Gateway Drug

Mention anime figures to a certified normie, and you might get a look of disgust.  Everyone knows what that person is thinking of: attractive, big-busted (possibly underage) women, scantily clad and in anatomically unlikely positions.  Well, there’s a reason why that’s a stereotype.  There are an awful lot of bishoujo figures out there.

That is not, however, all there is out there.  Figures come in a variety of formats, and at different sizes.  But the best, in my humble opinion, are the nendoroids I mentioned in my last post.  These are figures with exaggerated, “chibi” proportions - huge heads with small bodies.  They have interchangeable parts, allowing you to do more with them.  They’re smaller than a lot of figures, which means they'll be easier to pack up to your next port of call.  Of course, some people think they’re expensive, but those people probably collect Funko Pops (which there’s nothing wrong with, even if the quality of the two can’t even be compared).  Plus you can pose them and change their expressions, and even (if you’re tech-savvy and don’t have other things to do with your time) create stop-motion animation using them, as seen in the video below by Dan Von Carr.

However, my favorite thing about nendos (as we hip kids call them) is the fact that they demonstrate greater gender equality.  I’m much more likely to find a nendo of a character I like than I am a scale figure.  Hell, I think they may actually be planning to make every damn Touken Ranbu character there is, and that’s saying a lot.  GoodSmile, the company that makes them, has a tendency to make whole series of characters from given shows.

For example, every one of the Generation of Miracles, from Kuroko no Basuke.  One Saturday morning in May, I missed my planned Saturday outing because SOME idiot (ie, the one who writes this blog) volunteered herself to chaperone a 5th grade sleepover.  As I sat in the Denny’s near Omori Station, fighting unsuccessfully to get to Asakusa for the annual Edo Firefighter’s Memorial, I checked Goodsmile’s Twitter feed to see whether or not they had FINALLY released any news on the upcoming Hyakkimaru nendoroid (pictured at the top).  What I found instead was that there was an event happening in Akiba - WonHobby Gallery 2019.  Since I had serious doubts that I was, in fact, going to make it to Asakusa in time, I decided to just stop when I got to Akiba.  I’d kinda been meaning to go there soon, anyways...although it perhaps would’ve been better to wait til payday.

The event was like a smaller, less crowded, free version of the Goodsmile booth at AnimeJapan, offering a glimpse into what was coming up from the company.  I was a little disappointed that they didn't have any life-size nendos or Nendoroid plushies, until I figured out that their previous announcement was an  April Fool’s Day joke.  Still, they had a pretty impressive range of upcoming releases to show off.  If it weren't for the fact that I don't think I can handle sewing that small, I might even be interested in one of their Nendoroid doll bodies.  Since I'm kind of burnt out on sewing at the moment, it wasn't a hard temptation to resist.

But Akiba being what it is, there's always temptation to be found, especially since I got sucked into a new blackhole:  nendoroid customizing.  See, here’s the thing.  Although GoodSmile often releases a bunch of characters from the same show, this is not always the case.  Sometimes they’re so busy making new versions of Hatsune Miku that they forget to make the other characters in your favorite show, which is why I’m still waiting for a Sugimoto nendoroid.  Although I guess I should be grateful they at least made Asirpa...they’ve never made any of Noragami's characters.  Over the course of my second year in Japan, I've been thinking about this more and more.  Seeing the expansion pieces - Nendoroid More, as they're called - which allow you to dress up your characters differently, or give them different expressions, got me wondering if it might be possible to frankenstein some characters (cobble together a new creation from spare parts - get it?).  It didn't really click, though, until I remembered how cheap I've found some nendoroids in my rambles about town.  I realized that if you could find them for a decent price, it might not be so terrible to take a figure apart, make some color changes, and reconstruct it to create a new character.

Well, as it turns out, that's totally a thing.  When I started trying to figure out whose hair would work for a Shinra nendoroid I stumbled across the community of nendoroid customizers online.  One enterprising couple even created an online shop - the aptly named ChibiChopShop - where they buy and sell parts from nendoroids that have been split up.  I'm looking for such specific things that I've only used them once, but when I discovered them, they had the only things I wanted - the hair and faceplates from nendoroid 151, Moritaka Mashiro.  With the Nendoroid More doctor body I'd already found on eBay, all I needed was a pair of glasses and probably a little paint to make my first nendoroid, Celty, her own Shinra.  He needs a lot of work - the hair’s the wrong color, and the face isn’t right - but once I’m reunited with my supplies in Mongolia, we’ll get there.

And that, of course, opened the floodgates.  I had so many ideas that it was tough to decide which to pursue first...but since the pieces basically fell into my lap I started working on my first anime love, Yato.

I found Takagi Akito from Bakuman (#152, from Lashinbang in Kamata) for his body, and Kuroko no Basuke’s Kise Ryota (#1032, again at Lashinbang, this time the big one in Akiba Culture Zone) for his hair, and was able to sell the rest right away through the facebook group for splits.  Then I hit up the Volks near Yokohama station on my way home from work one night and spent a good half hour deliberating over paints (ie, the ones that are waiting for me in Mongolia now - this post is kind of back and forth all over the place).  Since I really had zero clue what the heck I was doing, I based my educated guess on the name of the paint.  Very scientific, I know.  Then I got to work, in a painstakingly (or paints-takingly) slow manner.  Only to quickly realize the paint was much glossier than I wanted.  Back I went for cleaner and advice.  There’s still work to do on it, but for now, I’m pretty happy with how he’s looking.

In the midst of all this I made what may be the greatest discovery of all: Goodsmile's facemaker site.  This is basically a website that lets you design your own faceplates and have them printed by Goodsmile and shipped to you.  The options it gives you are unbelievable.  I was a little skeptical at first, but a half an hour later I had designed two expressions for Yato that I had to get printed.  The next day I went back to the site, just planning on messing around with it, and ended up ordering two more, I was so impressed with what I’d come up with.  The site is in Japanese but with Google chrome that’s almost a non-issue.  What might be an issue, though, if you’re not here in Japan is the fact that they only ship to Japan.  Both of those issues, however, are covered in this post on Blog DeJapan.

So that’s how I found myself another expensive hobby.  Wotakoi’s Nifuji Hirotaka was my third project, and although I still want to repaint his hair, I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve accomplished thus far.  I haven’t been forced to do any drastic modifications, but maybe I never will.  This past weekend was summer Wonder Festival and GoodSmile announced even more upcoming products - Kaguya-sama, for example, and a painted prototype of both Tanjiro and Nezuko from Kimetsu no Yaiba.  What I was really excited about, though, was that they announced a nendoroid of Natsume from Natsume Yuujinchou.  I’m not sure that I’ll actually order him - one of the rules I had to impose on myself to get out of Japan was that I was only allowed one figure of any character, and I’ve already got a figure of Natsume.*  No, the real value of that announcement to me was, in fact, that there was still hope.  That anime from several seasons back might still have nendos coming...sometimes there are copyright issues, after all.  Sometimes they have to wait and see if it’ll be lucrative enough to justify making those figures (although I would think the fujoshi fan base of Golden Kamuy would make that a yes).  Although it’s nice to rise to an artistic challenge, I’d much rather hold out hope for an official Sugimoto nendoroid, especially with a new season coming up.

If not, I’d settle for a scale figure.  I left Japan with more of them than I was expecting, and when I get my apartment put back together, don’t be surprised when the inevitable nesting post highlights my carefully curated collection.  I get an extra room this go-round and I know just what to do with it.

*As I mentioned before, nendoroids are small enough that it’s relatively easy to pack them up, especially if you’re willing - as I was, in the end - to get rid of the boxes.  So - on the other hand - I might.

The Otaku Report: Animecca

It hasn't quite been two weeks, but I already miss Japan.  Maybe it was the Time Out Tokyo article about TeamLab's installation at Shimogamo Jinja.  Maybe it was scrolling through my Pinterest feed, which is always littered with Japanese places, clothing, and words.  Or maybe it was preparing for AnimeIowa last weekend.

For the fourth year running, I made the trek past cornfields to Iowa's one and only anime convention, AnimeIowa.  Last year I questioned whether or not there was a point to American anime cons after living in Japan, but ultimately concluded that I enjoy being a part of the English-speaking side of the fandom.*  So this year I contributed to it, presenting three panels (the magic number that gets you in for free): a pub-night style quiz, a panel on Japanese art, and one about Japanese religion and spirits.  It was a lot of work to get ready for, and at least a little stressful, but actually really rewarding.  

Volks' Hobby Center, a block from the station

At the end of the day, though, nothing can compare to the real thing, particularly the heart of Otaku-hood itself: Akihabara.  I've been promising you a post about Akiba for the better part of two years now, and although I intended to do it the week before I left, I was so demoralized by trashing my carefully built Yokohama life that I just couldn't do it.

Instead, here I sit in my parents' living room trying to remember everything I was going to tell you, and I'm probably doomed to fail, but ganbatte-masu.  The first thing you need to know about Akiba is that it's a teeming horde of anime, manga, and gaming stuff (as well as the electronics that it was originally named for and - perhaps somewhat inevitably - a sex toy superstore).  You need to know what you're going for before you get off the train.  If you want to just browse, that works, but knowing what you want to get out of your trip to anime's Mecca will keep your bank account from being bullied like the protagonist of a shoujo series.

So - for example - for Nendoroid parts, I liked Volks'.  Most places have plenty of whole figures, and some even have parts, but as far as selection goes, Volks' was the best.  They also have Goodsmile's playsets, diorama mansions, and pretty much everything you could possibly need to recreate scenes from your favorite anime.  They sell model sets and paints and figures and other anime swag, not to mention ball-jointed dolls (or at least the one in Yokohama did...I didn't explore all the floors in Akiba because it's fricking huge) - and if it seems like they offer a lot in the way of making stuff, that's because it's sort of their specialty.  Mulan, on the other hand, (pictured above) was a place where I was able to find tapestries I wanted - the first time I went in there, I came across exactly what I wanted, a B3 sized tapestry of Hoozuki.

If you decide to check them out, you should know that Google Maps is lying about the location - they're actually located next to one of the four Sega game centers, on the main strip of Akiba.

And while I'm on the subject, it's worth a trip just for the UFO catchers.  Before I left I sort of got my addiction under control (mostly because I realized I could find most of the new prizes at Kawasaki's Book-Off for less than I'd spend trying to win them).  For legit otaku prizes, though, it's hard to beat Akiba.  I saw prizes there that I didn't find anywhere else (and sadly, I kept pretty close tabs on the game centers, particularly in Shibuya and at Yokohama station).  These Kaguya-sama mascots are just one example.  You'll still find more Disney crap than you might care to, and Ikebukuro still caters better to the otome population, but playing crane games - or at least looking to see what the current prizes are - was definitely one of my highlights of a trip to Akiba.

Turn the corner at the next intersection and about a block later you'll come to the Akiba Culture Zone.  This is a huge building filled with smaller shops buying and selling swag, if you can make it past the first two floors: a ginormous Lashinbang.  This was my first stop when I was looking for a nendoroid, as they seemed to have nearly every figure I was looking for.

There is some sort of logic to the way many stores are arranged, which is important to realize if you are, in fact, looking for something specific.  Gunpla models pretty much always get their own section - sometimes even their own floor.  Nendoroids and Figmas also tend to be grouped together, although this isn't always the case.  Merch for major series is usually displayed together - One Piece and Dragonball, in particular, but Touken Ranbu, the Fate/Stay series, and Kantai Collection often have sections as well.  The Nendoroids for these characters are sometimes found in these sections, as well, so if you don't find your favorite touken danshi with the other nendoroids, it may be on a shelf next to its scale figure.  American media - Disney and various superheroes - are usually together.  Beyond that?  You may just have to be patient and sharp-eyed to find what you're looking for.

Surugaya Specialty was where I opened my wallet the first time in Akiba.  I hadn't actually planned to spend any money that trip, since I hadn't gotten my first paycheck yet, but when I found Levi's nendoroid - pre-re-release - for only 3500 yen (the 3D maneuvering gear was damaged, but I didn't care), I knew they'd got me.  They have a pretty good selection and I've found other good deals there, although most of the time I managed to keep from succumbing to temptation.

Closer to the station were a couple of other shops I liked to stop at...and I'm not actually sure what they were called anymore.  Probably it doesn't matter.  Just because I found Dazai there for only 7000 yen doesn't mean it will ever happen again.  

And at the end of the day, you never know where you'll find the treasure you're seeking.  For two years I was low-key hoping to find the one and only Yato figure ever released - by Megahouse in 2015.  On my very last day in Akiba I randomly wandered into an alley off the main street, a kind of covered arcade that I pretty much walked past every time, and when I recovered from the discovery that Naruto and Sasuke figures based on the kabuki play had been released, I looked down and found my stray god.  For 59800 yen.  This isn't the most expensive I've seen him online, but it was, nonetheless, too rich for my blood, so I walked...or rather, limped...away in defeat.

Still, even without spending a single yenny, I always found trips to Akiba to be an excellent use of my weekends (or occasionally, weeknights).  You'll see banners for new anime, or stumble across events you weren't expecting.  Basically it's like an anime convention with a marketplace beyond your wildest imagination, with events randomly happening from time to time, one of which will be the subject of my next post.

*And, of course, winning prizes for my plushies.  Asirpa and Sugimoto took first place in the plush category.

The Beat of my own Drum

I’ve written about taiko here several times over the last three years.  I’ve listened to it whenever I got the chance, dragging whomever I could along with me, because it’s just too good not to share.  I took my first lesson the better part of three years ago, shortly after hearing it for the first time, but it wasn't until the end of last November that I was able to really get started.

You’re finally hearing about it now, at the end of all things, because studying taiko is the reason I was still puttering around Yokohama, a week and a half after school wrapped up for the year.  But let me back up for a minute.  I discovered my taiko studio, Hougaku Academy, a year ago, right before leaving for the summer.  (If you're thinking that was about the time we went to see Drum Tao, you're not wrong!)  I swore to myself that I’d start lessons as soon as I got back in August, and in fact, I did go to a trial lesson at the end of that month, but it was hot and I was being awkward about my crippling lack of Japanese and basically it took me til November to get my shit together.

Here’s a life lesson for you, although I’ve lost track of which number I’m up to.  It really is better late than never.  In retrospect, I wish I’d kept going right after that very first lesson.  Would I have liked to learn more?  Kashiko mari masu.*  But the things I DID learn, the time that I did get, was priceless, to the degree that I think saying goodbye to everyone a week ago was the hardest thing to do this go-round.**

Photo courtesy of Sensei, who says, "I really like this you!"

That is not to say that learning taiko has been easy.  I’ve made no secret about the fact that my feet suck.  The stance you use when drumming definitely doesn’t help.  The best day for them to teach a stray gaijin turned out to be Wednesday, which of COURSE has been my hardest teaching day ever since coming to Japan.  Then there’s the language gap.  My teacher ganbatte’d his heart out, and every week he was better than the week before.  He put my Japanese ability - which, having been picked up (as you know) primarily by watching anime, is more or less worthless - to utter shame, but there were still times when I struggled to figure out what he was trying to tell me.  And while I like to think I made up for a lot of what I lacked with my enthusiasm, it wasn’t quite enough to cover my complete uncoordination.  Even on Sunday my arms still didn’t do 100% of what they were supposed to.

Something else I should probably mention, although it wasn’t a challenge so much as something I found interesting, is the fact that I was the only beginner in my class.  While my senpais were drilling with our other teacher, Shima-san was teaching me the basics at the back of the room.  Most of the time, the fact that 12 or so drums were playing something different really loudly in a relatively small studio didn’t make any kind of difference to what I was learning.  When it DID make a difference, it was usually because what they were doing was so cool that I couldn’t help getting caught up in it, and wishing I was already at their level, so I could play, too.

Now, from the start I knew there was going to be a performance on July 7.  I had my doubts that I’d be able to participate, though, because it felt like I was pretty slow going, especially at first.  I probably should have spent more time practicing.  In my defense, I found it hard to practice without an instrument.  It took me until about a month ago to realize that this was actually an advantage, and that as long as I didn’t mind looking like an idiot I could literally practice anywhere - walking down the street, say, or during my super-stinky hour-long lunch duty.  But gradually I learned all the rhythms I needed, and just before spring break Shima-san showed me how they were strung together to create a full piece of music.  And I honestly couldn’t think of any better note on which to leave Japan.

So I kept going.  There were days when I didn't really want to, days when the kids had worn me down or my feet were killing me, but most of those I went anyway.  Because at the end of the day, I needed it.  Apart from being fun and a good workout, I'm pretty sure taiko's responsible for keeping me sane these last six months.  It was therapeutic as hell to be able to beat the shit out of the drum after a long day of back talking children and baka administrators.  (The 6th rhythm of the first lesson is, in my opinion, best for stress relief.)

Once I'd learned everything, the uniform was actually the biggest hassle.  Mostly this is my fault for not doing anything over the last two years about my marshmallowey shape, but I DID struggle to get tabi.  Those split-toed shoes are a part of the uniform for taiko, and although my classmate told me where I could buy them in Kawasaki, I still couldn't seem to find them, so I went online and located a boutique in Omotesando that sells them, Sou Sou.  They ended up being kind of expensive, but the staff were really helpful and I was able to try them on so I could be sure that they fit.  Also, the soles have hiragana on them, so, you know, totally worth it.

In spite of all the words I've used, in this post and others, I'm still not sure I'm doing taiko any justice.  In the end, I don't really think words can.  Until you feel the beat hit you in the chest, reverberate through your lungs, shift your heartbeat, I don't think what I'm saying will make sense to you.  But the day before our performance, I met one of the women I'd be performing with for the first time.  She asked me how long I'd been playing, and it was the same length of time as her, and when we tried to explain to one another why we were studying taiko, it boiled down to the same thing.  As she put it, "It's my soul music."  I couldn't agree more.

*Certainly.

**I mean, other than packing and cleaning, which I only finished a few hours before my ride came to take me to the airport.

***Video of Hatsune by my senpai, Sekine-san.

Written in the Stars

Unless you’re just now tuning in, you probably already know that the clock’s almost run out on my time in Japan.  It’s been two and a half weeks since I said, “Sayonara,” to my students, and a week later I checked out of the school.  Since then I’ve been marking time...ostensibly packing and cleaning, but in actual fact I'm working on finishing this post the night before take-off, during a break from my cleaning and final packing.

I wish I could say it was because I’d been living my best life with everything Japan has to offer before I go, but the truth is, I’ve been moping (among other things).  I did, however, manage to experience one last festival, Tanabata.

Tanabata is a festival based on the story of two lovers, Orihime and Hikoboshi.  According to Wikipedia, Orihime’s daddy, the Sky King, set her up with a cow boy, Hikoboshi, because she was too busy weaving to go find herself a man.  They hit it off but - as you do when you have a new love interest - they immediately stopped being useful in any way, shape, or form, which was a problem for both the cows and the Sky King, who apparently had a side hustle selling the cloth Orihime wove.  So he separated the newlyweds by sending them to opposite sides of the Milky Way.

Of course, this broke Orihime’s heart, and after crying for a really long time the Sky King took pity on her and allowed them a conjugal visit once a year - on the seventh day of the seventh month.  Which to me seems hardly better than not seeing each other at all, but what can I say?  I’m a cynic.

So how do you celebrate Tanabata?  You write a wish on a slip of paper and tie it to a bamboo branch.  Yeah.  That’s pretty much it.  Like Setsubun, you don’t have to go anywhere to celebrate...but it’s more fun that way.

I’ve been seeing bamboo branches and big streamers around town over the last few weeks, but I decided that - since I was going to be hanging around til then, I wanted to go to Shitamachi for their street festival.  I mean, c’mon.  Last weekend in Japan, you know?

Shitamachi goes by another name, though...Kappabashi, and this was another reason I wanted to go there.  Kappa are a kind of turtle-ish youkai, and one of the creatures in my final nihonga painting.  Sensei saw me drawing one not too long ago, and - ever the critic! - told me that it was too cute, that kappa are supposed to have big bellies and be scary.  To that, my rebuttal is that there were plenty of kawaii kappas decorating the buildings and on the streets of Shitamachi.

There’s even a small kappa temple, Sougen-ji just off the shopping street.  I’d read about it (on Atlas Obscura, I believe) before my first trip to Tokyo, but I’ve never had a reason to visit Kappabashi til now.  Apparently Shitamachi came by its unusual name because once upon a time, it was overrun with the critters.  The locals built the temple to appease the kappas, and even now you’ll see cucumbers - a kappa’s favorite food - offered at the temple.

Not that I can verify that with my eyewitness account, though.  The gates to the temple were closed by the time I made it there.  I’d originally thought I’d go after my concert, on the actual seventh day, but Sensei said it always rains on Tanabata, and apparently that’s part of the story, too.  To allow the (literally) star-crossed lovers to meet each other, a flock of magpies creates a bridge across the Milky Way...unless it rains, in which case they’re just screwed and they have to wait another year to hook up.  I took Sensei’s word for it on account of the rain, and made my way into Tokyo after rehearsal, although I got there a little later than I would have liked.

After writing down my wish, I started making my way down the street.  Kappabashi runs basically all the way from Asakusa to Ueno, and along the way I stopped for treats - kakigori and yakitori, which had a pretty long line, which I was enticed into joining by force of the smell, which was divine.  As I was waiting, they roped off the street and an awa odori dance troupe came dancing past right in front of me.  As far as last festivals go, it didn't suck.