Odaiba Gundam Just About Ready to be Unleashed

Written by: Michael Keferl on June 14, 2009 at 3:39 pm | In MARKETING IDEAS | 1 Comment

Finally got out to see the gigantic 30 meter “scale model” Gundam out in Odaiba last night, just taking the one photo here along with some live-streaming via Qik (below). I gotta admit, the thing is pretty darn cool and realistic looking. Took a while to figure out where it was exactly, but soon spotted a group of overweight, SLR-toting otaku and followed them over.

Danny’s site has much more on the figure-lover’s dream model, while Pink Tentacle has some great nightshots as well.

Tags: anime
Category: MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Doraemon Exilim camera smiles, makes you do it too

Written by: Michael Keferl on October 17, 2008 at 11:28 am | In DIGITAL LIFE | 4 Comments

Collaborations between manufacturers and pop culture in Japan have a been a hit as of late, especially with electronics. Sure, Doraemon might be for kids, but Japan’s “Anime Ambassador” is popular across age groups (not to Hello Kitty levels of course). This new Exilim camera from Casio mixes smile detection technology with Dora-chan to create a new experience for snapshot taking.

In this case, Dora-chan’s face is used to give visual cues as to how the picture is going to turn out. If the picture is out of focus, Doraemon’s face isn’t happy, but smiles ear to ear once there’s good focus and your subject is smiling “properly”. Say what you will about being forced to smile by Doraemon, but the concept is unique.

While the body, case, and strap are also physically branded, the camera includes built in animations and menus based around the character. The result is an experience Doraemon and the camera simultaneously, adding value to both. Such collaborations are often hard to pull off without it seeming cheap, but the unique Japanese penchant for characters makes it work well here.

Pre-orders are already being taken for the camera, which will be officially released in December for about $350.

Tags: anime, Cameras, Collaborations, Electronics
Category: DIGITAL LIFE
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Forever Young - Popculture Bazaar for the child inside

Written by: Sascha Faustka on September 11, 2008 at 5:24 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | 2 Comments

Kitty wears a gas mask and a Zombieteddie kills its owner - Japanese Artists playing with their culture

From August 22nd until today (hurry!) Japans ambitious young artists are given the chance to broaden their name recognition at the “Popculture Bazaar”, produced by Fewmany. Located on the first floor of one of Shibuya’s biggest department stores, Loft, 27 artists are presenting and selling their work arranged in boxes.

The idea to sell homemade products in Hakko Shops (Box Shops) is quite common in Japan. Anyone can sell their homemade work in compact boxes arranged in the stores. The customer can buy the items at the counter of the box shop, and the maker receives the payment minus a percentage taken by the store.

The theme of Tokyu Hand’s first temporary Popculture Bazaar is “Popbox Matsuri” (festival). All of the artists are presenting their interpretation of matsuri in the one square meter boxes, arranged like booths at a fair around a plaza. Throughout the two weeks of the festival the different artists can be watched here creating their goods.

The line-up of artists is quite impressive: Touma (monster designer for Bandai and Capcom), Yuki Koishikawa (Anna Sui, Sanrio, NTT Docomo), Mushroom Café ( Perrier, Kewpie, Lipton), and many more.

Looking at the products presented, someone from the West may think that the artist’s target group is children, just starting elementary school or even younger. You can clearly see in which culture the young artists grew up in, and what kind of figures and models they have around them day by day walking through Tokyo or switching on the television.

What seems to western people to be some kind of pop art, garish. and childish toy for primary school kids is nothing else than the reflection of the younger Japanese cultural background - a culture beyond Otaku and beyond Hello Kitty or Jump Magazine. Japanese young people in the twenties and thirties have grown up with these influences, so robots and monsters have become part of their everyday life.

Living out one’s addiction to cartoon characters or pink teddy bears is nothing unusual in Japan. Having tons of little Kitties and Kumas on their pink mobile phones is as usual for girls and boys as salarymen playing Nintendo DS or PSP on the train.

Keeping all this in mind, it is less surprising that Japanese fans are willing to pay up to 70,000 yen ($650) for a sculpture of their favorite artist, in form of a little pink pirate mushroom with a skull on its hat and a little girl standing on its blue tongue (see below).

If you don’t have the chance to go to the Popculture Bazaar you can see and buy nearly all of the designer’s products at Fewmany in Shinjuku.

Tags: anime, Art, design, manga, Pop culture
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Yes! Pre Cure digital toys a sign of focus on tech for girls

Written by: Rebecca Milner on September 8, 2008 at 3:27 am | In DIGITAL LIFE | 3 Comments

Odds are, if you are 4 to 6 year old girl in Japan (editor’s note: Anyone here fit that demo?), you are probably obsessed with the Toei Studios animation series Yes! Pre Cure 5 and its sequel Yes! Pre Cure 5 GoGo, now airing on TV Asahi. The current story follows 5 young heroines (the Pre Cure, literally Pretty Cure, team) in a magical world as they work to protect the Cure Rose Garden, by searching for the four kings who hold the keys to the secret paradise.

While the story is pretty standard fantasy fare, the accompanying merchandise is a far cry from the dolls, t-shirts, and tiaras marketed to previous generations of girls. The top three best selling tie-in items all come from Bandai and none of them are cuddly.

Top of the list is the Henshin Keitai (transformation mobile) Curemo, a multi-mode toy that mimics the functions of a mobile phone.

The first, “shot mode,” is activated by turning the top of the handset sideways (like many mobiles). A creature from the anime appears on the screen and players try to “capture” its image when it smiles, a direct shot means the creature could turn into one of the sought after kings or a useful item. “Dekakeru (“go out”) mode” summons “Syrup,” the Pre Cure team’s magical bird of transportation, for a ride to another land. “Phone mode” brings simulated telephone correspondence from the characters to the screen and “communication mode” allows transference of items between Curemo users, in a manner that mimics contact info transfer by infra-red between real mobile phones.

The next popular product is the Rosepact, a flip-up device with a pen touch panel that, like the Curemo, involve simples games to acquire items to help the kings; in fact, items can be transferred between the two.

Rounding out the top three is the Mirukyu Plate (short for Milky Cure, one of the characters), a hand held plastic device with wand that, when touched to panels, activates a recording of character voices and an LED light display. That isn’t to say that Bandai is offering more standard costume fare, but it is the digitized toys that are selling.

Through toys like this, the newest generation of girls is learning to express their admiration for the favorite characters through digital means, leaving little doubt that they will be well-primed to embrace whatever digital lifestyle items are marketed their way in the future.

Tags: anime, Bandai, Children, Digital Toys, Pre Cure 5
Category: DIGITAL LIFE
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Akihabara Tours with Akibanana

Written by: Michael Keferl on August 12, 2008 at 3:31 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | 1 Comment

Our friends over at Akibanana have really been expanding since their debut this year. Much like with our own tours focused on business and innovations, Akibanana has built their reputation on knowing the geek paradise of Akihabara inside and out, and are working closely with many Akiba insiders.

While the Electric Town can be fun to visit, the large buildings and maid cafes are intimidating when you don’t know what’s inside and you’ll end up walking around aimlessly (believe me). Akibanana’s Akihabara Tours are an easy way for visitors to Tokyo to find out what’s really going on in Akihabara and otaku culture, and make the best use of limited time as well. Their multilingual, cosplaying guides take you around for 2.5 hours for 3,000 yen ($30) per person.

Also on the Japanese language tour is the Akibanana “Guidol” (guide + idol) Cherry who is said to have been (and we have no doubt) born in a candy shop and worked in a candy factory. Below is a video of Cherry on her blog.

For more information on the latest news in geeky Japan, or to check out the tours, check out Akibanana.com.

Tags: akibanana, akihabara, anime, Maid Cafes, otaku
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS