#12 American Commercials with... Japanese figures?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E15PE7iGT0U

Now you have American figures that show up in foreign commercials, that tends to happen a lot. But what about the opposite? Is it possible that a foreign figure/icon might show up in an American commercial?

It's certainly happened before, but what if the person that shows up isn't technically a person? More of a persona/icon instead?

This again is where Hatsune Miku makes another appearance. This time heading over as Toyota's sponsor for a 2011 brand of their car. While this does happen to sync up with an event in the same year, it's still amazing that Americans would even see that commercial, let alone understand what it was.

The instance of a western figure spreading out to foreign areas was always common, but the opposite wasn't always true. I'm thinking this commercial (and many more in the future, perhaps) will show the world that global cultural exchange is NOT one-sided. It's global for a reason!

I'd have second thoughts buying a car like this, but I think I get the gist of it.

#11 Foreign Commercials with... American figures?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hFEORdg_98

Now I've seen my fair share of weird commercials. There's Superbowl commercials, and then there's Japanese commercials.

This is something you would typically see if a western figure takes off in another country, like "Boss Coffee" in Japan.

But Jack Bauer has almost nothing to do with outside influences from places like Japan. It amazes me that he would be shown in a commercial like this, advertising for a calorie drink at that...

At the end of the day I guess it goes to show that cultural interaction is unavoidable, with a heavy leaning towards the western hemisphere as always.

I'll be honest though if that drink was ever sold here and I saw that commercial I'd start drinking that stuff like water. Jack Bauer is AMAZING.

#10 Hashima (Island)

Hashima Island, otherwise known as Gunkanjima (literally means battleship island) is a unique, completely abandoned island about 9 miles away from Nagasaki.

Originally populated as a coal mining facility back in the late nineteenth century, a company known as Mitsubishi had bought the island with the intentions of extracting coal from undersea mines, to fuel a rapidly growing/modernizing Japan. With the passage of time, Japan's first large concrete building (~9 stories high apparently) and several apartment complexes were built to house workers and the like. The highest population estimate in that time was about 5000 people.

When Japan began accepting petroleum as a better resource over coal, many coal mines around the country were shut down. Needless to say, the same thing happened with Hashima.

What makes Hashima such an interesting place however is the fact that it remained virtually untouched for about 35 years. This leaves behind undisturbed housing complexes similar to that of Japan's old times. With many collapsed buildings and such a unique look about it, Hashima is without a doubt something that would be very difficult to replicate anywhere else in the world.

*An interesting fact, if you've ever seen the James Bond movie "Skyfall", this island is used as the basis for the villain's hideout*

Aerial view

Closer look

What you can expect to see

#9 Visual Novels

An interactive fiction game with origins from Japan, visual novels are typically PC games featuring static images that you click through to progress through the story, usually with some text at the bottom to display dialogue and character monologue.

At first, the visual novel sounds like a more complicated book with pictures where you have to click, but the thing that makes it so unique is that it has voices, artwork, and decisions. The decisions are the defining characteristic of the genre, where the player will usually be required to make a choice somewhere down the story line, which may or may not affect what "route" or "ending" one might receive.

While not very popular outside of Japan, there are companies (and fan translators) in the U.S. that work on adapting the games into an English audience. Visual novels are a in fact a fun and alternative to your typical video game.

Chaos;Head is a well-known sci-fi thriller novel

Typical gameplay of a visual novel, again from Chaos;Head

#8 OGN- Ongamenet

There's a lot of TV shows out there. You have dramas, comedy, reality shows, etc. But can anybody really expect a successful network where popular games are broadcast on TV? If you ask a South Korean, the answer is obviously yes, and they would be surprised as to why you would even ask such a question.

OGN is a television channel in South Korea that broadcasts matches of popular games in the region such as Starcraft and League of Legends. The key term here is "e-sports", where being good at a video game can put you on a professional level and achieve celebrity status (at least in South Korea).

This channel in specific hosts tournaments in the summer and winter where the very best players in South Korea (who happen to be inhuman in performance) play against one another for prizes and titles.

It used to be that OGN only paid attention to Starcraft (considered a national pastime in Korea), but with the rise of another extremely popular game known as League of Legends, they have added another program to what they normally show.

Audiences around the world are astounded at what South Korea has to offer for aspiring professional gamers, and many other pros hope that one day the world will adjust to the same scale that South Korea approaches towards the realm of "e-sports".

Only the top teams were able to participate in OGN's "Hot6ix Champions Summer 2013". Game on screen is League of Legends.

#7 The Comiket

Sure we have comic conventions all over the place here in America, but what about other places? Do they have something similar? This is where we take a look at an interesting member of today's nations: Japan. From Vocaloid concerts to Akihabara, there are so many subjects to examine. But today, we'll be turning our attention to the semiannual festival traditionally known as "Comiket".

Held twice a year in Tokyo, Comiket is the largest fair in the world where fans and artists come to collect/sell dōjinshi (self published Japanese works, usually fan fiction or spin offs). At first it sounds rather dubious that anybody would visit the convention just to buy some comics and goods, but the massive attendance of these events proves the idea wrong, as hundreds of thousands of people line up every fair to purchase from these authors.

Comiket takes place every summer and winter of a year, and it still attracts a huge amount of people. The preparation and anticipation of this event is so fierce that thousands will line up outside the event area a few days before to get their hands on these prized products (similar to Americans lining up for new video games and consoles, right?).

Example of the long waiting lines from Comiket 77, in December 2009

#6 Leave no page unread

Another interesting phenomenon in the realm of Asian visual culture is something almost every person has read: manga. A surprising staple that originated in Japan, it has attracted the attention of a significant worldwide audience.

Typically printed in black and white, manga is sold almost everywhere that you can purchase books (even at the U.A bookstore). A lot of people find the art style and story techniques of manga to be very entertaining, so it's no surprise that manga is read on a global scale.

Some extremely popular titles that come to mind when you think of manga would be Naruto, Bleach, etc.

Dragon Drive was a short manga series but it was entertaining nonetheless. 

#5 In Figma we trust

There's a lot of interesting toys and hobbies that you can find in Japan... one of them revolves around collecting figures from well known lines such as Nendoroid or Figma. As they can be rather or small or not likely to leave a big impression, depending on what kind of figure you're looking at they can range anywhere from $30-$500 (the average price is just about $58 actually).

Why would these insignificant figures charge such a high a price to begin with? It goes beyond reason to spend that much money on any of these, let alone collecting them. However, with the craze that begins in Japan and spreads across the globe like wildfire, reason is something that gets thrown out the window pretty often.

Essentially these figures are based off of popular anime, manga, vocaloid, almost anything you can find in the world of 2-D.

This is a Saber (suit version) figure, from the popular anime "Fate Zero"

#4 You CAN eat raw fish!

Last week during the time of fall break, a friend of mine from high school came back to visit Tucson (he's currently attending ASU, the rascal). To celebrate his temporary return we went out for sushi with other friends. I don't remember what the restaurant was called, but we were watching the people prepare the sushi for us (which was new, previously we had all waited for somebody to bring it out). I don't have the exact file on me for this, but one of my friends took a picture of the order tray that the assistants brought out for a predetermined order, it looked something like this-

Preparing sushi is like an art of some kind, and it was quite the spectacle to see professionals do it in front of their customers. Regardless, almost every kind of sushi you eat tastes delicious.

#3 Religious Shrines in the modern home

Having a shrine to Buddha is one of the many features that you can find in an Asian home. Growing up around 2-3 different ones in my household, this is what is currently in my house-

Not being big on religion myself, my parents and my grandparents are the most likely to use it in the household. I do however use this around the time of important events and New Year's.
Most of these shrines are rather simple, but my mother went all out with this when she re-arranged the house.

When you walk in through the front door you'll be able to see it. Quite a hefty reminder that the house you just stepped into has Asians in it.

#2 New Year's Festival (azn style)

The Chinese New Year is a unique concept, as it does not take the shape of a party that happens on the first of January, but rather later into the months (perhaps in accordance to the lunar calendar or something along those lines?).
Being a sharp realist might lead one to think that it is insane to have a New Year's celebration after the new year has already begun, but it's not all that bad.
Especially when there is good food and shows/events to go around. I like to go the ones in town with my family every year that I get the chance to do so.

The dragon dancing stuff is quite the spectacle.

NUMBER ONE REASON TO GO: FOOD!

#1 Mikunopolis 2011

Mikunopolis 2011 

If you don't know who Hatsune Miku is, it's the name behind one of many voice synthesizer programs known as "Vocaloid". You might also begin to wonder that it sounds ridiculous for a computer program to sing, but the phenomenon itself is extremely popular in Japan.

The basics- Hatsune Miku is the voice behind many popular songs in Japan, to the point that there are concerts held with her hologram singing to one of her well-known tracks. When the concept became really popular in Japan, it could not be fathomed that these concerts would be seen elsewhere.

That idea did not last for very long as Hatsune Miku's very first concert outside of Japan took place at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, CA on 7/2/11.

Behold, the internationally famous superstar.

A significance behind this concert is the fact that Hatsune Miku is not a real person, rather a voice synthesizer with a human persona behind it. Not quite a legitimate human being, but a very real pop star- Hatsune Miku serves as a reminder to the ever changing face of Asian art that it diffuses globally rather quickly. As a treat, you might be interested in hearing one of Miku's songs-

Hatsune Miku rocked the crowds in LA, with the stadium holding about 6,000 fans and 100,000 more watching online.