AltJapan

alt.fetish.robot

Can you "do the robot?" My old Godaikin Tetsujin 28 is on display as part of a vintage Chogokin exhibit at Tamashii Nations 2009, which is being held through Sunday at Akihabara UDX. Oh, yeah, and there's some other stuff. Like this $70 new Soul of Chogokin and this (yikes) $20,000 Urban Material Chogokin from the new Mazinger Z anime, by a dude named Go Nagai. Plenty of photos from people far better at covering these things than I am here, here, and here.

Hellow Apple Hips & Busts

Describe only the good thoughts that come into your mind when you see this spread of close-ups of anime characters' chests and asses. Taken from a December 1981 issue of Animage. Can you name them all? Get help.

State of the Anime Industry 2009

In 2001, writer Douglas McGray dubbed Japan "a cultural superpower," coining the phrase "gross national cool" to describe the incredible influence Japanese entertainment then enjoyed throughout the world. Less than ten years later, this hip facade seems to be cracking. Precious few Japanese anime shows air on American television. Anonymous complaints from anime industry insiders incensed at atrocious pay and working conditions continue to mount. And even the Japanese Fair Trade Commission has gotten into the mix, releasing a scathing report of the problems facing animation companies. Can the anime industry save itself? Read on for a rundown of the current state of affairs in the Japanese anime industry as of 2009.

BFF

Three great tastes that go great together spotted at Kinokuniya in Shinjuku: Yokai Attack, Arcade Mania, and Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno. It's a little-known fact that like celebrity deaths, good books happen in threes.

Monster Hunter Hunter

Saturday, on a train ride from Kichijoji to Kanda, no less than three commuters in succession sat down next to me over the course of the journey: a ten year old kid, a twenty-something woman, and a "salaryman" type. 

Nothing particularly strange there, but all had one thing in common: Monster Hunter Portable (aka Monster Hunter Freedom) on the PSP. Literally every time I looked up from my book, the person I'd just glimpsed had been replaced by another playing what appeared to be the exact same scene of the same game. The effect was borderline surreal, as though I'd encountered some form of changeling on the Chuo line. The three totally different demographics shows you just how popular the game is over here.

So You Wanna be a Japanese Animator

Echoing the recent coverage of the troubles facing the anime industry, here are translated excerpts of blogs written by Japanese anime industry insiders. Several are taken from a fascinating website called Off the Record Animation Industry Gossip (subtitle: "Read this if you're thinking of becoming an animator! This is the true face of the anime industry! Do you think you can survive?") Bear in mind that as these blogs are anonymous, there is no way to verify the veracity of the claims. But they are a fascinating counterpoint to the "soft power"/"Japan cool"/"otaku utopia" rhetoric often espoused by foreign journalists.

The Birth of Japanese Spiderman

"Spiderman's pathos proved an excellent match for the Toei Henshin Heroes series."

With all the press Marvel Comics' streaming of the Japanese live-action Spiderman series has been getting this week, there's remarkably little discussion about how exactly the show came to be. Click here to read a translation of the behind the scenes story, straight from the horse's... or is that spider's?... mouth!

Fire Walk With Me

We didn't even realize it at the time, but Hiroko and I seem to have had a close encounter last Sunday. It happened at the annual fire-walking festival held at the base of Mt. Takao. The area is famed as home to practitioners of Shugendō: Buddhist monks that isolate themselves from society, deep in the mountains, to hone their mental and physical skills. Also known as yamabushi, these highly disciplined, and once upon a time, quite well armed martial artists were occasionally confused for the ferocious mountain-dwelling yokai known as Tengu in times of old. They are serious bad-asses.

Mantra MOÉ!

Could it be!? A sequel of sorts to the wildly popular super deformed sutras!? 

If you needed more proof that moé, that only-in-Japan fetishization of girlish innocence and naiveté, has infiltrated all aspects of Japanese society, this site has it. Featuring a super kawaii anime girl listening intently to a reading of the Heart Sutra, it'll undoubtedly leave you relaxed, refreshed and wondering: IS NOTHING SACRED?

Post-Yoda

First yokai, now Yoda: Hiroko makes the Washington Post again! Her (long since resolved) Facebook plight gets a brief mention in this article, but her namesake gets used as the anchor image! Read all about it in the Style section of today's Post.