Tune in Tokyo News

Holy Crap, I'm on Andrew Sullivan's Blog!

2012-01-19T19:38:00.001-08:00

Wow, this is really quite something. I've been reading Andrew Sullivan's blog religiously for about 5 years, ever since he became the only conservative voice out there who wasn't a completely delusional nutbag. In fact, he's one of the most clear-thinking and intellectually honest writers I've ever encountered. Anyway, one of the great things about his blog is that, though it's heavily weighted towards politics, it also covers a lot of other great topics that are out there--among them religion vs. atheism, marijuana use among MANY Americans, scientific debates, and, most importantly, the Pet Shop Boys. It's all there. And one of his pet topics is how much he loathes the publishing industry. He did a video response last week to a reader who asked why he hates the publishing industry so much, which was fun. I wrote a letter to him and his team in response and yesterday they ran the letter and, even though I didn't mention the name of the book in my letter (I dropped big clues, but I didn't want to be too unseemly--it's bad to dress like a pimp when you're pimpin'), they actually found the book on Amazon and included hyperlinks for folks to buy it OMG!

Truly, truly a thrill to be on that blog. I love it dearly. It has done a lot to keep me sane over the past decade. Plus, he's as obsessed with Sarah Palin as I am.

Oh Yeah, and Before We Move on to 2012, Tune in Tokyo Was Named One of Publisher's Weekly's Favorite Reads of 2011!

2012-01-07T19:34:00.001-08:00

It's true. Capping off a great year for TiT, Publisher's Weekly swooped in at the last minute and made my Christmas. I LOVE the first sentence of this blurb, which is a backhanded compliment of the first order: "Since this is “favorite” rather than “best”, I’d single out Tune in Tokyo by Tim Anderson as a laugh aloud treat."

PW has been so kind to Tune in Tokyo over the past year, for which I extend my heartfelt ありがとうず。I'm available for guest columns, interviews, and topless centerfolds should the need arise, y'all. Just let me know!

Chopsticks NY Reviews Tune in Tokyo

2011-12-26T18:54:00.001-08:00

Ladies, Chopsticks NY is a bi-weekly magazine that covers all things Japan in NYC. Well, hold on to your bobby socks, because they've given Tune in Tokyo a great review! Go read it and patronize their sponsors or something!

My First Japanese Media Interview!

2011-12-21T13:54:00.001-08:00

Folks, you may have never heard of the Japanese website Axiom before, but you have now because I've told you about it. It's a great site! Anyway, they're running a fun interview with yours truly now and you should go read it and learn something about yourself and also me (mostly me).

New Interview Up Over at the Pubslush Blog

2011-12-20T05:04:00.001-08:00

Pubslush Press is an interesting new publishing venture where writers can submit ten pages and a summary of a manuscript that will then be available to readers, and if the manuscript receives enough reader support it will then be published by Pubslush. And "for every book sold a book will be donated to a child in need." Awesome, no?

Anyway, so they interviewed me for their blog and its up on the site now here:

And here is a handy yootoob explaining the Pubslush deal.

Holy Crap, Tune in Tokyo Excerpt Is Up on Boing Boing!

2011-12-20T04:44:00.000-08:00

Read it here.

TiT Love from Shelf Awareness

2011-12-20T04:42:00.000-08:00

Tune in Tokyo has gotten a GREAT review over at Shelf Awareness, check it out immediately!

Tune in Tokyo Launch Party at Wix Lounge

2011-12-05T09:36:00.001-08:00

The Tune in Tokyo book launch at Wix Lounge was a blast last Wednesday, and I want to thank everyone who came out and the folks at Wix for helping us put on such a great party! I hope everyone got to meet my mother and that she got a chance to tell you that she didn't raise me to use such awful language.

This photo was taken just a few moments before the microphone died because I was holding it too close to my mouth.

Rice cakes, Pocky sticks, sake, Japanese beer, some sushis, and paper plates were all on offer.

Some of my homemade (by that I mean "from a pre-made dough") Tune in Tokyo cookies.

Me signing a book while the cookies look on.

The crowd enjoys itself immeasurably.

Folks stone cold listenin'.

A great shot of me and momma, she in her lovely Christmas sweater.

I was briefly interrupted by a poltergeist during my reading.

The merchandise.

When party photography gets artistic.

You can see more pics on Wix's Facebook page here.

New Edition of Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries Now Available!!

2011-11-29T19:27:00.001-08:00

Well, the big day is here, folks, and I know how happy you must be. The new edition of my book Tune in Tokyo is out now, available on Amazon or at any discerning/misguided indy bookstores. Order yours here!

Congratulations, You Now Have Plans on Wednesday!

2011-11-29T18:42:00.001-08:00

Y'all, my book Tune in Tokyo will officially be published tomorrow, yay! So it's officially Tune in Tokyo Eve, and I, for one, will be partying tonight. (Note: "partying" = tuna noodle casserole + diet cherry 7up)

BUT THERE'S MORE. On Wednesday, myself, Amazon Publishing, and the good folks over at Wix Lounge here in NYC are hosting a party to celebrate the end of Western civilization/publication of TiT, and you are cordially invited to attend with all of your unsavory friends. If you are on Facebook, you can RSVP here. Or you can just show up and plunder the sushi, beer, and nibbly things on offer. I'll be reading a little excerpt and then I'll be doing an old-fashioned strip tease involving a hula hoop and a box of Crunch 'n Munch.

YOU SHOULD COME.

I'm in a Glossy Gay Mag!

2011-11-04T11:08:00.001-07:00

Y'all, Tune in Tokyo is reviewed in the #1 gay magazine in all the land, Instinct, and they call it "occasionally hilarious"! Occasionally, always--these words mean pretty much the same thing, yes? Anyway, the November "Leading Men" issue is on stands now, so I'm on my way to the Barnes and Noble now to pick up several hundred copies to paper my bedroom with. See the review below:

Booklist and Kirkus Like Tune in Tokyo!

2011-11-04T10:41:00.001-07:00

The reviews of the new AmazonEncore edition of my tawdry book Tune in Tokyo are starting to roll in, and so far so good! Booklist and Kirkus had nice things to say, Booklist even going so far as to compare it to David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day. From Booklist:

Sayonara, America. Hello, Kitty...Aside from such classroom encounters and problems of his own with the Japanese language that...recall David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Anderson regales his readers with tales of Japanese popular culture and his own social life, clubbing and karaoke-barhopping around Tokyo...diverting observations on a country that gaijin Anderson calls "America on Opposite Day.

From Kirkus:

Anderson reliably mines the rich comic potential inherent in simple, innocent miscommunications and misunderstandings, but most impressive is the author's ability to sustain his hyperactive comedic voice throughout most of the book without losing his edge. A laugh-out-loud look at the East/West culture clash.

The book is out November 29, you can reserve your copy here, so what are you waiting for?

Big TiT News!

2011-05-26T20:47:00.001-07:00

Hear ye, hear ye, folks. A little publishing outfit in Seattle called Amazon--I think they have a website?--has picked up my book Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries for actual real (i.e., not self-) publication in paperback and as an e-book in December! Can you believe they've made such a reckless/brilliant business decision?! It's through one of their publishing imprints, Amazon Encore, and what's going on, has the world gone mad?

The answer is yes, but things won't go completely batballs crazy until December, so don't lose your shit yet. Above is the new cover for the book and, shockingly, it's a billion times hotter than the one I did. Who knew that actual graphic designers could improve upon the book jacket design work of a very fast typist like myself?

Sadly, Oprah has now gone off the air so it's not possible to be one of her upcoming book club picks. But that's ok, because who wants to have to sit and talk to Oprah?

Tune in Tokyo Successfully (If Fleetingly) Placed on a Bookshelf at the Strand Bookstore, NYC

2011-01-31T11:16:00.001-08:00

Fans of my book Tune in Tokyo have obviously been clamoring for the book to be available in bookstores and not just for sale on Amazon. They've been climbing walls, overturning police cars, and setting themselves on fire in desperate attempts to have their voices heard. I feel your pain, dear readers. I also wish that bookstores would heed the wishes of the people. The people will not be silenced! It's almost exactly like what's going on in Egypt now. (Awesome/Tasteless Segue Into Topical Subject Award, please.)

Anyway, none of this is true, but if it were, fans of Tune in Tokyo would have been celebrating for roughly two hours last Thursday, when the book was placed on a display shelf downstairs at the mighty Strand bookstore here in NYC. The Women's National Book Association (of which I'm a member, because I'm every woman, as you know) was holding its first open mike night and I was on the standby list, yay! I didn't get a chance to read, but since I was on the list my book got some good face time on the display shelf of readers' works.

Another open mike night at the Strand is in the works for the spring, so hopefully my book will be available to buy at one bookstore in the world for two more hours in late April/early May. A victory for the people, in other words.

First Signs of the Apocalypse: Tune in Tokyo and Its Disgraceful Author Get Notice in a Major Magazine OMG

2010-12-22T09:25:00.001-08:00

Folks, Publishers Weekly, the esteemed publication of the publishing industry that usually displays very good judgment in all things, has done the unthinkable and printed an article about me (with a photo) in their actual print magazine and not just on their website! This is the closest they will ever get to disseminating hard-core pornography, and will surely come back to haunt the PW folks’ dreams once Sarah Palin finds out about it and gets out her Twitter rifle. (This profile is available online here)

Not only did PW do this, but, in the same issue, they also gave my book, Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries, a very favorable review (online here), which means they are more likely than ever to experience the flames of unholy hellfire when baby Jesus comes back during Armageddon to decree what books and magazines the saved get to take with them to heaven and which ones will be sent directly to one of Hell’s many mezzanines via Satan’s favorite vehicle, the Toyota Prius.

All of this depravity has been made possible thanks to PW’s first-ever PW Select quarterly self-publishing supplement, which is featured in the December 20 issue of PW. Below is a photo I took of the front page of the supplement, which mentions me and my book and OH MY GOD I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS IT’S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE SOMEBODY CALL RUDOLPH!

I'm speechless, but at least I can still type, so let's wrap this up: I guess my feelings can be best summed up by Laura Dern in Wild at Heart when she says to Nicholas Cage "You got me hotter than Georgia asphalt." Either that line or the one where Nicholas Cage says he has "a boner with a capital O."

Important Book Marketing News: Tune in Tokyo Bookmarks A Go-Go

2010-11-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that any author who has self-published a book, even if that book is stupidly award-worthy like mine, faces an uphill struggle in the fight for visibility in the marketplace. People just don't care about your dumb project! That's why it's the author's job to make them care. Force them to care. Dare them to care. If you are successful at this then you will have a world full of people wondering what life was like before they cared about the book you wrote. And the best way to be successful at this is obvious: bookmarks.

People love bookmarks because they can be used for many things: picking your teeth, cleaning your fingernails, scratching your upper back, dusting the dandruff out of your hair. But did you know they can also be used to mark your place in a book so that you can go back to that place easily the next time you are on the toilet? It's true. So the good news for you is that I now have Tune in Tokyo bookmarks available. The first 10 people to email me and ask for one will get one. Just email me and tell me Tune in Tokyo is the book that made you want to be a dancer, and I'll send you several! Because you deserve at least that many.

Tune in Tokyo Gets Some Love from the Logo Channel!

2010-10-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

Great news for you, readers! My book Tune in Tokyo has been written up by the Logo Channel's Trip Out Gay Travel site, yay! I know it's very important for all y'all to have new TiT-related things to read while blowing off work and touching yourself inappropriately.

Your welcome!

I'm Broke-Ass of the Week!

2010-10-08T09:46:00.001-07:00

Adding to the long, long list of awards and kudos I've been receiving in the wake of the publication of my book (full disclosure: it's a very short list), I've now been named Broke-Ass of the Week on Broke-Ass Stuart's Goddamn Website.

Next stop: the Daytime Emmys.

Tune in Tokyo at the Brooklyn Book Festival

2010-09-14T05:13:00.000-07:00

Folks, my book Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries was on display at the WNBA table at the Brooklyn Book Festival this past Sunday. No, not the Women's National Basketball Association; I'm talking about the Women's National Book Association, which had the acronym first, bitchez. Anyway, of course I'm a member of the WNBA--after all, I'm a proud black woman. And I'll do pretty much anything to be able to display my book on a table--just ask the shirtless boys playing table tennis at Chelsea Piers.

The bottom line is that I was giving away free bookmarks, which explains why the WNBA table was such a hot property on Sunday.

Tune in Tokyo-themed Writing Contest

2010-08-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

My agent Janet Reid (courtroom sketch above) had a Tune in Tokyo-themed writing contest over at her blog. Entrants had to use the following words in a short piece of writing:

Jimmy
frame
viola
smoking
sword

The contest was announced on Friday night and the deadline was midnight on Saturday. Head on over to see the winners, announced today. The top prize goes to a lady by the name of Angela. She will get a copy of my book! (Poor thing.)

Tune in Tokyo Gets Its First Review OMG LOL NSFW LMAO IMHO!!!!!

2010-08-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

People will read anything these days as long as it's got lots of cussin'.

What Terrible Book is Young Clare Reading?

2010-07-25T18:42:00.001-07:00

Well, since you asked, I'll tell you that young Clare is reading a new children's book about adults being lewd and stupid in Japan. It's called Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries, and even though it's a children's book, it is definitely not for kids.

Buy one for yours!

(Clare is reading the chapter about the magic mushrooms and the vaginas.)

Dirty SexxxPics from Tune in Tokyo Book Launch

2010-07-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Folks, one of these days I will blog about something else besides the book that I'm pimping like the dickens. But until that sad, sad day, I'll find some reason, however dubious and downright offensive, to flog this terrible/wonderful chunk of literature.

My dear friend Sarah Pasell was the official TiT photographer and she got some great pics of the proceedings (in a VERY dimly lit room) before it devolved into a desperate and sweaty display of human nudity.

This crowd is thirsty.

Kristen Elde reading about boobs.

Is that Rachel Roth over there on the right? I think it is. Thanks for the cake, Roth. It's dank.

Sarah just told me she heard that Lady Gaga and Kate Perry are cutting each other in the hallway. (It ended up being just two drag queens fighting over a wig.)

A rare sighting of Jimmy out in the wild.

Edmund II playing some lovely tunes from his forthcoming CD "Floating Monk."

Stone cold readin'.

Pull back and.....scene!

Thanks for coming everyone! For real, it was an awesome evening and I hope you had fun. Happy reading!

Book Launch!

2010-07-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Muchos arigatos to everyone who came out last night. It was a great party! And I think everyone liked the cookies I heated up in the oven, dropped on the floor, then passed around the bar.

If anyone has pics from the event, please send them to me via this blog or my book site (there's a link to email me on the main page) or the other blog. Or just "upload" the photos to the "Internet" somewhere (Sarah Palin's facebook page?)

Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries Book Launch 2nite!

2010-07-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

TiT Party! KGB Bar! 7pm! Bring your friends and any D-list celebrities you might know.

I'm bringing cookies...

NYC Gay Mag The Villager Gives Tune in Tokyo a Little Love

2010-07-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Tokyo’s Metropolis Magazine Gives Tune in Tokyo Some Love

2010-07-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

This is excellent! Used to read this mag every week.

Time Out New York Book Launch Mention

2010-07-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

There’s a nice little write-up of the book launch party on the Time Out New York site here. I’m starting to feel the pressure to make pie...

Book Launch Party Validation Dept.

2010-07-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, the Tune in Tokyo book launch is now officially happening because it’s listed in the Village Voice, or at least on their site.

Tune in Tokyo Now Available on Barnes and Noble Site

2010-06-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, I’ve just found out that the book is now available at the Barnes and Noble site here, which is fun because I didn’t know that was going to happen.

Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries Book Launch at KGB Bar in NYC’s East Village July 13

2010-06-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

Come celebrate Tune in Tokyo’s nonarrival in bookstores! I’ll have books on hand and there’s a cool little program planned, so come on out and drink until everything is funny.

KGB listing here.

Tune in Tokyo Now Available on International Amazon sites

2010-06-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

Attention international (non-American) folks: Tune in Tokyo is now available on Amazon's Japanese, German, UK, and French sites, OMG! Sorry, I know this is too late for a few folks out there, but for those of you who haven't ordered yet from the U.S. site, this is magnificent news. You're welcome!

Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries now available on Amazon!

2010-06-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries is now available to order on Amazon. Buy it! Write and post a wonderful/scathing review of it! Pimp it to all the homeless ex-supermodels on your street! (They need to know.)