From Maid Cafes to Canned Noodles, Akihabara Is Where It's At
A maid cafe. (C)@home cafe
Tokyo's Akihabara district is known around the world as the center of Japan's otaku culture, which includes such phenomena as anime, manga, and "maid cafes." The term Akiba culture (Akiba is short for Akihabara) has been heard a lot recently, having been coined to describe Akihabara's pop culture in general. Here we take a look at some of the latest developments in this district that continues to send out otaku culture to the world.
Changing with the Times
With its easy access to the nation's transportation networks, Akihabara originally developed as a part of Tokyo dominated by wholesalers. The black market thrived here in the aftermath of World War II, with shops handling electrical components especially common. It was from these roots that Akihabara developed into a hub for electronics and household appliances. Until recently it was best known as a place where people who were passionate about electronics, whether it be computer geeks, audiophiles, or HAM radio operators, could be sure to find the special components they were looking for.
A maid cafe. (C)@home cafe
In recent years, though, other types of shops have sprung up to cater to the various needs of otaku (anime and manga fanatics), including outlets that handle manga fan fiction and anime character merchandise. Visitors to Akihabara will also find a unique series of canned foods, including canned oden (a winter dish featuring various foodstuffs stewed in a light broth), canned ramen, and canned udon (wheat noodles). The appearance of maid cafes, where the waitresses wear maid costumes like those often featured in manga, further cemented Akihabara's reputation for quirky pop culture. Akihabara is now closely identified with otakuculture, which has spread from this part of Tokyo to all corners of the world.
Many foreign tourists visit Japan for the purpose of going to Akihabara. The Tourism Industry Association of Japan provides weekly free tours of the area for these foreign visitors called the Akihabara New Discovery Tour. This is a walking tour with an English-speaking guide, and it is extremely popular among overseas visitors with an interest in Japanese pop culture.
Canned Oden. (C)Tengu Canning Co., Ltd.
Themed Cafes Proliferate
Even more than the electronics outlets, it is original themed cafes that are flourishing in Akihabara recently, with one new place after another opening its doors. The primogenitor of this kind of business is the maid cafe, a coffee shop where visitors can enjoykosupure (costume play), as the waitresses, all dressed in maid uniforms, roll out the red carpet and address customers as "master." For an additional fee, a customer can have a favorite "maid" sing a song for him or have her listen while he sings to her. As offshoots of this, some maid-themed businesses now provide such services as having "maids" clean customers' ears, wash their hair, or even provide reflexology. With such a wide variety of maid cafes in operation, it is almost as though maid garb is the unofficial uniform of Akihabara.
There are, naturally, similar cafes that cater to women. At these places, elegantly dressed butlers address the customers as "m'lady." A number of other variants have appeared, such as a cafe where the staff members are dressed as apprentice wizards from a role-playing game. There are also cafes where strong-willed staff members intentionally treat the customers with disdain, as well as places where the customers and staff pretend to be brothers and sisters. All these different shops enable otaku to imitate the anime and manga characters they love.
If you travel to Tokyo, be sure to make some time to explore Akihabara and experience what it has to offer. In so doing, you can play a role in the evolution of Akiba culture.
Universities Launch Animation Courses
Japanese anime has avid fans the world over, a phenomenon that is sometimes known by the name Japanimation. Anime's sophisticated storylines and high level of artistic expression have for years made it an object of respect both in Japan and overseas. But until recently it was regarded only as a subcultural form and rarely as art - a situation that is now undergoing a sea change. There is a growing movement among Japanese universities and graduate schools to take an academic approach to anime and manga. Once seen as children's entertainment, these forms are coming to be viewed in an entirely new light.
The Yokohama campus of Tokyo University of the Arts. (C)Tokyo University of the Arts
Studying Animation
Epitomizing these changes is the establishment in spring 2008 (the beginning of the new academic year) of the Department of Animation at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. While there have been departments and courses at private universities focusing on manga or anime, this is a first for a national university. Moreover, the birth of an animation department at one of Japan's top graduate schools in the arts effectively signifies state approval of animation as an academic subject.
The curriculum is aimed at those who have graduated from art colleges or have worked in animation production, and courses will be offered in four areas: three-dimensional animation, two-dimensional animation, project planning, and story writing. Each student will be required to complete two works during the two-year master's program. The faculty will comprise leading figures in the anime industry, including Yamamura Koji, whose anime short Atama-Yama (Mt. Head) won an Academy Award nomination. The program will aim to produce animation creators through practical training, as well as develop discourse and theory on animation as a cultural form.
Changes Extend to Vocational Colleges
Departments and courses for studying anime and manga have been around for some years at several universities, including Tokyo Polytechnic University, Osaka Electro-Communication University, and Kyoto Seika University, which set up its Faculty of Manga in 2000. Classes on manga will also be offered at Nagoya Zokei University of Art & Designand Gakushuin University - the latter at graduate level - starting in April 2008.
Vantan Career School offers a course in Cosplay. (C)VANTAN CAREER SCHOOL
Forays into the study of anime and manga by undergraduate and graduate schools are having an effect on vocational colleges as well. In January 2008, moreover, the Vantan Career School, which has campuses in Tokyo and Osaka, launched a Cosplayers Course for studying costume production, special makeup effects, and other aspects of the art of cosplay (dressing up as characters from manga and anime).
These developments are an indication that the subculture of manga and anime and its offshoots are coming into the mainstream at various levels of society.
Original Net Animation Attracts Fans
A scene from Yawaraka sensha ((c) Rarecho/NetAnime)
Japan is currently witnessing a boom in short anime created by individuals on a computer and uploaded to the Internet. Demonstrating the popularity of some of these efforts, merchandise featuring characters from these anime have begun appearing. The Internet is providing opportunities for new anime artists to display their talents and achieve renown.
Birth of a Smash Hit
One anime that has become a runaway hit by word-of-mouth is Yawaraka sensha (Soft Tank), the creation of an artist who goes by the handle Rarecho. The protagonist of the story is a tank that takes pride in the "weakness of invincibility." The tank thinks of nothing but retreat and escape; it runs away after just being bitten by a mosquito, and it easily falls prey to tricks. Its conversations with real, older tanks are fun to read.
Anime creator Rarecho ((c) Rarecho/NetAnime)
The Internet firm Livedoor began asking people to post anime to its website "Livedoor Net Anime" in December 2005. When the first group of entries was made public, they were instant hits, and floods of offers to commercialize them followed. The site has so far hosted seven animated films at a time for free viewing, and it also sells such character-related merchandise as T-shirts, stuffed dolls, and straps for cell phones.
Few details are known about Rarecho, but rumor has it that this person became a Net anime creator after having worked as an assistant to a manga artist. Having previously released the anime Kuwagata Tsumami (Stag Beetle Tsumami), a story about a young girl born to a human and a stag beetle, Rarecho created Yawaraka sensha at the request of Livedoor. Rarecho also wrote the music and lyrics to the theme song and dubs the voices.
Technology Fuels Emergence of New Talent
Before Yawaraka sensha, another artist who made a major splash on the Internet was a creator who goes by the handle Frogman. Frogman does almost everything himself, including direction, writing, production, and voice acting, and his funny, surreal works soon became a topic of conversation in cyberspace. Some of his cartoons were broadcast on terrestrial TV this spring, and DVDs are also on sale.
The opening frame of Yawaraka sensha 5 ((c) Rarecho/NetAnime)
What Rarecho and the others use to create their anime is nothing more than a PC and Adobe Systems' FLASH software, which costs just a few hundred dollars. With this combination, it is easy to produce animated films with sound that take up a small amount of data and then to post them on the Net.
Previously, creating an animated film required a lot of man-hours and funds, so it was necessary for a creator to join a production company and work his or her way up the ladder. But now it has become possible for one person to cheaply and easily produce what he or she wants, and the loosening of these old restrictions has led to the emergence of new talent. What is not so easy, of course, is to come up with an original, enticing story that will entertain viewers.
In addition to the one operated by Livedoor, there are any number of websites where users can upload and release their own anime. Following on the heels of the success of Yawaraka sensha, more and more anime creators are making their Internet debuts in the hope of scoring a hit.
Story Plot
Anime
What is Doujin?
In Japan, Doujin usually refers to activities which people with same interest get together and create things like comics(Manga), novels, games and other goods. These people are not necessary professional artists or writers. Many of doujin products are created by armatures as a hobby and often published by their own expense.Group formed by people with common Doujin theme is often called "Circle". Within Circle, creators exchange their ideas and show works to each other. Doujinshi or software is often published by Circle.
There are hundreds of Doujin Circles in Japan. Many of the Doujin products are publicized by Circle rather than by individual.
Doujin Circle and community is becoming Japan's huge art culture and manga industry's phenomenon.
History of Doujin
Definition of "Doujin" was first acknowledged when Shotaro Ishinomori gathered artist friends and established "East Japan Comic Society" to publish a corroboration magazine "Manga-Shonen". Then Doujin Circle activities gradually started to prosper through the "reader's communication page" on a magazine "COM" (Now discontinued), which was first publicized in 1967. At that time, self publication was costing a fortune, thus one bundled comics were passed from one Circle member to another, by adding their pages and circulating among the creators for viewing.
The realm of "Doujin" has grown as the number of participating creators increased. Circles started to form within educational institutions such as high schools and universities. In that case, Circles were able to receive funds from their institution, thus it made it possible for their Doujinshi to be printed. (Offset Print)
Individual Doujin activities started to increase when the animation series, "Gatcha-Man" was televised around 1972. Yet it was still not a widely spread trend and only small group of Circles were gathering and exchanging their works. Doujin community was still a closed realm.
Comic Market held in 1975 has contributed a great deal for the general acknowledgement of Doujin culture. It begun with 32 Circles, and 700 participants, forming a place to exchange and sell each other's Doujin art works. The Comic Market gradually became as a major Doujin event from year to year.
At beginning, many of the Doujinshi were featuring animation parody, but then gradually gained more erotic components which have made an erotic Doujinshi a very popular theme.
Once a certain Doujinshi gains its popularity, the number of creators who participate to its Circle increases. Therefore, they are able to afford more costly printing method such as offset. As a result that made the quality of such Doujinshi better.
Doujin Circles which did not have enough financial resource would publish their Doujinshi by copying or printing out of a printer. In the past, printing was pretty expensive, but now days it has become cheaper.
As many animation came out on TV in the 80th, more Doujinshi featured such anime themed Parody, including Yaoi and erotic Doujinshi. Some of the popular titles featured by Doujin creators then were: "Gundum" (1981), "Urusei-Yatsura - Only You" (1983), "Macross – Remember Love" (1984). In the late 80th, titles such as "Saint Seiya" (1980) and "Top o Nerae" became a huge hit which raised excitement among Doujin creators.
Around this time, Yaoi Doujinshi started to acquire a general acknowledgement because of popular anime titles such as "Saint Seiya" and "Samurail Trooper", which featured friendship between men.
Also, "Doujin Software" started to appear around this time because PC was starting to become a popular domestic tool. Similar to "Comiket", an event "Pasoket" was formed as a place to sell and exchange PC Doujin software. NEC's PC-9801 series, Fujitsu's FM-TOWNS and Sharp's X68000 were popular hardware, thus Doujin software and CG were mainly designed to run on these platforms. Among those, X68000 especially attracted many core-users because of its high machine spec which resulting in many sophisticated Doujin software titles to be born.
In the 90th, a title such as "Sailor Moon" became a huge hit among kid and even adult. "Sailor Moon" became also a popular theme among Doujin creators. Since characters from "Sailor moon" were "Bisyoujyo Character" (Pretty Girl Character), many erotic and lesbian themed Doujinshi were created out of Sailor Moon.
In the mid 90th, Game themed Doujinshi started to gain popularity. Most of them were featuring an erotic scene and Yaoi theme of in-game characters. Number of game company that featured "Bisyoujyo Game" (Pretty Girl's Game) has increased and many Doujin creators started to focus on Bisyoujyo Game because of its demand and popularity.
Around this time, lawsuits about copyright issue between commercial and Doujin publication stared to rise. Creating Doujinshi out of copyrighted characters was considered legal because it was based on the idea that these Doujinshi were created for non-commercial purpose, but for leisure. There were no licensing fee and business agreement between the copyright holder and Doujin creator. As a result, copyright holder was not able to restrict copyrighted character themed Doujinshi even though he did not like how these characters were presented on these Doujinshi. Although this has been a continuous problematic issue in the industry and it is being said that there should be some kind of law to set a rule. (Text by: Torakichi Hayama)
Category of Doujin
Original
Doujin works which all story and characters were originally created by the creator.
Ani-Paro
Anime Parody. Featuring already existed anime characters or anime theme.
Yaoi
Doujin work which features love or sex between male. Sometime it is called Boy’s love.
Yuri
Doujin work which features love or sex between female. This word was born as an opposite of "Bara" (Rose) which features male homosexuality. The term "Yuri" was said to be originated from a film called "Yuri-zoku series" by "Nikkatu Roman Porn".
Loli-Con
Abbreviation for Lolita Complex. Doujin works featuring Child Pornography. It was said that the term was originated from a novel "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov, a middle age man loving an underage girl. **In the United States, Loli-con that presents child obscenity and pornography is illegal by CPPA (Child Pornography Prevention Act). Please be aware to understand the law carefully if you are planning to write Loli-con themed Doujinshi. This law applies to virtual characters as well.
Shota-Con
Doujin work which features underage boy love affair. The term originated from a character named Shota Kaneda from "Taiyou no Shisya Tetsujin 28 Gou".
Neko-Mimi
Doujin work which features female characters with cat ears. Basically, most of the main Neko-Mimi characters are female. Their personality is very similar to Neko (Cat) and act like it. On Doujinshi, these characters might talk like "~meow" at the end of their words.
Kemono
Different from Neko-Mimi, but this Doujin work features human looking character with partially animal-like.
Close Collaboration between Artist and Editor.
