This brief update to my blog is to alert readers that I have begun writing for "Eiga Hiho," one of Japan's
biggest cinema magazines.
Being a columnist for Eiga Hiho is an awesome opportunity. Not only because I'll be able to write for a large audience, but also because
I will be writing about my experience seeing movies in New York City during the
1980s. I have so many stories from back then that I really want to put out there.
At the time I worked in the
Brill Building on 49th and Broadway and spent my free time viewing films on the
now long gone "Grind House" strip running down 42nd street between
7th and 8th avenues. I'll be writing every month on this subject for the
magazine, which can be bought in just about any bookshop in Japan. (As you can probably figure, although this blog is in English, the articles are in the Japanese language.)
It was an awesome era back then, a boom time for wild, exploitation films: Day of the Dead, Reanimator, CHUD, The
Gate, Fright Night, Howard the Duck, Invaders from Mars, Return of the Living Dead... I could go on and on about the films I saw
in the area around Times Square.
Strange though the
films may be, stranger still were the people in the audience. My stories for
Eiga Hiho touch upon my direct experiences in the theaters at this time and are
designed to put these films into cultural perspective for the Japanese
audience. By relating how they were viewed and by whom, I hope to give readers
in Japan an understanding of the mindset of the times.
My first piece is
running in the issue currently selling. It's the "April issue," as
seen in the photo here held by my lovely belly dancer friend Hiromi Goto.
Here's the link to
the Eiga Hiho website: http://www.eigahiho.jp/
I would like to give
a big thanks to my friend Yoshiki Takahashi who made this job possible.
The first
installment is on the film "Cannibal Holocaust". Now what should I
write from the upcoming issue? So many stories to choose from...
Not sure when I can get around to the next update, but I'll have lots to report when I do!
