AltJapan

So Crazy Japanese Food

Spotted on a recent trip to Minneapolis: a fake Ultraman (not to be confused with THE Fake Ultraman) plugs a local Japanese restaurant chain. We also saw a similar one featuring Godzilla a few blocks downtown. Given the relatively upscale reputation sushi enjoys in Japan (I recall being surprised to discover as a kid that it wasn't really an everyday sort of food over here), it's jarring to see pop characters used to pitch the stuff. But I suppose that's America for ya, where a little Wacky Japan goes a long way!

Do the Yura Yura

The "Yuru-Kyara" (揺るキャラ), a subset of the "working characters" that we profiled in Hello, Please!, are regional mascots created in a semi-desperate effort to boost the visibility of far-flung areas of Japan. Nearly every prefecture boasts its own super kawaii mascot character, and more than a few towns and villages have created their own as well. Most are anthropomorphic versions of the area's specialty (such as a certain crop or a local dish), and costume versions of them are trotted out at festivals and such to keep the kids (and adults) occupied. 

The term "Yuru-Kyara," a contraction that roughly translates into "weak character," was coined by artist Jun Miura. It refers to the fact that the actual marketing potential of most of these guys is limited at best. Here Miura has created an animated music video featuring local mascots from all over Japan. Watch as they bust a move to that festival drum beat! For the truly obsessed, here's a link to all of the videos tagged "Yuru-Kyara" on Youtube.jp.

Kappa Attack

 

 

Thanks to everyone who showed up at the Kappa Ten party last Saturday night at the Artist Garden Gallery in Ikebukuro. Amazing turn-out, one of the best in the three years since I've been going. It was great to see so many new faces... even if some were scary. Even if you missed the opening shindig, the show runs through August 22nd. Entry is totally free, and here's a map, so check it out if you get a chance! I promise the kappa won't bite. Most of them, anyway.

Shown above, clockwise: a bottle of kappa shochu, the Yokai Attack display, an illustration by Yutaka Kondo, and a sculpture by Nobuhiro Arai.

Are you Ninjy?

Kotaku just interviewed Hiroko, Andrew Szymanski, and I about our localization and scriptwriting work for the Xbox 360 game Ninja Gaiden 2. Over the last few years, the three of us have been working as a team to produce the English versions of several of Tecmo's titles, including the volleyball and bikini extravaganza Dead or Alive 2 Xtreme and the DS game Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. It's a rare look into the often arcane world of video game translation. It's also the public debut of a word we coined during the process to refer to any line of dialog that sounded sufficiently over the top and ninja-like: "ninjy." Check it out!

How to Find Pussy on the Chuo Line

Step one: happen to be standing there when a strange but kindly ojisan decides to let his cats out of their carrier. Absolutely against the rules and one of the stranger things I've encountered on the trains here, but I'll take it over vomiting salarymen any day of the week. Awww!

Speaker for the Dead

Toshio Okada on old-school, hundred-proof  "Otaku 1.0" from the Eighties: "individuals who chose to pursue childish hobbies as a means to intellectually and emotionally isolate themselves from society."

Toshio Okada on the current generation of otaku: "a growing ghetto of weak individuals who blame society when others fail to understand their personal interests."

Toshio Okada on himself: "I'm done."

Has the Otaking hung up his crown? Read on for the scoop....

Continue reading "Speaker for the Dead" »

July 10, 2008 in Otakology | Permalink | Comments (24)

Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere

 

"Kingdom of the Spiders"? The long-lost love children of Ebirah? No, just Mictyris longicarpus, the humble "soldier crab." At low tide, legions of them appear on the mangrove flats around the coastline of Okinawa's Iriomote Island. Hiroko and I plunged into the mud for a closer look.

 

Photos by her. Shaky-cam videos by me here and here. Only roughly the size of the ball of your thumb, they subsist on microorganisms that they strain out of the sand.

July 07, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (6)

Face Off

Britain's always-reliable Daily Mail has reported sightings of strange humanoids without faces appearing the in crowd at Wimbledon, at Elton John's white tie ball, and even the Harrods summer sale. But readers of Yokai Attack know better. They aren't aliens or mutants. They're YOKAI! "Nopperabo," to be precise:

The Nopperabo, whose name evokes the feel of something smooth and featureless in Japanese, resemble normally dressed, apparently healthy individuals, save for one major difference: a face "like unto an egg," devoid of any hint of features. Worried? You shouldn't be. Encounters with "the Faceless Ones" are rarely if ever fatal.

Believe it or not, this isn't the first time the Nopperabo have been spotted outside of their homeland. In 1959, it is said, a faceless "mujina" appeared in the restroom of Hawaiian drive-in movie theater, scaring the hell out of at least one woman who saw her. (Although "mujina" actually refers to a species of badger, a Lafcadio Hearn story of the same name has caused imagery of the mujina and the Nopperabo to become intermingled both in Japan and abroad.) Even yokai need a vacation from time to time, it seems!

(Thanks to Ed at Pink Tentacle for the heads-up!)

July 05, 2008 in Yokai Attack! | Permalink | Comments (5)

Mach Baron!

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

July 03, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (7)

Kamisama Bill Gates

The oft-discussed Japanese penchant for creating manga -- everything from kids' stuff to porn to business and mathematical treatises seem to get turned into comics over here -- means that there is a treasure trove of obscure gems waiting to be excavated from long-dead publications. Sankaku Complex has translated one: a breathlessly demented 1982 explanation of Bill Gates' rise to power. It was a one-shot story that appeared in the pages of Korokoro Comic. Bill never looked so kawaii, and I suspect this is the first, last, and only "super deformed" rendition of an Altair 8800a.

July 02, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)

»

 

"Kingdom of the Spiders"? The long-lost love children of Ebirah? No, just Mictyris longicarpus, the humble "soldier crab." At low tide, legions of them appear on the mangrove flats around the coastline of Okinawa's Iriomote Island. Hiroko and I plunged into the mud for a closer look.

 

Photos by her. Shaky-cam videos by me here and here. Only roughly the size of the ball of your thumb, they subsist on microorganisms that they strain out of the sand.

Britain's always-reliable Daily Mail has reported sightings of strange humanoids without faces appearing the in crowd at Wimbledon, at Elton John's white tie ball, and even the Harrods summer sale. But readers of Yokai Attack know better. They aren't aliens or mutants. They're YOKAI! "Nopperabo," to be precise:

The Nopperabo, whose name evokes the feel of something smooth and featureless in Japanese, resemble normally dressed, apparently healthy individuals, save for one major difference: a face "like unto an egg," devoid of any hint of features. Worried? You shouldn't be. Encounters with "the Faceless Ones" are rarely if ever fatal.

Believe it or not, this isn't the first time the Nopperabo have been spotted outside of their homeland. In 1959, it is said, a faceless "mujina" appeared in the restroom of Hawaiian drive-in movie theater, scaring the hell out of at least one woman who saw her. (Although "mujina" actually refers to a species of badger, a Lafcadio Hearn story of the same name has caused imagery of the mujina and the Nopperabo to become intermingled both in Japan and abroad.) Even yokai need a vacation from time to time, it seems!

(Thanks to Ed at Pink Tentacle for the heads-up!)

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

The oft-discussed Japanese penchant for creating manga -- everything from kids' stuff to porn to business and mathematical treatises seem to get turned into comics over here -- means that there is a treasure trove of obscure gems waiting to be excavated from long-dead publications. Sankaku Complex has translated one: a breathlessly demented 1982 explanation of Bill Gates' rise to power. It was a one-shot story that appeared in the pages of Korokoro Comic. Bill never looked so kawaii, and I suspect this is the first, last, and only "super deformed" rendition of an Altair 8800a.

Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere

 

"Kingdom of the Spiders"? The long-lost love children of Ebirah? No, just Mictyris longicarpus, the humble "soldier crab." At low tide, legions of them appear on the mangrove flats around the coastline of Okinawa's Iriomote Island. Hiroko and I plunged into the mud for a closer look.

 

Photos by her. Shaky-cam videos by me here and here. Only roughly the size of the ball of your thumb, they subsist on microorganisms that they strain out of the sand.

Face Off

Britain's always-reliable Daily Mail has reported sightings of strange humanoids without faces appearing the in crowd at Wimbledon, at Elton John's white tie ball, and even the Harrods summer sale. But readers of Yokai Attack know better. They aren't aliens or mutants. They're YOKAI! "Nopperabo," to be precise:

The Nopperabo, whose name evokes the feel of something smooth and featureless in Japanese, resemble normally dressed, apparently healthy individuals, save for one major difference: a face "like unto an egg," devoid of any hint of features. Worried? You shouldn't be. Encounters with "the Faceless Ones" are rarely if ever fatal.

Believe it or not, this isn't the first time the Nopperabo have been spotted outside of their homeland. In 1959, it is said, a faceless "mujina" appeared in the restroom of Hawaiian drive-in movie theater, scaring the hell out of at least one woman who saw her. (Although "mujina" actually refers to a species of badger, a Lafcadio Hearn story of the same name has caused imagery of the mujina and the Nopperabo to become intermingled both in Japan and abroad.) Even yokai need a vacation from time to time, it seems!

(Thanks to Ed at Pink Tentacle for the heads-up!)

Mach Baron!

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

Kamisama Bill Gates

The oft-discussed Japanese penchant for creating manga -- everything from kids' stuff to porn to business and mathematical treatises seem to get turned into comics over here -- means that there is a treasure trove of obscure gems waiting to be excavated from long-dead publications. Sankaku Complex has translated one: a breathlessly demented 1982 explanation of Bill Gates' rise to power. It was a one-shot story that appeared in the pages of Korokoro Comic. Bill never looked so kawaii, and I suspect this is the first, last, and only "super deformed" rendition of an Altair 8800a.