Oh yeah, Japan
May. 22nd, 2012 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rallamajoopQuick and dirty rundown of some of the high and lowlights of our Japan trip from last month.
Tokyo Anime Fair: Meh. I gather this may have been a worse than average year as a lot of the usual exhibitors pulled out in protest of the new laws about selling manga with sexual content1 to minors2, but what was left wasn’t good for more than a couple of hours’ entertainment, and I’d be skeptical that a few more big name exhibitors would have made much difference. To any future Madman winners who may be reading this: should you be offered the chance to go to TAF for your own prize trip, some renegotiation may be in order. See if you can get them to send you to the World Cosplay Summit, Tokyo Gameshow or Comiket instead – they’re all much more cosplay-friendly.
Osaka Aquarium: Words cannot express the joy several minutes in the presence of a real, live Capybara brought us. Words give up altogether and break down into tears when asked to describe the sea otters.
Disney Land: Missed out on going. Turns out the school holidays in fine weather are not the optimal time to be doing this one. :/
Ghibli Museum: Missed out on this too, same reason. Tickets were supposed to be booked for us in advance, but it seems no-one anticipated quite how far in advance they’d be sold out.
Mt Fuji: Holy fuck that thing is big. Landscape where we come from just does not pull that kind of shit. Also, the dinner they served us at our first night at the ryokan stands as a trip highlight on its own.
Osaka Street Cosplay Festival: Got there late, change room queues took forever, but pretty cool to be cosplaying out in public for once, when Japan is usually so uncomfortable letting that sort of thing happen outdoors. I made at least one girl’s day with my Waka costume and my poingy wings, and I do believe my sister’s Robin costume made just about everyone else’s.
Baths taken: Too many to count
Spending All The Money Saved On Flights On Ridiculous J-Fashion: HUGE SUCCESS!
As luck would have it, we were there slightly too early on a year when the sakura were blooming late, so we missed the best of the season – despite repeated taunting by posters of the spectacle in full bloom advertising a viewing festival that ought to have started two weeks ago. On the very minor upside, however, that did mean that on the few occasions when we did find a tree blooming early, it was all the more satisfying.
Seen in person, they really are that pretty.
One thing one cannot avoid noticing in Japan these days is that One Piece is really big over there right now. How big? There are stores in Japan now that sell not general anime merch or even Shounen Jump merch, but One Piece and nothing else. There is a full scale replica of the Thousand Sunny available for tours (though not while we were there, drat). Walk into any souvenir or convenience store, and on the same rack with the key chains featuring Stitch3 and Helly Kitty, you can also buy One Piece figures perched on a variety of local landmarks. In 2011 alone, One Piece sold nearly 38 million copies, while in second place, Naruto couldn't even make a measly 7 million. One Piece is not merely the biggest thing in Japan right now, it is the single highest selling manga in the history of manga. Nothing else comes close.
Of course, most of the merchandise is still cute keychains of Chopper. Fucking Chopper. That little shit has completely sold out.
For more than a decade now One Piece has been happily ticking along as one of the big Shounen Jump success stories, but while Naruto hit its peak somewhere before the timeskip and I cannot remember the last time I spoke to a Bleach fan who was hyped for the next chapter, One Piece has not only retained its popularity, it’s only gotten bigger. If the sister is to be believed (and she has cosplayed, drawn doujinshi for, filled a shelf of a cabinet with figures from and otherwise madly fangirled the series for years, and I feel can therefore be considered a definitive authority on the subject) the release of the Strong World movie back in 2009 is largely to blame. It was ridiculously successful, and one way or another hit just the right note to catapult One Piece’s place in the national consciousness from ‘massively popular ongoing hit series’ all the way up to ‘unprecedented phenomenon on a scale comparable only to Godzilla itself’. In a land which – contrary to most of our outside impressions – still generally takes the view that anime and manga are for kids, weirdos and perverts, One Piece has somehow managed to position itself as family entertainment4. This humble little pirate story is loved not only by the younger Shounen Jump target market and the older fans who might pick up a volume along with Cowboy Bebop, it’s become something their parents can love too. The results speak for themselves.
Myself, I’ve always had a bit of an odd relationship with One Piece, not entirely unlike the one I share with a number of video games I’ve watched my sister play but never gotten around to playing myself. For some years I’ve been vaguely following recent events through a process where Lisa comes in going, “OMG, the latest chapter of One Piece!” and we chat about it and usually agree that it sounds awesome/heartbreaking/frustrating or whatever else the neverending Impel Down saga was putting her through this week. I’ve long resisted getting into it in any more dedicated fashion simply because of the shear time commitment required to get through over 500 episodes, but that hardly stopped me developing a bit of a soft spot for the series on general principles. It’s in so many ways the spiritual successor to Dragonball 5 which was the anime that got us into anime back in the days when that meant passing around fourth generation Chinese fansubs, and it has for years now brought joy to a number of friends of mine. Even if I never got into it myself, it was always comforting to feel like the existence of One Piece was, in some small way, making the world a better place.
Then I got to Japan.
So help me, but the One Piece mania over there is contagious. By halfway through our trip I was buying my own little phone hangers featuring Zoro and Sanji climbing Tokyo Tower and eyeing off Strong World P.O.P. figures. When we got home, I dug some old episodes out of our DVD stack and got into the habit of watching a few here and there when I was feeling a bit down and needed some lighthearted fun to take my mind off things, or even just to get myself off the computer for a while. I have not looked back since.
On one final note about our Japan experience, I would all like to give a shout out to this guy:
Who'2 thi2 dou2ebag?
This guy and his stupid, sexy abs followed us all the fuck around Japan. Whether he hanging from the mall roof or pouting at us from the walls of the subway, there was no escape. Believe me, once you’ve seen that jumpsuit looming over you from the first couple of fifty-foot tall building-side advertising posters, it makes an impression, and that impression is, “Athlete. Sure. Five bucks says that guy doesn’t even know which end of the pool cue he’s supposed to hold.”
Have you ever seen a pout sexier than this? I thought not.
Strangely though, I never could remember exactly what he was supposed to be advertising.
1 Defined: we know it when we're looking at it! Also, think of the children!
2 Defined: anyone unwilling to show their driver’s license while buying porn. After hearing about my third contradictory explanation for exactly what the controversy is really about, I have given up on any attempt to have an informed opinion.
3 Lilo and Stitch is also ridiculously huge in Japan, but that's a whole other subject
4 Which is even more hilarious when you remember all the boob jokes and violence, but who am I to judge?
5 Seriously, you should see the vast range of crossover merchandise, or read the interviews where Oda fanboys wildly over Toriyama. Or not, if second-hand embarrassment is the sort of thing that makes you uncomfortable.
Tokyo Anime Fair: Meh. I gather this may have been a worse than average year as a lot of the usual exhibitors pulled out in protest of the new laws about selling manga with sexual content1 to minors2, but what was left wasn’t good for more than a couple of hours’ entertainment, and I’d be skeptical that a few more big name exhibitors would have made much difference. To any future Madman winners who may be reading this: should you be offered the chance to go to TAF for your own prize trip, some renegotiation may be in order. See if you can get them to send you to the World Cosplay Summit, Tokyo Gameshow or Comiket instead – they’re all much more cosplay-friendly.
Osaka Aquarium: Words cannot express the joy several minutes in the presence of a real, live Capybara brought us. Words give up altogether and break down into tears when asked to describe the sea otters.
Disney Land: Missed out on going. Turns out the school holidays in fine weather are not the optimal time to be doing this one. :/
Ghibli Museum: Missed out on this too, same reason. Tickets were supposed to be booked for us in advance, but it seems no-one anticipated quite how far in advance they’d be sold out.
Mt Fuji: Holy fuck that thing is big. Landscape where we come from just does not pull that kind of shit. Also, the dinner they served us at our first night at the ryokan stands as a trip highlight on its own.
Osaka Street Cosplay Festival: Got there late, change room queues took forever, but pretty cool to be cosplaying out in public for once, when Japan is usually so uncomfortable letting that sort of thing happen outdoors. I made at least one girl’s day with my Waka costume and my poingy wings, and I do believe my sister’s Robin costume made just about everyone else’s.
Baths taken: Too many to count
Spending All The Money Saved On Flights On Ridiculous J-Fashion: HUGE SUCCESS!
As luck would have it, we were there slightly too early on a year when the sakura were blooming late, so we missed the best of the season – despite repeated taunting by posters of the spectacle in full bloom advertising a viewing festival that ought to have started two weeks ago. On the very minor upside, however, that did mean that on the few occasions when we did find a tree blooming early, it was all the more satisfying.
Seen in person, they really are that pretty.
One thing one cannot avoid noticing in Japan these days is that One Piece is really big over there right now. How big? There are stores in Japan now that sell not general anime merch or even Shounen Jump merch, but One Piece and nothing else. There is a full scale replica of the Thousand Sunny available for tours (though not while we were there, drat). Walk into any souvenir or convenience store, and on the same rack with the key chains featuring Stitch3 and Helly Kitty, you can also buy One Piece figures perched on a variety of local landmarks. In 2011 alone, One Piece sold nearly 38 million copies, while in second place, Naruto couldn't even make a measly 7 million. One Piece is not merely the biggest thing in Japan right now, it is the single highest selling manga in the history of manga. Nothing else comes close.
Of course, most of the merchandise is still cute keychains of Chopper. Fucking Chopper. That little shit has completely sold out.
For more than a decade now One Piece has been happily ticking along as one of the big Shounen Jump success stories, but while Naruto hit its peak somewhere before the timeskip and I cannot remember the last time I spoke to a Bleach fan who was hyped for the next chapter, One Piece has not only retained its popularity, it’s only gotten bigger. If the sister is to be believed (and she has cosplayed, drawn doujinshi for, filled a shelf of a cabinet with figures from and otherwise madly fangirled the series for years, and I feel can therefore be considered a definitive authority on the subject) the release of the Strong World movie back in 2009 is largely to blame. It was ridiculously successful, and one way or another hit just the right note to catapult One Piece’s place in the national consciousness from ‘massively popular ongoing hit series’ all the way up to ‘unprecedented phenomenon on a scale comparable only to Godzilla itself’. In a land which – contrary to most of our outside impressions – still generally takes the view that anime and manga are for kids, weirdos and perverts, One Piece has somehow managed to position itself as family entertainment4. This humble little pirate story is loved not only by the younger Shounen Jump target market and the older fans who might pick up a volume along with Cowboy Bebop, it’s become something their parents can love too. The results speak for themselves.
Myself, I’ve always had a bit of an odd relationship with One Piece, not entirely unlike the one I share with a number of video games I’ve watched my sister play but never gotten around to playing myself. For some years I’ve been vaguely following recent events through a process where Lisa comes in going, “OMG, the latest chapter of One Piece!” and we chat about it and usually agree that it sounds awesome/heartbreaking/frustrating or whatever else the neverending Impel Down saga was putting her through this week. I’ve long resisted getting into it in any more dedicated fashion simply because of the shear time commitment required to get through over 500 episodes, but that hardly stopped me developing a bit of a soft spot for the series on general principles. It’s in so many ways the spiritual successor to Dragonball 5 which was the anime that got us into anime back in the days when that meant passing around fourth generation Chinese fansubs, and it has for years now brought joy to a number of friends of mine. Even if I never got into it myself, it was always comforting to feel like the existence of One Piece was, in some small way, making the world a better place.
Then I got to Japan.
So help me, but the One Piece mania over there is contagious. By halfway through our trip I was buying my own little phone hangers featuring Zoro and Sanji climbing Tokyo Tower and eyeing off Strong World P.O.P. figures. When we got home, I dug some old episodes out of our DVD stack and got into the habit of watching a few here and there when I was feeling a bit down and needed some lighthearted fun to take my mind off things, or even just to get myself off the computer for a while. I have not looked back since.
On one final note about our Japan experience, I would all like to give a shout out to this guy:
Who'2 thi2 dou2ebag?
This guy and his stupid, sexy abs followed us all the fuck around Japan. Whether he hanging from the mall roof or pouting at us from the walls of the subway, there was no escape. Believe me, once you’ve seen that jumpsuit looming over you from the first couple of fifty-foot tall building-side advertising posters, it makes an impression, and that impression is, “Athlete. Sure. Five bucks says that guy doesn’t even know which end of the pool cue he’s supposed to hold.”
Have you ever seen a pout sexier than this? I thought not.
Strangely though, I never could remember exactly what he was supposed to be advertising.
1 Defined: we know it when we're looking at it! Also, think of the children!
2 Defined: anyone unwilling to show their driver’s license while buying porn. After hearing about my third contradictory explanation for exactly what the controversy is really about, I have given up on any attempt to have an informed opinion.
3 Lilo and Stitch is also ridiculously huge in Japan, but that's a whole other subject
4 Which is even more hilarious when you remember all the boob jokes and violence, but who am I to judge?
5 Seriously, you should see the vast range of crossover merchandise, or read the interviews where Oda fanboys wildly over Toriyama. Or not, if second-hand embarrassment is the sort of thing that makes you uncomfortable.