Opinion Prone

So I was in Tokyo for the first time, November 27th-December 12th. I was there with something like forty other SCAD students, all Sequential Art and Animation majors. This means I was in Tokyo with forty other nerds. Granted, not all of them were otaku, but come on, it’s a trip to Tokyo with art students. It’s anyone’s guess that most of them were, and even the ones that wouldn’t admit to it had at least a few nostalgic fandoms that originated from Japan. As a college-related trip, we did do class-related things here and there, but really, the majority of it was one glorified tourist trip. And shopping spree.

On our second-to-last day in Tokyo, everyone was instructed to show off all the crazy stuff they’ve purchased during the course of the trip. And if ever I needed confirmation that I was surrounded by a bunch of weeaboo, that was it. It was like a mini-dealer’s room. I was going to save these photos for the end of my eventual series of posts about Tokyo, but I figure, hey, it’s Christmas Eve. Let’s look at all the cool stuff people got in Japan. For all the money that we spent there, we probably aren’t getting any real Christmas presents anyway…

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“WTF Japan!” is actually a phrase that leaves my mouth rather frequently. American otaku like to think they’re hot stuff sometimes, but they will never be able to match up to the ridiculousness of the original breed, least of all the country that it all came from. No other countries takes its cartoons and comics as serious as Japan. You don’t hear about the Disney museum nearly as much as you hear about the Ghibli museum. The Japanese will riot and petition for the forest that inspired Totoro to remain as it is, but no one in the States could care less about whatever the heck inspired Walt Disney to draw Mickey Mouse. And what in all of the western world could compare to the otaku paradise that is Akihabara? We don’t have vending machines that sell action figures or crane machines full of high-quality collectables outside of every grocery store, and I could go on and on and on about how outrageous Japan is. I’m sure you could too.

But this is a new high bar for the absurdity that happens over there. Japan, you’re wacky and hilarious and I love you, but really. What the fuck?

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Oh, wow, where does the time go? Has it really been two weeks since I posted last?

To be honest, I haven’t really found much in postworthy news lately — things have gotten licensed, more things are streaming online, and Kinokuniya had another nerd day that I couldn’t attend. Good news mostly in the otaku world, but I’ve talked about all these things before. Convention season is quieting as it gets colder, so there’s no longer that constant barage of news that came in the summer months. Meanwhile, Wall Street committed seppuku, only to kind of survive and turn into a zombie, and everyone is scrambling around trying to fix things before the election in two weeks. Oh, and crude oil has absolutely plummeted. After the election, I think everyone will just be wondering whether this holiday season will make or break businesses.

So I guess on these slow news days, it’s up to me to come up with original content and to ramble on about questionably relevant things, like the fact that Japanese toys are so much cooler than anything we’ve got. Seriously. There are hundreds of potential comparisons I could make, but for one, their UFO catcher (known overseas as those annoying crane grabby games) prizes are incredibly well-made and sought-after collectors’ items; meanwhile, ours are cheap and shoddily made toys that disappear into the recesses of children’s closets until they inadvertently show up in yard sales years later to be sold for a quarter.

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There’s been a lot of political gossip going around since Sarah Palin was put on the Republican ticket. Even before that though, McCain was comparing Obama’s rampant popularity, especially among the 18-24 generation, with a celebrity status. This, along with the recent live action movies I’ve seen involving j-musicians, got me to thinking about how most Japanese celebrities are very, very secretive. Japanese people seem to be really into privacy in general though. They rarely put names on personal websites, are gung-ho about blurring out faces in photos, and prefer anonymous BBS to member-registration-required forums. Celebrities, particularly musicians, seem to be take it a step further. For one, most j-rock artists operate under stage names and aliases.

Who knows what 雅 -miyavi-’s real name is? Pata, hide, Yoshiki, Toshi, and Heath of X Japan — at least three out of five names are obviously fake. The real name of Dir en grey‘s 京 (Kyo) has been a topic of much speculation as he signs his name as Tooru Nishimura in his poetry books, but some sources claim his surname to be Niimura instead. ,Magazines and fansites love listing supposed real names, but it’s incredibly difficult to find any sort of reliable documentation. Gackt’s full stage name Gackt Camui, but it’s still a far cry from whatever his real name is. Birthdays are similarly difficult to find. Gackt’s birthday is July 4th, but the year is still a big question mark. hyde did not confirm his birthday to the public until an interview in 2002, more than a decade after L’Arc~en~Ciel‘s debut.

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