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jennariaFirst of all: Pokemon. My personal knowledge of Pokemon is based on having see the movie DETECTIVE PIKACHU (which I enjoyed!), the first episode of the TV series, and fannish osmosis, with a side of frantic web searches at need. I can recognize Pikachu on sight, and maybe one or two others.
...the Japanese do not care about my wimpy fandom knowledge. I cannot express to you how omnipresent Pokemon is in Japan. Why does this vending machine, which does not sell anything related by Pokemon, have Pikachu on it? It just does! Shut up and drink your Pocari Sweat! (...which is actually quite tasty, but that's beside the point.) Or, more prosaically, this sign in a Kyoto taxi:
What does this say? Why does it have the starter pokemon for POKEMON SCARLET AND VIOLET on it? (...why do I now know what the starter pokemon for POKEMON SCARLET AND VIOLET even are?) Is this a warning not to get so distracted playing Pokemon that you miss your stop? or that the taxi driver won't pause for you if you're playing Pokemon Go, even if you're fighting in a tower? Inquiring, non-Japanese-literate minds want to know!
If you want to get Pokemon goods - or see the cool statues - then you gotta go to a Pokemon Center, of which there are a few in Japan :cough: 9 in the Tokyo area alone :cough:. We decided to be different, and hit up the Pokemon Center in Kyoto instead.
This was the statue right at the entrance - Pikachu dressed as a Geisha (because Kyoto). Also, I am 75 percent sure that's a Vivillon pokemon on Pikachu's flower crown, after searching for images of butterfly pokemon because I couldn't believe they'd miss that opportunity.
Apparently Pokemon's 25th anniversary was in 2021, but they're still riding that. So to speak. (Also, what do you mean Pokemon only came out in 1996. I was in college then! How dare the flow of time work like this!)
The reality is, it's a store. Full of Pokemon. So many Pokemon.
(Did we buy things? Of course we did.)
Next up, something which I had expected to be more present than it was: Gundam! Because Gundam is one of the archetypes and mainstays of anime - a Gundam show has been on TV in Japan since the first one in 1979. So of course there's a life-size Gundam in Tokyo. And while it's a little bit of a pain to get out to Odaiba, which is more what you might call on the edges of Tokyo, it's not nearly as much of a pain as it would be to go to Yokohama, which is its own town and definitely not in Tokyo, and which is where the other life-size Gundam is. In Japan. Apparently there's a third one in Shanghai. ...moving on.
At first, when you're approaching, you're like, "I can't see it yet - it can't possibly be that big." And then you get there, and you're like, "Never mind!"
Looking directly up from by its feet. I'll note that every two hours, the Gundam has a little light and movement show - less spectacular at 3 PM when we were there than it would be after dark, I'm sure - which is why this looks different than the previous picture, besides the angle.
And of course, if you'd like to go spend money now... We did not. You have to go up a Specific Elevator to reach the store. We'd already spent two hours looking for a ramen theme park (what the hell, Japan) in a different mall, which was also only available via a Specific Elevator, and were three quarters past exhausted.
Finally, two things we saw on our way out of the Gundam mall:
First, Hello Kitty! Which was cute and all, but...it's a store. A store for a shiny thing which is not our shiny thing. Photo and move on. Sorry, y'all.
Ah, Doraemon. Incredibly culturally important! Appointed "anime ambassador" in 2008 by the Japanese Foreign Ministry! And yet the only reason I've heard of him is because of a few casual references in other anime or manga, and a Wikipedia spiral on long-running anime. Did not brave the crowds.
Did, however, take this picture. Part of it's that they've got a little Doraemon park thing going here, but also part of it...part of it is the girl and boy taking pictures. It's like someone taking a picture with a Big Bird statue here in the US: doesn't matter how old you are, or where you're from, or what you're like. You gotta get a photo with the childhood icon.
...the Japanese do not care about my wimpy fandom knowledge. I cannot express to you how omnipresent Pokemon is in Japan. Why does this vending machine, which does not sell anything related by Pokemon, have Pikachu on it? It just does! Shut up and drink your Pocari Sweat! (...which is actually quite tasty, but that's beside the point.) Or, more prosaically, this sign in a Kyoto taxi:
What does this say? Why does it have the starter pokemon for POKEMON SCARLET AND VIOLET on it? (...why do I now know what the starter pokemon for POKEMON SCARLET AND VIOLET even are?) Is this a warning not to get so distracted playing Pokemon that you miss your stop? or that the taxi driver won't pause for you if you're playing Pokemon Go, even if you're fighting in a tower? Inquiring, non-Japanese-literate minds want to know!
If you want to get Pokemon goods - or see the cool statues - then you gotta go to a Pokemon Center, of which there are a few in Japan :cough: 9 in the Tokyo area alone :cough:. We decided to be different, and hit up the Pokemon Center in Kyoto instead.
This was the statue right at the entrance - Pikachu dressed as a Geisha (because Kyoto). Also, I am 75 percent sure that's a Vivillon pokemon on Pikachu's flower crown, after searching for images of butterfly pokemon because I couldn't believe they'd miss that opportunity.
Apparently Pokemon's 25th anniversary was in 2021, but they're still riding that. So to speak. (Also, what do you mean Pokemon only came out in 1996. I was in college then! How dare the flow of time work like this!)
The reality is, it's a store. Full of Pokemon. So many Pokemon.
(Did we buy things? Of course we did.)
Next up, something which I had expected to be more present than it was: Gundam! Because Gundam is one of the archetypes and mainstays of anime - a Gundam show has been on TV in Japan since the first one in 1979. So of course there's a life-size Gundam in Tokyo. And while it's a little bit of a pain to get out to Odaiba, which is more what you might call on the edges of Tokyo, it's not nearly as much of a pain as it would be to go to Yokohama, which is its own town and definitely not in Tokyo, and which is where the other life-size Gundam is. In Japan. Apparently there's a third one in Shanghai. ...moving on.
At first, when you're approaching, you're like, "I can't see it yet - it can't possibly be that big." And then you get there, and you're like, "Never mind!"
Looking directly up from by its feet. I'll note that every two hours, the Gundam has a little light and movement show - less spectacular at 3 PM when we were there than it would be after dark, I'm sure - which is why this looks different than the previous picture, besides the angle.
And of course, if you'd like to go spend money now... We did not. You have to go up a Specific Elevator to reach the store. We'd already spent two hours looking for a ramen theme park (what the hell, Japan) in a different mall, which was also only available via a Specific Elevator, and were three quarters past exhausted.
Finally, two things we saw on our way out of the Gundam mall:
First, Hello Kitty! Which was cute and all, but...it's a store. A store for a shiny thing which is not our shiny thing. Photo and move on. Sorry, y'all.
Ah, Doraemon. Incredibly culturally important! Appointed "anime ambassador" in 2008 by the Japanese Foreign Ministry! And yet the only reason I've heard of him is because of a few casual references in other anime or manga, and a Wikipedia spiral on long-running anime. Did not brave the crowds.
Did, however, take this picture. Part of it's that they've got a little Doraemon park thing going here, but also part of it...part of it is the girl and boy taking pictures. It's like someone taking a picture with a Big Bird statue here in the US: doesn't matter how old you are, or where you're from, or what you're like. You gotta get a photo with the childhood icon.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-11 08:55 pm (UTC)I'm guessing that Nintendo sponsored the sticker just because they don't want to get a bad rep for people being rude while playing Pokemon Go.
The bit in the phone shape on the left says "when using a smartphone, let's follow rules and manners". The bullet points are:
Don't operate while driving or walking
Don't suddenly stop in your tracks
Pay attention to your surroundings while operating
Don't be a nuisance to the people around you
Follow public manners
the blue bit:
Taxis are safe, secure, hygenic public transportation systems.
General incorporated association, National hired taxi group
(Also, despite the unfortuate-for-English-speakers name, Pocari Sweat really is the best tasting electrolyte replacement drink I've had)
(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-18 07:59 pm (UTC)Thank you for the translation!
(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-12 01:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-18 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-12 04:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-18 08:00 pm (UTC)