Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Still so much post-Olympics fallout. While other countries have finished their best worst dressed lists for the international games, Korea (and others) are reacting to the “rising sun”, or Hinomaru, design featured on Japan’s gymnasts uniforms. There are a lot of pieces to this debate. The average person outside of any conflict with Japan looks at the rising sun design and thinks of the Karate Kid’s headband. No harm done. The educated Japanese know that the design is symbolic of imperialist Japan, which has a lot to answer for. The conservative and nationalist Japanese sees the rising sun with great pride, the same way some white Southerners proudly display confederate flags in the rear windows of their pick up trucks – as a nice backdrop for their gun rack. Then there are the people who see the rising sun as no different from the swastika of Nazi Germany. The United Nations banned the rising sun flag in 1945, but it hasn’t gone away, and for those who remember what it symbolized for a Japan at war, it’s a reminder of terrors, sadness and injustice. It has been used deliberately in the recent past to stand for Japanese domination, as it did in the not so recent past. Speculation about whether or not the design was an intentional political statement can go on for a long time. Without the history behind the imagery, it’s just a snazzy design for a uniform in a sport full of smiles and swirly sparkly things. The world we live in doesn’t let us off the hook so easily though. We’ll see if where it leads.
Continue reading
It’s happening. Maybe that trip to China won’t be as fun if you’re Japanese. Japanese cars being flipped over by a thousand protestors over the Senkaku Islands dispute. Guess what? If it were obvious as to who’s a Japanese person, they might get curbed. (Autonews – Japan Bashing)
Continue reading
They’ve arrived and are taking the candy world over. Well, not really, but they did outsell KitKat mini which are popular at least by the ex-pats, by 1.7 times. But here’s the crazy part: “One difference between the export version and the one sold in the U.S. is apparent from comparing labels. The Reese’s sold abroad do not list “TBHQ,” which is shorthand for tertiary butylhydroquinone, a preservative.” (Chicago Tribune – Reese’s)
Continue reading
When we last spoke to translators for Genron, they were hard at work translating articles for the recent issue of the Shisouchizu Beta journal. Genron is a company founded by one of Japan’s premier critics, Azuma Hiroki, the author of Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals. Genron offers an accessibly fresh “critical discourse” based on “the here and now” in Japanese society. This may sound broad, but it’s merely a reflection of the journal’s range of topics. The journal analyzes everything from the otaku and gyaru subcultures to Japanese political science and literary criticism. There’s something for everyone here. It’s academically intellectual, yet journalistically readable and has information unobtainable through Western media. The new issue, Japan 2.0, confronts Japan’s looming future after the Great Tohoku Earthquake of “3/11”. “Japan was forcibly changed by the violence of the disaster,” Azuma writes in the opening note. “What we need now are words that, accepting this as a premise, act as a lighthouse which, though perhaps unable to provide the answer to the question of where Japan should be headed, may at least hazily light the way forward.” Communication and change are indeed the journal’s raison d’être. The presence of communication in Japan’s contemporary “atmosphere,” it’s evolution, and the necessity in its transformation for the future is a recurrent point throughout the issue. We had a peek at some of the translated articles and abstracts in the back of the journal. I’ll write comments on the individual articles within the issue in the near future. In the mean time here’s a brief summary. Highlights include an interview with Fukushima Maiko and Shikura Chiyomaru. Fukushima, better known as Mofuku-chan, is the president of Moé Japan and creator of the Mogra and Dear stage clubs and producer of the Denpagumi.inc idol group. Shikura is the president of MAGES and was involved in the production of Steins;Gate. Together they discuss the current state of Akihabara and some of the challenges and possible changes it faces in the future. They explain how its culture evolved from “2D otaku” to “3D otaku” more interested in creating content through mediums like Nico Nico Douga and interacting with idol groups like AKB48. Challenges for Akihabara include the manga market’s competition with cellphones. What’s emphasized is that the otaku, usually stereotyped as asocial creatures, seek out modes of communication. They merely used different entertainment mediums as a means for discussing its content for hours on end. Included within the interview is a photoshoot narrated in the style of a Japanese Role Playing Game with Azuma, Shikura, and Fukushima cosplaying as archetypical characters from the genre. The narrative posits whether or not Moé, Akihabara, and the otaku can save the future. Next is a transcribed speech from Murakami Takashi at his 500 Arhats Exhibit in Doha, Qatar. In it, he describes his motivation for constructing such an art piece and addresses its relationship between it and the Tohoku Earthquake. “I wanted to depict the chaos of Japan in painting and make it a message...
Continue reading
Catch up with Japanese character Domokun! It’ll tell you about the licensing and where it’s at today. (LA Weekly – Domokun)
Continue reading