Yesterday was sports day for the school. It was good to see the kids having fun, but combined with the after-sports day party with the teachers, I feel exquisitely awful today. And yet, we continue to fight.
So the crowning irony of living in Japan, in my opinion, is that I’m more isolated as an anime fan than ever before. Manga is ubiquitous, of course, and everyone knows the long-running children’s shows, but that’s about the extent of things. The other foreign teachers are a little more hip to my game, but I still feel like I need to tread very carefully around the subject. I don’t want to be branded a geek with the few people that I could call a support network.
The problem with that is that anime is, or was, a significant part of my social life. I like to watch it and keep up with the latest news, but most importantly I like to TALK about it. Face to face, sitting in comfy chairs with a pot of tea or coffee is the way I prefer it, but simply the pleasure of interacting with another anime fan is important. It’s refreshing. I don’t have access to that here.
The other day I was visiting a shrine, and it was explained to me (by a white girl from Michigan—go figure) that the torii gates you see in front of every shrine function as holistic gateways. What this means is that once you step through the torii, not only have you formally entered the world of the kami, but you have also stepped into the shared universe of every shrine ever built. Each one of Shinto’s sacred spaces is literally the same place, forming a kind of spiritual network that keeps Japan together.
How is that related? Well, I’m just thinking about blogging, about the Internet in general and what it does for me in this profoundly quiet part of Japan. If you’re reading this entry, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Japan, America or Singapore. The ani-blogosphere, too, is a kind of holistic space, a virtual convention ground. Once we log onto our computer gateways, we can all interact in a shared digital universe over anime, where the only distance is one of words.
And you know, that helps a little bit. For now, at least, I can get by on that.
The images in this post are from Kamichu!, a truly delightful anime. If we happen to meet in person, let’s talk about it. I might even buy you a cup of coffee. How’s that for generosity?
September 6, 2009 at 5:17 am
Can’t say I’ve seen Kamichu nor is it relevant to my interests. But if we change topics to giant robots and singing idols (in the same show) the coffee’s on me.
September 6, 2009 at 11:01 am
Sounds like a promise to me. All right then.
September 6, 2009 at 8:21 am
Man that second picture just keeps reminding me of insufficient updating… not on your part though.
Apparently our Japanese Otaku brethren haven’t crawled out of the woodworks yet for ya. Keep looking though! In the meantime, I do hope that we are a good enough substitute…
September 6, 2009 at 11:00 am
Is the club “website” still stuck on the Kamichu theme? That’s just shameful.
I saw someone actually come OUT of the hobby shop down the street today. He also had a bag. So our kind of people exist in this town in theory.
September 6, 2009 at 10:46 am
“Face to face, sitting in comfy chairs with a pot of tea or coffee…”
I’d kill for a moment like that. From the looks of it, at least you have someone to share your interests with. I’d be lucky to find someone who’s even keeping up with the current season.
September 6, 2009 at 11:04 am
It took a long time to get the friends I have. I’m very thankful.
I’ll be coming back to America eventually. Let’s see what we can do then.
September 6, 2009 at 2:06 pm
That’s a shame; hopefully as you’ll find more likeminded friends as you get more accustomed to living in Japan.
As a vaguely related aside, are the folks down in Akihabara particularly chatty? =P
September 6, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I only interacted with people in Akihabara to ask directions and buy things using broken Japanese, so it’s hard to say. It’s a fascinating area, though. I’ll be going back to Tokyo in a few months, so hopefully my Japanese will be good enough to give talking with fans a try.
September 6, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I didn’t feel too isolated about my interest in anime when I was in Japan. I guess that’s ’cause the people I hung out with were my age and more hip on that kind of stuff. And also, I like a few of the long-running popular shows, like One Piece and Pokemon, that most Japanese people are familiar with (my Japanese conversation ability is most likely better that yours, so that was also a big help =P) But yeah, I touched on this topic in a previous post, and in general most people even in Japan don’t know the true extent and variety of anime.
But like you said, at least you have access to the anime blogging community while you’re there. So you don’t have to go too long without talking about anime. I look forward to when we can talk about it over tea again ^^
September 7, 2009 at 10:29 am
I remember reading that.
“my Japanese conversation ability is most likely better than yours”
You don’t say…
September 7, 2009 at 7:28 am
Kind of wondering about this too, as I’m considering working/living in Japan (just for a few years) in the near future to make the most out of my Nihongo knowledge (and learn MOAR too).
Nothing beats having conversations with a fellow fan in real life, definitely. ghostlightning’s place will always be a fun little haven for us Filipino anibloggers, kind of like an anime club/circle get-together (though we’ve only hang out like twice hehe).
Anime blogging can certainly ease the ‘loneliness’ by drawing you closer to people who share the same interests as you are and understands you on a different level(?), regardless of geographical location (and even time!), though it can also contribute to a little more roneriness if you think of it from a ‘so near yet so far’ perspective.
September 7, 2009 at 10:32 am
The two of you are Filipino? I wouldn’t have guessed. And I guess that proves the magic of the ‘sphere after all.
September 7, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Hehe yes, to see more of our little community of Filanibloggers:
http://ghostlightning.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/filanibloggers-gattai/
It’s rather dfficult to organize get-togethers that have more than 3 people, but I do enjoy having them over when it does happen.
September 7, 2009 at 10:35 am
As was famously stated by Lain Iwakura in the closing moment of Serial Experiments Lain episode 4, “No matter where we are, we are always connected!”
You’ve captured this idea very well.
September 7, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Very true indeed. We create our own shared universe in the pace of things and hope to share things we learned or enjoy about the same passion with one another, and one of the best ways that we know of to do it is through a blog.
By the way, for a new look at shrines, if you have not already watched it, I suggest Dennou Coil. Not a whole lot on shrines, but it combines everything (or almost everything) you talked about here as well. Damn bloody good anime.
September 9, 2009 at 6:08 am
Ah… undokai… I remember those days. Did you guys do radio exercise before the undokai? I loved participating in this event. It was so much fun!!
Anyways, I totally agree with you about anime in Japan. Most of the people there would most likely know the ones they grew up with. All the “classics” of course. If you were to talk to them about all the other anime there is, you would be stamped as a geek. But you know, don’t let that stop you from finding someone to sit down and chat about anime and such. If you could do that in America, do that in Japan as well!! (Sorry, I’m trying to be an optimist. I don’t think I’m doing a good job).
I shall try to watch Kamichu! and when you come back, I demand a cup of coffee!! ^_^
I miss you.
September 9, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Yes, we did do the radio stretches. There was a kid with his arm in a cast who was still doing everything. Hardcore…
September 13, 2009 at 10:13 pm
I think face to face, sitting in comfy chairs with a pot of tea or coffee is pretty much the universally approved best method for anime related discussions.
Barring that, however, this certainly is a great outlet for tapping into a larger community. It never ceases to impress me how tightly knit the anime blogging community is compared to other blog networks.
I know what you mean about being a bit isolated as an anime fan in Japan, though. The history of the otaku culture I think makes it even harder to gain mainstream acceptability than in the U.S.
Well, maybe one of these days if I happen to make it over to Tottori-ken I can drop by and enjoy a chat over coffee.
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September 23, 2009 at 4:36 pm
One of the great things about blogs and all that is that you can talk to someone from a different country, and it’s as if they’re never all that far away. The internet is awesome.
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January 23, 2011 at 12:35 am
Aw, thanks for the offer. I’ll consider it if I ever get the money to go to Japan.
One thing I want to comment on this post though; Yes, it is a bridge to cure loneliness, and you feel as part as one, but you still have to deal with people that hate this line of thinking; just becuase you’re in an other world doesn’t mean you’re free from moral ground from you previous world. Whenever or not you want to survive all of this is entirely up to the user though, just like life. You can still make freinds, but you’re going to make enemy, and if we ignore this aspect of the world wide web, we’ll never truly find that cure of loneliness. It’s a little more complex than this post is suggesting.
But as Dorris Day once said, Que Sera Sera. Whatever will be will be.
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