great timing!

It’s AnineNYC! I’m going to be at the Javits Center today, Saturday, August 23. First, I’ll be having a conversation with “Kagurabachi” artist Takeru Hokazono at 2:45. Then I’ll join @hirokoyoda.bsky.social for her panel about Japanese spirituality at 4:30. See you there!!

Bonus ep for subscribers! Board the Pure Tokyoscope spaceship with @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I for a look-back at Uchusen, the legendary Japanese sci-fi magazine: www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-...

We're at the American Manga Awards! Presented by @mattalt.bsky.social

Enroute to NYC now. Hope to see you this Saturday at AnimeNYC! @hirokoyoda.bsky.social is leading this talk about understanding Japanese spirituality through anime!

No offense to this director, but the difference between Japanese and US animation has nothing to do with Disney and everything to do with manga, which he seems to forget is where ONE PIECE came from in the first place. The thing that makes anime special is manga. collider.com/one-piece-ta...

If cities dream, I suspect the dreams look like this. A tribute to the master of anime backgrounds, Nizo Yamamoto, who passed two years ago this week. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/head-in-th...

On the latest Pure Tokyoscope: Demon Slayer turning Japanese moviegoers into demons?!? www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

I’ll be joining Hiroko for this talk at AnimeNYC later this month - hope to see you there!

You read my newsletter on the topic (right? RIGHT?) -- now hear the podcast! In the latest ep of Pure Tokyoscope, which you also subscribe to (right? RIGHT?) @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I take a look at some of the wildest conspiracy theories to grip Japan. www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

interesting analysis from @mattalt.bsky.social on how conspiracy theories are finally breaking into Japan's political mainstream. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/chemtrails... #conspiracytheory #politics #japan

You’d think they would hire Tarantino to direct a movie about a woman with fifty feet

Podcast drop! A vote for Sanseito was literally a vote against anime and manga. Yet the party used anime-style imagery all over the place! Cognitive dissonance much? @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I deep dive in to the paradox the latest ep, streamable right here: www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

New Pure Tokyoscope episode! Japan’s far right has anime in its sights: open.substack.com/pub/patrickm...

A very Richard Scarry “Busy Busy”-esque scene showing how a Godzilla movie traditionally gets made. From a 1966 movie pamphlet.

TokyoScope News: #Kaiju king Shinji Higuchi is bringing #Gamera back in 4K. The first three Showa-era films get a monster makeover for the 60th anniversary, with all eight classics stomping into #Tokyo theaters this December. Full article: www.tokyoscope.blog/p/kaiju-dire...

Japan has, until recently, possessed a remarkable immunity to the conspiratorial nonsense that has seized societies around the globe. Is that about to change? blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/chemtrails...

A story about how going offline can reconnect you in unexpected ways! blog.hirokoyoda.com/p/nakama

It’s human nature to focus on the negative, but here’s a photo that shows just how far Japan has come. This composite from today’s Asahi Shimbun shows the same spot in Tokyo today, and 87 years ago in 1938. I’ll take tourism (even overtourism) over authoritarianism and fascism any day of the week.

Hurry up & join @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I for this week's highlights in Japanese pop culture, from konbini parking lots to parsing the questionable data from anime streamers! The Pure Tokyoscope podcast is here: www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

This episode has an incredible sound bite from a Toei exec around ‘82 (courtesy @terebifunhouse.bsky.social), who was fretful of airing violence on American television. That’s why anime TV shows weren’t syndicated Speed Racer & Amazing 3 for nearly a decade until Gatchaman. See Fred Ladd’s book:

RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, age 90, the chairman of legendary modelmaker Tamiya. He didn't found the company, but started working there in 1958, just four years after its founding, and helped it shift from its original line of wooden models into the plastic kits it is so well known for today.

Historians will note the last time manga and anime were used as state propaganda was... World War Two, and the period leading up to it.

Ce parti d'extrême droite japonais a été créé en 2020. Dans ses idées il y a que "les Japonais puissent choisir de ne pas porter de masque ni se faire vacciner pendant la pandémie de COVID, que la pandémie a été mise en scène, notamment au profit du «capital financier international lié aux Juifs».

Japan’s Sanseito is a far-right political group that’s pretty much anti-everything — immigrants most of all. They won 15 seats in the parliamentary elections yesterday. And boy, do they want to regulate Japan’s pop culture: blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/pop-and-po...

my essay for @aeon.co on the science of alien languages and science fiction has gone live! This thing is over a year in the making. Give it a read and let us know what you think! #xenolinguistics #alien #language #scifi #philosophy #solaris

Hurry up & join @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I for this week's highlights in Japanese pop culture, from konbini parking lots to parsing the questionable data from anime streamers! The Pure Tokyoscope podcast is here: www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

AWAYSIS was awesome & highly recommended! store.steampowered.com/app/3334760/...

Was wondering why the trainspotters were out in force at Tokyo Station. Then the fabled “Dr. Yellow” showed up. It’s a special test train used for checking the rails.

New life mission unlocked: drinking an Old-Fashioned cocktail out of one of Yasujiro Ozu’s old-fashioned glasses (Ozu museum, Chino, Nagano)

Good news, or maybe not, depending on how you feel about PURE TOKYOSCOPE: @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I survived the end of the world last weekend! Tune in for tips on dodging apocalypse & upcoming anime releases: www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

Japan pioneered reality TV. So why is it that modern Japanese reality TV is so inoffensive, while the American strain is so virulent? blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/japanese-t...

Pure Tokyoscope Patreon peeps! A very special mini episode about that time I led a texture-capture team into the wilds of suburban Maryland for the legendary @jamesgunn.bsky.social scripted game "Lollipop Chainsaw." What's a texture-capture team? Tune in to find out! www.patreon.com/TokyoScopePo...

Like a scene out of Princess Mononoke: at the foot of Mt. Iwo, Yatsugatake, Nagano.

Japan pioneered reality TV. So why is it that modern Japanese reality TV is so inoffensive, while the American strain is so virulent? blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/japanese-t...

On the latest Pure Tokyoscope, @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I dive into the Japanese overtourism epidemic! www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...