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Nerd Tour Japan 2014: Days Five and Six


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publicenemy333



Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Posts: 563
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:40 am Reply with quote
Been thinkin of doin one of these Pacset tours, and Tokyo Disneysea looks awesome. 3 hour long waits though? Damn.

Is one day enough to have a full experience there? Or is it the kinda place that needs a couple visits?
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ajr



Joined: 29 Nov 2010
Posts: 465
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:46 am Reply with quote
DisneySea didn't look that opulent at first, especially for $4000 million bucks, but then it just keeps going. And I don't know how many pictures you took, but there's not one that isn't at least fairly interesting and aesthetically pleasing.
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 9902
Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:27 am Reply with quote
The reason why Mario is chained in Osaka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Colonel
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Lincolne



Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:41 am Reply with quote
I have really like reading this so far. I have been thinking of taking a tour next year. And all your pictures are getting me pumped up.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14886
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:03 am Reply with quote



Very Happy

Generalizing here: Japanese love long lines. Usually long lines deter people, but no, not the patient Japanese. When they see a long line, they think it has to be because there's something really good at the end of it, so they file in some more. So it actually pays for J-businesses to hire people to form a long line to make it seem that their product is in higher demand. Smile
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7jaws7



Joined: 17 Aug 2013
Posts: 705
Location: New York State
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:04 am Reply with quote
I'm pretty certain the Duffy appeal is because of Japan's love for all things kawaii. I think Zac just doesn't understand their fascination with it, or he simply hates cuteness.
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Akane the Catgirl



Joined: 09 Oct 2013
Posts: 1091
Location: LA, Baby!
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 10:54 am Reply with quote
7jaws7 wrote:
I'm pretty certain the Duffy appeal is because of Japan's love for all things kawaii. I think Zac just doesn't understand their fascination with it, or he simply hates cuteness.


There's a quote from Phineas and Ferb that describes Japan's Kawaisa culture PERFECTLY.

Southern!Meep: In our society, cuteness is valued above all else.

Also, if any of you guys have seen Paranoia Agent, you'll realize very quickly that a good chunk of the material is a criticism of the cuteness subculture of Japan. How does this relate to the topic? Duffy is cute. The Japanese love cute things. There you go. If it's a comfort to Zac or anyone else who hates Duffy (whom I personally don't care about) Satoshi Kon would have hated him too. Bless Kon-sensei's soul...
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Xagor



Joined: 29 Apr 2008
Posts: 192
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:07 am Reply with quote
How did you find Nipponbashi (Den Den Town), compared to Akihabara?

Personally I prefer the former, but I'm probably biased due to having been there more often. I'm also after specific things (Weiss Schwarz cards), and I know where to find them in Nipponbashi. Not really sure how the two compare on general anime merchandise though.
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Mikeski



Joined: 24 Sep 2009
Posts: 608
Location: Minneapolis, MN
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:08 am Reply with quote
Quote:

Ia! Ia! Duffy fhtagn!
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Emma Iveli



Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Posts: 679
Location: Hobo with internet
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:00 pm Reply with quote
I went to Japan last summer with my friends. We did both Tokyo Disney Parks. Tokyo Disneysea was so awesome!

We did many of the rides you went on though we didn't go on Journey to the Center of the Earth... one of my friends hates thrill rides. But we did go on 20,000 leagues under the sea as it was a short line. I hated that ride, it was so cramped, though I do admit the effects were awesome.

Also I'm going to guess Aqautopia was closed when you went, Aquatopia is the other main ride at Port Discovery. It's a "boat ride" (not real boats) but it's a fun boat ride and since it uses the same technology as Pooh's Honey Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland you don't get the same ride twice (it's trackless).

I did go on Sinbad and that song won't leave my head after months... though the melody was done by Alan Menken, so there's also that...

Now knowing that the park was built with 4 Billion dollars it makes me laugh a little, if anyone says that "It's not a real Disney Park" I could point out that thanks to it not being own by Disney means it wasn't effected by Euro-Disney then point the the original Disney California Adventure... While they were built in the same year there was a stark difference...
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:07 pm Reply with quote
7jaws7 wrote:
I'm pretty certain the Duffy appeal is because of Japan's love for all things kawaii. I think Zac just doesn't understand their fascination with it, or he simply hates cuteness.


Yeah, man, people who know me even a little know how much I hate cuteness.

My hatred of Duffy stems from the fact that Disney just said "hey, Japanese people love cute things, we wanna sell character goods, what's cute?" "A teddy bear." "OK" it has no significance other than a marketing thing. Mickey Mouse may be a meaningless corporate symbol now but he began life as a cartoon character with a personality. There's something there. The other meaningless cute shit that's everywhere in Japan is usually at least kinda funny or clever or weird. Duffy is just this super generic teddy bear, and my "hatred" of him is also exaggerated for comic effect so let's not get all crazy about it.
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kimbureh



Joined: 31 Mar 2014
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:44 pm Reply with quote
the reason why japanese thugs love to get a photograph with the glico runner pose could be this character.
he is from one the most famous thug mangas called "Worst" and his name is Hanaki Guriko = Glico. he's sometimes laughed at because of that name, which is not a smart thing to do btw
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:37 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Jafar was swamped with Japanese schoolgirls.


^Highlight statement of the article for sheer amusement.

Fan art of this. Now. XD

To us, Duffy is just a generic as all hell teddy bear that could be renamed to literally anything else, even have his species altered, and still be largely uninteresting and irrelevant. As Zac pointed out, it's just a marketing scheme. Maybe it works there more powerfully because the Japanese love to slap cute cartoon characters and icons on just about everything from instant ramen cups to car antenna toppers.
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embermoto



Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:41 pm Reply with quote
on the subject of having something unique that you can only get with disneysea on it, there is one thing I know of that they sell in the park that fits this and thats Seasalt Ice cream. It is sold in the Little mermaid part of the park and comes in a little sea shell shaped container with minnie and the words Tokyo Disney see on it. This is the treat that inspired the seasalt ice-cream seen in the kingdom hearts series.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-63FruKi9-a8/UNAcBIxwSpI/AAAAAAAAG9o/LUNBqkOLF_8/s1600/P1000008.JPG
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Just-another-face



Joined: 08 Feb 2014
Posts: 324
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:48 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
Maybe it works there more powerfully because the Japanese love to slap cute cartoon characters and icons on just about everything from instant ramen cups to car antenna toppers.


Seriously, it's like a religion for them to put cutesy cartoon stuff on everything. Sure we have stuff like Goofy beach towels, Mickey lampshades and Donald pillow cases, but that's light in comparison to this. XP

On the other side of the spectrum, this also reminds me of how we took our cute cartoon characters and tried to market them toward the "extreme!" 90s crowd of youngsters by giving them attitude, like riding Harley-Davidsons and posing like gangsters on a sidewalk. It's funny when you look at how both sides of the world treat these properties.
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