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An interview with Dr. Ian Condry of MIT, an anthropologist and author of Hip-Hop Japan. Initially I intended for this interview to sync with my lofi episode, but our conversation ended up veering in a different (and still illuminating) direction, so I decided to let it stand on its own. I also ended up substantially reworking the lofi episode anyway. I hope you enjoy this little bonus episode. At some point in this interview I say gamja like (https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/gamja-hotdog) instead of genba.

On this episode, I talk about lofi beats to study/relax to as a symbol of cultural retreat and loneliness, a reaction to social trauma and young peoples' sense that there is no future. If you've ever wanted to hear about how Toonami relates to precarious labor and global ecological decline, I've got you. Sources: COVID-19, precarity, and loneliness: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-5922.12673 Loneliness and love in late modernity: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351133319-8/loneliness-love-late-modernity-nicholas-hookway-barbara-barbosa-neves-adrian-franklin-roger-patulny Social Acceleration, Hartmut Rosa Resonance, Hartmut Rosa How Lo-Fi Beats's Nostalgic Comfort Transcended The Memes: https://www.mtv.com/news/3161785/lofi-hip-hop-beats-anxiety-livestream-meme/ Inside YouTube’s calming ‘Lofi Hip Hop Radio to Relax/Study to’ community, Kemi Alemoru: https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/40366/1/youtube-lo-fi-hip-hop-study-relax-24-7-livestream-scene 25 Microgenres That (Briefly) Defined the Last 25 Years, Philip Sherburne: https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/microgenres-25th-anniversary/ Keith Rhee, Cowboy Bebop review: https://web.archive.org/web/20120918005603/http://www.ex.org/3.4/23-anime_bebop.html Steve M., Who is Nujabes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWXr6AXtiRw Lofi Girl: https://www.youtube.com/c/LofiGirl Syros: https://www.youtube.com/c/syrosmusic Precarious Japan, Anne Allison Most Americans Are Lonely, And Our Workplace Culture May Not Be Helping, Elena Renken: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/23/798676465/most-americans-are-lonely-and-our-workplace-culture-may-not-be-helping The global pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness in America, Alison Cashin: https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/reports/loneliness-in-america CNN report on hikikomori: https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/11/asia/japanese-millennials-hikikomori-social-recluse/index.html The State of Gig Work in 2021, Monica Anderson, Colleen McClain, Michelle Faverio and Risa Gelles-Watnick: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/12/08/the-state-of-gig-work-in-2021/ Lo-fi beats to quarantine to are booming on YouTube, Julia Alexander: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/20/21222294/lofi-chillhop-youtube-productivity-community-views-subscribers Babbling Corpses, Grafton Tanner Narratives of Loneliness, Multidisciplinary Perspectives from the 21st Century, Olivia Sagan, Eric Miller