William Andrews
@william-andrews.bsky.social
Working on: sociocultural history, radicalism, theatre, countercultures, New Left, memory, anti-Olympics, urbanism. Book on Adachi Masao out soon. PhD on 1960s Japan in progress. https://www.williamandrewswriter.com
You can engage with the perceived glamour of the district in the cultural imaginary, both at the time and since, but you shouldn't simply replicate it, especially when you are working in a visceral, popular medium like film with such a capacity for perpetuating misunderstandings. 5/
November 1, 2025 at 8:30 AM
You can engage with the perceived glamour of the district in the cultural imaginary, both at the time and since, but you shouldn't simply replicate it, especially when you are working in a visceral, popular medium like film with such a capacity for perpetuating misunderstandings. 5/
Personally, the most offending example is Sakuran, first a manga by Anno Moyoco and then a 2006 film directed by Ninagawa Mika with her usual penchant for vivid colour. It's a glossy film that, if memory serves, largely glosses over the realities of prostitution in Yoshiwara. 4/
November 1, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Personally, the most offending example is Sakuran, first a manga by Anno Moyoco and then a 2006 film directed by Ninagawa Mika with her usual penchant for vivid colour. It's a glossy film that, if memory serves, largely glosses over the realities of prostitution in Yoshiwara. 4/
Last year, we had the controversial exhibition at Tokyo University of the Arts showcasing the "glamorous culture of Edo's party zone". It was heavily criticized for misrepresenting human trafficking. 3/ www.tokyoartbeat.com/articles/-/d...
November 1, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Last year, we had the controversial exhibition at Tokyo University of the Arts showcasing the "glamorous culture of Edo's party zone". It was heavily criticized for misrepresenting human trafficking. 3/ www.tokyoartbeat.com/articles/-/d...
The current NHK Taiga Drama, Unbound, is also set partly in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. 2/
November 1, 2025 at 8:22 AM
The current NHK Taiga Drama, Unbound, is also set partly in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. 2/
Someone needs to do a deep dive into recent representations of Yoshiwara. The latest example is Tales of Edo Oiran, an immersive theatre event: "a beautiful, fleeting tale of the glamorous courtesans and the lively residents of the red-light district." 1/ immersivefort.com/show/tales-o...
November 1, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Someone needs to do a deep dive into recent representations of Yoshiwara. The latest example is Tales of Edo Oiran, an immersive theatre event: "a beautiful, fleeting tale of the glamorous courtesans and the lively residents of the red-light district." 1/ immersivefort.com/show/tales-o...
New reading for the autumn.
October 19, 2025 at 6:32 AM
New reading for the autumn.
While the 1970 Osaka expo attracted febrile opposition from Japanese artists, the response to the soon-to-close 2025 expo was more muted. An exhibition at Wako University revisits the 1970 anti-expo movement from the perspective of religion and the avant-garde. www.wako.ac.jp/library/news...
October 7, 2025 at 7:03 AM
While the 1970 Osaka expo attracted febrile opposition from Japanese artists, the response to the soon-to-close 2025 expo was more muted. An exhibition at Wako University revisits the 1970 anti-expo movement from the perspective of religion and the avant-garde. www.wako.ac.jp/library/news...
Tosho Shimbun is to shutter next March, bringing to a close the almost 80-year history of the newspaper, which mainly publishes book reviews and author interviews. toshoshimbun.com
October 2, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Tosho Shimbun is to shutter next March, bringing to a close the almost 80-year history of the newspaper, which mainly publishes book reviews and author interviews. toshoshimbun.com
Both Paul Schrader and Mishima Yukio seem chuffed that their film is finally going to screen in Japan.
October 2, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Both Paul Schrader and Mishima Yukio seem chuffed that their film is finally going to screen in Japan.
Settlement reached in lawsuit over future of Kyoto University's Yoshida Dormitory throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/s...
August 29, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Settlement reached in lawsuit over future of Kyoto University's Yoshida Dormitory throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/s...
Lake of Illusions (1982), dir. Hashimoto Shinobu
August 26, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Lake of Illusions (1982), dir. Hashimoto Shinobu
These "flasher bikes" were what Japanese kids dreamed of riding in the 1970s. An arsenal of souped-up lights on the back and various other accessories like mirrors and speedometers. No one ever said late Showa was subtle.
August 5, 2025 at 10:15 AM
These "flasher bikes" were what Japanese kids dreamed of riding in the 1970s. An arsenal of souped-up lights on the back and various other accessories like mirrors and speedometers. No one ever said late Showa was subtle.
Hear me out: Daimajin (1966) vs Galactus (Fantastic Four: First Steps, 2025)
July 29, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Hear me out: Daimajin (1966) vs Galactus (Fantastic Four: First Steps, 2025)
Acclaimed screenwriter Kajiwara Aki ("I Am Kirishima") has just published a memoir about her father, who was a fugitive for many years as a former member of a militant group that carried out a bombing in Tokyo in the 1970s. throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/2025/07/23/d...
July 23, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Acclaimed screenwriter Kajiwara Aki ("I Am Kirishima") has just published a memoir about her father, who was a fugitive for many years as a former member of a militant group that carried out a bombing in Tokyo in the 1970s. throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/2025/07/23/d...
Very pleased to receive a copy of the new issue of Troublemakers magazine, which includes a personal essay I wrote about different migrant experiences in Japan. Given the anti-migrant discourse ahead of Sunday’s election, it happens to be quite timely. troublemakersmag.square.site/product/trou...
July 17, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Very pleased to receive a copy of the new issue of Troublemakers magazine, which includes a personal essay I wrote about different migrant experiences in Japan. Given the anti-migrant discourse ahead of Sunday’s election, it happens to be quite timely. troublemakersmag.square.site/product/trou...
Political graffiti on a post box in a quiet corner of Setagaya, Tokyo. Whatever your stance on the situation in Gaza, that’s a neat way to integrate the Japanese postal mark.
July 3, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Political graffiti on a post box in a quiet corner of Setagaya, Tokyo. Whatever your stance on the situation in Gaza, that’s a neat way to integrate the Japanese postal mark.
It's quite bizarre to see how Yokoo Tadanori's career has gone from progenitor of iconic Shinjuku counterculture to art doyen showcased at Gucci Ginza Gallery. "I have no time left" – or perhaps "I have no (more) time for the left"?
May 17, 2025 at 3:43 AM
It's quite bizarre to see how Yokoo Tadanori's career has gone from progenitor of iconic Shinjuku counterculture to art doyen showcased at Gucci Ginza Gallery. "I have no time left" – or perhaps "I have no (more) time for the left"?
In the current (April) issue of Scenario, which includes Adachi’s script for Escape, Hirasawa Go argues that the film is part of the lineage of landscape theory.
March 29, 2025 at 1:11 PM
In the current (April) issue of Scenario, which includes Adachi’s script for Escape, Hirasawa Go argues that the film is part of the lineage of landscape theory.
The tokenism is extraordinary. The expo won't offer free printed maps in the venue to adhere to the SDGs, as if such a gesture could offset the vast carbon footprint of the pavilions, international visitors and other construction work.
March 29, 2025 at 4:10 AM
The tokenism is extraordinary. The expo won't offer free printed maps in the venue to adhere to the SDGs, as if such a gesture could offset the vast carbon footprint of the pavilions, international visitors and other construction work.
This leaflet about artificial earthquakes (and a lot other things) appeared in my postbox. Conspiracy theory mishmash or Dadaist poetry?
March 1, 2025 at 11:43 PM
This leaflet about artificial earthquakes (and a lot other things) appeared in my postbox. Conspiracy theory mishmash or Dadaist poetry?
My latest acquisitions from Mosakusha are a journal issue on an “alternative left wing” in Japan, including an introduction to the life and work of Ota Ryu, and a kyosanshumi-inflected booklet about student signboards at the University of Tokyo last year.
February 16, 2025 at 3:32 AM
My latest acquisitions from Mosakusha are a journal issue on an “alternative left wing” in Japan, including an introduction to the life and work of Ota Ryu, and a kyosanshumi-inflected booklet about student signboards at the University of Tokyo last year.
Several weeks after it went on release, the personal documentary What Should We Have Done? is still playing to packed houses at Eurospace in Tokyo. It deals with the director's sister, who developed schizophrenia, and his parents' problematic reaction to her condition. www.yidff-live.info/en/4447/
February 2, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Several weeks after it went on release, the personal documentary What Should We Have Done? is still playing to packed houses at Eurospace in Tokyo. It deals with the director's sister, who developed schizophrenia, and his parents' problematic reaction to her condition. www.yidff-live.info/en/4447/
I greatly enjoyed listening to Klaus Hammering talk at Sophia University last night about his ethnographic fieldwork in San'ya. The resulting monograph is a narrative-based, carefully observed study of marginalized yet problematic men and masculinity. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
January 16, 2025 at 7:16 AM
I greatly enjoyed listening to Klaus Hammering talk at Sophia University last night about his ethnographic fieldwork in San'ya. The resulting monograph is a narrative-based, carefully observed study of marginalized yet problematic men and masculinity. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Andrew Gordon and other historians are talking at a symposium about representations of postwar Japanese labour at Waseda on December 23.
December 12, 2024 at 1:25 AM
Andrew Gordon and other historians are talking at a symposium about representations of postwar Japanese labour at Waseda on December 23.