Ringohan fan-club mailings updates & translations

[frecklegirl]

Yes!! It's a pretty crazy feeling to come back to things that were previously inaccessible to you and suddenly realize you understand them - whether songs, books, manga, media, etc. It makes all the hard work of studying worth it.

What's Ringo File? I have Ringo Allergy, wonder if I should pick that up too. Are there really academic articles about her?

[Nimh]

Ringo File is that book of interviews that came out for her 10th anniversary.
ISBN: 9784860520793 4860520793
OCLC Number: 675054994
Description: 347 p. ; 22 cm.

I also have Shiina Ringo vs. J-pop (2004) by the cultural critic Casio Abe, who wrote a really good book on Kitano Takeshi that was translated into English.
ISBN: 4309016049 : 9784309016047
OCLC Number: 76917630
Description: 261 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.
Other Titles: Shiina Ringo vs J-poppu

A few more books are out there, which I've got, that are a bit more fan-oriented. Shockingly, not one book about Ringo since she formed Tokyo Jihen (okay, maybe not so shockingly, but I'd write one!).

[Scribble R]

Originally Posted by Nimh

Ringo File is that book of interviews that came out for her 10th annive
A few more books are out there, which I've got, that are a bit more fan-oriented. Shockingly, not one book about Ringo since she formed Tokyo Jihen (okay, maybe not so shockingly, but I'd write one!).

That (multi-volume) tome has already been written by EMF.

I’m very interested in the development of SG. It’s one of her most interesting albums and I’m dying to know more about it. I remember it giving the impression of an exploding rainbow when I first listened to it.

[frecklegirl]

Oooh, I'm gonna hunt down Ringo File then. Maybe in Fukuoka... I just know if I go to a bookstore in my city, no matter how far away I think it is from the school, the next day a student will tell me he/she saw me there. I don't hate it but it feels strange sometimes... I'd like some privacy while I'm running errands!! I don't need you knowing everything I do/buy...

[Glathannus]

From what I recall, the Ringo File is purely a compilation of interviews (and maybe photos too) which were already available across a dozen magazine issues or so. Personally I'd rather have the original issues, mainly because they (especially the older ones) have much larger pages than the book.

The issues (predominantly Rockin' On Japan) sourced in Ringo File also have the advantage of not being 100% about Shiina Ringo, where they serve as a reminder of what else was hyped up in Japan at the time when these interviews or photoshoots were being conducted (I've noticed plenty of parallel featurettes for other artists who have been off the weeaboo radar and on EMF's radar). So it puts you in a different state of mind where you might have a sense of how Shiina Ringo did or didn't fit in with surrounding pop/rock/fashion culture at the time.

If you'd rather just suspend your awareness about all other aspects of Japan other than whatever Shiina Ringo was doing or saying, then the Ringo File is definitely leaner, but it also seems a bit sheltered to me - like downloading only her portion of a rock festival without knowing if/how/why other artists deserved to be there in the same time and place.