Forum - View topicAnswerman - Is It Intimidating For Japanese Guests To Visit American Conventions?
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6150 |
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I know which was I mentioned that while they are outdated they're not wholly wrong either.
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animefan1238
 Posts: 300 Location: Ma |
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For me, best AB guest was the Pillows. They must have been shocked by how many fans they had in Boston let alone the state or US. The concert was amazing. Akira Takarada and Haruo Nakajima were big for me since I practically grew up on old Godzilla movies from Sci-fi channel, Disney (yes they showed some on there) and buying VHS tapes. Itnwas awesome meeting living legends. |
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Compelled to Reply
 Posts: 358 |
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Yeah, well it shouldn't dissuade people anyway, unless authorities explicitly urge to avoid, like traveling to war-torn countries in the Middle East, or use caution every time there's a terrorist attack like clockwork in Western Europe. |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13586 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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For those wondering who the most freq. native Japanese guest at an Amer. anime con, it's probably Nabeshin. Using his AnimeCons.com page, 28 of his 31* con appearances (1
been to 28 anime cons. He started with Anime Central 2004 (5/14-5/16) and his most recent was Ohayocon 2018 (1/26-1/28). For non-U.S. appearances, he was a guest at the Sydney Manga and Anime Show 2011 (7/16) and Calgary's Otafest, where he attended the 2015 (5/15-5/17) and 2016 (7/1-7/3) editions. |
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casenumber00
Posts: 163 |
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A former friend of mine use to do translator work for Anime Expo a few years ago and he had some dirt. I dont know why I am bringing this up since I forgot nearly everything he told me me but every little bit helps. He said when member of AKB48 came to AX, they somehow got control of a bus, AX has shuttle buses from hotels to the convention center, and rode around in one. I cant remember what they did but probably toured around Los Angeles in it. Actually, I thought I had more to say but that is pretty much it. Lastly, this one is related to guest, he ultimately left the translation job because that in 2013(?), management was such a mess many long time volunteers of AX quit in the middle of the con, my friend shortly after then con. I think one of the complaints was translators wanting to get paid. It was such a mess that many guests of honor had a terrible time and discuss their bad time with others in Japan. Rumor was that AX had a hard time booking guests for the next year. -Disclaimer: my memory is pretty bad on this-
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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Intimidating ? For Pete's sake we're talking about adults here. Ok they might not speak English but they do have people and translators that look after them while they're on tour right ? What is there to be afraid of ? I just don't get it.
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jr240483
 Posts: 4406 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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true, though its mainly cause she is well known. i mean both Nana Mizuki as well as TM Revolution have done appearances in the US and they don't speak an ounce of English. i mean not every Japanese VA and singer can be extremely fluent to the language as with mari ijima who voiced both the Japanese and English dub for Lin Minmay for Super Dimension Macross. hell its possible she might be the only seriyuu that can speak English that well though i might be wrong about that (you can feel free to correct me if i am). the only other seriyu's and/or singers that i believe can also speak English very fluently is probably the lead singer for that band that sang database for the Log Horizon Opening theme. But that theory isn't guaranteed since i thought maximum the hormone (who did OP 2 for Death Note ) could speak English, but it turned in an FCI Morning Eye interview that out none of them can! so just because a Japanese song have a lot of English texts in it, doesn't necessarily mean they can speak the language themselves. |
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2895 Location: California |
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Here's an Answerman I think I can provide some input on as someone who works cons and has experience getting Japanese guests for them.
There's plenty to be intimidated about. Justin has mentioned a few, such as fear of flying and such, but when it comes down to it, the guest is largely NOT in control of what goes on around them. Sure, they (should) have a translator or some kind of liaison to help them, but if that person is not competent then it would be as if they're not there at all. If, for example, they have a subpar staffer translating their panel, they will start to wonder if that person is correctly relaying their words to the audience. I've seen bad interpreters before and the stress they can cause Japanese guests. The guest will start using simpler Japanese so that the interpreter can more easily understand, but that also means that the guest cannot answer the question the way they'd actually like to, or as thoroughly as they'd like. Because they are a guest in a foreign country, the guest may not feel comfortable communicating their wants or needs. Unless they are someone who travels a lot, they are basically a fish out of water. Another huge factor is the way overseas events are run. They are organized completely differently than Japanese events. In Japan, every minute detail is planned out and the guest/performer usually gets a script with a exact lines of what they will be saying and/or an overall guideline of what will be discussed. This is not the case with overseas events where the guest will likely just receive a schedule of which events they're appearing at a couple weeks before. They might also get a list of planned questions, but that will usually be the extent of the information they receive. Japanese guests who come with an expectation that overseas conventions will be similar to events in Japan are in for a real shock, and the difference can most definitely be stressful. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10446 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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This question in particular wasn't about Japanese culture, it was about how Japanese guests deal with their visits to America. Of course Answerman could have interviewed a dozen guests to get a variety of opinions, but it would be much easier to talk to someone who has had experience bringing many Japanese guests over, and believe it or not, there are plenty of North American's (some of Japanese decent, or Japanese expats/immigrants living in America) who work at anime cons and could have provided Justin with all the context he needed. Most of us in the industry have spoken to these people, as well as Japanese guests many, many times, and have a good idea how Japanese guests feel about this situation. That said Removing the context of this article, we agree with your statement. Keep reading . 
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SWAnimefan
Posts: 634 |
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You be surprised at the number of Seiyuu that can speak English. Aya Hirano is very fluent in English. Sayaka Ohara (Erza), Tetsuya Kikihara (Natsu), and Ayahi Takagaki speaks English (Ayahi learned as part of her opera training). I recall at least one member of AKB being flutent in English. There are several others. In fact, some Seiyuu expressed a desire to learn English. Nana Mizuki mentioned she wanted to learn English when she was doing Carol King's Broadway play. |
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Mc-Taz
 Posts: 111 |
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[quote="jr240483"]
Man with a Mission. Yes, I believe the lead singer does speak English fairly well. I've seen him interviewed on NHK programming where he actively responds in English, though it's not necessarily flawless. I'm sure most seiyuu don't fall into this category though, and they likely rely on an interpreter during their trips abroad. Of the few conventions I've went to with Japanese creative staff attending, they've almost always had an interpreter on hand with them at the convention. |
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Kadmos1
Posts: 13586 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Ryo Horikawa speaks decent English. His English kind of sounds like Christopher Walken but with a Japanese accent.
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6889 Location: Kazune City |
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No doubt the West Coast is more attractive to Japanese guests for many reasons, and I imagine some are convinced to fly to the East Coast by the lure of iconic American metropoles like New York City and Washington D.C., among other factors. But we do get some here in flyover country; not just to Anime Central in Chicago and the big Texas cons, but even to events like Naka-Kon in the Kansas City area. I recall they had a band from Japan as far back as 2011, and they've had steady/increasing numbers since then, including the likes of Nobuo Uematsu and Junko Takeuchi.
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Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2174 |
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I think it really boils down to the person and you probably can't make any sweeping statements about voice actors in general. I worked in housing. I traveled to training and conventions every time the job would let me. I looked forward to it even if the actual training/convention was only going to be meh. Other people at the company hated the concept of ever traveling for work and loathed it and always tried to get out of it. Sometimes we'd travel as a group. Some people just constantly complained this isn't like Atlanta. This isn't Atlanta and hate everything that makes it different than where they were from. Other people went sight seeing and had fun and when we'd come back home and talk about the trip at work, it was like different people had gone on entirely different trips to entirely different places.
I don't think any of it was industry specific or that you could make any type of sweeping statement about people in housing based off of any of it. Some people are wired to enjoy traveling and new things. Some people are wired to not care either way, and others are wired to hate and loathe it by default, under any circumstances. For some people, being in a foreign land and meeting new people would be like the awesome bonus round to being a voice actor. For others, that would be the nightmare reality that rears it's head to destroy their life every now and then.
What is this in reference to? US conventions get tons of voice actors, but domestic and international. It's not rare or unusual. The rare or unusual thing is the convention that doesn't feature this. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6150 |
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Or North Korea |
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