The other day, you learned about Nakano's nameless and mysterious new mascot. But did you realize that Kichijoji has its own official mascot character, too? Meet Kittan! In the annals of the "yuru-kyara" ("weak characters"), he's one of the most decidedly yuru. A near featureless orange ball with Disney-inspired eyes, he's supposed to evoke... what, exactly? The sunny skies over the city? Your liver after a night spent getting sloshed in scenic Harmonica Yokocho? Actually, he's vaguely reminiscent of the kanji for "kichi," 吉, which means "good fortune" and is used to write "Kichijoji" (吉祥寺).
He's decidedly difficult to spot in his natural habitat (the info kiosk on Sun Road is a good place to start), but lo and behold, there he is kicking it on the curb with a "furry" in Second Life! (In Japan, apparently, super kawaii characters drink sake instead of forties.) In fact, a Kittan devotee has created an entire virtual Kichijoji in Second Life, complete with replica Inokashira Park, Iseya yakitori stand, maids, and the occasional dinosaur. Hats off to anyone who spends their free time masquerading as an alcoholic mascot character!
Here's what the critics are saying about our new book, Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide:
It's been 72 hours since the phone calls started coming in: "did you hear about what happened in Akihabara?" The final toll: seven dead, ten injured. The murderer hit Tokyo where it felt safest, cutting down his victims without warning, the vast majority of them in the prime of their lives. I've never met any of them, but they could very easily have been my friends, my family, even me. I had passed through the scene of the crime exactly two days to the minute before it happened, playing tour guide to a friend's teenage son who was visiting Tokyo for the first time. If his schedule had been different... If we'd been there just two days later... It's a sobering thought. The "AKB Massacre," as Marxy has unofficially dubbed it, is without a doubt one of the most shocking incidents I've encountered since moving to Tokyo five years ago. The Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 was far broader in scope, but it was a planned terrorist operation perpetrated by a group of crazed religious zealots. That the mayhem in Akihabara was wrought by a lone young everyman armed with nothing more than a rented truck and a knife somehow makes it all the more chilling. I shouldn't be surprised, then, that scores of emotionally overwrought "otaku" bloggers -- many of whom appear never to have even set foot in the country, let alone Akihabara itself -- have dubbed it everything from a "geek hate crime" to "the end of otaku culture as we know it." It's nothing of the sort. And here's why.
The cat's out of the bag: I'm on next Monday's Eigo De Shabera Night. The topic: so-called "untranslatable" Japanese phrases and expressions, including the ever-popular rei-no-are ("whatchamacalit") and Japan-coined English like plus alpha (meaning "bonus" or "extra.")
Recent Comments