Plenty of Nothing

Do Bijin Look Like Habsburgs?

Eitaku Sensei

If you hurry, there's a 19th-century illustrated volume of Japanese mythology by Sensei Eitaku for sale on Ebay right now.  These two heavenly figures are, I think, Izunami and Izanagi creating the Japanese archipelago with the halberd Amanonuboko.  Amazing?  It's as if Milton drew manga.  Douglas

Japanese Word of the Day: Ehon

Hon is "book", E is "picture": Ehon equals "illustrated book".  Go to the New York Public Library's digital collection of ehon.  Douglas

Evangeline Brandt "Follow Your Dream"

Japanese Victorians

Clearly no one has informed these ladies that Prince Albert is dead and they should be dressed in black.   (From Ohmi Gallery, via No-Sword.)  Douglas

Japanese Politics

Today's New York Times has an interesting piece on the current troubles of Japan's ruling party.  Basically Japan is still trying to recover from 1990, let alone 2008, and the people are beginning to point fingers.  But the best part of the article is the beautiful juxtaposition of headline and photo.  That's what good editing does.

So the question arises, Who would you vote for if you lived in Japan?  I'm thinking,

Douglas

Breaking the Ice

The Awesome Awesomeness of Awesomeness (Now On Film)

They're filming Scott Pilgrim in Toronto right now as we speak, and apart from the sheer awesomeness of it all (screenplay adapted from Bryan Lee O'Malley's manga of unremitting awesome awesomeness; stellar casting including Michael Cera in the lead role, Shaun of the Dead production team, and, fingers crossed, songs by Plumtree), the most awesome aspect of the whole thing is that the city of Toronto is about to appear in a movie in the role of Toronto.

Evaneline Brandt "Concerning the Brevity of Life"

Tiangong Kaiwu

A century before the French invented the encyclopedia the Ming Chinese had Tiangong Kaiwu, an illustrated compendium of arts and metiers, by Song Yingxing (1587-1661).  You can view the whole book here.