From Japan

Quick update before I take off to dinner.

Today we traveled from the Aki Grand Hotel in Miyajima (mainland, not the island) to Hiroshima. I believe it is a waste of a trip to Hiroshima to not at least visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. As the epitaph says after the eternal flame, “Rest in peace, for this error will never be repeated.” It is a sight that most in the world need to see, Japanese, American, or whatever nationality you may be. The newest addition to the park, the Hall of Remembrance, was very much worth seeing. It is similar to the Vietnam War Memorial as it is meant to immortalize all those who have died and suffered as a result of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. The multi-media presentation looping at the end of the Hall and telling the firsthand stories of Hiroshima survivors was very moving and well done.

Grabbed some Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki. I am actually not a fan of it. Can’t wait for Osaka in two days, need some real Okonomiyaki. (For those that don’t know, in Hiroshima okonomiyaki is made in methodical layers. In Osaka, it is all just thrown together.)

From Hiroshima we boarded a Tokyo-bound Shinkansen (bullet train) and hopped off at Kyoto. We are currently staying in the Palace Side Hotel, right across the street from the Imperial Palace compound. Swanky. Rooms have internet, I am happy.

Tomorrow is a tour of Kyoto. I am not a big fan of tours, but at least I should be able to take some good video. That reminds me, I need to charge my camera.

Off to dinner. Until next time.

I will be traveling to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, and Osaka over the course of a week. Half of the time will be spent on tours (Miyajima and Kyoto), while the other half will be free time (Hiroshima and Osaka).

Now that I have WordPress fixed on my phone, I plan on attempting to update every night of this trip. Unfortunately I will not be able to upload video or photos while traveling to On Location directly, but I will be sending a few via twitter and on Facebook.

Please check back a lot this week to see what I am up to!

As I bounded downstairs today at my host home and came face-to-face with my reflection in a full length mirror, a perfect vision of my past self. Yesterday I shaved off my beard, a look that sprouted from my first trip to Japan, and for the first time in four years have no plans to grow it back. I had been lazy today and never put on my contacts, so when I was invited out to meet my host family for dinner in Kawagoe I threw on my glasses. I wore glasses then too, this pairs’ predecessor. The icing on the cake was the red Columbia rain jacket I grabbed to protect myself from the torrent of rain pouring outside. I bought this jacket for the maiden voyage, a guard against a rainy season that never really was. I found myself staring at me, four years ago.

“How much has changed?,” was the first thought to cross my mind. If I look no different now, what has changed and morphed in four years to bring me to this point? Am I the same person who landed in Narita then, or is my appearance now just a homage to the me that was?

I can certainly say I know far more now than I did then. I have experience an amazing array of things in Japan, and have built a firm foundation in my understanding of this riddle of a country. I will never claim to understand Japan, that is an impossible thing to say about any place in this world, but I feel now that I can at least grasp the enigma at times.

I do not, however, find any of the passion I had then for being in Japan to be different (although it is now second to a greater love in my life). I still hate natto, love sashimi, and crave anko at random times. My strange affinity for Japanese power poles and lines remains, as does my uncanny habit to spend all my free time in Tokyo in Akihabara. Bowen would say I no longer an a fan of anime and manga, but I still enjoy them thoroughly.

Even though I may show few outside differences in how I appear now compared to then, especially when I cosplay as my former self like today, I feel that things have changed for me. Maybe, however, that is Japan rubbing off on me. Four years ago, I walked the same streets in Saitama with the same shops and the same people. This place hasn’t seemed to change either. Or, as my friend Bowen pointed out to me in discussing the physical state of Akihabara, it has only changed to those who really know it well. Maybe that is the same for me, maybe those who knew me then and knew me now could see the differences projected outward.

Note: this is a first in a type of article I will be trying to write more of. The only restriction on these more personal and informal articles will be that I am only allowed to write them while on the train. Editing may be done later for improved appearance, but I will try to avoid making any content changes while not on a train.

People in Germany cannot currently view this video because I am too lazy to find open source music.

Thank you, Satoshi Kon. Thank you for all the great memories.

Satoshi Kon lost his battle with pancreatic cancer and passed away on August 23, 2010, at the age of 46 (two months shy of his next birthday).  The news struck me harder than I imagine it would, and has led me to reflect on his works and how they played into my anime fandom history.

When my fandom really peaked, Paranoia Agent was on TV and I was watching it whenever I could. Satoshi Kon was the director of Paranoia Agent, and it oozed what I know now as his iconic style. I would sit in my dark living room late at night, with headphones plugged into the sound system, watching Lil’ Slugger (Shônen Bat) reek havoc on Tokyo. Paranoia Agent was weird, suspenseful, hilarious, beautiful, and real (in an insane kind of way). It showed me Japan like I had never seen before in the likes of Tenchi Muyo or Sailor Moon, darker and more personal. Even today I can see images in my head from Paranoia Agent: a Japanese street late at night, a detective taking an old woman’s statements, Sagi’s crowded office, the children’s school.

I would realize later on that Paranoia Agent was not my first look at Satoshi Kon’s work. I had first seen his hand as a writer in “Magnetic Rose,” the opening short of the Memories. Craving anything Japanese anime when I was younger, I had rented Memories on a whim. ”Magnetic Rose” is hauntingly beautiful and gritty, and it is still the only portion of the compilation I can remember in its entirety. I watched it in my room, on my old Dell. It has those horrible yellow italic subtitles, but I loved every minute of it. Memories and “Magnetic Rose” were very new to me, the style and approach was completely different than anything I had seen before.

As I grew, I learned to seek out Satoshi Kon’s major films. Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Paprika. All are gorgeous, human, and shining examples of the anime medium as a legitimate form of narrative expression, just like movies and books. (I am ashamed to say that Tokyo Godfathers has escaped my view, but that is something I will seek to quickly rectify.) I taught a mini-course on Japanese Animation as Literature for my (graduation requirement) Senior Project in high school, and had planned to show Millenium Actress as a perfect example of anime as lit., or anime as worth examining and discussing like Hamlet or Siddhartha. I regret now that I choose to not show it.

I wish I could have thanked Satoshi Kon for the memories I have from watching his works while I was developing into the fan I am today. The magic of sitting on my couch, watching a gang of suicidal strangers prance through Japan will last me forever. Thank you, Satoshi Kon, for all the fond memories. Your life was truly too short.

This post is part 2 of 2 for my video coverage of the 2010 Ômiya Summer Festival (大宮夏まつり [Ômiya Natsu-yasumi Matsuri]) in Saitama City, Japan.

As a big fan of traditional Japanese culture, I thoroughly enjoyed my first matsuri (祭, festival) and took the opportunity to get some footage On Location. I will tease you with this first video, of the portable shrine parade, but you will have to continue after the jump to see more!

Summer festivals would not be complete without a parade of portable shrines. Each district within Saitama City (once Ômiya City) has their own shrine and crew to carry it. At the time, I was living in Takahana-machi (高鼻町), represented by the second group of strong men and women carrying the area’s portable shrine. I apologize if the video quality is slightly off, I may have exported it incorrectly. To see more videos, keep reading!

Following the Portable Shrine Parade, I moved on to check out the large traditional floats. Each float had its own set of traditional musicians, dancers, and actors. I had some great footage of a dragon dancer biting my host mother’s head, but I accidentally deleted it. Pay attention to the detail of the fox spirit’s mask. (I love the overall background music these floats give the festival, listen for it in later videos.)

Taking place right next to the floats was a taiko (traditional Japanese drums) performance. I am a huge fan of taiko and couldn’t resist filming a whole segment, hopefully this video is not too long. As mentioned above, listen to how the floats’ music adds to the drum sound. Absolutely beautiful in my book.

The final video in the Ômiya Summer Festival series will be of the traditional dance parade. As in the portable shrine parade, each district within Ômiya is represented here. I was able to catch a good number of these dances on film, and have cut them together below (crudely). This video is extra long, but I believe it is worth it to see how each district puts on a different variation on the traditional dance.

I hope that you have enjoyed these looks at the 2010 Ômiya Summer Festival in Saitama City, Japan. This is but a glimpse at the full week long spectacle, but I feel it captures the feeling and magic well.

It is a popular tradition to watch fireworks (or, hanabi 花火) in the summer during festivals and my host mother was kind enough to take me to the very impressive display at Saitama Park (埼玉公園 [Saitama-kouen]). While the entire show was impressive, I don’t expect anyone to sit through all two hours of it (nor did I record it in its entirety).

Therefore, here is the finale!

Having never been to Akiba alone before, this was an interesting experience in extended person commentary on the electronics and anime merchandise mecca. Every now and then a one-liner would pop into my head and seem perfect for a Twitter update. However, I neither wanted to flood my timeline nor look away from navigating long enough to, as the hip ones say, Tweet.

Therefore, I’m going to dump the ones I remember clearest here below:

“How do you tell resident foreigners from tourists? One still makes fun of employees saying, ‘Irrashaimase!’”

“‘Awful lot a honkies around here,’ Peter Griffen, #familyguy”

“So, if you go high enough in /that/ store, it actually does sell costumes.”

“Just ran in Solid Snake, but I didn’t have the Alert sound on my phone. I would be dead and no one would ask, ‘What’s going on!?’”

“Gameboy Color, ¥2940. Pokemon Red, ¥1423. Re-living your childhood thanks to Super Potato, priceless.”

“I solemnly swear, on the Dragon Quest V bible, to never take out my camera in Akihabara and to never take photos of unsuspecting maids doing a hard days work.”

(Seriously people, they ask you not to. They’re just doing their job, and in this heat, leave them alone.)

“Wanted to play the Gundam arcade game. Then it ate ¥200. Zoids it is.”

“Lupin the Third book ends!? Must. Resist. Must. Eat.”

“How the hell did this gaijin get a work visa to be an Akiba street maid? #wtf”

“Wasted ¥600 on a UFO catcher. Sorry, @tofugu , your advice isn’t as useful as I’d hoped.”

“I have been here half a dozen times and I still get lost in the station. Electric Maze is more like it. Amirite?”

“SEELE SOUND ONLY CHOCO omiyage. Best souvenir, or best souvenir. I wonder if they’re LCL-filled.”

“Akihabara, still the only place in Japan I can find Dr. Pepper.”

“It actually does exist… My faith in Japanese urban myths is restored. #japanesevendingmachines”

Unfortunately a day of research separated starting this post and finishing it. But if you want to see more of my Twitter updates On Location, follow me @10khend9.

While I am capable of updating On Location via my Blackberry, it is hard to make the posts in a fashion I desire (there are also some formatting errors, as you can see from my last post). What actual computer time I have, I tend to spend talking with family. Additionally, it is so humid and hot I can barely think about research or studying at the moment.

Never fear, however, as I have been writing off-line and will hopefully begin editing them for publishing. Once I find a suitable spot to leech wifi or discover my host family’s WEP, On Location will receive the attention it deserves.

I do update my twitter regularly, so please follow me @10khend9 (^_^)

Until next time, stay cool.

I was joking with Dana about how much I hate traditional prop propelled planes, which should have told me that I would have the pleasure of using one for the flight from PDX to Vancouver (YVR). It was a pleasant flight, however, and I have landed in Canada safely.

I did discover something frustrating and upsetting upon my arrival though. For the purpose of my trip, my cell plan was upgraded to Verizon’s global access plan and I was toldthat I would be able to use Skype on my phone internationally. When I tried to start Skype I was greeted by reality, a message stating “Skype-to-Skype only works on Verizon Wireless in the US.” I hate, more than ever, phone companies.
Skype works as a phone over the internet. I have unlimited global internet. I can get email and browse the web in 220 countries around the world. I can email video to my mother from the heart of Japan and she’ll receive it instantly. I can’t, however, use this fountain of internet for Skype outside the US. My brain just hurts (and so does my heart to a certain extent, I was dreaming of making Skype calls to friends and loved ones from Japan on my phone).

Had I not been told the exact opposite would be the case by a Verizon tech support employee, I imagine I would be less inclined to fantasize about beating the “Can you hear me now?”-man with my Blackberry.

Until next time.