Category: Japan Travelogues

In between when I posted this blog entry while still in Japan on July 2nd and the end of my trip, I actually had occasion to go back and visit this installation one more time. I took a bunch more pictures, and learned a few more things. So in the spirit of… completeness… I’d like to re-post this entry with all of the new photos and information, as well as a gallery of photos of the Astro Boy blueprints I picked up. Hopefully you Tezuka fiends won’t mind it too much…! – Chris

One of my regrets last time I went to Japan was missing out on the Osamu Tezuka installation at Kyoto Station. Despite the fact there was advertising for it everywhere, including those super-keen Astro Boy and Kimba The White Lion statues/pointers, I couldn’t find it when I was there. This time though, I actually asked someone at the tourism office, and they told me exactly where it is. And so I went there, and took awesome pictures for all of you…!

So Kyoto Station in and of itself is a marvel. It’s a beautiful, high-tech reimagining of a temple-style building with a curved roof and open sides to let air flow through, but all done up in glass and steel. If you get a chance to visit, I do recommend it.

The exterior of Kyoto Station features all kinds of great signage that tells you about events going on there, and especially about the Tezuka installation. Here you can see the various signage, all pointing viewers in the right direction. Long-time readers will remember that I did not ACTUALLY see the little arrows on all of these signs, pointing me in the direction of the space, because I’m a dork. I seriously just thought it was a stylized design element… Ah well. Found it this time!

The Kyoto Station / Tezuka installation was, I believe, completed for an anniversary of Tezuka/Atom, and to commemorate the reopening of the station. It’s also located on the other side of the Kyoto Hotel Granvia, on the outside of the station, which explains why maybe I had a bit of trouble finding it last time. Here we see the entryway sign… which is also promoting a live stage-show of Beauty and the Beast, also happening in the same general area. Needless to say I didn’t stop in.

The main entrance is nice, with lenticular animations of Astro Boy (Atom!), Kimba, Black Jack, and another character I don’t know the name of. I still really love the little “fins” on the first ‘o’ in KYOTO, in the shape of Astro Boy’s hair. That’s just genius. Actually, since I’m a big fan of Big pictures on the blog, here’s a close-up of then Astro Boy lenticular. Unfortunately you won’t quite get exactly the same effect.

I think the thing that most impresses me about this whole thing is that with something like Disney, or Marvel, or DC, or whomever, it’s very much ABOUT THE CHARACTER. The creator (except maybe Walt Disney, and that’s a whole other kettle of fish) is pushed far to the background. This installation is “Tezuka World”, and Tezuka the creator is at the forefront of the work. I think that’s pretty incredible, and something for all of us in the comics industry to aspire to.

So the installation is, honestly, mostly a gift-shop and retail oriented, with a few cool additions.

More pics and info under the cut! Click:

Continue reading “Japan 2009: Tezuka World Installation, Kyoto JR Station – UPDATED”

I figure everyone is at least as OCD as me, and would love to be able to read as many of the spines on the books in that Jinbocho manga bookshop post as possible. So I’ve decided to upload the hi-res, unedited photos from that day to flickr. I think they’re only 3mp, but that’s still 5 times as big as on the blog here.

See the set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/comics212/sets/72157622846202868/.

Edit: Did you know? If you have an unpaid Flickr account it limits the display-size of your photos to 1024×768? I did not. Anyway, just got myself a pro account, and the original-sized photos are showing up now, at like 3600×2700 or so. Enjoy!

– Chris

So when I found out there was something called “The Pokemon World Centre” in Tokyo, I added it to my Japan itinerary pretty much immediately. Sadly, it was kind of… well, it’s in an office building. I don’t know any way to put it better than that. But I got photos!

Pokemon World Center Tokyo & Tokyo Tower
Photos by Christopher Butcher and Andrew Woodrow Butcher

We got off the train at Hamamatsucho JR Station on the yamanote loop. We were reminded that POKEMON was just down the street, with signage leading the way. Despite that, we still got a little lost. Just so you don’t (in future), here’s a map:

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Scenic Hamamatsucho is… kind of awful really, just a block after block of office tower. It’s still The Future in the way that everything in Tokyo looks like The Future, it was just way more nondescript than I think I was expecting.

It’s grey buildings and green blue glass and as much greenery as they can shove in.

This shopping concourse is nice enough, I guess, but does this look like the entrance to POKEMON WORLD?

And Yet.

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Continue reading “Japan 2009: Pokemon World Center & Tokyo Tower”

So one of my favourite retail experiences during my first trip to Japan was stumbling over the exciting department store TOKYU HANDS. Not just because Tokyu Hands was the official outlet official merch for the (then-new) Neon Genesis Evangelion film Evangelion 1.0: You Are [Not] Alone. I mean, that was a big deal, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t the ONLY reason. It’s just a cool store, exactly what you might have in mind if I described it as “a department store by and for people who live in Tokyo, but no clothes.” All manner of personal and lifestyle goods abound, especially anything cool, weird, or beautiful.

We hadn’t make it part of our itinerary to go back this time out, but with locations adjacent to the Shinjuku Kinokuniya (which I’ve already blogged about), and in Ikebukuro where we ended up anyway (pictured above), I figured… why not check it out and see what’s new? And take a few dozen more photographs? Oh, and you anime fans will be happy to know that the Eva store was up and running, full-steam-ahead, for the release of the second movie.

And now, here’s a bunch of awesome random stuff!

Considering the frequency with which I lost my umbrellas in Tokyo… or anywhere really… I couldn’t justify buying one of these lovely ones. This lovely display graces the main-floor entrance of the Shinjuku store.

Indoor grills for making all of your barbecued favourites in tiny Tokyo apartments… complete with fake plastic food!

Tissue boxes.

These light-up hanging grapes were awesome. Unfortunately they were not $200 awesome.

Keep reading behind the cut to see 40+ more pictures:

Continue reading “Japan 2009: Tokyu Hands and Evangelion Store”

What you see above is a backlit, prominently placed adverisement for the Azumanga Daioh anime DVD Box Set, placed above one of the many escalator banks in JR Akihabara Station. Advertisements like this are literally all over the station, alongside ads for cell-phones and other gadgets, video games, and of course anime and character goods. Basically, if it’s for nerds, it’s being advertised on the walls of Akihabara Station.

The advertising starts on the billboards that line the walls of the train station, a blur of cute anime girl iconography whizzing by you as the train slows to an eventual stop. But it doesn’t matter, because the cars are so crowded you can never really see the windows anyhow… It’s all about giving you something to look at when you’re back after your shopping trip, reminding you of what you forgot to buy, what to get next time.

Incidentally, sorry for the awful photo up top :).

I think part of the reason that Akihabara is so popular with Western nerds (otaku) is that, aside from just being a haven for nerd retail stores that contain all of the nerd goods of your dreams (and darkest fantasies…) the experience is incredibly immersive; the anime and manga, the visual culture starts before you even step off the train, or into the street. For someone from The West where the idea of an advertisement for a comic, “grown-up” anime DVD, or anything with big eyes and a small mouth is basically inconceivable, Akihabara feels like validation.

Of course, that’s a bit of a myth: it just seems like validation. Really there are tons of complex levels of social strata involved in being an otaku in a larger society, otaku pride is actually a bit like gay pride: hard-won and presented with an edge… because of the number of people who think you’re a third class citizen or worse (awful pervert).

The streets of Akihabara are paved with the discarded pamphlets advertising maid cafes handed out by cute girls outside of the station. It’s visual culture writ-large, and even with recent… unsavoury… events, a place where nerds can be nerds, and enjoy their nerdish pursuits. Though newer otaku havens may pop up all over Tokyo (the utterly awesome Nakano Broadway being the biggest so far) Akihabara will continue to be the second home for many otaku (or for those who are still in the closet… their first home…!)

Of course, manga and anime does manage to make it out of the Akihabara ghetto, because really, ‘normal’ folks read manga too… once in a while. A big exception to the Otaku-ghetto rule? Naoki Urasawa, and his (then) just-released new series BILLY BAT, the follow-up to the his incredibly successful PLUTO and 20TH CENTURY BOYS. The last volume of PLUTO (volume 8) was released the week before I got to Japan, and there were huge displays of it everywhere… and tons of advertising for this new series. I only caught this outdoor train-station advertisement once, I think at Harajuku, mixed in amongst the fashion, alcohol, and lifestyle advertisements. It says a lot about who Urasawa’s work is targeted at, who his audience is. And isn’t.

Hell, Urasawa has so successfully shed the otaku image they even let him on the train, instead of just waiting outside it. Much like Nana creator Ai Yazawa on my last trip…

So fight on, Urasawa-san! You’re carrying the torch for all of us.

– Chris

Who likes pictures of Bookstores!?

I just went through my 2007 Japan Photo set, and would you believe that in all of my pictures of Kinokuniya’s awesome 7+floor flagship store in Shinjuku, I never once took a picture of their sprawling, massive Japanese-language manga section? I think that’s because I hit Kinokuniya towards the end of my trip, and by then I’d taken hundreds of photos of manga stores like Animate and Tora No Anna, but I don’t think I ever gave Kinokuniya it’s due as being a great, centrally located and excellently stocked bookstore–whether you’re a manga fan or not…!

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Kinokuniya’s flagship store is located in Tokyo’s capital, Shinjuku, about 5 minutes walk from the south exit of Shinjuku Station. Shijunku station has like 20 exits, so it’s actually closer to the “New South Exit” but walking everywhere or anywhere in Tokyo is a joy, if you happen to be in love with cities and people-watching. Kinokuniya (the bottom red box) is actually on the otherside of the massive Takeshimaya Times Square Department Store, which is giant and beautiful, and has a whole Tokyu Hands inside too! It’s worth the walk.

Unfortunately on both days that I visited the store it was raining outsie, and so an exterior photo of Kinokuniya didn’t really work out. Once again, the photo above is from Wikimedia commons, taken by the user “Ons”.

Instead we took the awesome 7th-floor glass bridge between Takeshimaya Times Square and Kinokuniya. You get a pretty fun view of the city from here too.

I’m kind of surprised by how many folks I’ve talked to that don’t know about this particular Kinokuniya, despite the fact it’s prominently mentioned in most of the travel guides. I know it’s not a 4000 year old shrine or anything, but a giant well-stocked bookstore is my kind of temple.

The glass bridge lets you off on Kinokuniya’s foreign-books floor, which incidentally carries a huge selection of manga in English. Representatives from all of the major publishers could be found, although much like Kinokuniya New York, this store seemed solely interested in Manga By Japanese Creators, with no OEL or manga-influenced North American work to be found. That said, their selection of English-language manga was amazing, balancing popular long-running series with prestige graphic novels and series traditionally popular in Japan. The English-language editions of Pluto, 20th Century Boys, and Black Jack even merited attractive + well-made signage just to draw attention to great work.

Oh, and, they can get English-language manga we can’t even get here, like the bilingual editions of Kodansha’s Division Chief Kosaku Shima, or the bilingual Doraemon volumes. It’s jealousy-inducing.

Keep Reading After The Break: Continue reading “Japan 2009: Flagship Kinokuniya Shinjuku”

So it took the better part of 24 hours from the time I woke up Monday morning to get to where I’m staying just outside of Tokyo. As such, you might imagine I was a little exhausted. In reality, I was a lot exhausted… 😉 At any rate, so far I’ve done more or less nothing except travel, sleep, and wake up. So, no pictures.

Okay, a couple of pictures to tide you over:

Starbucks in Japan has a new kind of drink, the “Jelly Frappucino”. Basically, it’s a regular frap with coffee-flavoure Jello in the bottom, which breaks up as you suck it through the straw, for an extra hit of coffee flavour. It’s actually pretty good, but it is definitely weird.

This is yours-truly at Narita, about 20 hours after I started the trip. As you can see from my bloodshot eyes, I can really use that intense coffee beverage.

So far I’ve only bought one manga, and honestly only to blog about it, because it’s weird. What you see here for about five bucks is 400 pages of manga about cats. Cat-themed manga stories. By a variety of artists. Includes a special section at the front of full-colour photos of cats doing adorable things. Also, the manga itself is pretty adorable.

Look how adorable that thing is.

I’ve also started drinking. We saw this advertised on the train, so I figured I’d give it a shot. It’s 8% lemon-flavoured alcohol, to get you hammered more quickly and in a more financially prudent way. In these tough economic times, why not buy the booze that has twice the alcohol content for the same price (148 yen)? Anyway, it tastes a lot like lemons, real lemons and not like lemon-flavoured beverages, but also, when warm, a bit like kerosine. Would Not Buy Again. I love the Kirin cans though…!

It’s sort of a grey, drizzly day. But still: Japan!

Like I said, we just watched some TV with the kids before they went off to kindergarden, so in closing I will share two shots of the show we watched with you.

– Chris