An Eternal Thought in the Mind of Godzilla

Saigo no Senjyo

Come 5.24, RAMBO, the greatest American movie in recent memory will finally explode across Japan like a carefully placed Claymore mine. The extensive PR and tie-up campaigns have begun in earnest and the only way to keep up with the dizzying amounts of promotions, posters designs, and celebrity endorsements is the official blog WE WILL BE RAMBO. As a result, the entire country is literally starving for action and only a Guy Named Sly can satisfy their hunger pangs via such delicacies as...

The Rambo Hot Dog, deployed on camouflage cardboard for "sneaking snacking." More deadly than a .50 caliber machine gun at close range. Free limited-edition button with purchase. Available only at participating Toho chain theaters!

The Rambo Set, now available at Janqoo restaurants - a giant fucking beer and your choice of sizzling hormone guts or Genghis Khan-style lamb. Free bandanna and stickers for the first 100 customers or until someone dies of food poisoning.

Not to be outdone, Sly's Planet Hollywood Tokyo (wow, it really is the '80s all over again) is offering their own Rambo Last Battlefield Original Menu...an incredible CROCODILE BURGER served on an eco-friendly palm leaf! Advertised rightfully as "a violent challenge to the food and beverage."

These Rambo umaibo snacks for the kiddies and mentally handicapped "rise to the battlefield with an exciting flavor...HOT!" Can probably cauterize an open wound better than gunpowder, ala Rambo III.

Rambo has also teamed up with delicious Kyokyodaha carbonated coffee-based energy drinks for "a tie-up promotion of hard blow destruction". More or less guaranteed to keep you from "breaking down on the battlefield". No word on how it will help you deal with impotence, Brigitte Nielsen, or a really bad hangover. Look for these awe-inspiring ads on over 2000 taxi cabs in Tokyo and Osaka and on the Marunouchi line subway.

Stay tuned to this blog for more highlights from the front. And always remember, WE WILL BE RAMBO!

MARUI x KERA / May 08

Tokyo Fashion Now at LIVEJ

Bringing you KERA Magazine's popular "Street Snap" corner, with snapshots of fashion from the streets of Harajuku.

"Romantic Crunch gig - Fashion show - driving license - Will try my best!!!"

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Sex and Death in Shizuoka: Profit from Violence

Before we go any deeper into Day One of the 47th annual Shizuoka Hobby Show, pause for a moment to marvel at the official logo. Imagine thousands of business suits trying to have serious conversations about model kits and profit margins with this evocative image everywhere reminding everyone of their cherished youth among the strange white people and bootleg robot kits.

Our arrival at the show coincided with a buzzing overhead by T-4 fighter jets (why they didn't carpet bomb the convention center remains a mystery). Later this weekend, the Self-Defense Forces will roll out the decidedly non-miniature tanks and troops while the local boy scouts toot their bugles in salute. Shizuoka, you really know how to put on a hobby show. As do...

Bandai, the Great! Bandai, the Mighty! Bandai, the giver of the bullet train tickets and keeper of the expense account! All hail, Bandai! Bandai, all hail!

Lots of Gundam porn at the B-Club, 'natch. New recommended servings for the HCM-Pro Mobile Suits include inside of brandy sniffers, ashtrays, and potted plants.

Perhaps you've heard of them! Code Geass kits, Ghost in the Shell stuff, and a Naruto thing.

I guess they really got us senior citizen otaku by the nutsack with all the old-school stuff coming down the pipe soon, like these transforming Mospeada cyclones. Although there was little to no Space Cruiser Yamato stuff (but lots of Yamato battleships), this was balanced out by an absolute lack of moe anything.

Hot Votoms, for you Tim Eldred!

Ol' Steve Harrison called this like a lucky Bingo card...there was indeed Macross everywhere, and it was maybe even the biggest anime property across the board besides Gundam at the show. Here's the re-issued classic Valks from Bandai.

And the new flavour via Macross Frontier.

...and the Macross model kits from Hasegawa, which look good dogfighting the Nazis who remain "number one with a bullet" among the military kits.

There was, like, no tokusatsu action to be found, much to my blustery chagrin! Aside from these Ultra vehicle kits, also at the Hasegawa booth, that was all she wrote.

Then again, who needs giant monsters, or indeed scantily-clad booth bunnies, when you got mad AIR-SOFT GUNS and cosplaying commandos hawking goods for Tokyo Marui!

Such a very sexy booth. I don't work for *this* Marui, but I wouldn't mind at all if I did. As I marveled over the guns, Matt Alt explained to me that there was a war going on in the middle east fought by private military companies using weapons just like this one! Sounds like a great hobby.

We got carried away and tried to shoot each other's eyes out with glow in the dark tracer bbs. I was too jet-lagged to aim straight, and Matt could not keep a straight face as per usual. Still, I think we'd do OK either in the self-defense forces, or in the boy scouts.

Tamiya was running a mean trading post that included a million T-shirts, military hard-tack rations, and other useful items for surviving in Japan's many hot zones. And for navigating the mean streets of the The Shizz, international buyers from Dubai and Laos could choose from either oversized RC German tanks or the Jägermeister mobile!

More modeling fun for the whole goddamn family: building the unmanned Predator drone.

As ever, Aoshima remains the most bizzaro world of all Japanese hobby companies. Their line up for 2008 looks like it would have been massive circa 1985, beginning with these hot Megazone 23 part 2 Garland kits. Dorvak mechs, the Airwolf chopper, the A-Team van, and (not pictured) K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider!

Aoshima PR woman (pointing to tiny Fishing Crazy Sampei model kit): "Anime and manga is really popular in the US, and so is this, right?"

Me (thinking of Denki Watanabe, Ed Chavez, and Erin Finnegan): "...."

Coming soon from the Shizz: The Podcast! The Videos! The Exquisite Model Glue Induced Hangover

Kono heartbreak story

In between: Stan Lee interview in today’s Japan Times.

My previous podcast interviews with Stan here and here.

Million Creation 50

The morning we wake in cold Shimorenjacku room, better again faced to do the sweet business of Counter ESPY and all that portends. Barely able to contain rage over rude interruption but able to siphon off blame for simple the fact of being here. Bu-chan the cat with the two-tone face and hiding under a cardboard box, stretched out in a strange posture. Me here on the floor after the 10 hour plus no-flight, barely sleeping in-between. Almost growing to like the seat and space. Spilling out into Narita. Immigration the usual hard bitch. Sweaty, fluorescent, shuffling humanity. Returning English teachers to the front of the line. Withered old men with red skin and blue eyes forgetting to fill out the back of the forms. Everyone leaving grubby fingerprints, craggy features captured on camera on little polite pedestals made by NEC. My usual one man show with nyukan. Female officer this time, not the usual Uchu Keiji tag-team. Soon it will be a bus pulling me down into the undertones, great and terrible Shinjuku defying gravity, and Kichijoji station, which smells like a McDonald’s fry cook. But now, face sitting dragon mom all has a lot of questions for the gaijin who came to Counter-ESPY, beginning with, “What are you doing here? What is your business?”

Today: Shizuoka Hobby Show.
In between: Stan Lee interview in today’s Japan Times.
Everything else: _________

I get my passport back after many mysterious Xerox shuffle. She waves her hand over my face, pausing to cross her index fingers in front my eyes, which are closed shut as we make the transition. I’m in. The Tokyo Wars have begun.

Godzilla: May, 1968

MARUI x KERA / May 08

Tokyo Fashion Now at LIVEJ

Bringing you KERA Magazine's popular "Street Snap" corner, with snapshots of fashion from the streets of Harajuku.

Today's Fashion Theme: Gaudy Flashy it is!!

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Boy's Knuckle

I'll be back where I ought to be, in Draft One, Shimorenjaku, for business/pleasure come next week and to rip shit up as per usual. Let me know if anything is going on, if you'd like to hook up, have a collectible card game battle, etc.

Podcast: Hot Tears of Shame -€“ Episode Twenty-Six

Hot Tears of Shame: Episode #26

BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT! On the eve of the release of the Iron Man movie, Peerless Pat is granted yet another all-new, all-different interview with Stan “The Man” Lee! In this thrill-packed installment, Stan gets gregarious about the origins of The Incredible Hulk, ol’ Shell Head himself, and (would you believe) even Fin Fang Foom! And while pondering the past and future of the modern American comic book (no manga this time), the living legend also reveals the electrifying truth about his old army days and striking resemblance to J. Jonah Jameson! Special guest stars: Joseph Luster, the voice of Morgan Freeman, and SWEET-DADDY WISDOM!

Click here to download
© Hot Tears of Shame Production Committee/jaPRESS Entertainment

Hot Links
Stan Lee: The Otaku USA podcast interview
Chu Chin Chow
Fin Fang Foom
Spidey Meets the Spoiler

Godzilla's Friend, Nick Adams

MARUI x KERA / May 08

Tokyo Fashion Now at LIVEJ

Bringing you KERA Magazine's popular "Street Snap" corner, with snapshots of fashion from the streets of Harajuku.

"I like Visual-K and Metal :D
Finally going to do some serious gigs
I’m gonna SIIINNNGGG!!!! As much as a heavy metal band can anyway. LOL
Hope to cross over to the Visual-Kei scene too　Yoroshiku!!"

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Hey look around today, everything don't need to be the same

Ok. Another couple of months, another issue of OUSA…and here is sexy ISSUE 6 to smack you upside the head cha-la with hot fierce fighting. “Why duh Dragon Ball Z on da cover?” the dullards moan and groan. Well, it’s only the best selling anime in the USA and I knew that Daryl “Super Saiyan” Surat and Joseph “Broly Again” Luster were born to team up, power up, and destroy the world with their combined Toriyama-taunting prowess.

Also inside, Dave Merrill delivers THE Speed Racer retrospective of our times, while Masaya Honda and myself interview Tatsunoko honcho Ippei Kuri about inventing and directing Speed all those years ago. Question: Is anyone else out there likely to interview Ippei Kuri aside from OUSA? Answer: no! There’s also our legendary manga coverage overseen by Jason Thompson and Ed Chavez and contribs from the usual cast of characters including Clarissa Graffeo, Paul Thomas Chapman, Mike Dent, Shaenon Garrity, August Ragone, Dave Riley, and so on. And we also welcome all new contributors Gilles Poitras, (we got him at a fire sale) and zany Zac Bentz of Japanator.com. Also in this issue: maids, maids, maids, and the return of wildarmsheero and his all-moe, all the time hug pillows!

Don’t delay, buy it today!

1954: Kurama Tengu Vs. Godzilla

The Black-Masked Reformer meets the King of the Monsters.

Koakuma ageha - Ningen janakute ningyo ni naritaino

"We Want to Become Dolls, Not Humans" feature in the April issue of Koakuma ageha magazine.

Mondo Tokyo co-feature

The turtle with rockets in his pockets!
Tomorrow night at Other Cinema.

Godzilla Just Horsing Around

1954: With co-stars Akira Takarada and Momoko Kochi...

1955: With Toho staff, getting ready for the big show...

MACIAS MONDO TOKYO show: SF Sat/19

'Mondo Tokyo' at Other Cinema in San Francisco, April Sat/19

Here's the national magazine editor of 'Otaku USA', Patrick Macias, with his outrageous subcultural survey, taking us on a breathlessly wild ride through Weird Tokyo. Macias has become the main agent for interpreting Japanese youth genres like anime, manga, and cult films, and his years of trans-Pacific travel have generated a veritable encyclopedia of bizarre fan-boy obsessions. Among the features of the feverish J-Pop imagination are the “maid cafes” of Akihabara, the action-figure fetish cults (both erotic and warrior), costume role-playing, and delinquent bikers, revealed in all their exotic detail through Macias’ anecdote-rich live narration. Consummating the program is a monstrous sample of old-school exploitation, the incredible last reel of 'Gamera, the Invincible', in glorious 16mm B/W, with live audio “enhancement” by Hans Grusel-san and the Anti-Ear. Free robot model-kits, and magazines, too!

Come in COSPLAY costume for a dollar off admission price.

SAT. 4/19: MACIAS' MONDO TOKYO + GAMERA (AMPLIFIED) +

April 19, 2008
08:30 PM - 10:30 PM

Other Cinema
992 Valencia Street at 21st
San Francisco
www.othercinema.com

Cost:
$8

STUDIO VOICE - Gravure Magic

The May issue of "Multi-Media Mix Magazine" STUDIO VOICE features a scintillating 40+ page feature on "Gravure Magic". Lots of photo (ahem) spreads, interviews with models, photographers, and a dizzying history of the genre since the '80s.

The mag also features my monthly "Paranoid States of America" column. This time, I'm on about RFID "Spy Chips" which, co-incidently, are going to be used shortly at an Ohio anime con to "track attendees."

MARUI X KERA / APRIL 15

Tokyo Fashion Now at LIVEJ

Bringing you KERA Magazine's popular "Street Snap" corner, with snapshots of fashion from the streets of Harajuku.

Aoki Misako （From Chiba） Blood Type O, Nurse, Height 157cm
Today's Fashion Theme: Pink Heart Bag ♥

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Godzilla Graffiti

'Town of Evening Calm' Nominated for Eisner Awards

Fumiyo Kouno's manga Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms has been nominated for a pair of 2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards in the following categories.

Best Short Story
Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan

'Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms' was published by my company japRESS in association with Last Gasp. I also co-edited it. The jaPRESS has already begun on its next manga project.

Podcast: OTAKU USA - Episode #3

As the New York Comic Con looms on the event horizon, Peerless Pat of OTAKU USA magazine interviews Stan “The Man” Lee about ULTIMO, his upcoming manga collaboration with Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King) for Shueisha. The comics legend also waxes rhapsodic about the Japanese live-action Spider-Man, sumo wrestlers, and the lasting appeal of heroes in a world gone mad! Jolly Joseph Luster dons a long blond wig to read aloud from Thor #171 (written by Stan, natch) and confesses his love for the Black Cat, while the all-new, all-different OTAKU USA theme song arrives like you always knew it would courtesy of the sensational sounds of Marxy.

IF THIS BE PODCASTING...THEN SO BE IT!

Download here

HOT LINKS
OTAKU USA magazine
Marvel's Stan Lee, Shaman King's Takei to Join Forces
Stan Lee, Bones Confirmed to be Working on Hero Man
New York Comic Con
Thor #171
Iron Man villain Ultimo
The Merry Marvel Marching Society

Mata Ashita

See you tomorrow at the JAPAN: Games for OTAKU and EVERYBODY lecture/demo!

Terror of Mechagodzilla: Shinto Purification Ritual

With Tomoko Ai, 1975.

The Kaiju Boom: Ueno, 1966

New Category: GODZILLA

With Kobayashi chan in front of Mt. Fuji for Destroy All Monsters...

Koakuma ageha - Mori DS Battle

The current issue of Koakuma ageha has a pair of styling suggestions on how to make your Nintendo DS Lite the "sweetest" with the help of possibly-affordable "love dot" and crown encrusted deco-cases and custom jackets. Just don't play it, or that Brain Age game, on "the job"!

Men's Knuckle Purikura

Games for OTAKU and EVERYBODY: San Francisco 4/13

Sun/13, I'll be delivering a presentation in San Francisco sponsored by the Consulate General of Japan as part of the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival.

Lecture- "JAPAN: Games for OTAKU and EVERYBODY" by Mr. Patrick Macias

Together with anime, manga, J-pop and fashion, computer and video based gaming is another major aspect of contemporary Japanese pop culture. Popular writer, editor, and internationally recognized Japanese pop culture expert Patrick Macias, will give a power point presentation entitled "JAPAN: Games for OTAKU and EVERYBODY" In his presentation Mr. Macias will provide a broad overview of modern game-based culture in Japan beginning with a look at the uniquely Japanese cultural roots of gaming. He will discuss the emergence of otaku culture in the late 20th century and show how gaming in Japan has broken into new markets both domestically and internationally while still maintaining the public "Game Center" as a social gathering space.

WHEN: Sunday, April 13 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

WHERE: Kabuki Hotel, 1625 Post Street, Spring Room 'B' (across from the Imperial Ballroom)

ADMISSION: Free!

Seifuku to Grease Gun

Masaya Honda (Karas, Yatterman) sends over the hypnotic new Denki Groove song, Shonen Young, which he formally declares to be "the best music video ever." While I'm still hung up on Van Halen's Hot for Teacher for that honor, I have to admit, the Schoolgirl Inferno styling in this clip is flat-out superhuman.

MARUI X KERA / APRIL 08

Tokyo Fashion Now at LiveJ

Bringing you KERA Magazine's popular "Street Snap" corner, with snapshots of fashion from the streets of Harajuku.



Their connection: Telepathic waves

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comic ageha: "Sayaka. Hostess. 23."

Sayaka Araki is 23 years old, works in a hostess club, and is Koakuma ageha's No. 1 ranked model. This manga, drawn by Momoka Kou (Oujisama to watashi) for the first issue of comic ageha, depicts her Secret Origin.

IN THE BEGINNING...Sayaka was never really meant for small town life. "I thought I was just a normal girl, but maybe I stood out." She had a nice boyfriend and a circle of pals had a thing for brand bags. It was an OK way to pass the time. But still, she gazed off into the horizon. "I wondered what Tokyo was like." After graduation, Sayaka tells her parents she is going to move to the big city and attend nail school there.

Soon after arriving in Tokyo, Sayaka goes down the rabbit hole. She gets harassed by one of those scout guys working the street and has her designer handbag stolen by someone wearing a baseball hat and a hoodie. From this point on, there is no more mention of ever going to nail school...

Instead, she breaks up with her old boyfriend and starts to feel bored. That's when one of her friends suggests working as a hostess in a Kabakura. "I think you'd be good at. You're not that busy now and you'd make lots of money."

"At first, I didn't feel right about it. It was like entering a different world." Her new boss tells Sayaka, "Why don't you call yourself Riko while you work here? Here is your personal assistant." His name is Yamashita, and he's gorgeous! "Let's work hard together!"

Although it takes Sayaka/Riko a while to master mixing cocktails, "Little by little, I tried my best. Every day I was busy and made new friends." Her boss tells her she's in the running for the coveted Number One spot at the club. "Even though I wasn't at the top yet, I finally felt some kind of fulfillment doing mizu shobai work."

Then one night in Kabuki-cho, Sayaka has her bag stolen by someone wearing a baseball hat and a hoodie *again*. But this time she bravely fights back and her assailant winds up getting arrested. The street people say, "Wow, you're so strong! You could have gotten stabbed!" and Sayaka knows she's leveled-up. "That was the moment I realized that to live and survive here, I have to be strong and protect myself."

"After drifting from store to store in Kabuki-cho with the name Riona, I took a break. I ended up working in Roppongi. Finally, I started seeing something new that I never saw before." A Wise Old Customer tells her, "It seems like you’ve been enjoying your job recently. It’s been fun to come here to see you."

It may not be on par with the climax of Watchmen, or even the Infinity Gauntlet, but it will have to do: "So many different people come here and I get to see into so many different worlds. This job is so fun! From this day on, I’m going to continue to wear a dress."

THE END

next issue: comic ageha

In Japans, there is comics for everyonez. Even for the readers of Koakuma ageha, Japan's magazine-shaped bible for the "little devil" look and lifestyle. Now take a deep breath, True Believer. We're going...inside!

Is Dis Some Japans Part 2: The Long & Winding Hole

The long and winding hole
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I've seen that hole before
It always leads me here
Lead me to your door.

Shibuya Blackers

Podcast: OTAKU USA - Episode #2

Issue six of Otaku USA ships to the printers and galaxies are soon thrown in collision! News of the JAM Project and Shoko Nakagawa’s upcoming appearances on American soil during summer con season causes an inter-dimensional crossover between EIC Patrick Macias and R5 Central’s Mike Dent. The legendary Tiger Mishima briefly chimes in from Okinawa, and a pair of furious JAM melodies (one unplugged) makes missiles appear from every possible orifice! All of which brings us to the wall-shaking question: Are we awake or do we dream?

Click here to download

HOT LINKS
R5 Central
Godman
Shoko Nakagawa (aka Shokotan) at Anime Expo press release
JAM Project at Otakon press release

Message From Space: The End

Message From Space Color Photo Story

That's where all these scans are coming from. It's a crime there's no R1 DVD of this amazing film that turns 30 this year. But you can watch the Slasher Remix for free. There's also a fan edit using the R2 DVD and the English dub out there somewhere.

Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

Best picture of Kinji....EVER.

Vic Morrow as "General Garuda"

With Peggy Lee Brennan and Sonny Chiba.

The Science of Message From Space

The book explains how the Prayer Star (inexplicably designed to look like an 18th century schooner) delivers messages through space. Because Message From Space is a documentary.

Message From Space insignias

(Clockwise from upper left) Gavanas, Prince Hans, Emeraleda, Earth Defense Forces. What, no Toei delta brand?

Tetsuro Tamba as "The President of the Universe"

Ernest Noguchi (アーネスト・ノグチ).

It made a "BOT!" noise when Vic Morrow woke up hungover in the Toei Korova Milk Bar set.

Tetsuro Tamba with the US Occupational Forces...I mean, the Masters of the Universe in Message From Space!

Mikio Narita as "Emperor Rockseia the XII"

Smokin' "Krak" on account of the wild Batman style sound effects used in the book. Was Message From Space actually supposed to have been "campy"? Like Flash Gordon was two years later?

Creature and spaceship design by Shotaro Ishinomori

Welcome to the Message From Space Color Photo Story book, published by Bandai in 1978.

Starring Sonny Chiba as "Prince Hans"

Our Next Attraction

Age Age All Stars

Men's Knuckle Hyper Club Report @ Tokushima

Coming uyo inthe next uissue of OTAKU USA

Art by Yuji Kaida for the Toho Video LD, and...

All-new TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA review by August Ragone. His new book is awesome, and he's one of the first people I ever saw posting on the Internets, like back in 199X, probably to correct someone about something that needed correcting! Anyway, he's bringing his old school tokusatsu thing to OUSA in a big way and even I have to pause here for a sec and wonder, have we lost our damn fool minds with all this rubber monster business, or have we actually never felt better?

Well, the new TERROR DVD is coming out pretty soon and...

Men's Knuckle Comics

Alas, it's only a magazine ad for the Men's Knuckle official site, but still, a very Bizarre Adventure.