Páginas

▼

jueves, 30 de junio de 2022

Chikawa beats out Evangelion and Super Mario to win Japan Character Award 2022

https://ift.tt/p1wGSA5 Master Blaster

Don’t mistake cuteness for softness.

While many countries can boast being full of character, only few can claim to be full of characters. Japan is certainly one such country with no shortage of fictional people, animals, and animal-people that have found fame worldwide.

One award that celebrates the best of the best of these characters is the Japan Character Award. Although not widely known, even in Japan, these awards carry a lot of weight because they are held by the Character Brand Licensing Association, an industry group that oversees character licensing in Japan and overseas.

The list of past grand prize winners reads like a who’s who of Japanese cultural icons too, and includes Pokémon, One Piece, Kumamon, Funasshi, Yo-Kai Watch, Sumikogurashi, and Demon Slayer. The recipient of the Japan Character Award 2022, however, may have taken everyone by pleasant surprise: Chikawa!

Chikawa is a shortened version of the full title Nanka Chisakute Kawaii Yatsu meaning “a cute thing in a small kind of way” and follows the quick and cute antics of titular character Chikawa and its little animal pals such as a cat, rabbit, and bear. However, the superficial cuteness belies a troubled world increasingly infested with weeds and monsters, and an underlying sense of danger and depression haunts the characters as they rely on their friendship to overcome problems.

▼ In this strip, a chimera suddenly appears while Chikawa is doing a jigsaw puzzle. It then attacks but Chikawa manages to desperately scare it away

Created in 2020 by an artist who goes by the name Nagano as a Twitter-based manga, the franchise has exploded into a published manga, televised anime series, and a whole lot of merchandising.

▼ You know you’ve made it when Sanrio gives you the nod to recreate their legendary characters in your own style

While Nagano’s huge and loyal following on social media has been the backbone of her success, the addition of an anime series has brought Chikawa to a whole new audience of children, allowing its fame to skyrocket even further.

▼ The anime seems to tone down the nihilistic parts so far

To give a sense of how big Chikawa has become, the other special Japan Character Award winners which it beat out to earn the grand prize include Evangelion (which won two awards for the success of its final reboot film and complex collaboration with five different restaurant chains at the same time), Tokyo Revengers (for its success in manga, anime, and film), and Super Mario for lending its brand to a popular line of loungewear by Gelato Pique.

The grand prize was awarded based on five factors; marketability, novelty, sociality, creativity, and future potential. It was especially that last criteria that contributed to Chikawa claiming the top prize. Its leap from a Twitter-based comic strip to multimedia franchise in about a year could only be described as explosive.

The Japan Character Award 2022 explained that Chikawa is “not only cute but also has a deep world view.” That sentiment was echoed by many online comments which also gleefully congratulated Nagano on her success.

“Chikawa is awesome!”
“Congratulations Nagano-san and Chikawa-chan!”
“This is great news.”
“It’s not so ‘small’ any more, is it.”
“Deep? It’s more like an abyss and a pretty hard world.”
“Welcome to dystopia.”
“Saying Chikawa has ‘future potential’ kind of goes against the theme of Chikawa.”

“Let’s celebrate, Chikawa!”

It certainly seems that Chikawa is poised to become the next big thing in Japan and possibly even beyond. Be sure to check out the ongoing series on Twitter if you can. There’s not a lot of coherent dialog in it either, making it pretty good reading material for those studying Japanese.

Source: Japan Character Award, PR Times, Otaku.com, Twitter/@ngnchiikawa
Top image: Japan Character Award 2022 ©nagano / chiikawa committee
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

en No hay comentarios:

Amazing castle photo ever shows why you shouldn’t skip this often-overlooked part of Japan

https://ift.tt/dN2catP Casey Baseel

Breathtaking night sky shows the beauty of this landlocked prefecture.

It’s pretty easy for travelers to forget about Gifu. It’s one of Japan’s few landlocked prefectures, and many tourists end up drawn to the attractions of Gifu’s neighbors instead, such Nagano’s ski slopes, Mie’s Ise Shrine, Shiga’s Lake Biwa, or the big-city sights of Nagoya in Aichi.

That doesn’t mean people should forget about Gifu, though, and with a dramatic reminder of that is Japanese photographer and Twitter user @ta2funk, with one of the coolest Japanese castle photos we’ve ever seen.

That’s Gifu Castle, which stands in Gifu City, and as you can probably guess from the photo’s quality, this wasn’t the first time @ta2funk turned his lens towards the night sky. “Over seven years, I’ve taken about 400 full-moon photos,” he says, “and out of all of them, this one is the best.”

@ta2funk says several people have asked him if the photo, which he took back in August of 2018 but recently shared on Twitter, is a multi-image composite. He says it’s all single photo, though, even while he admits that he himself can barely believe how fortunate the picture’s timing and focus were.

▼ @ta2funk shows the photo’s original data and lighting correction.

@ta2funk’s self-assessment that this is the best full-moon photo he’s ever taken doesn’t appear to be a case of overconfidence if reactions from other Twitter users are anything to go by.

“That moon’s presence is overwhelming.”
“It looks like the opening shot for a Hollywood-made ninja movie.”
“I thought this was a video game cutscene!”
“Feels like Sekiro’s Genichiro is going to pop out…”
“What a mysterious and lovely moon.”
“I’ve got no words that can describe this.”

None of this is to say that the runners-up in @ta2funk’s personal best lunar pics rankings are any slouches, though.

But while a trip to the moon is a bit outside most of our travel options, @ta2funk does entourage everyone to come visit Gifu, with this collection of photos showing other parts of the prefecture as well.

And if you’re staying overnight, staying somewhere in Gifu City with a view of the castle sounds like a great idea.

Source: Twitter/@ta2funk via IT Media, Maido News
Images: Twitter/@ta2funk
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

en No hay comentarios:

Charges dropped against elderly Japanese man for nailing Putin voodoo doll to sacred shrine tree

https://ift.tt/yAk6QTV Casey Baseel

Many hope he finds a different way to express his feelings about the Russian president, though.

There are certain things you expect to see at a Shinto shrine in Japan. A torii gate, a collection box, a bell to ring before you offer a prayer. What you usually don’t expect, though, are wara ningyo, or Japanese voodoo dolls.

But wara ningyo are exactly what kept turning up at Shinto shrines in the town of Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, about 20 minutes east of the Tokyo city center. The effigies were found nailed to trees with a spike, in accordance with traditional Japanese death curse protocol, and all of them also had pictures of the intended target of the malicious magic, Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Two weeks ago, investigators arrested Mitsunobu Hino, a 72-year-old resident of Matsudo, on charges of property damage after Hino was seen on security camera footage carrying a wara ningyo at a shrine shortly before one of the dolls was found nailed to the ground’s sacred tree. Hino didn’t exactly deny the charges when investigators came to his home to place him under arrest, but it turns out he won’t be facing any legal repercussions, at least for the time being, as the charges against him have been dropped.

Hino was released from police custody shortly after his arrest, and on Monday investigators said that prosecution will not be going ahead against Hino. This isn’t because he’s no longer suspected of nailing the doll to the tree, but because the shrine where he was seen on video, Mikazuki Shrine, has decided not to pursue the matter any further. “The victim has withdrawn the complaint,” explained a spokesperson for the Chiba Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Matsudo division.

Online reactions to the development have been a mixture of understanding and admonition, with Twitter comments such as:

“I can understand his sentiment, but he should find a better way to express it.”
“I’m sort of rooting for him, but he shouldn’t nail things into the shrine’s tree.”
“When they said ‘The victim has withdrawn the complaint’ I almost thought they meant Putin.”
“So Putin is cursed.”
“It looks like the wara ningyo aren’t being very effective against Putin. My coworker thinks it’s time to change tactics and throw holy water at him instead.”

Hino is also suspected of close toa dozen other wara ningyo vandalism cases in the city, however, so there remains a chance that one of the other shrines could still file a complaint against him if evidence hat he was involved surfaces.

Sources: NHK News Web via Jin, FNN Prime Online, Twitter
Top image: Pakutaso
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

en No hay comentarios:

Our otaku reporter Seiji rides the slowest train to Chichibu–and his coworker flips out

https://ift.tt/fWxMP5R Dale Roll

What’s so wrong with taking the local train to Chichibu?

It’s been 11 years since the release of the anime Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, a touching story about childhood friendships and loss that is one of our otaku reporter Seiji Nakazawa’s favorites. The anime is set in Chichibu, a small, picturesque mountain city in the prefecture of Saitama just outside of Tokyo, and for Seiji, Chichibu is like a second hometown. It’s so close to his heart that he forgot it wasn’t physically close to him too.

▼ An Anohana poster

But a recent trip to Chichibu to meet his editor Go Hatori reminded him just how far away it is. By local train, it can take about two hours from Tokyo’s Ikebukuro Station, since Seibu Chichibu Station is the last station on the Seibu Chichibu Line and the most western and most northern station of any Seibu Railway line. The line travels through villages and over hills via mountain passes, so going there feels like going on vacation.

The local train ticket cost 786 yen (US$5.85), and since it’s a long ride, Seiji boarded the train for Seibu Chichibu early in the morning in order to make his meeting with Go. The inside was nearly empty. The only other passengers in the car were a middle-aged couple, whose drunken bickering could be heard distantly over the lulling catank catank of the cars as they rolled over the railroad. The experience was actually quite soothing. The silence beyond silence in the car made Seiji wonder if that was what it meant to experience wabisabi.

So pleasant was his experience that, when Seiji arrived at Seibu Chichibu and met up with Go, he began to tell Go all about it. Suddenly, Go flipped out.

Go: “You dozed off the local train on the way here? You’re not supposed to ride the local train! Are you kidding me, man? Seriously? Come on.”

Seiji: “Wait…are you mad?”

Go: “I’m not mad. But as long as I’m not mad you won’t understand, probably. That’s where the challenge for me lies. Yeah. Well…should I be mad? Yeah.”

Seiji was completely baffled by his normally even-tempered editor’s angry mutters. He could not understand what was so wrong with taking the local train. It’s not like he’d arrived late. He’d actually gotten to Seibu Chichibu Station before Go. So why was Go all of a sudden so mad that he stormed back up to the train platform without even taking the time to leave the station and take some pictures? Knowing that our bosses only ever get mad for our sakes, Seiji decided to ask.

Seiji: “Why are you mad?”

Go: “How could you come to Seibu Chichibu without riding the Tokyu Laview?!”

Seiji: “Sorry…The what?”

Go: “Come on, man! How did you travel from Ikebukuro to Chichibu without knowing about the Tokyu Laview? The seats are soft and comfortable and they come with pillows. Once it leaves Ikebukuro, it only stops at four stations so it doesn’t even feel that far to Chichibu! Plus, even though it’s basically like a bullet train to Chichibu, it only costs 710 yen more than the local train! You can’t beat that cost performance. What were you thinking?!”

Seiji: “That does sound like a good deal…”

Go: “The craziest thing about the Laview is the windows. They’re huge! They basically go all the way down to your feet, so you can see everything. Your whole upper body is open to the window, so you feel like you’re flying over the gorges. The whole point of meeting here was so we could ride this train!”

▼ Go, pointing proudly at the Laview’s windows

Seiji: “So I woke up at 6 a.m. for this?”

Go: “If you’d ridden the Tokyu Laview, you probably could have slept in more. What kind of idiot comes to Chichibu without riding the Laview?!”

It was now clear to Seiji that Go was so seduced by the charms of the Tokyu Laview that he was outraged that someone would even consider coming to Chichibu without riding it. So without even leaving the station…

Go dragged Seiji onto the next Laview…

And they rode the luxury liner home together.

▼ “Ah…so comfortable.”

So the next time you decide to visit Chichibu, whether to experience their stunning icicle world in winter or the colorful display of pink moss fields in the spring (like at the Mt. Fuji shibazakura fields), make sure you ride the luxury liner Laview, lest Go hears about it and gives you an earful.

Photos © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

en No hay comentarios:

The restaurant where one of Japan’s last samurai lords ate now has a café with really good cake

https://ift.tt/Kl1L9oU Casey Baseel

If Kawai Tsuginosuke were alive today, he’d probably order the Special Plate dessert too.

From the outside, Tochu looks like a very important place, and it is. The building, located in the town of Ojiya, Niigata Prefecture, has been in business since the Edo period, when Japan was still ruled by a shogun and feudal samurai government, and the building is now an officially designated tangible cultural property.

For more than 150 years, Tochu has operated as a ryotei, a type of high-class Japanese restaurant that prides itself both on the quality of its food and its elegant ambiance. In addition to dining rooms and a banquet hall, guests will also find an exquisite garden, its pond filled with elegantly swimming carp, waiting for them on the premises.

Visitors can even set foot into the Umenoma, or “Plum Room,” where Kawai Tsuginosuke, one of Japan’s last samurai and the commander of the Niigata region at the time, ate his meal on May 2, 1868. Kawai’s visit came after meeting with revolutionary leaders and attempting to stave off the beginning of what would eventually come to be known as the Boshin War, which ended with the restoration of the imperial family as the rulers of Japan and the dissolution of the samurai class.

▼ The Umenoma, so named because originally it offered a view of plum blossom trees

But for all of its historical significance, Tochu isn’t averse to change. A few years ago it started a new venture, the Tochu Cafe, which operates within the building.

▼ The sign next to the door, with 東忠喫茶室 (Tochu kissashitsu, or “Tochu cafe room”), will tip passersby off.

The cafe space is a bit more contemporary in design than the rest of the facility, but still has a Japanese atmosphere.

You can get coffees such as Amarello Bourbon or French blend…

…but what we were really here for were the desserts.

For indecisive types, or simply those with a palate refined enough to appreciate a wide range of sweets, we’d recommend the 550-yen ($4.10) Special Plate, which gives you a variety of sweets to enjoy. The exact mix changes by the day or season, but on our visit our favorites were the cake, with a mousse topping and a filling of jam and nuts…

…and the ice brulee, which greeted us with a delicate snap and delicious custard sensation when we bit into it.

Our plate even came with a small slice of rice-flour poundcake and a meringue cookie.

Alternatively, you can be more focused in your dessert decisions with specific orders such as the 450-yem opera cake, made with the cafe’s in-house coffee blend…

…or, if being in a Japanese historical site has you in the mood for traditional Japanese sweets, the 450-yen shiratama zenzai, a bowl of mochi dumplings in an azuki sweet bean sauce.

After one more look at the garden, we were on our way, but we’re already looking forward to going back again, even if we feel lucky to have eaten at such a unique cafe even once.

Location information
Tochu Cafe/ 東忠カフェ
Address: Niigata-ken, Ojiya-shi, Motomachi 11-11
新潟県小千谷市元町11-11
Website

Photos © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

en No hay comentarios:

miércoles, 29 de junio de 2022

Curry and lassi ice creams: Like eating cubes of frozen curry roux

https://ift.tt/j0mKeqW Oona McGee

Some convenience store ice creams aren’t as great as you think they’ll be. 

Japanese confectionery company Imuraya is a red bean confectionery specialist best known for its super popular Azuki Bar ice cream. The company is always thinking outside the box for new ideas, though, and this summer they’re taking our taste buds on a new adventure, with bite-sized Lassi and Spice Curry ice creams.

▼ A box of six retails for 192 yen (US$1.42).

As diehard curry fans, we were looking forward to trying these, and we were hoping to get three of each variety in our box.

However, as it turns out, our selection was heavy on the lassi, with four lassi and only two curry ice creams in the mix.

Was this simply a random selection? Or was the curry so spicy that each piece needed two lassi to to counteract the heat? Just in case it was the latter, we decided to coat the tongue with some lassi first, for safety’s sake.

This ice cream was absolutely delicious, and the flavour of lassi was distinct on the palate. It was sweet yet slightly tart, as you’d expect from a lactic acid drink, and it had a crisp, refreshing finish.

▼ Now time for the curry. 

Upon opening the package, the aroma of curry immediately filled the room — the scent was far stronger than we could’ve imagined for such a small piece of ice cream. To be honest, the smell was slightly unnerving, and the look of it, with brown specks of curry sprinkled throughout, wasn’t something we usually like to see in our ice cream.

Still, Imuraya usually knows what they’re doing when it comes to ice creams, so we threw aside our concerns and popped the ice cream into our mouth. Within seconds, our taste buds recoiled in shock, as they were overloaded with salt.

▼ Like salty curry bombs!

If salt was the first attack, spice was the second, because as soon as we got over the saltiness of the ice cream, our taste buds were bombarded by spices. Looking at the pack, we saw that the curry ice creams contain 36 kinds of spices mixed in with a coconut base, but we couldn’t taste the coconut at all — instead, it was seriously spicy.

It was so salty and spicy it felt as if we’d just eaten a cube of frozen curry roux. Imuraya doesn’t shy away from letting the curry overpower the ice cream, and while that may not suit all palates, it’ll definitely thrill those looking to try a weird and unusual ice cream.

▼ Only available at Lawson convenience stores for a limited time.

Each curry ice cream definitely needs at least two lassi ice creams to offset the spicy aftertaste, so Imuraya knew what they were doing when they divided up the portions for each box.

We could still smell curry on our breath half an hour after eating them, so be warned — these are strong! It just goes to show that not all convenience store ice creams are sweet and delicious. And now that we think about it, not all convenience store drinks are designed to delight your palate either!

Photos © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

en No hay comentarios: