AltJapan

Der Kawaii Commodore's in Town (Uh Oh)

In 1853, a fleet of four steam-powered frigates under the command of U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry paid an unannounced visit to Edo bay. Dubbed the kurofune (literally, "black ships") by the astounded citizens of Japan, a combination of Perry's savvy negotiating tactics plus the veiled threat of a bombardment eventually convinced the Tokugawa Shogunate to open the country to foreign trade after two centuries of near total isolation.

Heavy stuff. And this being Japan, that means there's absolutely no reason not to commission a super-kawaii mascot commemorating the event! Meet "Tanemaru," the world's most cuddly cheerleader for the concept of gunboat diplomacy. Unveiled as part of the City of Yokohama's 150th anniversary celebration of the official opening of the port, it's an ambulatory ship with a seedling sprouting from its bridge. Okay, so it's celebrating the RESULT, not what led up to the opening. But still.

After writing Hello, Please! it takes a lot to surprise me when it comes to mascots like Tanemaru. I suppose he isn't any conceptually stranger than Hikonyan, or the even more inexplicable Hello Kitty Black Ship. ("Open your frickin' harbor or we'll bombard you with hugs!") But there's something about the mash-up of nineteenth century imperialism and super-cute mascot culture that would undoubtedly have set the head of an old salt like Commodore Perry spinning. Ponder that the next time you take a ride in one of Yokohama's Tanemaru-festooned taxis.

Hell in a Cell

Translation: "Let me out, oh God please, please let me out, I promise to be good...."

Just kidding. It's a "do not enter" sign. Intentional or not, putting it BEHIND the fence was a nice touch. Cute portrayals of helmeted workers are a common sight on signs placed around construction sites in Japan. Why pay a guy to stand around when you can have a "working character" do it with even better effect?

No Dumping

I get the question nearly every time a pal visits me here: "Hey! I heard people in Japan put out brand-new TVs and stereos out with their trash! What day is that...?" I almost hate to dispel the visions of free Blu-ray players dancing in their heads.

In spite of what you may have read about garbage day in Japan ("How to Get Free Electronic Goods in Japan," BoingBoing, February 17th), the streets of Tokyo are not lined with mint-condition electronic gear ripe for the taking. The binge-and-purge cycle of constantly upgrading one's appliances is a relic of the "bubble era." It went out of style in the mid-90s, shortly after Japan went into recession. These days, people tend to make the most of what they have. Nobody dumps electronics on the street to impress the neighbors. Quite the opposite. They do it because they're too lazy and cheap to pay for it to get hauled away. Anything with actual value gets sold to a local recycling shop. The stuff left sitting on the curb is inevitably junk.

This being Japan, if you have a societal problem, you have super-kawaii signs reminding people not to do it. The pictures above, taken within walking distance of my home, represent just a tiny fraction of the "no dumping" signs posted throughout the country. It's a major problem here.

A Whale of A Time

Whether you think it's just more meat or a crime against nature, you have to admit that Japanese whaling has become a hot-button issue around the world. So you have to give Japan's International Fishing Show 2009 credit for throwing a little kawaii in the face of the controversy: their posters feature a super-cute pair of whales with fishing rods! Chutzpah or cluelessness? You make the call. 

Admittedly, the show is aimed at sport rather than commercial fishermen. But it's still amusing, especially in light of their chairman's remarks about "the increasing importance of communication that overcomes cultural barriers."

Super Deformed Sutras

Hiroko pointed me in the direction of this interactive guide to reading Buddhist sutras, complete with an animated little monk who guides you through the original Sanskrit and Chinese text in phonetic Japanese. It's enlightenment, super kawaii style! 

Komyo Shingon ("Mantra of Light") recitation

Hanya Shingyo ("Heart Sutra") recitation

Hugs for Ground Zero

Freedom isn't free. It's kawaii! At least according to Daikin, the Japanese company that's providing the heating and cooling systems for the Freedom Tower, the replacement for the Twin Towers in New York City. Spotted on an advertisement in the Tokyo subway system, this just proves yet again that no subject is taboo for the creation of a super-cute Japanese "working character."

Viva Piñata

A slice of life shot in the Mission district by my old pal Jim Rohal.

Domo-Kun is everywhere these days.

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.

Working Character World Cup!

When Japan's TV Champion show organizes a mini-olympics of Japanese mascot characters, insanity ensues. Known as "yuru-kyara" ("weak characters") in their home country, we dubbed them "working characters" in our book Hello Please! Very Helpful Super Kawaii Characters From Japan. If anything highlights the sheer pervasiveness of cute characters in Japan, it's an event like this.

Here, our fuzzy heroes take time off from their jobs promoting various national and regional tourist attractions to participate in a super kawaii soccer match, a game of tag, a 50 meter "endurance race," and even a little sumo wrestling. Score one for the team, Hikonyan! (And watch quick: chances are those clips won't be available for long.)

Pi Squared

Do you remember the official mascot of Nakano Broadway? Unveiled a few months back? Looks like a giant pink sperm with a broken tail? Ringing any bells?

I am proud to announce that the formerly nameless mascot has a new moniker: the rather unfortunate sounding "PiPi"! And that's not all: you can have your PiPi and play with it, too, thanks to a whole host of official souvenirs being sold at a tiny kiosk crammed in between a shoe store and a stairwell deep within the otaku-infested hallways of the complex. Long live obscure mascot character goods. 

Why "PiPi"? You can ask "Saito-san of Nakano-ku," who named it in a contest (and pocketed a cool 50,000 yen in the process.) It's supposedly "the sound of information being transmitted, plus the 'pi' of 'pink.'" Righto.