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:
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?
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:
Evangelion 1.0, the first of four feature-length remakes of the Neon Genesis Evangelion tv series/movies, is screening tonight at 7pm across Canada, at more-or-less every Cineplex Odeon or Empire Theatre. There’s another screening Saturday morning at 10am as well.
As you might have figured, I’m a bit of an Evangelion nerd, and so I am going to this tonight. And maybe Saturday too.
Hello readership! A book that we put out in conjunction with this year’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Key Moments from the History of Comics, is in the SEP09 Previews Catalogue, for items shipping in November. Today is the very last day that retailers can adjust their initial orders on books from the back of the catalog. If you might want a copy, this is the only time it’ll show up through Diamond, so I humbly suggest you speak with your local comic book shopkeeper today. Thanks! – Chris
Key Moments from the History of Comics
By Francois Ayroles
48 pages, CDN$10.00
Published by The Beguiling Books
Available in Previews from Drawn & Quarterly Books
September 2009 Catalogue (for items shipping in November)
Item code SEP09 0805, Page 255.
Published in conjunction with the 2009 Toronto Comic Arts Festival, The Beguiling has published it’s first book ever: Key Moments from the History of Comics! This witty chapbook collection of French cartoonist Francois Ayroles’ humour cartoons is a fantastic and funny read for alternative and literary comics fans. The book imagines–to humourous effect–the most poigniant and important moments in the lives of great cartoonists and comics institutions from around the world.
It’s funny stuff–the gag book collection is something that has largely disappeared from the shelves and racks of comic book stores, and this brings back the idea with a vengence. Admittedly it’s a little pricey for a 48 page book, but it’s… unlikely to be collected otherwise, given the nature of the material. I bought a copy and quite enjoyed it, particularly having met M. Ayroles and found him to be just as warm and funny in person.
The cartooning is lovely, chunky and filled with deep blacks but with a grace that’s appealing. And it’s sad and funny. My absolute favourite is the Chris Ware one, but I’ve left that out so you have something to discover for yourself.
But as it is, the movie is unsure of which audience it’s aiming for – an adult audience who wants references to Power Girl’s breast size and gets the weird quasi-Jon Stewart gag at the start of the movie (bleeped out, because… Well, I’m not entirely sure why, really?), or a kid audience for whom the idea of Hawkman, Captains Marvel and Atom, Katana, Power Girl, Black Lightning and Major Force going up against Superman and Batman is genuinely new and exciting. – Graeme McMillan, io9.com
C’mon Graeme. Read what you wrote a couple of times and come to the obvious conclusion. If it’s childish retread pablum that has boob jokes and swearing making it inappropriate for actual children, then it must be for…
I can appreciate as a reviewer not wanting to come out and say that only emotionally stunted man-children could enjoy something—it’s a difficult trick to pull off, deliberately insulting your core readership like that. But if you’re gonna lead the horse to water like that buddy, you may as well go ahead and let it take a drink.
From Atwood to Polkaroo: Highlights of Word on the Street events The stars of CanLit mingle with comics geeks, dub poets, the TVO Kids gang and many other fans of the written word
“I love Karl Lagerfeld, and [PETA] hate him because he showed fur in his collection, and they protested his fashion show. People were chanting outside, “KARL LAGERFELD IS A MURDERER! KARL LAGERFELD IS A MURDERER!” And I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fabulous if Karl Lagerfeld actually was a murderer?” Like, what if he just fuckin’ lost it one day…backstage at a show in Milan…and bludgeoned Elsa Klensch to death with a platform shoe. “I HATE THAT BLOUSE!” “
“The best part of any fashion show is Karl Lagerfeld with his white hair, and the big glasses, and a fuckin’ fan. Like he’s some kind of Spanish lady or something. And I look at the fan and I’m like, “Bitch, it’s not that hot, what’choo doin’?””
– Margaret Cho, I’m The One That I Want
More on the ridiculous fan-less Karl Lagerfeld figure at WWD.com. Edit: Apparently Karl stopped carrying a fan after he lost all the weight. Why does no one tell me these things?
Wine King Float in the Niagara Wine Festival Parade
Saturday 26 September
Wine King Float and Dominion on display in The Show Room Wed 30 Sept – Sat 21 Nov
Opening Reception Fri 16 Oct at 8pm
This year’s Niagara Wine Festival Parade will have twice the royalty. Since 1952, the Grape King has ruled over the festival, but in 2009 the Wine King of Dominion City will join the parade on a float of his own. The Grape King needn’t worry about a battle for supremacy, however, the Wine King character and the community of Dominion are fictional creations of renowned Canadian cartoonist Seth.
Artist members of the Niagara Artists Centre, with the support of the Brock Centre for the Arts, have teamed with Seth and RENDER* to create a parade float from far away Dominion City, the fictional setting where Seth’s stories take place. The float features the Wine King, a rotund wine lover about ten feet high, and a gathering of cartoon grape minions. Marching with the Wine King will be members of the Royal Orders of Connoisseurs and Aficionados, costumed performers of the Suitcase In Point theatre company along with students from Brock University. Among the performers will be two human-sized bottles of Megalomaniac and Henry of Pelham winesthe Good Stuff, meeting the expectations of a connoisseurs taste.
After the parade the float will be parked in The Show Room of the Niagara Artists Centre. Exhibited with it will be a scale model of Dominion City as well as historic images of the grandest days of the Grape & Wine Festival Parade. “The three things are a good fit,” says NAC Director Stephen Remus. “Dominion is a throwback to the hay days of fifty years ago. A sense of those times that escapes nostalgia is pervasive in Seth’s world. I think the Wine King offers us an opportunity to celebrate the history of our parade without being sentimental”.
Born in Clinton, Ontario, Seth began work as a cartoonist in the mid 1980s. After over twenty years of artistic output, he’s created a number of graphic novels and strips (including Clyde Fans, Wimbledon Green, and George Sprott), had his work featured three times on the cover of The New Yorker, contributed a twenty-five issue serial for the New York Times Magazine, and exhibited his Dominion City at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The exhibition component of the exhibit at NAC is being toured by RENDER and was curated by Andrew Hunter.
The Wine King Float and Dominion City will be on view in NAC’s newly renovated Show Room from Wednesday 30 September until Saturday 21 November. There will be an opening reception for the exhibition on Friday 16 October starting at 8pm.
* A program established in 2006 to shift the University of Waterloo Art Gallerys focus to innovation. render.uwaterloo.ca
