Greetings From Nebula M-78

Pass the mic! Guest-blogger Roger Harkavy busts a move with a report from the star-studded reception for the Ultra Objects photo exhibition, which runs through December 31st at the Shibuya Parco Museum. The show features incredible photography by Kiyoshi Terauchi of vintage Ultraman props and costumes culled from some of the top collections in Japan. Read on as Roger is forced to carry sofubi through downtown Tokyo, his weight is assailed by Science Patrol members, and he endeavors to answer that age-old question: "Did the mere fact that I knew what 'Nutrocker' was make me an otaku?"

It's December 7th, and I'm hustling through Shibuya with Eiji Kaminaga of Marusan Toys. Each of us has a large shopping bag full of exclusive Pigmon figures that will be sold at the Imagination of Ultra Objects exhibition at the Parco Museum, and we're rushing to deliver them on time for the opening reception.

You know that huge eight-way intersection you see in every movie about Japan, with the giant television screens on the sides of the buildings? That's Shibuya. Back in New Jersey it's barely 10 degrees Fahrenheit, but here it's over 40. To a hot-blooded gaijin like me, this is what I consider balmy, and I am really starting to sweat trying to keep up with Eiji and push my way through the schools of trendy twenty-somethings, bundled up like they're in the arctic.

We arrive at the reception, and the M1GO crew is already there with their own exclusive figures that they've been working on around the clock to get painted and ready for the show. "Ah, Mr. Zombie Brain," Yuji Nishimura says when he sees me. Earlier this week I was playing Dennis Hopper to Yuji's Brando, living amongst the M1 guerillas to study their shining path to vinyl kaiju domination.

Hiroko Sakurai is walking through the exhibit as the museum begins to fill up, notices me, and comes over to say hello. "You are too fat!" she tells me as she pats my stomach. I know she means it in a playful way, but the words stick with me after she walks away. It's true, I am too fat, and I've definitely put on some pounds since Sakurai-san was our guest at the Asian Fantasy Film Expo (AFFE) five years ago.

I recognize comedian Nabe Yakan and introduce myself. I met him a couple of years ago when he came to a Chiller Theatre convention. He's put on some weight himself, but in a different way: He's been doing semi-professional weightlifting recently and can probably bench press me without breaking a sweat. He's a pretty short guy, but he's built like a truck.

Unfortunately, his English skills and my Japanese skills are pretty limited, so things don't really progress past the "nice to see you" stage of the conversation. He does introduce me to a couple of his other comedian friends, who yell out my name and raise their beers every time I walk by. It's clear they're laughing at me more than with me.

A sort of surrealism starts to close in on me. As the only gaijin there, I am the proverbial sore thumb. I'm not big enough to be a security guard, or well dressed enough to be anyone else of importance. Everyone else probably has the same question I'm asking myself, "How the hell did I get here?"

It's a hard question to answer. Short version: American kid spends a lot of time watching Godzilla movies, Ultraman, and anime on TV. Kid grows older (note that I didn't say "grows up") and falls in with a bad crowd that gets the idea of hosting a Japanese movie and TV convention in New Jersey, complete with exclusive vinyl monster toys. Kid eventually visits Japan and falls in with an even worse crowd, the kind that gets him into events like these. Is the answer that simple?

Yuji points out that Tomoo Haraguchi, another one of our old AFFE guests, is here, but before I can say hello Yuji grabs me by the arm and drags me off. When we get to our destination, I'm standing in front of Susumu Korobe and Masanari Nihei who, along with Sakurai-san, are now the only surviving principal actors of the original Ultraman series.

I'm star struck, and even if I wasn't speechless it wouldn't matter anyway, because I would only be babbling in English. Thankfully, Yuji does all of the talking for me. He tells them all about my childhood fascination with Ultraman while I nod profusely. Korobe-san and Nihei-san get a real kick out of this. After this clumsy spectacle ends, I slink back into a corner with my Marusan and M1 friends. Eventually the event winds down.

Three days later, I am back at the museum with my friend Frank in tow. Sakurai-san, Haraguchi-san, and photographer Kiyoshi Teruuchi are doing a presentation about the Ultra Objects project and the Ultraman phenomenon in general. In the crowd I find Shinichi Wakasa, another AFFE guest. His English is very good, and he fills us in on the Korean sentai show he's working on. There is a TV crew wandering around. Frank jokes about how we're probably going to end up on camera because the last time we attended an event like this we ended up in a documentary on the Battlestar Galactica DVD.

Sure enough, right before we're ready to leave with Sakurai and crew, they ambush us. The reporter, who is very fluent in English, asks me how I got there. I tell him about AFFE, how watching Ultraman as a kid was a daily event once we got cable, and how I was jealous of my friend Adam one Halloween when his mother made him an Ultraman costume. Sakurai-san stops by for a moment to explain how she knows me. I add that I'm also a very close friend of Nabe Yakan's, holding up crossed fingers to drive home the point that we're bestest buddies. Can't wait to see if that makes the broadcast.

From there we adjoin to a bar where we eat, drink, and try to solve the world's problems. During the course of the evening, we discover that one our companions was the assistant cameraman on a little-known Tsuburaya production, Nutrocker. He even supplied a bit of the puppetry for shots of the powered suit's feet.

Eventually the discussion turns to the word otaku. They want to know, what does this word mean to Americans? Do I think it's a positive or a negative word?

The first two questions are pretty simple to answer. I tell them that most of the people in America who actually know the word carry it as a badge of honor, unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge any negative connotations. And I tell them that despite the change in Japanese attitudes towards "otaku culture," I still consider it a negative word. To me, being an otaku isn't about one's dedication to a hobby, or their depth of knowledge on a given subject, it's about putting things before people. It's about spending an evening playing a video game or hunting for toys instead of actually interacting with other human beings, due to an unwillingness or inability to do so.

They digest the answers, then after a bit of discussion they ask, do I consider myself an otaku?

I look inwards for a moment. Given my answers about otaku, would I be a hypocrite if I told them I didn't? If it weren't for my interest in these shows, and the toys that go along with them, would I even be here? This trip brought me to offices of three model and toy companies, and tonight I was drinking with people who worked at two more. Was my personal experience really about things, or was it about people? Did the mere fact that I knew what Nutrocker was make me an otaku?

And then I look back on the past ten years. Three AFFEs, more Chiller Theatre shows than I can remember, four trips to Japan, and what are the most vivid memories? They're not about the toys, or the shows, they're the ones about people, sitting around a table, eating and drinking, just like I am tonight. Making connections, communicating. And isn't that the point? Isn't that what we're supposed to do while we're here?

After this brief trip through Sappyland, I give them the short answer: "No." After pondering this again with a little distance and clarity, sans the haze of jet lag and chu-his, I stick by that answer.

Unfortunately, the Ultra Objects exhibition did not allow photography, but here are some shots from the bar of myself, Frank, and Miki, whose brain had to work overtime, going in four different directions to help translate the various conversations going on at the table. Occasionally, we had to resort to pen and paper to get ideas across, and you these pictures of them will show you the directions our brains were traveling in that evening.

Comments

[Bob Eggleton]

Sounds Great Rog. And you're right, it's the people in Japan, same as when I have been there-the dinners, parties etc.

And speaking of dinners...I think the treadmill is looking good...

Bob

[hillsy]

Damn, man...that kicks the shit out of my Japan trips. Toy hunting is fun for a while, but that's not the shit that sticks out as fun. It's hanging out with friends, old or new, over food and various libations that does it for me.

I think you're going to have to bite the bullet Rog, and learn some Nihongo, so next time Sakurai-san tells you you're looking a little fat, you can her she's looking a little old. ;)

[Zer0]

Any idea who's gonna succeed Mebius?

[Carl Horn]

I know that it's often thought that Americans who call themselves otaku are unaware of how the word is perceived in Japan, but of course, there's always more than one view of it in Japan, too. My own adoption of it was pretty straightforward, learning the word from Gainax's "Otaku no Video," which was itself complicated take on the concept.