Japan '08: Shibuya

The 109 building in front of Shibuya Station. This intersection appears all the time in film and anime, usually viewed from above with thousands of people in the cross walks.

Shibuya is best known as a place for hip young cosmopolitan urbanites window-shopping for $400 shirts; in this respect it is not really ideal Matt habitat. Shibuya does include some prime sight-seeing opportunities, though, as well as a couple of O.G. anime shopping venues.

Here is the statue of Hachikou, in a little park just outside of the Hachikou gate in Shibuya Station. This is a really famous place to arrange to meet people, and like the neighboring intersection, frequently gets referenced in various media. The statue commemorates a loyal dog who would meet his master at the station every evening at the same time. Even after his owner died, Hachikou would come to the station and wait.

Mandarake, Shibuya shop: the Rulers of Time.

Mandarake Shibuya is one of the oldest Tokyo otaku landmarks (some half-hearted searching failed to turn up the date when it opened, but it was well established in the mid-1990s). Mandarake strictly deals in used goods, and carries a little bit (actually, a lot) of everything that has an otaku following: toys, anime, games, manga and doujinshi.

Shibuya Mandarake is intimidating. The stairs are dark and made up to be somewhat cave-like, and it's a surprisingly long descent to the Area-51-warehouse-like shop. The stairwell ends in the boy's-love section, in an arrangement that almost seems designed to scare off more timid souls, who would be well served taking the elevator in the center of the building. Once I was safely through the yaoi gauntlet and sorting through used anime DVDs, however, all was right with the world.

The Mandarake chain plays music over its P.A system, like all of the anime stores. Mandarake always had the best tunes, though, with famous themes from the likes of Z Gundam, Macross, Evangelion in heavy rotation, interspersed with more obscure material. I just about plotzed when I recognized the theme for Cougar-Man, the fake sentai show in Masami Yuuki's 1990 OAV Assemble Insert, coming over the loudspeakers at the Shibuya branch. A store that is playing the Cougar-Man theme for its patrons in 2008 is hard core: these guys are the rulers of time.

Bome 10th anniversary exhibit in Parco Factory, Shibuya.

After dragging ourselves away from Mandarake, Ray and I (Sujith was off playing Street Fighter IV at an arcade, I think) dropped in on the local COSPA, then checked out an art gallery exhibit on the history of bishoujo figure sculptor Bome, at Shibuya Parco, a hoity-toity department store. I'm not much of a figure collector, but it was fascinating to see the evolution of Monsieur Bome's talent from his garage-kit days in the 1980s. An early sculpture of Lum from Urusei Yatsura almost looks like something that I could have attempted in my misspent youth; his modern stuff is almost miraculous in the way that it takes fundamentally two-dimensional characters and makes them into three-dimensional objects.

Catalog and flier for the Bome Exhibition.

Lucky Star Tourism Research

Lucky Star related visits to Washinomiya Shrine have been in the news again this week, with the start of 2009 bringing a record number of hatsumoude (New Year's visits)--about 420,000 people according to Animaxis--to Washimiya, with many pilgrimages no doubt inspired by the continued popularity of Kyoani's slice-of-life comedy. The Lucky Star tourism phenomenon is apparently starting to attract some academic attention, with Takayoshi Yamamura, a cultural tourism expert from Kyoto Saga University of Arts, recently writing a paper titled: "Study of the birth and development of a sacred place for anime fans." An abstract is available in English, though the paper itself is Japanese only:

This paper is a survey of how the town of Washimiya became the "sacred place" for anime fans ever since fans from all around the country rushed to visit the town after it was used as a setting for the animation "Lucky Star," leading also to the town successfully holding two events for these fans. The following three points were discussed.
1)The process leading up to the town becoming a "sacred place."
2)The process leading up to the town welcoming tourists.
3)The roles of tourist related corporations outside the town.
As a result, it was found that in each process the local commerce and industry association played a central role. It was also found that with the town's commerce and industry association at the core, a local shrine, local shops, fans, and corporations from outside the region (copyright owners and a tourist agency) were able to build a relationship of mutual benefit as a backdrop to the current success.

Anyone out there feel comfortable reading communication science papers in Nihongo?

Yamamura, T. 2008. Study of birth and development of "sacred place for anime fans": discussion of tourist promotions based on animated work "Lucky Star" focused on Washimiya, Saitama Prefecture. The Journal of International Media, Communication, and Tourism Studies 7: 145-164.

Japan '08: Ghibli Museum

Studio Ghibli, of Totoro, Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke fame, operates a small museum on the outskirts of Tokyo, on the edge of Inokashira Park in Mitaka. The Ghibli Bijutsukan isn't a traditional museum so much as an attempt to recreate the ambiance of a Hayao Miyazaki film in three dimensions: the interior space is all dark wood, brass, wrought iron and rough stone; there are alcoves and stairs of doubtful utility everywhere and a lingering smell of cedar in the air. The grounds and even the roof the museum (where the Laputa robot in the photo lives) are landscaped with a chaotic half-wild mix of ferns, grass and trees. The closest thing to an ordinary museum exhibit is probably a studio mock-up, where you are permitted to leaf through original pencil storyboards (my group spent a good 20 minutes very carefully poring over Miyazaki's latest, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea). A visit to the Museum is, I suspect, a bit like spending a short vacation inside of Miyazaki's brain.

It's easy to find the Museum from Mitaka Station: just head out of the south exit, and follow the path along the stream angling off to the left, to the park. Or you can just look for the Totoro-themed bus (round trip tickets, purchased from a vending machine at the bus stop, are 300 yen).

Access to the Ghibli Museum is limited to a set number of ticket holders per day, and it tends to sell out well in advance. It's easiest and safest for American visitors to arrange for tickets through JTB before leaving the States. I used JTB for plane tickets and rail passes as well, by the way, and have nothing but good things to say about them; their airfares were cheaper than anything I could find through the usual online sources.

There's a fake ticket booth off to the side of the real entrance to the museum, staffed by Big Totoro. We visited on a national holiday, so the usual Connecticut schlemiels were joined by native guides R.-san and S.-chan, who had the day off.

Photographs aren't allowed inside of the Ghibli Museum, so my visual documentation is limited to the outdoor exhibits. Inside, we saw a film, Whale Hunt, which is one of a series of shorts only available for viewing at the museum. The film rotates every month, and R-san says that she returned in December to see the Totoro spinoff, Mei and the Kitten Bus. Whale Hunt was excellent, but I'm still jealous. Also inside the museum was a room full of animation-related displays and contraptions, the most impressive of which was a bunch of 3-D model tableaus involving Totoros on a table, which created a little looping animation when spun.

Here's me at the stone control panel on the roof. Presumably, only Miyazaki himself knows the incantation that causes the museum to self-destruct. I couldn't even figure out how to make the cafe give me a free beer.

Here we are at the deck outside of the museum eatery, the Straw Hat Cafe. There is a sit-down area inside, but it was totally jammed, so we ordered from the takeout window and ate outside. The menu has sort of a picnic theme, with a limited selection of sandwiches available. The cafe's exclusive brew, Kaze no Tani (Valley of the Wind) Beer, is good stuff, a bit meatier than the usual from Kirin/Sapporo/Asahi.

Japan Expedition 2008

Stone lantern in the courtyard of Heian Shrine, Kyoto.

Last October, I spent two weeks on vacation in Japan. As I get around to writing about the highlights of the trip, links will be collected here.

• Introduction - liveblogging Japan.
• Overview - basic rundown on the trip, posted at Burger's Onion.
• Lodging - where we stayed.
• Washinomiya Shrine - the oldest shrine in the Kanto region, now the destination for a new type of pilgrim.
• Asakusa - iconic Tokyo cultural sites.
• Odaiba - Tokyo's artificial island utopia of the future, today.
• Akihabara I - an introduction to the anime city.
• Akihabara II - in which our heroes sightsee, appear on national television, and selflessly attempt to mitigate the Japanese recession through consumer spending.
• Shinjuku - skyscrapers in the heart of Tokyo.
  
• Ghibli Museum - a journey into Hayao Miyazaki's mind, with a goth-loli cosplayer guide.
• Shibuya - old and new Tokyo collide.
  
• Harajuku - indie rockers, ex-pats and Shintoists mingle in Yoyogi Park, in what is probably some sort of allegory about the importance of tolerance.
• Nakano - before Akihabara, there was Nakano Broadway.
• Tokyo Miscellany - quick odds 'n' ends from Ochanomizu, Hongou and Ikebukuro.
• Nara - a day trip and 1300 years of history in one of Japan's old capitals.
  
• Kyoto I (central and western) - another former capital. Bring spare camera batteries.
  
• Kyoto II (eastern) - the Higashiyama district, the wellspring of Japanese culture, according to tourist pamphlets from prominent Higashiyama attractions.
  
• Loot Roundup - K-Books is a harsh mistress.
  
• Japan Trip Finale - all's well that ends well. Mostly.

Japan '08: Shinjuku

Shinjuku looking southeast (Tokyo Tower is the orangish spire at center on the horizon).

Shinjuku, in west-central Tokyo, is the place with all the giant skyscrapers familiar from travel brochures. The most recognizable structure in the area is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, with its twin towers. You can take the elevator to an observation deck on the 45th floor for free, for superb views of the greater Tokyo area.


This is the view out to the northeast, towards Hongou and my home base at Homeikan Ryokan. It's too far away to see much detail in that part of the city--Tokyo is mind-bogglingly huge--but I'm pretty sure you can make out Tokyo Dome a little right of center, which is fairly close to where I was staying.




Shinjuku is a high-powered business and government oriented place, with attendant upscale and semi-upscale restaurants where we wound up eating dinner on several occasions. We tried Toriyoshi on our first full day in Japan, on the recommendation of Ray's friends Manami and Hiromi. Toriyoshi is a small chain of restaurants that specializes in yakitori and other chicken-oriented dishes, and was good, if not exactly my thing. Ootoya, a nationwide chain, is highly recommended for tasty food, including many seasonal items, at reasonable prices.

The one significant failure of the trip occured in Shinjuku: we tried to catch Biohazard: Degeneration (A.K.A. Resident Evil: Degeneration) in the theater on its opening day, but it was sold out by the time we tried to get tickets. As setbacks go, that was pretty minor; Biohazard was relatively low on my list of movies to see in Japan.

Japan '08: Akiba Fun

Nanoha-themed itasha on a Sunday in Akiba.

In some ways it's easier to deal with Akihabara on week days, but to get the full effect it is necessary to visit on a weekend, when the sidewalks and streets are crammed with otaku weirdos (and I mean otaku weirdos in the best possible sense: good people, salt of the earth). The crowd in the background of this photo isn't lined up for anything; there are just a lot of people everywhere on a Saturday or Sunday in Akiba. Supposedly, the crowds have thinned out a bit since a violent incident this past summer, but when I was there in October it wasn't exactly obvious how more people could have been fit into the place.

The anime and game-themed cars in the photo are known as itasha, and are owned by dedicated fans, not created as some kind of advertising gimmick. I saw about half a dozen different itasha around Akiba on various visits, plus an Aria Company car in Hongou near my ryokan (probably heading to Akiba).

Kannagi display outside of Tora no Ana, with suspicious foreigner.

Kannagi posters and ads were all over the place in Akihabara, but since the anime had just started, there weren't any Kannagi-related goods for sale except the original manga. That's probably just as well, because I probably would have feverishly snapped up anything that was available. This photo was taken mid-morning, while it was still possible to find some elbow room in front of Tora no Ana. The shops in Akiba keep otaku hours--meaning almost nothing opens before 10 or 11:00 AM--which was generally inconvenient but allowed for some unhurried early photography.

Evangelion coin lockers in Akiba.

Good ol' Evangelion is still popular, and probably experiencing a resurgence with the new movies now being produced. I should have taken a photo of the wall of lockers labeled with takeoffs on Eva jargon and episode titles, too ("Luggage Instrumentality Project," etc.). There are also new Evangelion pachinko machines, and pachinko parlors everywhere, not just in Akihabara, were heavily advertising them. I tried pachinko once, and couldn't wait for the game to finish, so I didn't actually feel the need to blow 2000 yen this time, even with the lure of an Eva theme.

Higurashi related ads inside of the Akihabara Animate.

I was happy to see that the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni franchise is still going strong, though I was in Japan a little too early to pick up a copy of Higurashi Daybreak Portable (the Higurashi fighting game(!)) for the PSP, advertised in the center poster. I did get some DVDs, fake Furude Shrine charms and other cool Higurashi swag.

Aso Tarou billboard along Chuo Street in Akihabara.

One of the stranger sights around Akiba this fall was the cartoon visage of Japan's Prime Minister as of September, Tarou Aso, on signs and packaged snacks, coupled with slogans like "Oretachi no Tarou" ("Our Tarou"). Aso has the reputation of being an avid manga reader, and friendly to otaku interests, if not exactly an otaku himself.

Signs outside of Maid Cafe Pinafore.

Just outside of the station on our first trip to Akihabara, the gang and I were approached by a cameraman and an interpreter working for Nihon TV, who were filming a special on otaku for News REALTIME, a national news magazine-type show. We talked for a while, and while the NTV crew seemed mainly interested in the subject of gravure idols--about which none of us (except maybe Ray) knows anything--we wound up taking a mini-tour of Akiba with the cameraman and then heading for lunch at Maid Cafe Pinafore, with the drinks on NTV. For the ordinary civilians reading this, maid cafes are mainly an Akiba phenomenon, sort of like Hooters but with French maid-ish outfits instead of short shorts for the waitresses.

So, we had lunch, did some interviewing, and hammed it up for the camera with the maids. Our hosts said that they would contact one of my Japanese friends before the segment aired, but nothing happened for quite a while, and I thought that was the end of it. But just last week, I found out that the RealTime otaku show had been broadcast on Thanksgiving, after being postponed three times, and that my friend Ryoko had recorded it (thanks, R.-san!). I received a DVD the other day, and while I think that our segment wasn't as embarrassing as most of the other extended interviews, we were clearly playing the role of crazy foreigners with an excessive interest in goofy Japanese pop culture. It's a fair cop, but society's to blame.

The News RealTime otaku show.

After Cafe Pinafore and the end of our Japanese TV career, Sujith was done with maid cafes, but Ray and I checked out other establishments on subsequent Akiba runs. The @home cafe is probably the best known maid cafe, to the point where it can be hard to get a seat, but it clearly deserves its solid reputation. Cafe With Cat, which occupies a floor at Tora no Ana ("The Tiger's Den"), was also quite nice.