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Néojaponisme Podcast on Cool Japan
In sort of a thematic follow-up to an earlier HToS podcast, W. David Marx (aka Marxy) and Patrick "third person" Macias meet up in Swinging Akasaka and gab about how fabulous and awesome "Cool Japan" is for the all-new, all different Néojaponisme Podcast! Link here.
Conclusion: From otaku culture to 2chan and Harajuku fashion, everything is great
and could not possibly be better. For more information, check out the
JTB Sunrise Tours promotional materials (excerpted here).
Bijo to Ekitainingen
Those ding-dong OTAKCERS boyz are at it again! Looks like Matt Alt and myself managed to sneak into a photo spread in the new issue of ORICON STYLE magazine. The hard-hitting "Ori Star" story is about the day in the life of otaku idol Shoko Nakagawa, complete with gruelling fashion shoots, hair and makeup sessions, itenerate blogging, and having to put up with fawning American fanboys.
If I look unbearably thrilled in that picture, it's because I'm trying to keep my brain from shooting out of my skull from the GIZA GIZA pain of a hangover-sleepless night combo. I guess that's just peanuts compared to what a real trooper like Shoko-tan has to put up with...No wonder the OTACKERS Oricon ranking is so low!
Podcast: Hot Tears of Shame x Episode Thirty
Download here
© Hot Tears of Shame Production Committee/jaPRESS
Synopsis: The organized crime organization “Crime” appears to counter the international science and the special investigation squad! Organizing troops via an experimental process known as “young cyborg surgery", The League of Extraordinary Gaijin shock unit is born! Six foreigners living with the grief of losing their bodies hidden in the back of their mind, they continue to battle “Crime” and vow to fight to intensify further.
Setting:
Canal Cafe - Iidabashi, mon amour
Cafe Pause - Arcade Mania launch party
Cast of Characters:
Matt Alt (2:01) pledges his undying love to the makers of Nikka Whiskey and reveals the Legend of Snake Woman Island.
Ed Chavez (6:40) eats a melon soda shaved ice and lays out the conspiratorial link between studio GAINAX and Otaku USA magazine.
At the launch party for his new book “Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers", Brian Ashcraft (13:22) makes a heroic Lone Wolf-style beer run with mini-Bashcraft in the booby trapped baby cart.
W. David Marx (21:39) rants about reuben sandwiches and taco rice while civilization crumbles around him.
“Arcade Mania!” co-author Jean Snow (38:12) dazzles us with the latest TV games and tales of the plumbing in darkest China!
Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers (official website)
Happy Birthday, Paradise Angel
Night Style, PokePara magazine, and Universal Music (!!!) proudly present the scintillating sounds of…CABA-REGE! Hot on the heels of
the best-selling Caba-Tra and Caba-Rap compilations, CABA-REGE features big
bambu rastaman classics from the likes of Kelly Rowland, Black Eyed Peas, as
well as original songs performed by the ero-kawaii charisma models of PQ magazine.
Sure you can hear most of these songs at any number of shitty clubs in Shibuya,
but only CABA-REGE offers big-scale tie-up thrills such as: deluxe packaging including making-of DVD and 56 page photo booklet, actual business cards from actual
kyabajyo, and a bounty of coupons good for discounts on “entrance fees” at
participating cabaret clubs. It's enough to make the moldy corpse of Bob Marley suddenly bolt upright, sprout a pair of sparkly shojo manga eyes, and proclaim ヤーマン!
Curry Snack Gon
Nipponia is a free magazine published in multiple languages by Heibonsha given away at Japanese embassies around the globe. Inside the new issue (46, for those of you counting) is a profile piece in which I am formally charged with the heinous crime of...
Surely there are others more worthy of the blame, but here is my mug shot taken in my preferred seating spot in Nakano Broadway, playing "monsters" with a vintage Marusan Kanegon and something limited-edition from Godzilla Final Wars. But I'd give it all up to be Baolimo Lombo (below), who was born in the Congo, who now gets to work at the LaOX Duty Free in the AKB...
A shitload of pics from Superfest 2008
Ok, here are some pix from Superfest 2008. The Hot Tears of Shame
podcast of Tokyo's 47th grand old bi-annual "Get the Toy" event is here.
Our buddies at Aoshima hit us hard out of the starting gate where it counts with a new die-cast Goten-go (AKA Atragon) from that Tohoscope spectacular Kaitei Gundan. The killer app here is the battery-operated rotating drill in front.
Aoshima is also pumping out a sweet light-up die-cast Queen Emeraldus to match their line of Captain Harlock spaceships bound to make Steve Harrison weep.
If that doesn't do the trick for graduates of the School of '78, maybe this will: a die-cast Deslar flagship from the nutty bunch at Marmit. The box helpfully points out "From Space Battleship Yamato." Like, no DURRRR!
Superfest rules because it's all about old toys and funky kaijyu soft vinyl. If the wares on display at the M-1 table don't make your inner 5-year-old-in-short-pants froth at the mouth, then best venture elsewhere for moe figures and endless Gundam mobile suits.
M-1 celebrates the landmark, epoch-making release of the Godman and Greenman DVD box (at right) with a new Godman figure, yours for the low, low price of around US$60.00.
Only at Superfest does the X-From Outer Space share the same cheap card table with the likes of honorable Jet Jaguar samma.
More M-1 madness: the DX Kanegon (sunglasses not included). Yours for around US$150.00, after which, your kane-be-gone.
I was so high on the scent of sofbi that I forgot the name of the guy hawking this line of pocket-sized monsters along with mini-buildings for them to menace.
Most of Superfest is made up of an Octagon of Misfit Toys destined to haunt subsequent cons to come. Because everyone needs a rumpy Superman soft vinyl, a trio of Toei robot heroes, and Kotetsu Jeeg figures that cost a million dollars.
Tricycle savages with hot steel between their legs roaring through the streets on chopped down hogs! From right, Tatsunoko's Pinocchio, Silver Kamen, and Mirror Man.
Marusan had the darnest booth where folks tossed softballs at sofbi matsuri-style to win free prizes. On display were some of the new hot ones from the factory, including a big-ass new Mecha Godzilla that nearly made Matt Alt weep hot tears of Space Titanium.
Samples of Adam from Evangelion (perhaps you've heard of it). Not sure what these were made out of, but it can't be wholesome...
The 36th Chamber of Superfest was Western Toy Hell presided over by an arch-fiend and firedrake known only as THAT MAN.
THAT MAN insisted that everyone consider playing and fondling his rare mint-in-package Madballs."Toss 'em! Bounce 'em! Catch 'em!" he demanded to no one in particular (except Joey Coco, who bolted upright in his sleep).
My pick for Best of Show goes to CCP and their line of "artistic monsters." Behold the whole blingy line-up of their limited editon Hedorah figures!
But CCP's masterpiece has got to be their Passion of the Ultra Brothers playset, suitable for inclusion in Christmas nativity scenes. Sound chip that plays Issao Sasaki's cover of "Always Looks on the Bright Side of Life" not included (sadly).
The last thing I saw before I hit the floor and turned into a thousand scattered atoms was the elusive Rats&Star figure...maybe next year?
The Young Sonny Chiba Chronicles
With Your Captain, "Six-Foot-Six of Half-Breed Fury."
But still, you gotta wonder, what's in that pipe?
Podcast: Hot Tears of Shame - Episode Twenty-Nine
The OTACKERS storm Sony Music HQ to party once more with Shoko Nakagawa AKA Shokotan...and you are there (kind of)! Note for completists: No actual audio from the interview is used; only the hastily edited bits from waiting for the train, crouching in the darkness, and exiting burger cafes. You're going to gave to read the Japan Times like everyone else when the resulting article eventually drops.
Download here
© Hot Tears of Shame Production Committee/jaPRESS
Hot Links
Shokotan blogs about Those Harsh Guys
Jo-Ha-Kyu
The hopefuls line for the 6%DOKIDOKI shop girl audition. Tune into NHK's Tokyo Kawaii TV relatively soon to see who wins the gold and who goes home in tears.
I Know I'm Losing Myself For Real This Time
Here's a write up (with pix) of my DJ stint at the Acid Panda Cafe on Saturday Night. I'll try and reassemble the set list for a HToS Gaiden podcast one of these days. Lots of Ichiro Mizuki and Yokohama Ginbae.
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