On Japan Category (65)
Danny Choo is the founder of media production company Mirai Inc., which focuses on sharing Japanese lifestyle with the world though the Internet, TV, mobile, print, products and conferences. He is also the director and presenter of the TV show “Culture Japan,” and a presenter on the morning show “Check Time” and Star Worlds’ “Japan Mode.” Danny speaks on Japanese pop culture and consumer generated media at conferences and universities worldwide. He has been featured on CNN, BBC, NHK and G4TV. He was appointed by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as creative director for the Mazer project in 2012 and now consults for METI’s Cool Japan Project. Danny is the creator of “Culture Japan’s” mascot character Mirai Suenaga. Danny greeted the press while serving as master of ceremonies at the Anime Expo 2013 convention in Los Angeles.
“We share and make Japanese culture more accessible to the world.”
Q: Why do you think the popularity of anime has expanded so much?
CHOO:I think that one of the major influences is the Internet. When I first started off liking Japanese culture, we had to watch anime on VHS tapes. I got them from a Japanese bookshop in the UK which was recording Japanese TV shows and renting out these shows. But I was very reliant on this single location where I would have to take the train and go there to get these videos. But now with the Internet it is very easy to find something online these days. So I think that has definitely contributed to the proliferation of Japanese anime.
Q: Other than your line of dolls, is there anything else you’re going to do with your character Mirai Chan?
CHOO:Mirai Chan has become a mascot character for VOX, the Japanese convenience store Lawson, Kinokuniya International Bookstore and the low-cost carrier Air Asia. I’m working with someone now to write 13 episodes of an anime for Mirai Millennium. He has worked on things like “Cowboy Bebop” and “Ghost in the Shell.” The scenario is complete right now. The next step is to decide if we want to release manga or go for the anime route. I personally want to release manga first. Instead of going through the normal publishers, I want to do it myself. After I learn how to do it, I want to share the knowledge with everyone else so they can do it themselves as well. Mirai Chan is actually a 3D printed interactive Android-controlled robot and we want to make her interactive with social media. My first goal is to have her sitting on the edge of a desk while she swings her legs back-and-forth, looks around the room and when you get a Facebook notification, she will tell you about it in a cute voice. Extra motions and voices would be available for purchase later on through the Google Play Store
Asakusa Souvenir Shops
THE large photo of a crowd walking past shops along the approach to the Buddhist temple Sensoji was taken some time in 1934. Notice that while most men and even the children wear Western clothing, the women still wear kimono.
The shops, known as Asakusa Nakamise, were great crowd pleasers. Their origins are rooted in a harvest festival called Tori no Ichi. Held in November, long lines of people would wind their way along the rice pad- dies to pray and enjoy themselves at Sensoji. Naturally, this attracted a large number of merchants and entertainers, who were mostly located in the entertainment district behind the temple. Eventually, neighborhood merchants were allowed to open their shops in the approach to the temple as well.
Many of the shops developed “Asakusa Meibutsu,” or Asakusa specialties. These included Asakusa Nori (sheets of edible seaweed), Asakusa-gami (a kind of paper), Tondari Hanetari (small toys that jumped) and Fusayoji, or fairly large tufted tooth- picks made from willow trees or shrubs and used to clean the teeth as an early version of the toothbrush.
Harajuku's Link to the Olympics
Harajuku’s Forgotten Link with the Olympic Games
The 2020 Olympics will envelop Tokyo’s youth district of Harajuku, world famous as Japan’s center of street fashion. Every day tens of thousands of people come here to shop, hang out and see the latest trends. This square mile area is jam-packed with boutiques, fashion malls and chain stores – and it is located right at the center of the planned Olympic district.
Hopefully, the huge crowds and security presence that the Olympics would bring to Harajuku won’t smother the irreverent energy of this incubation center of Japanese pop culture. That would be painfully ironic because Harajuku partly came into being because of the Olympics.
The area was originally a small village inhabited by low-level samurai. Harajuku’s start as a center of fashion and youth culture came after WWII. U.S. Army barracks, called Washington Heights, were built in the nearby Yoyogi neighborhood, a former military drill area of the Japanese Imperial Army. Shops catering to American military families followed, and this attracted young people curious about Western culture.
When the 1964 Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo, Washington Heights became the Olympic Village for housing the athletes. People from all over Japan came to Harajuku for a chance to meet the athletes. The influx of young people persuaded young creators to set up shop in Harajuku. World famous Japanese fashion designers like Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons got their starts in small apartments in the area.
The complete article is available in Issue #272. Click here to order from Amazon
Toyo Ito
Architect Toyo Ito Presented with the 2013 Pritzker
Architecture Prize
ON May 29, 2013, Tom Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, presented Toyo Ito with the Pritzker Architecture Prize medallion for 2013 and a $100,000 grant. In his acceptance speech, Architect Toyo Ito said, “This is the best day of my architectural life so far!” Mr. Ito was the 38th recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which has been sponsored by The Hyatt Foundation since its founding in 1979. A black-tie audience of more than 300 guests, including previous prize laureates, witnessed the ceremony in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. tj
The complete article is available in Issue #272. click here. to order from Amazon
Garrity’s Japan
The Open Road Part II
The following is a continuation of Robert Garrity’s story describing his walk across Japan replicating Haiku Poet Matsuo Basho’s 2,500 kilometer journey from Fukugawa, Tokyo to Japan’s northern wilderness, as detailed in Basho’s world-famous “Oku no Hosomichi”. Robert Garrity began this journey in Summer of 1994, and broke it down into segments, walking the different segments each time he returned to Japan.
Basho Memorial Hall:
On the other side of the Sumidagawa bridge and down the street several blocks on the river- side is the Basho Memorial Hall, on the site of Basho’s original home. There is a banana tree in front that marks the hall.
The Tokyo Fish Market
The Tokyo Fish Market
If you ask anybody in Tokyo about the city’s Nihonbashi district, they’ll most probably call it a staid business area. The Bank of Japan and the Tokyo Stock Exchange are located there, so too the headquarters of many financial companies. Even the Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya department stores there are thought conservative.
This hasn’t always been the case. Until 1923, Nihonbashi housed a colorful and busy fish market right next to the famous Nihonbashi bridge, the point from which even today all distances to the capital are measured. For hundreds of years at the empire’s navel, the smell of fish and the shouts of fishermen, brokers and peddlers penetrated the air. Some 300 fish wholesalers were located at the market. From fishing villages as far away as Hokkaido, fish arrived early in the morning every day of the year. “Piscine types almost as varied and as beautiful as those at the marvelous Naples Aquarium may be seen,” gushed Terry’s Guide to the Japanese Empire in its 1920 edition.
Japan and Globalization
Japan and Globalization
English: The Global Language of Business
Interview with Yukuo Takenaka
TJ: How important is it for Japan’s future that Japanese people learn to communicate in English?
TAKENAKA: Extremely important. As the Japanese birth rate is declining and the aging population is increasing, Japan cannot rely on domestic business alone in this shrinking market. Japanese companies must go outside and increase business on a global basis. In business and in most professions, English has become the preferred global language. Chances are that if you speak English, you will be able to find someone in any country who can communicate in English.
Language is a tool for communication. Japan’s problem is that they teach English not for the purpose of using the language as a communicative tool, but for the purpose of passing exams. Learning how to communicate conversationally in English is imperative. I believe the greatest benefit you will gain by learning English is the ability to communicate face-to-face. It is acceptable if you speak broken English, as long as you get the message across. With the current Japanese English education system, they may learn some fundamentals but on average they cannot communicate effectively.
TJ: How important is globalization?
TAKENAKA: Every country needs globalization. The best example of a country that has isolated itself is North Korea. People are starving. I am certain that if North Korea opens up, their lives will improve immeasurably. Why is China better off today than 30 or 40 years ago? Because they have become a part of the global business community. Japan recognized that they greatly improved after opening up the country as compared to the Tokugawa period of isolation.
Living Legend - Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando
Self-Taught Architect
Tadao Ando, born in 1941, is a former boxer who became one of Japan’s most renowned architects. His projects, which can be found in Japan, the U.S., the U.K., Spain, Germany, France, and Italy, are known for having large expanses of unadorned architectural concrete walls combined with large windows and wooden or stone floors. He has received such awards as the Pritzker Prize, Gold Medal of Architecture from the French Academy of Architecture, Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects and Gold Medal of the Union Internationale des Architects. He is a visiting professor at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley.
Photo Contest Grand Prize Winners
The following photos are from Grand Prize Winners of the Japan Tourism Agency’s 2012-2013 Share your WOW! Photo Contest. These were selected from over 38,000 entries from talented photographers from across the globe.
For more information about the photographers, please see the Japan Tourism Agency’s website at www.japantravelinfo.com
The complete article is available in Issue #272. click here to order from Amazon
Interview: Inventor Dr. NakaMats
Dr. Yoshiro NakaMats is said by many to be Japan’s most prolific inventor. Take an in-depth look at his astonishing background in what is his most revealing interview ever.
Interview with Inventor Dr. Yoshiro NakaMats
Dr. Yoshiro NakaMats is said by many to be Japan’s most prolific inventor. His documented patents include some of the most significant inventions of our time including 16 patents related to the floppy disk which he sold to IBM, and many other inventions including retractable landing gear, the digital watch, the digital display and in total 3,368 inventions. Dr. NakaMats sat down with Tokyo Journal for an in-depth look at his astonishing background in what is his most revealing interview ever.
More...
