One of the few regrets from my trip to Tokyo last winter was that I didn’t pick up a souvenir keitai strap of Docomodake, the freaky mushroom-like mascot of NTT DoCoMo. But thanks to an extremely kind gesture by fellow blogger Roy I now have one in my possession, pictured here dangling from my trusty hiptop2.
It’s perhaps a bit large for everyday use, but you know I’m going to have it with me on my next trip to the Far East—speaking of which…
Remember in The 40 Year Old Virgin where we see Steve Carell’s bedroom for the first time and it’s full of action figures? Well, the Japanese have a name for people like that… They’re called otaku, and the term applies specifically to any adult male who still plays with dollies and knows his favourite animé series inside-out.
In Japan, otaku are both shunned and catered to at the same time. At least one bar in Akihabara features waitresses dressed up as animé characters for their otaku clientele.
I of course knew all about this before my recent Tokyo trip, and wanted to pick up a DVD of the hit Japanese TV soap opera Densha Otoko (“Train Man”), based on a true otaku love story from an online chat group (!)
The only local copies I could find had no English subtitles, but back home I managed to track down an official Hong Kong release. I watched the first episode last night, and from the first power chords of the opening credits’ Mr. Roboto the show had me laughing out loud—a pretty rare occurrence for anyone who knows me!
Of course, to love this show like I do you have to be willing to accept the very broad Japanese definition of comedic acting—big faces, and lots of ‘em—something I’ll allow for this example only. For those who won’t go that far, perhaps, like The Office, a westernized version of this show is in order.
Hmmm… Anybody wanna go in with me on a pitch to get the English rights from Fuji Television?
(My one and only issue with not traveling alone is that I’ve less free time to post to this site from the road. So kindly allow me to fill you in on some more notable details and pics from my recent Tokyo trip…)
Here’s LinLyn in the middle of the Ameyoko Street Market, where we began our last full day in Japan. Originally it was a black market for post-WWII Tokyo; these days its vendors offer domestic product as well. The hot Japanese brand for accessories right now is Porter—so hot in fact that I couldn’t stop myself from buying one of their wallets and man-purses (!)
But let’s face it, I was really only killing time before the main event… An afternoon in Akihabara Electric Town!
You gotta understand, when it comes to technology, the Japanese and I are kindred spirits. Hell, even their seniors have cell phones!
However, I wasn’t quite prepared for this unabashed display of PSP porn.
The Nintendo DS would never sink so low. Even when blinged-out like this, it’s still got class…
… Although these real-life Mario Brothers, seen in TV ads and this in-store display, are apparently hot.
Before we knew it the sun had set, and it was time for one last scramble through the Shibuya crossing back to our hotel before the flight home the next day…