This post is not my usual quasi-academic musings — I’m simply beyond stoked about what is about to be my life for the next several days: NIPPON CONNECTION, arguably the premiere Japanese film festival outside of Japan, kicks off tonight in Frankfurt, Germany, and yours truly will be there, taking in all the Japanese sights and sounds and tastes (there’s a soba-ya on site!!!). Since technically I’m supposed to be arriving in Berlin on Thursday to move into our new CAMS Roadtrip housing there, I’m proving my devotion to Japanese film by hitting the festival today, jetting to Berlin tomorrow, and then jetting back at the earliest possible convenience on Friday, so I can enjoy as many new films and (free!) artist talks and lectures as possible. I’ll do my best to blog as much of it as possible; a whole world of ideas and experiences is awaiting me, and I want to share that and find a way to synthesize it into some semblance of crazily fragmented but totally rich meaningfulness. Festival structure and attendance is also one of my current fascinations, so look forward to some observations on that — and watch out for lots of random Japanese in my posts. I’ve been lucky enough to have a Japanese, and then a Korean (whose Japanese was better than her English) roommate at my hostel here in Strasbourg, so linguistically, I’m on a (dragon) roll, as they might say.
I’m especially looking forward to THIS:
There is a free 'Gaming Den' open throughout the festival...any bets as to what I'll be doing when I'm not at talks or screenings?
じゃ、映画祭に行こう！
The Semioptician 
Jealous! Have a blast~! 😀