Tag: From Japan

From Japan: The AKB48 Craze!

Editorial Team

AKB48: Who are they? What are they? Why are they?

Well, to answer those first two questions, AKB48 is the hottest thing to hit Japan since white rice.  AKB is short for “Akiba,” which in turn is short for “Akihabara,” a district in Tokyo and the HQ for most otaku.  AKB48 is a girl group, currently made up of 64 members ranging in ages from early teens to early twenties.  They sing, they dance, and they have thus far released 13 singles.

akb48 cafe1What makes them different from other girl groups?  For one, most groups don’t have 64 members (they even hold the Guinnes World Record for “largest pop group”).  But the general concept of AKB48 is that they’re “the girls next door,” the “idols you can meet.”  In a kind of lottery, fans buy a number of the same album hoping to get that golden ticket which allows them to meet an AKB member for 5 minutes.  You can shake her hand, take a picture, and gush out how much you love her.

And I must admit, their marketing strategy is brilliant. AKB48 is in everything: stationary, dishes, figures, chocolate, countless commercials, appearing in TV dramas, etc.  In September 2011, the AKB48 Cafe & Shop opened in Akihabara (conveniently next to the Gundam Cafe) where waitresses dress up in school uniforms and AKB videos play on a dozen flatscreens around the shop.  Prices aren’t as expensive as you might expect, and their cheese cake is pretty good.

akb cafe2AKB’s success has lead to other groups popping up in Japan as well as Asia.  There’s now SKE48 from Nagoya, SDN48 short for Saturday Night, NMB48 in Osaka, and JKT48 in Jakarta.  Expect more to come.

So what’s the attraction?  According to our Korean corespondent and avid AKB48 fan; “I like them because there’s [a member] for everybody, and unlike real girls, they’re not there to make you deal with girl related [issues].”  In other words, they’re idols through and through.

Only there’s 64 of them.

 

written by Damon Finos

From Japan: So, You Want To Be A Ninja?

Editorial Team

While people in Japan may role their eyes when hearing a Westerner mention the term “ninja,” these mysterious assassins have captured the imagination and been the inspiration behind numerous sources of pop-culture, from 1970’s martial art films, to James Bond movies, to video games like Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi, to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  But the question is, were the ninja merely a product of this pop-culture, or did they actually exist?

Yes, they did.

While fact and fiction has been blurred, due to what little information has been uncovered (their whole profession was stealth, after all) many historians believe the ninja predominantly existed around the Sengoku era (around 1450 to 1600) when Japan lacked unification, resulting in military conflict and social upheaval.  While the Samurai were all about upholding rules on honor and combat (known as Bushido) the ninja fought “unfairly” by hiding in the shadows and pouncing on unsuspecting enemies.

Ninja GaidenAs their profession grew, Nina Clans began sprouting around Japan – particularly in Mie Prefecture – where they would train and graduate, before being hired as either a spy or mercenary, usually by the more desperate lower-class Shoguns.  Some well-known historical events involving the ninja was the Shimbara Rebellion (1637-1638) in which the Shogun Iemitsu Tokugawa hired ninjas to kill the Christian rebels stationed in Hara Castle in Nagasaki Prefecture.  And in the early 1700’s, Yoshimune Tokugawa started the Oniwaban, a kind of medieval CIA which employed ninjas for their secret intelligence, gathering on government officials and Daimyos.

Where can we see ninjas today?

If you head up to Nikko, you can visit the Edo Wonderland, which is mainly a studio set up to resemble an ancient village used for filming Japan’s historical dramas.  There, you can witness mock ninja battles as they fly through the trees on cables swinging their swords, or fighting in a play dubbed “Ninja Kabuki.”

Last month, a “Ninja Training Session” was held in Chiba Prefecture which ran a two-hour course for only 500 yen, teaching the ways of the ninja such as throwing shuriken (ninja stars) and climbing trees.  The catch?  You have to be a kid.

 

written by Damon Finos