Bitstrip No. 1: “Nothing To It”
Interesting Article from 2015 No. 12: “Spring Awakening — Pros and Cons of Broadway Plays in ASL”
Interesting Article of 2015 No. 11: “After Kurosawa: Why the Japanese Independent Film Industry is Hopeful for the Future”
Interesting Article from 2015 No. 10: “Lost in Shangywood”
Sign Language Saturdays No. 4
This week: a focus on Japanese Sign Language! In addition to French and American Sign Language, I have been interested in Japanese culture and (spoken) language for a while, but I never explored Japanese Sign Language, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the the Japan Society posted two videos specifically about Japanese Sign Language.
Check out the two videos #withcaptions below, courtesy of the Japan Society.
The history of the Deaf experience in Japan appears to be a hard-won one, as, according to Karen Nakamura’s Deaf in Japan: Signing and the Politics of Identity (which I have heard very good things about but have not read):
“Up through the end of the 1970s, deaf people in Japan had few legal rights and little social recognition. They were classified as legal minors or mentally deficient. They were unable to obtain driver’s licenses, sign contracts, or write wills.”
They only recently obtained the right to drive, and even now must affix a special sticker to their car…
Anyway, it was great to find these informative videos on the Japan Society YouTube page. To read about some of the fun that I had at the Japan Society a while back, check out my blog post Japan Cuts/Japan Cats: An Informal Photo Essay.
And just for fun, here is the trailer #withcaptions for the movie I saw back then, Neko Samurai:
Interesting Article from 2015 No. 9: “Daniel N. Durant, Telling Stories With His Hands”
French Fridays No. 4
This week’s French word is la berceuse.
On a recent trip to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, I encountered the following painting…
Interesting Article from 2015 No. 8: “The Novel’s Evil Tongue”
Interesting Article from 2015 No. 7: “Yana Novikova on Making ‘The Tribe,’ the Ukraine Drama That Swept Cannes”
To read more about my experience seeing THE TRIBE and meeting Yana Novikova, please see my previous post.
