The 2013 Modernist Revival - part 2
"The 39 Steps" is currently enjoying a revival in London's West End - although I'm a bit alarmed that it's being described as a "family-comedy".Also, any fans of…See More
Dieselpunk + Steampunk Culture
-
John Paul Catton
- Male
- Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Japan
- Articles (11)
- Discussions (18)
- Events
- Photos
- Photo Albums
- Movies
John Paul Catton's Discussions
Book Reviews Anyone?
Is anyone interested in either sending me Dieselpunk/Steampunk books to review, or reviewing books that I can send to you? I'm not sure what the group rules have to say on this, and I'm not sure…Continue
Tags: Dieselpunk, reviews, Book
Started Feb 11
Ray Bradbury RIP
2 Replies
I just wanted to say how saddened I am by the passing of Ray Bradbury, and note how much of his work foreshadowed Steampunk (Something Wicked This Way Comes), Dieselpunk (Fahrenheit 451) and Raygun…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Cap'n Tony Jun 11, 2012.
John Paul Catton's Page
Latest Activity
John Paul Catton added a discussion to the group Authors and Storytellers
Book Review Policy?
Hi everyone, what's the group policy on book reviews? Is anyone interested in having me review their books, or having books to review? I'd be very interested to hear from people. See More
John Paul Catton posted a discussion
Book Reviews Anyone?
Is anyone interested in either sending me Dieselpunk/Steampunk books to review, or reviewing books that I can send to you? I'm not sure what the group rules have to say on this, and I'm not sure either if Projects is the right place to post this thread, so please let me know. Excelsior!See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
The 2013 Modernist Revival - part 1
I've just come back from a seasonal trip to the UK, and I found evidence of a renewed interest in Modernism, Mod culture, and all kinds of artifacts from the Dieselpunk Era. For example, one major brewery (Elgood's) has been encouraging its pubs to restore their interior furnishings to their original designs - by which, they meant the Twenties and Thirties. Here are shots taken in the Wagon and Horses pub, Cambridge. More later!…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
Happy Holidays to all at Dieselpunks!
Good wishes to all, and in 2013 I hope to finish my articles on Japan in the Jazz Age, and post more on things I've discovered and two-fisted fiction I've written. Until then, here are the promised pictures of the restored 1914 era Tokyo Station buildings. …See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
Tokyo Station restored to original 1914 glory
About three weeks ago, the renovated facades and interior of Tokyo station (Marunouchi side) were unveiled to the public, and the scaffolding and tarpaulins that have been up for the best part of ten years were all packed away. This huge red-brick building was first put up in 1914 and was the central symbol of modernist…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
Josen: Women and War (and more Robots)
I swear I am not making this stuff up. About a week ago, the Japan Times ran an article on an exclusive cabaret club in Tokyo's adult-entertainment area of Kabukicho, and this club's unique selling point is ... robots. Not cute, manga-type robots; not mecha; not industrial/rescue machines; but 3-meter tall "Sucker Punch" style Fembots that scare the life out of you with their Amazonian breasts and Uncanny-Valley type faces.…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
Rare photos discovered of Tokyo in 1922
The Japan Times has announced the existence of 6 aerial pictures of Tokyo before the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. These were found in the collection of an anonymous private collector (I have no idea why they have only just been publicized) and were taken by pilots of the Ito Hikoki Kenkyujo (Ito Airplane Research…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
The Rise of the Robots
"The Japanese Jazz Age" will return, but in the meanwhile, here's tale of two fellers who built a giant clunky spage-age robot in their own backyard. Okay, to be correct it's a "mecha" and not a robot, but I think the Steampunk/Dieselpunk aesthetic still holds.Two enterprising Japanese engineers have taken their robomania to its…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
The Japanese Jazz Age part 4: "The Dance that could not be Named"
When Tomoyoshi Murayama returned to Japan in 1922 after a year's study in Germany, the avant-garde movement in Taisho period Tokyo gained one of its most flamboyant and energetic artists. Murayama had been in Germany to ostensibly study philosophy, but he quickly gave that up and threw himself into the Dada and Futurism movements,…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
The Japanese Jazz Age part 3: "The Dynamism of the Automobile"
At the same time as the Dada movement was finding followers in Japan, the Futurists were also gaining ground. The leading exponent, the artist Tai Kambara, published the first Japanese Futurist poem, “The Dynamism of the Automobile”, in Shincho magazine in 1917. One translated excerpt reads:Acute angle Acute angle Obtuse angle…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
The Japanese Jazz Age part 2: "Breaking the Dish"
Yesterday was the 89th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake, the seismic event that destroyed Tokyo at the end of the Taisho Period. At the beginning of the Emperor Taisho's reign, however, 12 years before, the nation was rocked by shock waves of a different kind - the radical cultural ideas and avant-garde…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
The Japanese Jazz Age
One hundred years ago this month (almost), the reign of the Emperor Taisho began in Japan and ushered in a new wave of Modernism. The gates to the West had been cautiously opened during the Meiji era, leading to rapid industrialization; now, with a new, Liberal-minded Emperor, there came a flood of new ideas, fashions, artists, and writers. It lasted for 14 years until the Showa era and the military government - and I hope to write more about it in the weeks to come, on a quest for Japanese…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
Airships and Kimonos
Dieselpunk doesn't really exist as a genre in Japan. There are some anime that suit the genre aesthetics (I'll write about them some other time) but the historical period itself is a fascinating and singular one in the nation's history.The Taisho period lasted from 1912 to 1926 and was a time of liberalism and social…See More
Articles by John Paul Catton
Ray Bradbury Retrospective
The Mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse. The dim light of one in the morning, the moonlight from the open sky framed through the great window, touched here and there on the brass and the copper and the steel of the faintly trembling beast. Light flickered on bits of ruby glass and on sensitive capillary hairs in the nylon-brushed nostrils of the creature that…See More
John Paul Catton posted a discussion
Ray Bradbury RIP
I just wanted to say how saddened I am by the passing of Ray Bradbury, and note how much of his work foreshadowed Steampunk (Something Wicked This Way Comes), Dieselpunk (Fahrenheit 451) and Raygun Gothic (The Martian Chronicles). I first came across his books when I was about 6 or 7 and he, more than anyone else, started me off on my lifelong love of reading. I think the first story I read was in an anthology called S is for Space, and then it was Dandelion Wine, The Halloween Tree, the books…See More
Profile Information
John Paul Catton's Articles
The 2013 Modernist Revival - part 2
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 1:23am 5 Comments 0 Favorites
"The 39 Steps" is currently enjoying a revival in London's West End - although I'm a bit alarmed that it's being described as a "family-comedy".…
Continue The 2013 Modernist Revival - part 1
Posted on January 3, 2013 at 2:30am 0 Comments 2 Favorites
I've just come back from a seasonal trip to the UK, and I found evidence of a renewed interest in Modernism, Mod culture, and all kinds of artifacts from the Dieselpunk Era. For example, one major brewery (Elgood's) has been encouraging its pubs to restore their interior furnishings to their original designs - by which, they meant the Twenties and Thirties. Here are shots taken in the Wagon and Horses pub, Cambridge.
More later!…
Continue Happy Holidays to all at Dieselpunks!
Posted on December 23, 2012 at 1:17am 0 Comments 4 Favorites
Good wishes to all, and in 2013 I hope to finish my articles on Japan in the Jazz Age, and post more on things I've discovered and two-fisted fiction I've written. Until then, here are the promised pictures of the restored 1914 era Tokyo Station buildings. …
Tokyo Station restored to original 1914 glory
Posted on November 3, 2012 at 4:11am 3 Comments 5 Favorites
About three weeks ago, the renovated facades and interior of Tokyo station (Marunouchi side) were unveiled to the public, and the scaffolding and tarpaulins that have been up for the best part of ten years were all packed away. This huge red-brick building was first put up in 1914 and was the central…
Continue
© 2013 Created by Tome Wilson.
Comment Wall (1 comment)
You need to be a member of Dieselpunks to add comments!
Join Dieselpunks
Welcome, John. Great to have a member from Japan.