Star Wars director pays respect to Tokyo

Today is 2015 December 18th…the day that the latest Star Wars movie premieres in Japan.

Poster in a train station in Tokyo advertising the new Star Wars movie.

Star Wars has a lot of inspirations from Japanese movies and Japanese culture.
For instance, click here to see some photos my daughter took of Darth Vader, Stormtroopers and lightsabers done up to more closely resemble the samurai and katana swords that they were modeled after.

Well, members of the cast and crew of the latest Star Wars movie were recently in Tokyo to promote the movie.
Actor John Boyega (who plays the new character “Finn“) expressed how excited he was to visit and shop in Tokyo:

Tweet by actor John Boyega on his last day in Tokyo.

And, it turns out, that there is a planet in the new Star Wars movie named in honor of Tokyo.

Tokyo is director J.J. Abrams “favorite city” and he named a planet in Star Wars “Takodana” after the 高田馬場 (Takadanobaba) college-town area of Tokyo.

He was quoted in an interview about it:

“There’s a planet in this movie called Takodana and I named (it) after the first time I came to Tokyo (and) we stayed in a hostel in Takadanobaba. So it was a nod to my favorite city.”

— J.J. Abrams

Near Tokyo’s 高田馬場駅 (Takadanobaba train station)

Samurai Star Wars

As the new Star Wars will hit theaters soon, advertisements and tie-ins can be seen in many places in Japan now.

But one of daughters saw a unique, “only-in-Japan” tie-in yesterday … Star Wars characters dressed as the samurai that they were likely inspired by in the first place.

My daughter took these photos for me:

Greenery Day or Star Wars Day

It is now “Golden Week” in Japan.

April 29th was “Showa Day”. It’s called that because it was the late Showa-era Emperor’s birthday, and celebrated as such until he died 26 years ago.

May 3rd (yesterday) was “Constitution Day”. The day Japan’s post-WWII constitution was adapted.

Today, May 4th is “Greenery Day”. The day to appreciate nature.

Originally after the Showa Emperor died,  April 29th was Greenery Day because that Emperor loved nature, and May 4th was “Residents Holiday”… but it was changed about twelve years ago.

Tomorrow, May 5th is “Children’s Day”.

This year, because today is a Sunday and therefore today’s holiday is kinda ‘lost’ since it’s already a day off for most people… Tuesday, May 6th is also a day off. It’s “Greenery Day observed”.

Collectively, this holiday period is known as “Golden Week”.

Also, the new upcoming Star Wars movie (Episode VII), with the most famous faces from the first three Star Wars movies returning in their 60s or 70s will be in theaters in Japan and other countries in December 2015.

It seems that Star Wars fans around the world call May 4th (today) “Star Wars Day” because the date, May the Fourth, sounds like the well-known quote from Star Wars, “May The Force (Be With You)”.

Fellow KISS fan here in Japan, “Naokiss “, found an ad in today’s newspaper for the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII that explained that today is 「スターウォーズの日」(Star Wars Day):

 

Pepsi…Vader or pirates?

Once again, Pepsi Japan is offering special collectors’ edition bottles and cans.

Starting last October 23rd (2012), Pepsi Japan started selling 「エナジーコーラ」 (“Energy Cola”) for a limited time in cans with an image of fire and Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies.

Energy Cola contains five ingredients that are meant to boost energy:
Royal jelly, argenine, asian ginseng, guarana extract and caffeine.

And in late November (2012), they began offering their NEX cola in bottles with images from the Japanese マンガ (manga comics) called “One Piece“.

Which would you choose?

New Pepsi Star Wars collectables

A little over three years ago Pepsi Japan, in collaboration with Be@rbrick, gave away Star Wars toys with purchase of Pepsi NEX.
I wrote a post about that campaign…click here to read it.

That campaign was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars movie in Japan.

Well, in about two weeks the new Star Wars 3-D movie will be in theaters in Japan.
In honor of that, Pepsi Japan is once again giving away Star Wars character toys with the purchase of Pepsi NEX.
This time the toys are made by Panson Works.

I like monsters

KISS has announced that they will release an album of all new songs sometime next year (2012) titled “Monster“.

KISS...still the hottest band in the world!

Ever since I was a kid I’ve always liked monsters.

When I watched the Disney cartoon “Peter Pan” as a child, for example, I didn’t care for Peter Pan or any of his friends. They were too “regular”.
Unlike Peter Pan with his pansy outfit and little knife, Captain Hook had a sword and a sharp hook instead of a hand.
(Admittedly though, Peter Pan could fly, which would be fun and Hook didn’t dress much better than Peter Pan.)
Captain Hook was the first movie character that frightened me…and even at that young age I enjoyed being frightened a bit.

Who cares about a practical prosthetic when you can have one that puts the fear of god in people?!

When I was a bit older, I saw Star Wars for the first time.  I was only seven years old when the first movie in the series was released, so I was a bit too young to fully understand the story.  But I still  enjoyed it a lot.  Especially when “Darth Vader” made his entrance!
Luke Skywalker was the hero…but Darth Vader stole every scene in was in.

The "Dark Side"

And of course I’ve always like the “traditional” monsters…Frankenstein’s Monster, The Werewolf, and Dracula.

And when I came to Japan, I learned about 妖怪 (Japanese monsters).

"Ge-ge-ge Kitaro" is Japanese cartoon inspired by traditional Japanese monster and ghost stories.

Even my favorite superhero character has always been “The Incredible Hulk“. He’s anger-incarnate. A huge pissed-off monster! The coolest of the superheroes.

Hulk will smash even Superman

Even the music I listen to reflects my interest in monsters.
I like heavy metal music. There’s a reason that the soundtracks to many horror movies are full of heavy metal music…heavy metal is to music as horror is to movies.

If you’re not interested in heavy metal, you may not know that that genre of music is further divided into sub-genres.
The sub-genre of metal music that I like the most is “Shock Rock“. It’s just as visual as it is musical. Shock Rock artist—such as KISS, W.A.S.P., Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and Lordi—often look like monsters.

Alice Cooper

Anyways, as I mentioned at the top of this post, KISS will be releasing a new album soon.  The last time they they released a new album was about two years ago…it was titled “Sonic Boom“.

As I mentioned, KISS‘s new album will be titled “Monster“.  It’s an excellent album title…I can’t believe they haven’t used it before!

So far only five song titles have been confirmed by the band.  They are: “Hell Or Hallelujah”, “Born To Be A Sinner”, “Out Of This World”, “Are You Ready?”, and “Wall Of Sound”.

I’m looking forward to getting this album.

Famous fathers in pop culture

Today is 「父の日」 (Fathers Day).

My wife and daughters made a delicious Mexican dinner and gave me some new clothes for a Fathers Day present.
Wonderful gifts!

For my Fathers Day blog post, I thought I’d mention the first five famous fathers in pop culture that I thought of, whether they are fictional or “real”.

So, here’s my list (in no particular order):

—Homer Simpson—

The cartoon father figure of the American TV series “The Simpsons” is a selfish, clumsy, overweight, accident-prone father of three.
He works in a nuclear power plant but treats his responsibilities with the same importance as he does with everything else in his life…not much.

Despite all of his flaws, his family always supports him.

—Archie Bunker—

If you lived in America during the ’70s, then you surely know who Archie Bunker is.
He was the father figure on the popular (during the ’70s) American TV sit-com series.

On the surface, he seemed obnoxious, impatient and un-accepting of anyone different from himself. But, as much as he tried to hide it, he actually had a good heart and would stand up and help others.

—Ozzy Osbourne—

This is the only person on my list who isn’t a fictional character…but in many ways Ozzy Osbourne’s life has been “stranger than fiction”.

He was the original lead vocalist of the English heavy metal band “Black Sabbath” but had even more success as a solo artist after he was fired from the band he helped form.
He was infamous during the early years of his solo career for such antics as biting the heads off of a dove and a bat (on two separate occasions) and urinating on “The Alamo”, a landmark in the U.S. state of Texas (which got him banned from that state for over a decade).

In the early 2000’s, he (and most of his family) became more famous for their reality show on MTV titled “The Osbournes” about their unconventional family life.

—Baka-bon-no-papa—

The Japanese cartoon 「天才バカボン」 (“Tensai-Bakabon“) is actually named after the son, who is a foolish boy…but his father, simply called “Bakabon’s papa” is even dumber than his son and has become the most famous character in the Japanese comic book and TV cartoon series.

—Darth Vader—

The scene where Darth Vader revealed that he was Luke Skywalker's father.

Darth Vader has always been my favorite Star Wars character. He made a big impression when I was seven years old and saw him for the first time.
It was also quite a shock when I was ten and Darth Vader said “Luke, I am your father!”.

—-
What famous pop culture fathers can you think of?

(And, to my own father…Happy fathers day.)

Pepsi manga bottles

In Japan, Pepsi-Cola often teams with the Japanese company Be@rbrick and give away cell-phone straps of bears modeled after famous characters with purchases of their “Pepsi-NEX Zero Cola”.

In the past they have offered Be@rbrick bears modeled after Paramount movie characters, and Star Wars characters.

Be@rbrick has also offered in Japan figures modeled after the rock band KISS and MOS Burger staff.  (MOS Burger is a Japanese fast-food chain).

Well, Pepsi Japan has currently teamed up with Be@rbrick again.
For a limited time, they are giving away cell-phone straps of Be@rbrick bears in the image of Gundam with purchases of Pepsi NEX Zero Cola.

(Since the 30th anniversary of Gundam in 2009, there have been a number of Gundam tie-ins…such as the Gundam cell-phone.)

Another limited time only campaign that Pepsi Japan is currently offering is specially designed bottles of Pepsi NEX Cola with the “One Piece” manga characters on the label.

This is to help promote the new One Piece 3-D animated movie titled 「麦わらチェイス」 (“Sugiwara Chase”).

There are five different labels available.

(There was a “One Piece” campaign in Japan about thirteen months ago for the previous “One Piece” movie titled “Strong World”).

Is Gundam popular in your country? How about “One Piece“?
Does Pepsi sell “NEX Zero” cola where you live? Do you like it?

日本刀箸

Last August I wrote a post about Star Wars Lightsaber Chopsticks.

(Click here to read that post.)

Well, the company that sold those chopsticks (Kotobukiya) is now offering 「日本刀箸」 (“Samurai Sword Chopsticks“).

As I said in my post about the Star Wars chopsticks, I don’t really have an interest in gimmicky chopsticks. I eat with chopsticks everyday…but I use normal chopsticks.

That said, I’d rather use these 「日本刀箸」 (“Samurai Sword Chopsticks”) than the 「ライトセーバーチョップスティック」 (“Lightsaber chopsticks”).
They’re kinda cool. Besides, when George Lucas made the Star Wars movie a lot of his inspiration came from Japan…the “Lightesabers”, for example, were based on 「日本刀」 (Japanese swords).

Anyways, these 「日本刀箸」 (“Samurai Sword Chopsticks”) are available in three different designs. They’re modeled after the swords of three famous samurai in Japanese history:  「伊達政宗」 (Date Masamune), 「真田雪村」 (Sanada Yukimura), and 「前田慶次」 (Maeda Keiji).

Chopsticks based on the samurai Date Masamune's sword.

Chopsticks based on the samurai Sanada Yukimura's sword.

Chopsticks based on the samurai Maeda Keiji's sword.

The 「箸置き」 (chopsticks rests) for these chopsticks have the Family Crest for the samurai whose sword the chopsticks are designed after.

Each pair of these chopsticks cost ¥1,050.

Japan’s newest Pepsi flavor

Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola in Japan often sell their products in unique “Japan only” flavors (so does Kit-Kat in Japan).

I’ve written posts about:
Pepsi Azuki,
Pepsi Shiso
and a couple other flavors of Pepsi and Coke in Japan.

Well, Pepsi is an official sponsor of the “2010 Soccer World Cup” which will be hosted by South Africa this summer.
I’m not a big soccer fan. In fact, the first time I had even heard of the “World Cup” was when Japan co-hosted it with South Korea in 2002.

But in honor of the 2010 World Cup, on 2010 May 25, Pepsi will be selling a new product here in Japan called 「ペプシ・バオバブ」 (“Pepsi Baobab“).

「ペプシバオバブ」 ("Pepsi Baobab")

According to Wikipedia, the Baobab is an unusual looking tree (a picture of one is on the “Pepsi Baobab” label) native to Africa.
Supposedly, the fruit is extremely healthy.
I’ve never heard of it before and I have no idea how the fruit tastes…but maybe I’ll try this new Pepsi flavor once it goes on sale just out of curiosity.

The ad for 「ペプシバオバブ」 (“Pepsi Baobab”) has eight soccer players named ロシアのアルシャビン (“Arshavin” of Russia), ドイツのバラック (“Ballack” of Germany), スぺインのトーレス (“Torres” of Spain), コートジポワールのドログバ (“Drogba” of Côte d’Ivoire), ブラジルのカカー (“Kaka” of Brazil), フランスのアンリ (“Henry” of France), アルゼンチンのメッシ (“Mercier” of Argentina) and イングランドのランパード (“Lampard” of England).

Ad for 「ペプシバオバブ」 ("Pepsi Baobab")

Also, 「マウンテンデゥー」 (“Mountain Dew“) is owned by Pepsi and in Japan they’re currently selling their drink in cans decorated with characters from the 「メタルギアソリッドピースウォーカー」 (“Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker“) game series.

Ad for the "Mountain Dew" / "Metal Gear" limited edition cans

And, I have written posts about the cell-phone straps that often come with purchases of “Pepsi NEX” in Japan.
For example…
the Samurai straps,  the Snoopy straps,  and the Star Wars Be@rbricks.

(I have written posts about other Be@rbrick characters in Japan besides the Star Wars ones before:
the MOS Burger Be@rbricks,  and the KISS Be@rbrick).

Well, Pepsi NEX has teamed up with Be@rbrick again.
Now, with purchases of Pepsi NEX in Japan, they’re offering bear cell-phone straps in the likeness of famous characters from “Paramount Studios” movies.

Such as: 「ヒックとドラゴン」 (“How To Train Your Dragon”), 「シュレック」 (“Shrek”), 「マダガスカル」 (“Magadascar”), 「モンスターVSエイリアン」 (“Monsters vs Aliens”), 「トランスフォーマー」 (“Transformers”), “Top Gun”, 「サタデー・ナイト・フィーバー」 (“Saturday Night Fever”), 「フラッシュダンス」 (“Flashdance”), 「ビバリーヒルズ・コップ」　(“Beverly Hills Cop”), 「レッド・オクトーバーを追え!」 (“The Hunt For Red October”) and “The Godfather”.

Ad for "Pepsi NEX" / Paramount Japan Be@rbricks