U.S. Navy Goes Manga

Not everyone loves manga, the Japanese comics. I would say that it does have a considerable following outside of Japan. Needless to say, the Japanese people have a strong passion for manga. Perhaps that is why the U.S. Navy has decided to go with this art form in an attempt to allay the concerns of Japanese citizens with regard to the George Washington, a nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

The George Washington is to be stationed in Yokosuka and will arrive there in August. The online newspaper Japan Today reports:

The U.S. Navy in Japan said Wednesday it has produced a Japanese ‘‘manga’’ comic book describing the daily life of the crew of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington which will arrive in Yokosuka in August. U.S. Naval Forces Japan, based in the city, plans to give away several thousand copies of the book to people in front of the base from noon Sunday in an apparent bid to dismiss safety concerns over the first nuclear-powered U.S. naval vessel to use a Japanese city as a homeport.

The book ‘‘Manga CVN73,’’ named after the carrier’s number in the U.S. Navy, depicts the hardships of a fictitious young U.S. sailor of Japanese descent engaging in various missions on the carrier and his experiences after the ship arrives in the port city in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. Two Japanese cartoonists Harumi Sato and Hiroshi Kazusa did the drawings.

Cmdr Dave Waterman, the chief of the naval force’s Public Affairs Office, told reporters that readers would learn from the comic book that the crew is professional and constantly trains so that damage control in any kind of event can be addressed.

Do you think this approach will work? I cannot say, but I do think that the use of manga is a marvelous idea.

Man dressed in schoolgirl uniform arrested

Hentai culture in Japan can sometimes go to the most extreme lengths and practices. Take for instance this recent report from one of Japan’s dailies.

A man in Saitama was arrestedby police when he was caught sneaking inside a high school. And what was this pervert wearing? a schoolgirl’s uniform.

The man, 39 year old Tetsunori Nanpei, was reported to have been witnessed exposing himself to passing students from within his car, while it was parked outside the school. Apparently not content with what he was doing, he decided to enter the school wearing the uniform. Fortunately, a number of students recognized him and immediately reported it to school officials. He was promptly nabbed by a teacher, who handed him to the police.

Nanpei admitted that he got the uniform from an online auction. The police reported that he was wearing makeup and a pink bra but with no other underwear.

A story that could’ve been taken straight out of hentai fiction, doesn’t it?

Doraemon copter

Doraemon is probably one of the most iconic characters in Japan. The cute character has become a staple of Japanese pop culture in much the same way Hello Kitty has. Everyone knows Doraemon and every product or item that has his unmistakeable visage always sells well.

One of the ardent dreams of children is being able to ride on Doraemon’s bamboo copter. They may not be able to do this in real life but they can do the next best thing — which is to actually play with a real flying copter. Epoch has released a radio controlled toy that depicts Doraemon that actually flies. The propellers of the toy even looks exactly like the Bamboo Copter’s blades, so authenticity is a big selling point.

Nakata to direct next Deathnote sequel

Hideo Nakata has firmly established his reputation in world cinema with Ringu — the seminal Japanese horror film that has spawned countless rip-offs in Asia and ushered in the highly lucrative “Asian horror” genre. Even though his American directorial debut had been less than stellar (okay, it was just a bit above passable), it has not diminished the cachet that he has developed for Ringu as well as his other wonderful movies.

It has been reported a few weeks ago that Nakata is now set to take on the hit anime series Deathnote. The series has already spawned two smash live action movies but Nakata will be directing the movie focusing on one of the most enigmatic characters in the series. The title of the movie is The Last 21 Days of L and it will be released on February 2008. Nakata’s dreary and atmospheric directing style will perfectly fit the Deathnote mythos. I can’t wait to watch it.

The Tokusatsu genre

In a few previous blog post, I talked about my love for the various sentai series that came from Japan. Well, the nostalgia trip didn’t end with writing that post.

I recently went to a toy sale at my local mall and found a whole stash of Kamen Rider 555 action figures. I immediately grabbed a Kamen Rider Kaixa figure (which is one of the coolest figures in the bunch). It was a 12-inch figure that lights up just like in the series — signifying that the armor is powering up.

Getting my hands on a Kamen Rider figure made me think of the other genre that is as popular as Sentai — the Tokusatsu genre. Tokusatsu is a looser grouping, not like the more genre specific sentai. Tokusatsu literally means Special Effects and is actually a contraction of two words tokushu satsuei, which means special photography.

The tokusatsu series runs the whole gamut of subgenres from science fiction, fantasy and even horror and monsters. Some of the most popular tokusatsu series or shows aside from Kamen Rider are the Ultraman series, the Godzilla and Gamera series, and even Doraemon.

The Tokusatsu is another one of those distinctly Japanese pop culture references that make their culture so unique.

A love for Sentai

One of my fondest childhood memories was excitedly anticipating 6pm on a Saturday. No, it’s not because my mother was going to prepare a favorite dish. It’s when Goranger is shown on one of the local channels. Goranger was one of the first Sentai series to come out of Japan. They were also one of my favorite heroes. It’s been almost three decades (!) since I’ve seen Goranger but I still have a soft spot for it. It practically defined my childhood.

Sentai are one of the quirky genres that can be categorically confirmed as purely Japanese created. If you’re confused about what Sentai is then just look at any of the current iterations of the Power Rangers, because the Power Rangers are absolutely Sentai. The Sentai phenomenon spawned so many different titles and heroes that only the most hardcore sentai fan would even recognize all of them. But a common theme does run through all of the sentai series and heroes — the preference for distinctive colors to identify individual heroes, distinctive designs on the helmet, a group of four or five, and unique abilities for each sentai hero. With the emergence of Super Sentai, other conventions became established — separate vehicles that could either form into a robot or enter a robot and a first battle with a villain that culminates with the robot battle.

Adults watching a sentai series now may find it quite silly. But in our childhood, they were the pinnacle of cool. I admit, they are still the coolest things I’ve seen on TV, and I still secretly long to become the Aka Ranger.

UTK brings a different light to manga

Talk about manga usually revolves around Japanese style superheroes, mythological beings and mecha robots (okay, some of you dirty devils would also think about those disturbing porn). These genres have become so entrenched in manga culture that a title like Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku is like a breath of fresh air to the medium.

The title, also known as UTK, is written by Kenji Hamaoka. Roughly translated, the title means “the steel-reinforced concrete family of Urayasu.” This manga tells the story of the lives and various adventures that happen to a bunch of children from elementary school as well as their families.

UTK is one of the best drawn mangas to come in a while. The attention to detail in the comicbook is worthy of attention. It really shows that the people working on it do it with love. The characters are also people that you will come to love and admire. Just like everyday people, the slow unfolding of each person’s character may take time but what you have invested in it pays off in the long run. One bad thing though is that since the stories are very entrenched in contemporary Japanese culture it may be quite hard, if not impossible, to see an English translation of this wonderful manga. But then stranger things have happened. Hopefully, UTK does get a translation deal because this is the kind of manga that more people should read.

Ranobe

Anywhere in the world today, there seems to be a growing trend for light reading. What exactly does this encompass? It’s basically comic books that are like light novels. In Japan, they are called ranobe.

Publishers have no clear cut standards as to what really makes ranobe. However, in general, you would see that ranobe is characterized by a heavy emphasis on dialogue and illustrations. The plots of these novels are very straightforward and easy to understand. In short, there is not much thinking to be done when reading ranobe.

Ranobe extends to different genres. Romance and comedy are some of the more popular genres. However, ranobe also covers science fiction and fantasy. The main audience groups for this type of reading are teens and those in their 20s.

To attest to the popularity of these light novels in Japan today, several of them have already been made into movies. At present, there are plans to make more of them into the film format.
[tags]Japan, culture, books, novels, anime, illustrations, manga, ranobe[/tags]

Tokyo International Anime Fair

Japanese Anime has long since been one of the more popular hobbies in many countries around the world. For the uninitiated, anime is the term used for Japanese animation. Wide eyed characters with quirky characteristics are the focus of anime. Seemingly suitable for children – as cartoons are normally perceived – anime has captured the interest of people of all ages.

This March, the TAF (Tokyo International Anime Fair) is going to be held at Tokyo Big Sight. Held every year at spring, this exhibit is the largest anime fair in the world. Booths will be hosted not only by Japanese anime companies but entities from other countries as well. Events include stage performances and video/movie showings. More than that, the Tokyo Anime Awards will be held to recognize the best in the anime industry.

Tickets are relatively reasonable at 1,000 JPY for adults and 500 JPY for high school and junior high school students. Younger kids come in for free.

[tags]Japan, Tokyo, Japanese Anime, Tokyo Anime Fair[/tags]