Roland Kelts is a Japanese-American writer, journalist, and author of the book Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US. He has also written numerous articles for the Guardian, The New York Times, The Japan Times, The New Yorker, CNN, BBC, and NHK, among others, exploring how pop culture intersects with and influences society and politics. Kelts has taught at many leading universities such as The University of Tokyo, New York University, Columbia University, and Sophia University, and held talks at many embassies and pop culture conventions. He received a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism from Harvard University in 2017.

In this episode, we discuss his most recent book, The Art of Blade Runner Black Lotus, a deep-dive into the artwork that went into making the first-ever Blade Runner animated series. Along with commentary from Roland, the book includes concept art, sketch work, pre-viz, animation tests, final frames, and interviews with the masterminds behind the show. It’s a gorgeous book that pairs well with coffee tables and kotatsu alike.

LINKS:

• Monkey: New Writing From Japan 
• Roland’s Personal Website/Blog 
• The Lingering Tragedy of Japan’s Lost Generation (Pro tip: Google search the article title to avoid the paywall) 
• United States v. Handley (Wiki) 
• 'Obscene' U.S. Manga Collector Jailed 6 Months (Wired)
• Devil Lady (Wiki) 
• Blade Runner Black Lotus OST (YouTube) 

Got something to say? You can reach me at the following:

• [email protected]

As always, thanks for listening!