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Where is Lu Yang? Not here nor there; they might well be this new supernatural life form Maupassant could feel invading his everyday when the world became planetary, an invisible entity coming from abroad and unstoppable. Indeed, Lu Yang (LY) is unstoppable, unlocalizable, out of time and space. Planetary being? Asian superhero? Their aesthetics are avowedly Asianesque, with clear references to Japanese otaku culture, Buddhism, Chinese characters. This is 1990s techno-orientalism on speed opening onto what Livia Monnet calls a planetary unconscious.
Contributor Notes
Christophe Thouny is associate professor of media, literary and cultural studies at Ritsumeikan University. His field of research covers East Asian media and urban cultures, Japanese literature, intellectual history, ecocriticism, and planetary thinking. Thouny is co-editor of Planetary Atmospheres and Urban Life After Fukushima (Palgrave McMillian, 2017) and has published various articles on Modern Japanese literature, contemporary animation, and film. He is now working on a monograph on cartographic practices of Modern Tokyo in urban ethnography and literature, and an edited volume on the work of Kon Wajirō.