http://www.colonydrop.com/index.php/2010...aft?blog=1

"Among the throngs of foreign-born otaku moving to Japan to stake a claim in the land of milk and hug pillows, few are more offensive than Choo. A shameless peddler of the Myth of Otaku Cool, Choo feeds off the dreams and hopes of anime fans the world over. He tells them, dressed in an immaculate suit of white plastic armor, that they too can come to Japan and live the otaku good life. A life of strolling down the Chuodori, sippin’ on Pocari Sweat, blowing each Eikawa-issued paycheck on a heaping dose of anime figurines and the masturbatory aids with which to enjoy them in the quiet solitude of a 1DK apartment on the ass-end of Saitama.

Then again, we can’t all be the scions of wealthy cobblers, and Akihabara’s cool otaku subculture isn’t going to welcome all these bright-eyed gaijin fansumers with open arms, because that subculture doesn’t even exist. With street performances quashed by overzealous Japanese policemen and the sidewalks packed with shoppers, Akihabara is little more than the Mall of America for anime fans. The difference is that people don’t claim the Mall of America’s food court to be a facet of a unique culture merely because Sbarro is staffed by women in maid costumes.

Choo and his ilk market this myth throughout English speaking fandom for one simple reason: it makes them money... "

Bonus random tangent: Rapidshare reversed the 'free' and 'premium' buttons and I had to Google to notice it, wondering why I couldn't download anything.

I think the myth of "Otaku Japan" is probably self-propagating at this point. People aren't willing to believe in it because Danny Choo says it's real, people believe it's real and listen to Danny Choo to reaffirm those beliefs.

Also, since when is Pocari Sweat some kind of icon of "Otaku Culture"? I was under the impression that it's just Gatorade.

That is possibly one of the most idiotic articles I've read in quite some time. Using the "logic" of that article every business owner on earth is bad.

For those unfamiliar with the site, Colony Drop is one of the more antagonistic, elitist, arguably "trollish" anime blogs around. The article in question exaggerates, sensationalizes and takes liberties.

However, I think it effectively gets the point across that Danny Choo is a horrible, horrible human being. He's largely responsible for perpetuating and exploiting a harmful myth, thereby setting back progress of actual realistic outside perceptions of Japan by about 10 years. Every time I see an article, feature (apparently he's been featured on BBC and CNN with his KUH-RAAAZY ANTICS), blog comment about how wacky and perverse Japan is, my pimp hand reflexively whips out to slap a bitch that isn't really there. I still come across people with romanticized visions of a country where everyone watches shounen anime and loli porn and eroge are socially acceptable. It's a major peeve of mine.

Of course, the entire "otaku cool" propaganda is much deeper rooted and predates Choo by decades, but he sure ain't helping in educating the masses. I also can't fault him for his business sense, but I still can't muster up much respect for the guy.

Maybe my contempt toward otaku culture in general makes me a little biased.

Burritolingus Wrote:For those unfamiliar with the site, Colony Drop is one of the more antagonistic, elitist, arguably "trollish" anime blogs around. The article in question exaggerates, sensationalizes and takes liberties.

However, I think it effectively gets the point across that Danny Choo is a horrible, horrible human being. He's largely responsible for perpetuating and exploiting a harmful myth, thereby setting back progress of actual realistic outside perceptions of Japan by about 10 years. Every time I see an article, feature (apparently he's been featured on BBC and CNN with his KUH-RAAAZY ANTICS), blog comment about how wacky and perverse Japan is, my pimp hand reflexively whips out to slap a bitch that isn't really there. I still come across people with romanticized visions of a country where everyone watches shounen anime and loli porn and eroge are socially acceptable. It's a major peeve of mine.

Of course, the entire "otaku cool" propaganda is much deeper rooted and predates Choo by decades, but he sure ain't helping in educating the masses. I also can't fault him for his business sense, but I still can't muster up much respect for the guy.

Maybe my contempt toward otaku culture in general makes me a little biased.

I guess you whip out your pimp hand every time a Hollywood movie, music video, or television show is made? Or when an American news article highlights some small sensationalist facet of American life?

I hate to break it to everyone by Japan isn't special when it comes to stereotyped perceptions. And, believe it or not, the vast majority of the American population doesn't know jack squat about otaku culture, nor do they care, and it sure as heck isn't sitting back any "progress" regarding realistic expectations of Japan. If a site like Danny Choo alters anyone's perception of Japan then they DESERVE their altered perception, as they obviously didn't do squat worth of research in regards to Japan in the first place. It is not like there is some Otaku culture conspiracy that has vanquished all other factual data on Japan.

Furthermore, the stuff on Danny Choos site IS REAL. When I walk down the streets in my American cities I've yet to come across someone dressed like an anime character, cartoon porn mags sitting by the front checkout counter of my local gas station, maid cafes, or multiple stores filled with small semi-nude figurines. When I was in Japan I saw something like this every day. I mean hell I remember walking down the street and seeing HOMELESS people selling old video game carts and anime figurines that they had attempted to clean up....something you will NEVER see in America. Was it a minority occurrence? Yep. Was it still VASTLY more prominent than anywhere else I've seen? Yep.

Burritolingus Wrote:...

Agreed, to an extent (and especially without the 'slap a bitch' joking analogy)...

Lisa Katayama has caught heat for similar perpetuation of stereotypes, I believe: http://www.mutantfrog.com/2009/12/16/lightening-up/

Also: http://neojaponisme.com/category/present...-of-japan/

Wait, Danny Choo isn't real?

At least Japan's cell phone tech is still 10 years ahead of the rest of the world!!!!1

FutureBlues Wrote:Wait, Danny Choo isn't real?

At least Japan's cell phone tech is still 10 years ahead of the rest of the world!!!!1

They've got nothing on the Chinese:

FutureBlues Wrote:Wait, Danny Choo isn't real?

At least Japan's cell phone tech is still 10 years ahead of the rest of the world!!!!1

I can safely say that no matter how much time passes, the rest of the world will never have cell phones with the same technology that Japanese cell phones use today.

Furthermore, I hope you all live in interesting times and come to the attention of powerful people.

Mcjon01 Wrote:

FutureBlues Wrote:Wait, Danny Choo isn't real?

At least Japan's cell phone tech is still 10 years ahead of the rest of the world!!!!1

I can safely say that no matter how much time passes, the rest of the world will never have cell phones with the same technology that Japanese cell phones use today.

Furthermore, I hope you all live in interesting times and come to the attention of powerful people.

This is completely false. There are now TWO smartphones in the Japanese market. This puts them way behind america and the other European countries who have realized that smartphones that run operating systems (android) are much better than anything a "dumb" phone has to offer. Yes, Japanese phones have some pretty nifty features (12 megapix cameras, solar batteries, etc) and Japanese phones paved the way for smartphones with all the features they offer. But overall they (Japanese phone companies) are falling behind in the smartphone area which is vastly superior to any phone with only lots of gimmicks.

bizarrojosh Wrote:

Mcjon01 Wrote:

FutureBlues Wrote:Wait, Danny Choo isn't real?

At least Japan's cell phone tech is still 10 years ahead of the rest of the world!!!!1

I can safely say that no matter how much time passes, the rest of the world will never have cell phones with the same technology that Japanese cell phones use today.

Furthermore, I hope you all live in interesting times and come to the attention of powerful people.

This is completely false. There are now TWO smartphones in the Japanese market. This puts them way behind america and the other European countries who have realized that smartphones that run operating systems (android) are much better than anything a "dumb" phone has to offer. Yes, Japanese phones have some pretty nifty features (12 megapix cameras, solar batteries, etc) and Japanese phones paved the way for smartphones with all the features they offer. But overall they (Japanese phone companies) are falling behind in the smartphone area which is vastly superior to any phone with only lots of gimmicks.

I was commenting on how Japanese phones seem advanced at first glance, but are actually rife with antiquated designs and hardware, and tend to have features and standards that the Japanese market latched onto a decade ago and can't seem to let go of, that would never be successful anywhere else in the world because of how much they suck. It's like, Oneseg? Way to stick the Betamax of mobile TV in your phones, Japan.

And I went through so much trouble to word my post in a way that seemed to say one thing but really said another, too. I thought the Chinese curses would be a dead giveaway.

My lay understanding via recent interest (that thread http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?p...3#pid99413 where I was asking about text and voice stuff, re: mobiles) and just checking things out again now tells me that Japan is still more advanced in terms of a wide penetration of advanced functionality and data rather than voice usage, but now it's shifting from a fractured hardware-centric infrastructure to the more open software-oriented smartphone stuff? Plus I get the impression that everyone else is catching up.

Most recent sources: http://4gtrends.com/?p=3679 and http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/techno...0cell.html

Danny Choo has a hobby. And he loves it. And other people love it enough to have made him internet-famous. People can scream 'that culture doesn't exist' all they want, but the truth is, it does: In their minds. And I guarantee that's all that matters.

I love anime and occasionally think about buying a model or 2, but the thought of being like all the otaku I see in movies stops me cold. For people who aren't stopped by that thought, they are welcome to it!

As for Danny Choo himself... The man plays with DOLLS. Doesn't that say enough? No? Okay, he not only plays with $100+ dolls, he makes fantasy conversations with them and takes photographs. And he's proud of it. Seriously.

Never quite understood that thing with dolls. Expensive and fruitless hobby.

Didn't know about this:

Lisa Katayama Wrote:(In one famously controversial show, an aspiring comedian named Nasubi was locked naked in an empty apartment and forced to live on winnings from magazine sweepstakes until he earned $10,000. When he finally reached his goal 14 months later, the show's producers gave him some clothes, blindfolded him, and took him on a surprise vacation to South Korea, where he was locked in yet another apartment until he won enough money to buy a plane ticket home. While some vehemently opposed the show, most watched it religiously with delightful horror and amusement. Nasubi wrote a best-selling book about his experience and later became a successful stage actor.)

Quite amazing that the guy accepted to go through this.

Mcjon01 Wrote:

bizarrojosh Wrote:

Mcjon01 Wrote:I can safely say that no matter how much time passes, the rest of the world will never have cell phones with the same technology that Japanese cell phones use today.

Furthermore, I hope you all live in interesting times and come to the attention of powerful people.

This is completely false. There are now TWO smartphones in the Japanese market. This puts them way behind america and the other European countries who have realized that smartphones that run operating systems (android) are much better than anything a "dumb" phone has to offer. Yes, Japanese phones have some pretty nifty features (12 megapix cameras, solar batteries, etc) and Japanese phones paved the way for smartphones with all the features they offer. But overall they (Japanese phone companies) are falling behind in the smartphone area which is vastly superior to any phone with only lots of gimmicks.

I was commenting on how Japanese phones seem advanced at first glance, but are actually rife with antiquated designs and hardware, and tend to have features and standards that the Japanese market latched onto a decade ago and can't seem to let go of, that would never be successful anywhere else in the world because of how much they suck. It's like, Oneseg? Way to stick the Betamax of mobile TV in your phones, Japan.

And I went through so much trouble to word my post in a way that seemed to say one thing but really said another, too. I thought the Chinese curses would be a dead giveaway.

Sorry dude! I missed the sarcasm.

Mcjon01 Wrote:It's like, Oneseg? Way to stick the Betamax of mobile TV in your phones, Japan.

You should avoid technological analogies if you don't understand the technologies. It severely weakens your point. (Betamax was the superior standard)

There is nothing wrong with Japan using standards that aren't successful internationally (like oneseg) since western feature phones are complete crap and they'd want to make their own phones for the Japanese market anyways. There is no demand for cheapo motorola handsets even if they added the features and Japanese companies have no real interest in selling their phones internationally.

It's only starting to become a problem with the spread of western smartphones that don't support stuff like 赤外線、おさいふ携帯、oneseg, imode, etc. That isn't even wholly an "omg Japan uses old crap / unique crap" phenomenon. It's just that cellphone features became so well used here compared to the west that it's actually SIGNIFICANT that you can't use imode/ezweb on your iPhone, whereas no one in the west gives a crap that they can't access mobile websites anymore. For other features like osaifu keitai, oneseg, and sekigaisen, they were implemented not instead of a more universal/better standard, but instead of just not having the feature, like on western phones. It's silly to compare Oneseg to a new technology like streaming video over 4G or something. JP phones have had it for a long time and they can't roll out a completely new broadcast system every 2 years. When JP people were first watching oneseg the western feature phones were still glorified walkietalkies with texting. Perhaps you were contrasting Betamax with Blu-ray?

Some feature phones may have some of those features now, but they didn't a decade ago. The 0 yen phone I got four years ago is still competitive with a typical feature phone in the west. At the time I got it, the typical feature phone under $200 still had a black and white screen and an antenna sticking out of the body.

The "Japanese cellphones are awesome" meme isn't a myth, it's just a fading truth with the rise of western smartphones. I don't think Japanese tech companies have it in them to make a good smartphone, we'll see some Android phones with custom frontends at best.

wccrawford Wrote:As for Danny Choo himself... The man plays with DOLLS. Doesn't that say enough? No? Okay, he not only plays with $100+ dolls, he makes fantasy conversations with them and takes photographs. And he's proud of it. Seriously.

I don't really care about his doll obsession (other than thinking it's creepy/sad) or some nonsense about him perpetuating the myth of otaku Japan (that doesn't need someone to perpetuate, people who watch too much anime think it's real without any help), what annoys me is his goddamn stormtrooper dancing always showing up in my RSS feeds. How is that even significant to a Japanese news site? He's not Japanese, StarWars isn't Japanese, he has already done it many many times, and it's not even interesting (not even the first time he did it).

Jarvik7 Wrote:

Mcjon01 Wrote:It's like, Oneseg? Way to stick the Betamax of mobile TV in your phones, Japan.

You should avoid technological analogies if you don't understand the technologies. It severely weakens your point. (Betamax was the superior standard)

I understand the technologies just fine, thank you, I simply happen to be prone to making bad analogies, especially when I'm in a hurry and not really thinking things through all the way. I suppose it would have been wittier if I had gone with videotape there, come to think of it, since it's the inferior product that still caught on. But, hey, gaffes are sort of my thing, if you haven't noticed. I'm like the Joe Biden of the internet. (Was that analogy better for you?)

My opinion isn't worth that much here anyway, since it's entirely fueled by my anguish of adapting to a 0-yen phone after coming down off my iPhone high.

Mcjon01 Wrote:My opinion isn't worth that much here anyway, since it's entirely fueled by my anguish of adapting to a 0-yen phone after coming down off my iPhone high.

Yeah well, I went from a Nokia 6085 to a Sharp SH001, as my 0-yen phone, and it's way better now than before.

I might have to get an iPhone when I get back just to compensate.

Mcjon01 Wrote:My opinion isn't worth that much here anyway, since it's entirely fueled by my anguish of adapting to a 0-yen phone after coming down off my iPhone high.

Did your iPhone break or something? Once unlocked you can use a foreign iPhone just fine on Softbank or Docomo. You don't even need to buy into the unlimited dataplan if you don't want to. A guy I know is on prepaid with his British iPhone.

Asriel Wrote:

Mcjon01 Wrote:My opinion isn't worth that much here anyway, since it's entirely fueled by my anguish of adapting to a 0-yen phone after coming down off my iPhone high.

Yeah well, I went from a Nokia 6085 to a Sharp SH001, as my 0-yen phone

Ha, mine is the SoftBank 740SC. I think it's a pretty good contender for lamest phone in Japan. It's actually inferior in every way to the free option it replaced. And to think, I was lucky enough to get it the week they rolled them out. <_<

Jarvik7 Wrote:Did your iPhone break or something? Once unlocked you can use a foreign iPhone just fine on Softbank or Docomo. You don't even need to buy into the unlimited dataplan if you don't want to. A guy I know is on prepaid with his British iPhone.

Eh, when I first got here I tried to work that out, but my Japanese wasn't really good enough to explain what I wanted, and I really just needed a phone as quickly as possible. It's not like it was that upsetting. The worst part was finding out that apparently I'm completely dependent on GPS directions to find things.

The international models (of which the 740SC is) are always crap They add more radios and language settings in exchange for almost all of the features that most normal phones have. I think they are primarily intended for people who want a cheap second phone to take with them overseas, or for companies to assign to employees.

They always try to shovel them off to foreigners because they used to be the only models that could be switched to English. It took awhile before I could convince the AU store person that no I didn't have to choose between the two crap international phones on the plan I was getting (back in 2006).

Right now I'm using an iPhone 3GS on Softbank and tempted to upgrade to the new one to be announced next week, if it gets jailbroken and I can find a buyer for my 3GS. I'm regularly annoyed by the lack of imode support (there are keitai browsers on the appstore, but the sites I want to access check IP addresses and can still tell you're not a regular phone). I never use 電子マネー and the osaifu keitai isn't linked into train IC cards yet (and Nagoya doesn't even have IC yet anyways, wtf?), so I don't care about that feature. QR codes can compensate for a lack of 赤外線 and my commute is by subway so I wouldn't get oneseg reception anyways (not that Japanese tv is worth watching)

Yeah, I don't really agree with you at all Jarvik.

I'm not sure how old you are or how long you've been in Japan, but six years ago, when I was in Nagoya, the only real standout features phones had then (compared to USA-fare) was GPS in the high-end models. And I'm not even sure about that USA phones didn't have that as an option (at the time I was a poor college student who couldn't afford high-end phones anywhere.) Free phones were shitty in both countries and I'm sorry but i-Mode and the like is an atrocity. Wallet tech is fine, but I mean, in the USA we've had credit and debit cards (that can be used almost everywhere) since I can remember paying for stuff and even then, it's not like you're using your keitai wallet at onsens, ryokans, most restaurants, or any number of other non-combini businesses anyway, so it's not like you can just ditch your wallet.

I read quite a bit of Danny Choo's blog.

You know what? When I read his entries or see his pictures, he seems legitimately happy. He loves what he does, and I have to respect that.

I find doll collecting and doll photography silly, the stormtrooper dance is whatever, and I really don't care for otaku culture... in fact, otaku culture shattered my interest in Anime since I feel like it's become all fanservice. (And not fanservice in the "lulz panties" sense, it's much deeper involving personalities, voice actors, inside jokes, etc.)

But it's good to know that someone out there is happy and doing what they wanna do.

FutureBlues Wrote:Yeah, I don't really agree with you at all Jarvik.

I'm not sure how old you are or how long you've been in Japan, but six years ago, when I was in Nagoya, the only real standout features phones had then (compared to USA-fare) was GPS in the high-end models. And I'm not even sure about that USA phones didn't have that as an option (at the time I was a poor college student who couldn't afford high-end phones anywhere.) Free phones were shitty in both countries and I'm sorry but i-Mode and the like is an atrocity. Wallet tech is fine, but I mean, in the USA we've had credit and debit cards (that can be used almost everywhere) since I can remember paying for stuff and even then, it's not like you're using your keitai wallet at onsens, ryokans, most restaurants, or any number of other non-combini businesses anyway, so it's not like you can just ditch your wallet.

At the end of 2003 the first cell phone company to actually sustain 3G operations had just launched service in the United States, where as Docomo's 3G service had been active for 2 years at that point......and already had 90% coverage. More telling however is the level of subscribers (coverage is great but it means little if people aren't using it). In 2006 51% of the Japanese cell phone market was on 3G subscription plans......where as in 2008 only 17% of the U.S. cell phone market was.

This is why Japanese cell phones were more advanced. They had features to take advantage of a superior network. Our perceptions get warped so I'm sure looking back, after experiencing today's phone services, it is easy to think "lol I-Mode sucked", but I assure you it was infinitely better than the high speed data services available to most of the U.S. population.......which at the time was none lol.