I lived in Iruma in Japan, just a forty-five minute express train ride through concrete and hills dotted with statues of former trees shaded with white snow from Tokyo, a place they still call the biggest city in the world. In my view, it is most certainly the biggest city in the world since the city began in my town, of course they don’t say it does but there is not a break in civilisation along the Seibu-Ikebukuro line. Aerials look like winter branches. Shiseido is a cliff face. Ebisu is a smiling giant I have never been scared of. Tokyo’s tendrils extend, most will not agree, along the tracks of the Shinkansen, the bullet train, to Shizuoka and a basin where all of Tokyo’s exhaust goes. The dark side of Fuji, where Tokyo can’t see the poor Shizuokans.
Simone Lazaroo has written three novels, The World Waiting to be Made (TWWTBM), The Australian Fiance and The Travel Writer. She was interviewed by Paul Giffard-Foret in early 2007 and 2008 for his masters thesis. We have published a brief extract of these interviews here.
Peril (Peril Magazine Inc, ISSN 2207-2942) is an online magazine focused on issues of Asian Australian arts and culture. We have been sharing stories since 2006. What we do Peril showcases new literature and stories through diverse forms, including poetry, drama, translations, creative writing, memoir, essays, biographical profiles, interviews and other structures. We are also interested in critical and reflective writing about the visual arts, music, performance, theatre, film and other cultural arts practices. To understand these practices, we profile leading and emerging arts practitioners, particularly Asian Australian practitioners. We foster dialogue and conversation around issues of diverse cultural production and news issues of Asian Australian interest by supporting creative non-fiction, citizen journalism and opinion pieces. Peril is an active contributor to the Australian literary and creative arts communities, hosting and participating in a range of workshops, panels, seminars and events that look to engage the community in cultural production Read More »
Yumi Umiumare as ‘cross-cultural’ rebel in ‘DasSHOKU Hora!!’ Japanese-born performer Yumi Umiumare’s playful investigations of cross-cultural femininity strategically utilise in-between subjectivities to fracture cultured and gendered truths. In 1995 Umiumare devised a performance in Melbourne named Tokyo DasShoku girl.
When I first thought about contributing something for this issue of Peril, I did it with an eye towards amalgamating nifty pop culture moments and oh-so-clever intertextual references involving KITT, MacGyver and Fu Manchu.
