AltJapan

Yokai Post

I never expected to ever see the word "yokai" on the front page of the same paper that broke the Watergate scandal, let alone a photo of Hiroko and I. But there they are, in full color no less. Click here for an un-cropped image of the page, and click here for a link to the actual article.

Kappafield

Now LIVE on BoingBoing TV!

"Sean made it to Tokyo, and shot evidence of the Kappa on Japan's urban streets (signs, blow-up Kappa dolls, stickers). But then, suddenly, the raw footage he was FTPing to us nightly just STOPPED. Bam. Just like that. And with it, all evidence we had of Sean's whereabouts and well-being..."

Hiroko, Sean Bonner, and I brave the wilds of Tokyo's fabled kitchenware district, Kappabashi-Dori, in search of a hidden temple -- said to be home to the mummified hand of a supernatural creature. Beset by inflatable monsters and a nagging case of shaky-cam, three of us enter... but only two escape. What happens to Internet's Sean Bonner? You'll have to tune in to episode two tomorrow to find out. 

Work Today

Pixel Yokai!

It's almost Halloween. They may not celebrate it in Japan, but trust me, there's no shortage of things that go bump in the night here. They're called yokai. They're Japan's traditional creepy-crawlies, the sorts of  monsters that have haunted generations of Japanese kids' dreams... and nightmares. If you've been following this blog, you know that Hiroko and I just published a guidebook about them called Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide.

Even if you aren't Japanese, you're probably more familiar with the yokai than you think. They started life as rural folktales, but in the modern age they lurk in all sorts of unexpected places, from comics to anime to video games. So chances are you've been getting a healthy dose of Japanese mythology without even knowing it. Don't believe me? Let's take a look at a short list of yokai spotted in video games, compared to their folklore counterparts!

Drifting Classroom

A friend of ours helped build this yokai-infested haunted house as part of a folklore program for a local elementary school. Note the Tengu, Nurikabe (haunted wall), Karakasa (haunted umbrella), and Wanyudo (flaming wheel o' death). Will the kids be thrilled, chilled, or scarred for life? Only time will tell.

Shiawase wa Asahi Super Dry

Several months ago, I received an email from a representative of an Asahi Beer subsidiary called The Aoyama Happy Laboratory, a.k.a. HapiKen. It's a "lifestyle research" company dedicated to gathering information on what makes people (i.e., customers) happy. They conduct interviews -- "Happy Pro Interviews," natch -- of various Tokyo movers and shakers. And somehow, strangely, insanely, I found myself in the crosshairs.

"You want to interview me about beer?" I asked, a little confused.

 "No. About happiness." 

"Happiness? Like, 'happiness is an Asahi tall-boy?" 

"No, as in what makes you happy. You don't have to mention the beer." 

"What if Asahi beer is what makes me happy?"

"Then by all means, mention it."

"What if it's the only way I can get through the day?"

"Sir..."

We set up a date and time. Walking to the Kichijoji coffee shop where we arranged to meet, I promised myself that I'd play the adult. No otaku funny business, I swore to myself. Not this time. I'm a big boy now. A successful businessman, a pillar of the community. Got to represent.

Within one hour, I found myself standing in front of a showcase of Bullmark vinyl Ultra-kaiju, grinning like a loon. Shades of my first date with Hiroko, which started all grown-up and shit and wound up on my sofa watching a battered videotape of Kamen Rider opening themes. You can read the interview here, if you can read Japanese, that is. If not... here's a Babelfish translation. And it's true what they say: My mother bought me a toy robot in Japan's robot culture.

T.G.I. Whatever

Shibuya circa 1:00pm. Now THIS is a "working lunch." (Hey, it's after noon, so it's OK.) Thanks Andy!

The Great Yokai Cosplay Contest

They're out there. Multi-mouthed women. Cucumber-lovin' frogmen. Giant skeletons. Bathtub lickers.

So. What kind of yokai are you?

It's almost Halloween, and you know what that means. It's time for a costume contest! That's right: send us photos of yourself dressed as a Japanese yokai (refer to Yokai Attack! for inspiration, but feel free to draw on other sources from Japanese mythology). We'll select the best one and award the winner a full full-color poster-sized print of their favorite yokai illustration from Yokai Attack! signed by Hiroko Yoda, Matt Alt, and Tatsuya Morino.

It's your chance to own a one of a kind piece of yokai history, so act soon! The deadline for submissions is November 3rd 2008, and we'll announce the winner by November 10th 2008.

Submissions should be sent via email to info@yokaiattack.com. Happy haunting!

Domo Arigato, Mr. Targetto

Sign of the kawaii-pocalypse? NHK mascot Domo-Kun has become the official halloween mascot of the Target retail chain. Watch as he hawks cheap snacks and gorges on that quintessentially American treat, candy corn. No shortage of Japanese cartoon characters have achieved popularity in the United States, but this marks the first time a PR mascot has made the big leap to stardom. It's hard to imagine a stranger cultural mash-up, and it's only the beginning: it turns out Nickelodeon is producing a series of animated shorts based on the character as well. Not bad for a creature that apparently hasn't been able to close its mouth for nearly a decade.

Domo-kun debuted in Japan in 1999, created as an "image character" to promote the tenth anniversary of the founding of the rather unfortunately named NHK-BS cable network. (That's "BS" as in "broadcast satellite," by the way.) It's hard to pin down exactly where Americans got their first taste for the fuzzy parallelepiped, but I distinctly remember hearing family and friends -- and these are the sorts of people who would otherwise be totally disinterested in things kawaii -- mentioning him during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, where he appeared on NHK advertisements visible in the backgrounds of playing fields. He quickly grew into a cult icon in the West, spawning a mega-popular web meme and a seemingly endless series of fan tributes on the Net. 

Ironically, when I suggested trundling out the costume for the segment on kawaii characters I filmed for NHK's Tokyo Eye last year, the higher-ups demurred, claiming total surprise at the Domo-kun's popularity abroad, even going so far as to worry that his sudden appearance might "confuse" viewers. (Later, I pieced together that it probably had more to do with wanting to avoid stealing the thunder of the network's more recent mascot, Nanami-chan.) So it goes in Japan, where it has only recently started dawning on the "powers that be" that something created domestically might become a cult favorite abroad. Then again, given the super-rapid turnover of mass media iconography here, is it any wonder the smoldering popularity of a nearly decade-old mascot took them by surprise? It's the equivalent of a Japanese television network petitioning American power companies to let them use Reddy Kilowatt.

Cho Denji Yo-Yo

The USA Otackers versus Shokotan. It sounds like a late-period Toho flick, but it's all too real -- just like an episode of COPS. I interpreted as Patrick interviewed the up and coming "pop culture idol" for an upcoming Japan Times article. And lucky for you, he recorded the events for posterity. More on his site.