Japan: Taking Cosplay to a New Level
Posted: January 27, 2017 Filed under: Art & Culture, Asia, Comics, Global, Japan | Tags: Akihito, Anime News Network, Arduino, Chrysanthemum Throne, Cosplay, Japanese language, San Diego Comic-Con International, Tokyo, Twitter Leave a comment
Shiguma Aika, second from left, talks with other cosplayers at a broadcasting studio in Osaka.
OSAKA — Keisuke Uranishi reports: An Osaka-based woman is amping up her creativity in a bid to make a difference as a cosplayer.
Shiguma Aika is a famous cosplayer who became known outside Japan about 10 years ago.
“I believe cosplay is a culture Japan can be proud of. I want to be even more creative than now.”
“We can overcome the language barrier and quickly get along with foreigners — that’s one of the good effects of cosplaying,” she said to listeners at the end of an internet radio program late last year.
Sporting bright white hair, Aika appeared on the show with three other cosplayers. Seated in a broadcasting studio, they looked like they had stepped out of an anime world.
“We can overcome the language barrier and quickly get along with foreigners — that’s one of the good effects of cosplaying.”But Aika is not content just to get into a character by cosplaying. She also uses it to express the world the character lives in and share its allure with spectators and other people. She aims to perform “creative cosplay,” shedding new light on the work in question and make it shine more brightly.
“In reality, wars are always going on. I had fun cosplaying, but then I thought I might be able to go a step further and use cosplaying to express [more serious] themes, such as the nature of war and love for humanity.”
For example, Aika and her fellow cosplayers performed a scene from a popular game inspired by the Shinsengumi samurai warrior force at a festival about Japan in Shanghai in February 2012. The Shinsengumi fought for the Tokugawa shogunate in the years leading up to the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
[Read the full story here, at The Japan News]
The performance won huge praise from the audience as they demonstrated a theatrical sword fight on stage filled with the passion of Shinsengumi members, many of whom died at a young age.
The festival was a formal event and commemorated the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and China. But the organizers, which included the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai, recognized cosplay as an important cultural field that plays a role in the “Cool Japan” promotional movement, and decided to invite Aika and her fellow cosplayers.
Aika said she gained a lot of confidence as a cosplayer at the festival.
Love and war
Aika comes from Osaka, and became fascinated with cosplay in her adolescence. She devoted herself to it more and more because she felt that trying to look like her favorite manga characters would bring her closer to them in mind as well. Read the rest of this entry »
Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne
Posted: August 8, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Breaking News, Japan | Tags: Abdication, Akihito, Crown Prince Naruhito, Emperor Kōkaku, Hirohito, Imperial Household Agency, Japan, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Shinzō Abe, Tokyo Leave a commentEmperor Akihito, 82, spoke publicly for the first time about retiring, saying he feared it would become ‘more difficult’ to fulfill his duties.
Jonathan Noble reports: It has been something of an open secret in Japan that Emperor Akihito would like a privilege most people take for granted: At 82, he wants to retire. The question is whether the Japanese and their elected leaders will let him.
In an extraordinary televised address on Monday, the popular emperor spoke publicly about the issue for the first time. Though his words were characteristically vague — he discussed his age, his rigorous daily schedule and what he called his increasing physical limitations — the message was unmistakable.
“I am concerned that it will become more and more difficult for me to fulfill my duties as a symbolic emperor,” he said in a prerecorded address that lasted about 10 minutes and was broadcast on multiple Japanese television networks.
If Akihito steps down, the move could redefine Japan’s royal family, the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy. While the emperor now has only symbolic power, an abdication could also resurrect a contentious issue in Japan: the debate over allowing a woman to occupy the throne.
[Read the full story here, at The New York Times]
First reported in banner headlines by the Japanese news media in July, Akihito, who has been treated for cancer and heart problems, was said to want to retire and pass the title to his son Crown Prince Naruhito, 56. Prince Naruhito appears to share his father’s quiet temperament and wish to keep the monarchy apolitical.
But abdication is complicated because of Japanese law, which says an emperor serves until death. Parliament would have to change the law for Akihito to step down. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: Japan’s Emperor Akihito to Make Rare Public Address
Posted: August 7, 2016 Filed under: Asia, Breaking News, Japan | Tags: 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Abdication, Akihito, Crown Prince Naruhito, Emperor Kōkaku, Hirohito, Imperial Household Agency, Japan, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Tokyo Leave a commentJapan’s Emperor Akihito is set to deliver his second ever televised address to the nation, after reports he wants to step down in coming years.
Japan’s Emperor Akihito is set to deliver his second ever televised address to the public.
Last month, Japanese media reported that the emperor wanted to step down in coming years, which would be unprecedented in modern Japan.
He is not expected to use the word “abdicate” because he is barred from political involvement.
The palace said on Friday he would be speaking about his “feelings regarding his duties as a symbol of the nation”.
Five things about Japan’s emperor
People in Tokyo sum up Japan’s Emperor in one word
- Has adopted a more modern style, making efforts to draw the imperial family closer to the people.
- He married a commoner in 1959 – their love story captured the nation and was dubbed the “tennis court romance” as they met over the nets. Together he and Empress Michiko have three children.
- Has sought to heal the scars of World War Two, saying last year: “Looking back at the past, together with deep remorse over the war, I pray that this tragedy of war will not be repeated and together with the people express my deep condolences for those who fell in battle and in the ravages of war.”
- Acknowledged his Korean ancestry in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup, which Japan and South Korea jointly hosted. This surprised many in Japan given the country’s bitter colonial legacy on the Korean peninsula.
- His passion is marine biology and he is an expert on the goby fish.
[Emperor Akihito’s reign in pictures]
There is no legal provision for abdication in Japanese law, which would mean a law change would be required.
[Read the full story here, at BBC News]
Under the constitution the emperor is not allowed to have political powers so a wish to abdicate could be seen as him interfering in politics.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to issue a statement after the emperor’s speech.
A pre-recorded message from the 82-year-old emperor, who is revered in Japan, will be made public at 15:00 local time (06:00 GMT).
Public broadcaster NHK reported the emperor, who has had heart surgery and was treated for prostate cancer, would ask Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife to take over many of his public duties. Read the rest of this entry »
TABOO Violated: Letter Handed to Emperor Causes Protocol Freak-Out in Japan
Posted: November 7, 2013 Filed under: Diplomacy, History, Japan | Tags: 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Akihito, Empress Michiko, Fukushima, Japan, Taro Yamamoto, Tokyo, Yamamoto 4 Comments
Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko bow during a national memorial service for victims in Tokyo March 11, 2012, to mark the first anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis.
(TOKYO) — A novice Japanese lawmaker who wanted to draw attention to the Fukushima nuclear crisis has caused an uproar by doing something taboo: handing a letter to the emperor.
The ruckus began at an annual autumn Imperial Palace garden party last week. As Emperor Akihito and his wife, Michiko, greeted a line of guests, outspoken actor-turned-lawmaker Taro Yamamoto gave the emperor the letter — a gesture considered both impolite and inappropriate.