Baskin Robbins in Japan is called 31. Because when the initials B and R are put together they kind of form the number 31. I don't get it.
Baskin Robbins ice cream is expensive here but so festive~!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
31 or...?
This is from ages ago but I ate ice cream with two friends of a friend who were in Tokyo to see Utada Hikaru's WILD LIFE concert! We were looking for a place to eat ice cream in winter and went to the koban (police stand) to ask, because cops should know where that stuff is. (And they did, very kindly, point us to the nearest Baskin Robbins.)
Baskin Robbins in Japan is called 31. Because when the initials B and R are put together they kind of form the number 31. I don't get it.
Baskin Robbins ice cream is expensive here but so festive~!
Baskin Robbins in Japan is called 31. Because when the initials B and R are put together they kind of form the number 31. I don't get it.
Baskin Robbins ice cream is expensive here but so festive~!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Getting down to storytelling
Lots of stuff going on, I don't know where to start.
Well, I've been doing English babysitting, which is a real challenge because it's an 11-month-old girl, and 11-month-olds don't want to play with you or hear you talk, they want to grab whatever catches their fancy and throw them. She's actually noticeably improved after one session of me talking non-stop to her, though - she can almost say "hi" now and waves. Yay.
I also went to the creative arts section of a vocational school (not the Manga Juku, a different place) and met with a professional mangaka - Fukuyama Youji sensei, the creator of Mademoiselle Mozart. He lectures there now. When we first saw him he was making beautifully detailed figures out of something like plasticine. Apparently all you have to do to harden the figure is stick it in the microwave. He was saying how easy a class this was as there wasn't much to teach about model making - and manga students would come here to relax when they got stuck or uninspired and come make their characters in 3D. He had a botched head on a piece of wire that looked so cool, and I asked him if he was throwing it away, and he said in a sort of singsong voice, "Nope, you can't have it." As he can't let a botched piece out into the world.
He and his wife gave me some really helpful advice on my work. While earlier people I met with at the school hinted at how some of the kids had no motivation and were pretty much flunking the classes, with a sort of cool disapproval on their faces, I got none of that negativity from Fukuyama sensei. He was very accepting and he and his wife were both funny, cheery and laid-back. They suggested I get used to inking things the traditional way - using pen nibs - and draw in a way that will appeal more to Japanese tastes in order to get assistant work. They also said what I expected - that the most important thing in manga is /expressing/ the story you're trying to tell - and as my art is already fine I need to show I can do the story and expression side of things. He was very nice about my art, taking time to look at it properly and giving a bit of praise and constructive criticism. I'm going to make something before I see them again in January, on one of the days I can take free classes there.
On that topic, I notice there isn't really any kind of "indie comic" scene in Japan (unless Comike counts). Aspiring mangaka will choose a manga magazine they want to get published on, and slave away at trying to get accepted. Teachers advise students not only based on skill, but also based on how well they're appealing to their chosen magazine's target audience. It makes me wonder what those people do who want more freedom in their work. I guess they "gaman" - grin and bear it for the time being, until they reach a level of success where they can take more liberties.
One of the school directors was telling me that thanks to the recently passed law restricting expression in anime and manga, some of their school activities such as animation screenings will no longer be held in Tokyo. :(
There were quite a few non-Japanese there, too. I met a Brazilian guy who attended the school between return trips home and back to renew his tourist visa. There were quite a few Koreans, Chinese and Taiwanese around.
Well, I've been doing English babysitting, which is a real challenge because it's an 11-month-old girl, and 11-month-olds don't want to play with you or hear you talk, they want to grab whatever catches their fancy and throw them. She's actually noticeably improved after one session of me talking non-stop to her, though - she can almost say "hi" now and waves. Yay.
I also went to the creative arts section of a vocational school (not the Manga Juku, a different place) and met with a professional mangaka - Fukuyama Youji sensei, the creator of Mademoiselle Mozart. He lectures there now. When we first saw him he was making beautifully detailed figures out of something like plasticine. Apparently all you have to do to harden the figure is stick it in the microwave. He was saying how easy a class this was as there wasn't much to teach about model making - and manga students would come here to relax when they got stuck or uninspired and come make their characters in 3D. He had a botched head on a piece of wire that looked so cool, and I asked him if he was throwing it away, and he said in a sort of singsong voice, "Nope, you can't have it." As he can't let a botched piece out into the world.
He and his wife gave me some really helpful advice on my work. While earlier people I met with at the school hinted at how some of the kids had no motivation and were pretty much flunking the classes, with a sort of cool disapproval on their faces, I got none of that negativity from Fukuyama sensei. He was very accepting and he and his wife were both funny, cheery and laid-back. They suggested I get used to inking things the traditional way - using pen nibs - and draw in a way that will appeal more to Japanese tastes in order to get assistant work. They also said what I expected - that the most important thing in manga is /expressing/ the story you're trying to tell - and as my art is already fine I need to show I can do the story and expression side of things. He was very nice about my art, taking time to look at it properly and giving a bit of praise and constructive criticism. I'm going to make something before I see them again in January, on one of the days I can take free classes there.
On that topic, I notice there isn't really any kind of "indie comic" scene in Japan (unless Comike counts). Aspiring mangaka will choose a manga magazine they want to get published on, and slave away at trying to get accepted. Teachers advise students not only based on skill, but also based on how well they're appealing to their chosen magazine's target audience. It makes me wonder what those people do who want more freedom in their work. I guess they "gaman" - grin and bear it for the time being, until they reach a level of success where they can take more liberties.
One of the school directors was telling me that thanks to the recently passed law restricting expression in anime and manga, some of their school activities such as animation screenings will no longer be held in Tokyo. :(
There were quite a few non-Japanese there, too. I met a Brazilian guy who attended the school between return trips home and back to renew his tourist visa. There were quite a few Koreans, Chinese and Taiwanese around.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Panelling
An example of what I did in my second manga juku class. The subject was Panelling. I made a one page comic about a random daily experience I had (true story ._. ) and the pro sensei came and repanelled it to show me how it could be expressed more dynamically. (She did two different versions. The one on the left is the revised one.)
Basically when I go to Japanese restaurants I get nervous asking if I pay before the meal or after cause I never know which it is! So I was working up the courage to ask, all the while paying for a mealticket....and then I asked the lady, /handed over the ticket/, and wondered why she was reacting with just.."Yes...?" and a confused expression on her face. I was wondering if it was my Japanese or she was like this cause I'm a foreigner and sat down, then realized about the mealticket. Facepalm.
Basically when I go to Japanese restaurants I get nervous asking if I pay before the meal or after cause I never know which it is! So I was working up the courage to ask, all the while paying for a mealticket....and then I asked the lady, /handed over the ticket/, and wondered why she was reacting with just.."Yes...?" and a confused expression on her face. I was wondering if it was my Japanese or she was like this cause I'm a foreigner and sat down, then realized about the mealticket. Facepalm.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Free Manga Classes!
I started going to these free manga classes at the Manga Juku in Ochanomizu. You can bring your work and pros will give you free advice, and best of all you can keep coming for free, once a fortnight or so. The first lesson was on character design and we got to watch a pro inking an illustration right under our noses. The second one, which I went to today, was on panelling where we had to panel and ink a page. Oh and they gave us free pen nibs!
Here are some familiar original pages! They were hung up in the waiting room.
Here are some familiar original pages! They were hung up in the waiting room.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Cute stuff I saw on the streets of Tokyo
Just to clarify, that dog is wearing a bee suit. And the guy on the bicycle kept ringing his bell 100 times a minute to get everyone out of his way.
I saw this really cute wish at a temple somewhere between Nakano and Saginomiya station. The one at the top says "I wish for my parents to be healthy" and there's a cute little drawing of the parents. xD
This bunch of buildings along the railway track looks pretty drab and depressing, until you notice the tiny windows with Christmas trees in them.
Garasu no Kamen poster. xD Wtf.
Cute furniture shop in Ebisu I saw today, but damn expensive.
FLOPPY and The Parasite Museum
I am so lucky I got into the FLOPPY concert on the 27th. I hadn't booked a ticket cause I found out too late, and I had to wait till all the support bands finished playing to be allowed to buy a ticket, which thankfully was available. I am SO GLAD I got in, too. The music is nothing like what you hear on CD. It vibrates your bones and transports you to video game heaven. I had to stand on my tippy toes the whole time because I was at the very back, nearly round the corner down the corridor leading to the exit. The livehouse was about the size of a large classroom. I got a limited edition CD and made friends with a fellow fan there!The next day I went to the parasite museum in Meguro. There were fellow Perth people there. Is it just me or do Perth people love this kind of oddball stuff? I could tell where they were from just from their particular brand of geeky humor. Here's a whole bunch of shots from there.
Infested praying mantis.
Infested rodent.
Infested dolphin's stomach!
Infested fishy!And, warning, the next pic is not work safe.
.
.
.
.
.
Gods.
And an 8.8m long tapeworm that was inside a man.They were selling parasite necklaces, you know like the ones you can get with bugs trapped inside the plastic.
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