Nintendo: Games

One of my good friends and ex-classmates posted This on Facebook earlier today. It talks about the creator of "Mario" video games and why a lot of his games are "damsel in distress." The creator of this blog post interviewed Miyamoto Shigeru and asked him about why he didn't include playable female characters. This conversation and recent controversial studies not only reflect the female interests of and in gaming, but also how women are more involved in pop culture than ever before. Instead of being marginalized or just not involved in this piece of culture.

In focusing on women's growing population of female gamers, Japan has not only influenced a degree of self awareness in America on the media taken in by the general populace, but started many conversations (and quarrels) on whether x percentage of women are "real gamers," whether women are engaged in the community, and what media coming from Japan is shaping our perceptions. Kotaku's questions and Miyamoto's responses show that there is a wide opening for many changes to Nintendo's current gender roles in games. Instead of coming off with a "timestamped," age-related response, Miyamoto instead states that there are possibilities for everything, ignoring the fact of whether or not they're just aiming for a larger market.

Sorry for the brief blurb, but this caught my eye. I will have to do more research into this as I do not know much about video games, video gaming community, or Nintendo (save for signature games). Sorry if this seems like garble, but I think it is impressive that pop culture in America has become so self aware of what its ingesting and why.

Amigurumi: Craft

This is my pattern~

So recently I have been trying to mas produce little stuffed creatures that look like the picture on the right. I thought it was really cool to make a pattern of an animal. In Japan, they call it amigurumi or "knitted/crocheted, stuffed doll." Since amigurumi don't seem to fulfill any practical purposes, like a blanket or a sweater might, people have made elaborate ones for decoration. The main objective for amigurumi is to have a cute, albeit useless decoration. Sometimes they're given as gifts or given to children, but prove that Japan truly adores cute things, regardless of whether or not it has a purpose. By looking at the fact Japan really focuses on cute things, its influence on Americans (and documented presence on the internet) can be easily tracked.

In the early 2000's, amigurumi became very popular around the internet because of how trendy it was in Japan. To find amigurumi in America, one doesn't have t look far. Etsy, a craft/selling website is overflowing with peoples various knitted or crocheted inventions. The creators of amigurumi often label it as "amigurumi" as well, which makes it more obvious that the Japanese influenced it. Everything from anthropomorphized candles to cutesy, almost "cartoon-y" creatures (and their patterns) can be found anywhere on the internet in American English or in bookstores and libraries.Americans, as a result, have been leaning more and more towards cutesy things to create, rather than more lifelike creations, such as American Girl dolls.

Why is cuteness overflowing in American pop culture? The Power of Kawaii research by Hiroshi Nittono, Michiko Fukushima, Akihiro Yano, and Hiroki Moriya document how the trend of "kawaii" or "cute" things, as influenced by Japan, examine "hypotheses is that viewing cute things affects behavioral tendencies but not general performance levels" (Nittono). The study further goes on to state that,

Kawaii things not only make us happier, but also affect our behavior. This study shows that viewing cute things improves subsequent performance in tasks that require behavioral carefulness, possibly by narrowing the breadth of attentional focus. This effect is not specific to tasks related to caregiving or social interaction. For future applications, cute objects may be used as a facile emotion elicitor. Cute features not only make objects more user friendly and approachable [3], but also induce careful behavioral tendencies in the users, which is beneficial in specific situations, such as driving and office work.

 So, the rapid spread of "cuteness" throughout America via "amigurumi" can be said to be calming. Add that to a lucrative and laid-back hobby such as knitting or crocheting, and peaceful Americans can be found.

I do note that I didn't specify that most of the people involved with amigurumi or knitting are women, because although that may be the current majority group of openly active participants, it doesn't encompass everyone.

Last Semester

Last semester Japanese club worked a lot on writing a list of potential club activities. I keep pressing for ideas because I want to work on changing the club from a state of eternally near death to a thriving and growing club. Of course whatever Japanese club decides to do in the future has to be big.

During those last meetings of the semester we wrote up a pretty lengthy list of activities. So, for all to see I am posting the Japanese Club meeting notes here online. I figured that since I spend so much time here anyways, I might as well organize my thoughts here too.

Activities we can do during the summer include:

• The August Lantern Festival (See Here For More Info)
• Visiting the Spoon bridge and Cherry
• Free movies in Parks (Schedule Here)
• State Fair
• Drive in Movie Theatre
• Valley Fair
• Como Zoo/Japanese Gardens
• 4th of July Party
• Park BBQ/Squirt guns/hiking trips/Bonfires
• Fishing Trips, canoeing, paddle boats, sand castle building competition

• White Water Rafting
• Waterpark of America/MOA
• Dinkytown exploration
• House Party @ Robby's?
• Swimming in the UST pool
• Visiting Minnehaha Falls
• Lilydale 
• Renaissance Festival  

 Activities we can do during the upcoming fall semester include:

• Creating a new club logo for "Nihon Culture Club"
• Going Places with ELS/ International Students
• Uniting with other clubs on Campus, U of M, etc.
• And of course continuing the long tradition of "End of the Semester Banquets"
• With activities like Karaoke at Boomtown (211 Oak St.)
• Maybe a couple films or other visual media
•  Calligraphy
• Cooking Night
• Apple Picking
• Aikido, Soccer, Taiko, etc
• Retreats
• Hosting our own Matsuri
• A Giant Monopoly Game
• The Bean Game
• Movie Night
• Easel Games/Pictionary
• Introducing the eBoard to Matsumoto Sensei
• Considering going from every week to every other week
• Collaborate with GMSA for International Dinner?
• Advocate programs that unite America and Japan

Unfortunately we missed the Cherry Blossom Festival on June 8th. I wonder what else the club will come up with for things to do. Looking toward the upcoming year, a lot will probably happen as the club goes from constant near death and into an explosion of life.

Minnesota Japanese School: Education

I was going through files the other day on my computer and I discovered that I had a link to the Minnesota Japanese School. I went to go check out the web address and see if it was still working because I had no idea what it was. When I clicked back on the link the first thing that caught my eye was how the front page provides a link for English speakers who want to learn Japanese to go elsewhere. This school seems to want to be clear that people who speak Japanese are able to attain an education in their native tongue and to save others the hassle of mistaken identity. The other school for English learners to learn Japanese is Mori no Ike in the Concordia Languages Villages.

The majority of the pages are in Japanese which is completely understandable. They're marketing to a specific language group, though they clearly state that the school is open to all. After clicking on classes, any visitor to the site can see that all of the teachers are very friendly women, divided up by the grade and class they teach.

Clicking on "Gallery" takes the visitor to a long page of photos showing what the school teaches and shows students participating in calligraphy. The teachers are also shown teaching the children stroke order and everyone appears happy and friendly while learning. Having this school in Minnesota is really cool because it doesn't mean that the students are conforming to a specific nationalist view, but allowed to learn without English. The school seems to parallel school in Japan even, based on class schedules and subject matter.

Overall I was thrilled to rediscover my discovery of this school because it presents great opportunities for children to learn in Japanese without having to return to Japan or one of the coastal American states. This is just one of multiple examples that exemplify Minnesota's, and the Midwest's, love for Japan.

Anime & Manga: Me

In 2012 I was very desperate for $. Well... still am. But not to the degree that I was going to sell my anime and manga. Since I have given a good portion of this away to my school's Anime Club, I wanted to note and record what I used to own. The rest of this I probably still own and it is around the house somewhere.

VHS:

·         GOKU: Midnight Eye

·         Gunsmith Cats: Riding Bean

·         Martian Successor Nadesico (v 1: Invasion)

·         Ghost in the Shell (movie—Special Edition)

·         Raven Tengu, Kabuto

·         Plastic Little

·         Fushigi Yugi: The Quest for Shinzaho (episode 34-36)

·         Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genesis 0:1

·         National Geographic Video: Living Treasures of Japan

Library Manga:

·         Bleach (Volume 12)

·         Bring It On (Korean manwha –Volume 3)

·         Cheeky Angel (Volume 3)

·         Clamp School Detectives (Volume 3)

·         Dazzle (Volume 1)

·         Fruits Basket (Volume 10)

·         Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play (7, 8, 8, 13)

·         Goong: The Royal Palace (Korean manwha -- Volume 5)

·         Hana Kimi (Volumes 7, 9, 11)

·         Harlequin Ginger Blossom’s

o   Harlequin Pink: Idol Dreams

o   Harlequin Violet: Response

·         Hellsing (Volume 7)

·         Her Majesty’s Dog (Volume 1)

·         I.N.V.U (Korean manwha -- Volume 2)

·         Kekkaishi (Volume 1)

·         Metropolis

·         Naruto (Volume 4)

·         Neon Genesis Evangelion (Volume 8)

·         One Piece (2, 7)

·         Paradise Kiss (Volume 3)

·         Platinum Garden (Volume 3)

·         Ral Grad (Volume 1)

·         Sgt. Frog (Volume 7)

·         XXXHolic (Volume 1)

Boxed Set:

Entire series Boxed Set of Fushigi Yugi Books for $55, the condition is practically new, well taken care of.

Boxed Set of Oh My Goddess VHS cassettes for $10, kept in the best condition possible. (Boxed set is of 5 vhs.)

My Manga

·         Sokora Refugees (Volume 1)

·         Tokyo Mew Mew (Volume 1)

·         Neck and Neck (Volume 1)

·         Alice 19^th (Volume 1)

·         Et Cetera (Volume 1)

·         Nana (Volume 1)

·         Guru Guru Pon-Chan (Volume 2)

·         Full Moon O Sagashite (Volume 2)

·         No Need for Tenchi! (Volume 1)

·         Mermaid Saga (Volume 1)

·         Paradise Kiss (Volume 4)

·         Othello (Volume 2, 3)

·         Hot Gimmick (Volume 2)

·         The World of Narue (Volume 1)

·         Wish (Volume 3)

·         Orphen (Volume 1)

·         Pastel (Volume 8)

·         The Wallflower (Volumes 1, 4)

Used Manga:

•             Bleach (Volume 12)

•             Bring It On (Korean manwha –Volume 3)

•             Cheeky Angel (Volume 3)

•             Clamp School Detectives (Volume 3)

•             Dazzle (Volume 1)

•             Fruits Basket (Volume 10)

•             Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play (7, 8, 8, 13)

•             Goong: The Royal Palace (Korean manwha -- Volume 5)

•             Hana Kimi (Volumes 7, 9, 11)

•             Harlequin Ginger Blossom’s

o             Harlequin Pink: Idol Dreams and

o             Harlequin Violet: Response

•             Hellsing (Volume 7)

•             Her Majesty’s Dog (Volume 1)

•             I.N.V.U (Korean manwha -- Volume 2)

•             Kekkaishi (Volume 1)

•             Metropolis

•             Naruto (Volume 4)

•             Neon Genesis Evangelion (Volume 8)

•             One Piece (2, 7)

•             Paradise Kiss (Volume 3)

•             Platinum Garden (Volume 3)

•             Ral Grad (Volume 1)

•             Sgt. Frog (Volume 7)

•             XXXHolic (Volume 1)

Set:

Volumes 1-13 of Fushigi Yugi Book

Manga

•             Sokora Refugees (Volume 1)

•             Tokyo Mew Mew (Volume 1)

•             Neck and Neck (Volume 1)

•             Alice 19th (Volume 1)

•             Et Cetera (Volume 1)

•             Nana (Volume 1)

•             Guru Guru Pon-Chan (Volume 2)

•             Full Moon O Sagashite (Volume 2)

•             No Need for Tenchi! (Volume 1)

•             Mermaid Saga (Volume 1)

•             Paradise Kiss (Volume 4)

•             Othello (Volume 2, 3)

•             Hot Gimmick (Volume 2)

•             The World of Narue (Volume 1)

•             Wish (Volume 3)

•             Orphen (Volume 1)

•             Pastel (Volume 8)

•             The Wallflower (Volumes 1, 4)

All Things Anime

So as you can probably tell, I'm cleaning out my bookmarks. I didn't know what else to do because there's still too much. I think I'm going to start off with some cosplays because they're the first thing that I sorted through. I really wanted to have a lolita dress for a future con, so I was browsing online for a pattern. I don't really know what else to do with these but list them here, unlike the English things yesterday. Sorry.

Basic Lolita Dress 
Bedsheet Summer Dress
Classic Lolita
Gothic Loli How To
Gothic Loli Dress
Old School Loli
Sun Fun Loli
Sweet Lolita Alice in Wonderland


Then I went through a lot of my convention things. I really was into conventions when I was in Japan because I missed that slice of home life. I don't want to go to a lot of conventions because I don't like that many people, especially the subtle, passive-aggressive battles everyone has in their heads and through their interactions with everyone else.

All Anime Cons :Essentially this is just a list of all the biggest conventions in the whole wide world. It seems to be updated on a fairly frequent basis (year to year or so I think) because it is always accurate on dates. I use this to plan out imaginary cons I want to go to and keep track of my friends cons, lest I try to plan stuff with them when they're out at a con.

Anime Fusion :Is a convention I'm considering vending at this coming year. My friend wanted me to sell with her since her normal crew isn't going. She knew that I wanted to sell at a convention and this is a pretty good opportunity for me. She wants me to pitch in my share, but I haven't worked in three weeks due to complications. Once I work a little and pay off some of my school bill, of course I'll gladly give her my share. In the meantime, I will have to crochet a lot because I need to have stock to sell after all~!

Anime Planet :I use this site to look up characters I've only seen in gifs or pics. Its really helpful because then I can also look through a semi wide, semi narrow list of types of characters I want to cosplay. It is less tedious than Anime Characters Database for cosplays, but maybe not as much overall.

Animinneapolis :Animinneapolis is a local con I've been going to for a couple of years. Actually I've been going to it since it first opened, and it isn't that organized. On the surface level fans aren't aware of all of the chaos behind the scenes.

Metacon :Metacon is maybe two years old now. I was unable to go to it before I went to Japan, but I heard it is pretty good. I'm so excited because I am considering going this year. I heard it is a really nice and neat convention, maybe not as chaotic and wild as Animinneapolis, but I don't know for sure.

That's all I have for anime conventions. I really can't wait because I know this year will have a lot of big changes for me. I want to go to all of them and know that going to all of them would overwhelm me. the possibility of being an entrepreneur through conventions would be really exciting, since I don't know how else to get myself off the ground. At least this will be a good chance for me.

Right Stuf :No it isn't a typo. It is a really cool online store to buy essentially anything related to anime and manga. I think they even do some cosplay. They have really cool sales around the holidays too, so they're worth looking into.

Intermission time:

 

So I was really interested in voice acting after I went to several panels at conventions over the years and I was really fired up after I'd challenged Monica Rial to a voice off. Unfortunately I'd lost my voice that weekend... so I looked like a puny coward. I still plan on voicing off with her, though I'm sure I have a fair chance at winning. I'll need to practice before I see her again though. So here's some things that my bestie helped me in pursuit of this interest.

Jerry Lewis :An official announcer's test to warm up and practice with one's voice. I'd highly recommend it for anyone about to give a speech or presentation.

Kyle Hebert :He's a voice actor and he'll teach or give voice acting tips for money. He does it over skype so he can access a full range of customers. He even gives discounts, like less for pairs sometimes, so keep an eye out for those. He's totally worth every cent because he truly wants to help out.

New Grounds :An important tool because individual film and game creators are always looking for voice actors. It is a great way to guild experience and get feedback from massive amounts of strangers. Just look on their 4chan-like forums and start building relationships.

Proboards :A great place to also start one's voice acting career. I don't know much about it, but I do know it is a great place to start for beginners.

Suzumiha Haruhi :Look around here as well to start off one's career. Look up egoraptor(s) as well.

Vocaroo :I use to record myself not only for Ecards/congrats, but to practice. It is a lot easier than setting up my computer's camera, but is only audio. More than what I need to practice while perpetually shocked at the wound of my own voice.

VO Ninja :The Voice Over Ninja. Another important tool for the self-starting voice actor. Remember, it takes practice and research and persistence to become a success!

Don't forget that to start an independent career in voice acting, money will have to be invested. It isn't something that can be done easily so prepare to invest in mics, an audio system, software as more. Basic acting classes will also help if you're really at a loss. 

Lastly, I think I will go through some Japanese stores that are online as well. I really like them because of what service they provide on top of the items they sell. Some of these were recommended through my close friend in/from Tokyo, and were more catered towards my preferences than in general. So please don't be surprised if some of it doesn't appeal to you.

Pierrot Yarns : Don't let the name fool you. Ever see cute things in anime? Here's how you can knit or crochet it. It is a great and inexpensive way to create some cosplay clothes.

Pixiv :A great way to find stylish and more "original" art of your favorite anime and manga characters. I love to utilize this for art pieces like the one in the link.

Prisila's Wigs :Some of the  nicest, inexpensive regular and cosplay wigs I've ever seen. their customer service is really nice and they will ever style the wigs in store for customers. All "colored" wigs are about $50 and down to butt-length. I want to get some styled next time I go to Japan for cosplays.

Well that's all I have for now. Most of my bookmarked items have been cleared out thematically, so there might be some random and sporadic posts after this. Not sure, since this might be the last.
Thank you for reading and have a great evening~

Cosplay Fundraising an Issue?

Sorry it has been a while since I last updated. I have been so busy with finals and working at least 34 hours a week that I almost forgot about this blog. So I'm going to update with a new "controversial" subject in the cosplay community. So recently a girl "fundraised" for her cosplay career. It is controversial because a lot of people think that it is unfair that she was even bothering, while others think that if she has a large and generous fanbase, she should be able to. For more information, please read This. Essentially because this person raised 4k for her $650 cosplay photoshoot and splurged on the extra funding, people are pissed off. Some think it is wrong because an individual should completely raise their own funds to partake in such a hobby or lifestyle, while others applaud her for finding other means to get the necessary funds. I personally think that there isn't enough information on this web page because the general paragraph full of information on the event was already full of others opinions and not facts.

"So Liz Katz recently had an Indiegogo fundraiser that passed its goal of $650. It has now reached over $4,000. What she wanted to do with the money was to create a sexy Princess Peach costume for a Mario-themed photoshoot. She also needs a sewing machine, camera lenses, and outdoor lighting. This has gotten the cosplay community in an uproar, saying that people shouldn’t be asking for money to create cosplay outfits. One cosplayer, Kearstin Nicholson, has shown her dislike for the fundraiser." 
--John 'Spartan' Nguyen

I think that it would be most important for the full facts because without more detail I really can't take a stance on the situation. If this girl didn't spend the money as she had intended for fundraising, I might be upset. Is she spent it on her goals and had excess to spend on herself or future cosplays, I would shrug it off. But because I truly don't know what is going on, I really can't judge like others are. It doesn't seem fair to ask others opinions without the full details, so this article should either be edited or dismissed.

Thanks for reading.