Saturday, April 27, 2013

#Idiosyncratic Japan Is Where Prime Minister Does Cosplay, Pretending He's a Tank Commander


The occasion was some kind of expo at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, attended by people (mostly men from what I've seen) who are very much into costume play and like the world of make-belief.

The expo, "NicoNico Chokaigi 2", is backed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. There are booths by Liberal Democratic Party, Japan Restoration Party, Japan Communist Party, and Democratic Party of Japan as well as Self Defense Force and the US Military stationed in Japan.

So, it's got to be that wonderful government-sponsored idea of "Cool Japan" where they live the make-belief  "reality" of manga, anime, and video games. Quite fitting for a country where boys are like baby-faced girls and girls wear extra-large color contact lenses to look like manga heroines.

From Mainichi Shinbun (4/27/2013):


He looks pudgy and tired. Radon inhalation may not be working.

Why should I care any more about a country like this, writing about the nuclear accident and radiation contamination that actually exist, non-stop for over two years?

===================

Why should I care? Because there are people like this who immediately created a fake poster like this. It's a poster of an old movie, and the title is "An Idiot Comes Riding a Tank" (H/T N_mittaka):

11 comments:

wren said...

It is widely accepted that Dukakis, the Democrat candidate in the 88 election lost to Bush Sr. partially due to a famous picture of him looking stupid in a tank.

The tank picture may have tanked him. Had he won we probably would not have had Bush Sr. and Bush Jr.

The world would be a very different place.

So I hope the Japanese media does its job with this.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

wren, don't hold your breath. I'm disappointed in NicoNico - a net media already corralled by the LDP government.

I just read that Goshi Hosono visited the DPJ booth, and he was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the event-goers (from his tweet).

wren said...

Maybe you or someone from 2chan can make some more memes about these guys from pictures of the event.

Anonymous said...

Hehe, I can't help posting that " learning driver " again :

http://www.courrierinternational.com/dessin/2013/04/04/coree-du-nord-dangereusement-inexperimente

Anonymous said...

@laprimavera
By how you wrote "so, it's got to be", I'm guessing you're not familiar with the Chokaigi and are just assuming the content of it?

I watched some of it. I briefly watched what seemed to be both men and women discussing the impact of electronic media, or something along those lines. My primary interest was the artist-related presentations, where they talked about things such as mixing audio and animation. They were also presented and attended by both men and women.

Not to be offensive or anything, but you always sound excessively cynical about Japan. I can understand if you're bashing Japan for fussing over superficial matters whilst their plants are melting down, but if you just can't relate/understand or don't care about the culture, I don't think it's necessary or helpful to anyone to keep complaining about things like boys with baby-faces or eye-largening contact lenses.

That's not to say I approve of everything Japan does. It's that those kinds of things aren't unique to Japan. Every country has bizarre practices. The West has idols like Justin Bieber, and when I was in high school, colored contact lenses were all the rage. They are all unnecessary and silly to me, but I don't hiss at them whenever I have the opportunity to.

It's your blog and it's up to you what you want to write. I just think those kinds of remarks detract from the quality of your posts.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Yes, I was born and raised and lived there a very long time. And yes, it is my blog, unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 12:36AM, if you insist on "quality", why don't you financially support the blog author instead of leaving snooty comment?

I don't think admin is complaining about baby faced boys. It's just an observation of the reality in Japan today.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 12:36AM, who are you? A gaijin English teacher in Japan?

Anonymous said...

Can you discover a baby-face hiden in the first pic ?

Anonymous said...

anon 12.36 ... exskf or whatever her / his name is happens to be Japanese and is one of those very rare Japanese that has unplugged from the incredible brainwashing and deep propaganda that is stuffed down peoples throats in Japan ....... i guess the Red Pill comes to mind (matrix) .... i just wish more japanese were like him/ her......so take your naive ass outta here ..

Anonymous said...

"Oh... what a criminal
world
where the boys are like baby-faced girls"

That's David Bowie, in 1983, for those of you too young to recognize.

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