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Good one. Cruel fate, cruel world, cruel irony, etc. are interesting examples. But I think they actually are portraying agency, through poetically anthropomorphizing the situations.

My vote is for “atrociously sultry day”

It kind of reminds me of the hype over “murder hornets,” which was a mis(re)translation of satsujin-bachi, itself a mistranslation of “killer bee.” www.newyorker.com/culture/cult...

Agreed on the song, but no, no agency implied by the original term in this context. Just the excessiveness.

This is a really odd translation of this new term for an extremely hot day. The NYT renders 酷暑日 (kokushobi) as “cruel heat day.” But that implies an agency that weather cannot have. “Brutally hot day” is a better localization.

The newest episode of Pure Tokyoscope is a gas gas gas as @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I plunge into the two hottest drops in Japanese pop culture of the moment: the new remakes of “The Human Vapor” and “Ghost in the Shell”: www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

Japan isn’t mentioned in Mattel’s book “The Story of Barbie and the Woman That Created Her,” either. Even as collectors/insiders, I think you’ll be interested in the essay; it’s based on the never-translated memoir of Fumiko Miyatsuka, the seamstress who made Barbie’s first wardrobe (and Licca’s!)

In the piece, my man

Onitsuka Tiger!

I hear you, but it was conspicuously not mentioned in the film, which made a big deal of the doll's origins.

Licca-chan, which outsells Barbie in Japan, is set to make a comeback to the US this year. Licca-chan was designed by the woman who worked on the very first Barbie dolls, which for some reason Mattel doesn’t want you to know were made entirely in Japan. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/an-america...

This is a really cool site that compiles Japanese station melodies, and profiles the musician who made some of the most famous ones. The 1989 ones really brought back memories. sheets.works/data-viz/bel...

Episode 172 of the PURE TOKYOSCOPE Podcast is live! This time, @mattalt.bsky.social and I talk about the life and times of the late showbiz legend Akihiro Miwa. Also: Ultra problems for Ultraman and Doraemon, plus Japan’s ice cream cartel! Listen now at: www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

See also: www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8xM...

Now that the Japanese government has officially registered “Japanese tea” as a regional brand, it’s time to revive the debate about whether the same should be done for anime and manga, which are arguably even MORE copied globally. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/anime-is-t...

On the latest episode of Pure Tokyoscope, @patrickmacias.bsky.social and I reminisce about the legendary Miwa Akihiro, who passed away last week. Why isn’t “Black Lizard” out on Blu-Ray?!? www.tokyoscope.blog/p/pure-tokyo...

I was in the ABC Radio National lobby when this was recorded LOL!!!!

The last of the 10 most important books that have inspired my career is also the most recent. Eight Million Ways to Happiness by @hirokoyoda.bsky.social has inspired me more than I can express in words. I wish I could write like her. I recommended this to the El Paso Catholic Bishop a few weeks ago.

Definitely, the cast had real chemistry.

I checked in on the New Cool Japan Strategy. It isn’t going too well. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/meet-the-n...