Where was I? Saturday, Ultraman, etc. So Sunday was Wonderfest, which is a twice-yearly festival for model kits, figures, garage kits, toys, fandom, etc. We were thinking seriously about going, but we thought up several reasons why not. Firstly it's aways out in Chiba. Secondly we had plans later in the day which meant that we would have had to ditch Wonderfest after about an hour and head back to Tokyo. Thirdly, I have not built a model kit in twenty five years. I realize that it's more than kits and figures, but you know what, they have a Wonderfest at a time of year when it isn't a hundred degrees outside, maybe we'll hit it then. What we DID do was go to Asakusa, across town, home of the Senso-Ji Buddhist temple devoted to Kannon.
Asakusa is super touristy, as well as being a holy site, so there are lots of holy tourists inhaling the purifying smoke from the incense and taking photos of gods.
This last one is a photo of the Tokyo Skytree, which is a new tower that has been built since the last time we were in Tokyo. Apparently it's the tallest tower in the world! (the CN Tower is now #3). Tokyo already HAS a Tower, so why exactly a new one was needed is anybody's guess, but judging from the packages and bags people were carrying apparently it's a hit with the shoppers.
Throw some change at the goddess and we'll move on:
The thing we had to do later in the day was to meet Ardith "Robotech Art Book 1" Carlton in Ekoda to see a performance by Space Kinds.
Space Kinds is a 14 piece band that performs music from anime and tokusatsu movies and TV shows. This isn't some kind of synthesizer karaoke thing - this is the real deal. The band has a brass section, woodwinds, guitars, keyboards, percussion, new arrangements, and occasionally they were joined on stage by Apple Pie, two female singers whom you may have seen providing the "children's chorus" part for anime theme songs on the "Super Robot Spirits" DVD. Introduced by and occasionally joined by Shocker-san, a former tokusatsu suit actor (GAVAN) and all around being of pure energy. So yeah, they did the theme to 'Hill Street Blues' and 'The A-Team'. Japanese Spiderman. Battle Fever J. Gorangers. medley of Mazinger Z music. Slower songs from the Gundam films. Orchestral stuff from the various Ultraman series. There was a rousing rendition of the Wonder Woman theme. So much music! In the audience was Yoshinobu Kaneko - he played Ninja Akakage's kid sidekick Aokage in the NINJA AKAKAGE series and his brother played Daisaku/Johnny Sokko in GIANT ROBOT - and Ichiro Tomita, who sang the theme songs for Goggle V and Albegas. So, yeah, it was kind of a whirlwind of anisong we were dropped into the middle of, there in that bar in a basement in Ekoda.
This was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, this trip - the kind of experiences you can't replicate anywhere else. Hanging out with anime fans of our vintage, who speak our language even if they don't speak our language, if you know what I mean.
Too soon the show was over and we were back out into the sunlight, off to more adventures. Well, okay, to hang out with more nerds. And if there's a better place to hang out than Sonic 44, I haven't found it yet.
Sonic 44 is one of those dinky Japanese one-room bars, jam packed with diecast chogokin toys, jumbo machinders, figures, posters, toys, games, puzzles, you name it. This self-proclaimed "Otaku Bar" is run by Kimura, a groovy cat who may very well be the proof that great minds think alike - upon arrival almost his first words were "Do you know CHARGE MAN KEN?" Yes, there are people in Japan who share our love of Totally Lame Anime. In fact he made a point of showing us INVISIBLE DETECTIVE AKIRA, a pilot Knack made for another adventure show along the lines of CHARGE MAN KEN, only so terrible it failed to gain any sponsors. In between beers, marvelling at his YAMATO 2 pachinko machine, and watching his edited video of Condor Joe shouting "I'm going to fire the Bird Missile!", I really felt like I was home. Kimura actually does an "Anime Hell" type event in Tokyo, screening offbeat shorts and weird failures to a late night crowd of fellow obsessives. We're THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS HERE, PEOPLE.
And that was Sunday! I still owe Ardith Y2000, and many more thanks for making all this happen for us. Thank you Ardith!!
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