Although they exist throughout Japan, maid cafes and other themed cafes are a popular mainstay in Akihabara. These cafes are watered-down versions of host and hostess clubs and cater to people with specific interests. The classic maid cafe features women in short-skirted maid outfits, whereas a foreign butler cafe may be filled with men from outside of Japan who call every lady guest their “princess.”

Don’t confuse Akihabara with the actual Akihabara nearby. This may be confusing, but the Akihabara “Electric Town” is actually called Soto-Kanda and is part of the Chiyoda ward. It’s called Akihabara because the train station that lets out into the area is called Akihabara. The actual Akihabara is in the nearby Taitou prefecture.

Akihabara “Electronic Town” is the site of a 2008 massacre in which a murderer drove a truck into a crowd and then jumped out of the truck to stab people with a dagger, killing a total of seven people and wounding ten others. In a country in which violent crime is extremely low (and guns are prohibited), the incident shocked the nation. The murderer, Tomohiro Kato, was tried and sentenced to death for the crimes. The pedestrian crossing in which the murders took place was closed until January 2011, when it opened only on a trial basis until June.

Have you ever been to Akihabara? Would you be interested in seeing what you can find for sale there? Did you hear about the Akihabara Massacre in 2008?

Because the metropolitan areas of Japan are especially crowded, space is limited and many apartment buildings have thin walls that can make privacy a little difficult to come by. Living with family–which is much more culturally accepted for young adults before marriage in Japan than it is in Western countries–can also complicate trying to have sexual relations with a partner. In order to have some privacy, many couples look to have their sexual encounters at love hotels. (Of course, there are people having affairs and illicit encounters that turn to love hotels as well, but the majority of customers are couples in need of privacy.)

Love hotels are different than regular hotels in that they specifically cater to people having sex and giving couples privacy. Many of these hotels have no windows and discrete entrances so that couples don’t have to worry about being seen. They often also don’t have anyone manning the front desk (but they may). Instead, couples select a room via a computer screen and deposit the room key card on their way out in order to verify that they’ve left. Couples can also often purchase sex toys and costumes via vending machines.

Many of the love hotel rooms are themed to add to the excitement. Themes can include fetishes and may also include pop culture references like anime characters or even Hello Kitty. Some theme rooms don’t resemble bedrooms at all and recreate an entire scenario, like a bad student in detention after school with a teacher, an encounter on a train car, or a nurse providing a checkup for a patient.

Love hotels are not intended for long stays. After usually 10 pm, couples may choose to pay for an overnight stay. However, they may come to the hotel at any time and stay for a shorter period (called a “rest” stay) from anywhere between one and three hours. Rates vary by hotel, but a “rest” could cost around ¥2800 to ¥4500 (~US$34 to $55) and an overnight “stay” could cost about ¥7500 to ¥12,000 (~US$92 to $147).  Leaving the hotel  before you’ve finished with your stay is usually discouraged.

Harajuku isn’t a ward–it’s a section of the Shibuya ward, specifically around the Harajuku Station. But this small section of a Tokyo ward is famous globally as one of the fashion capitals of the world. However, the fashion you’ll find here is different from the high-class fashion you’ll find in other areas of Tokyo. The “street fashion” you’ll find on teenagers and young adults is usually bright, bold and one-of-a-kind.

The fashions tend to gravitate toward one of three styles: lolita, visual kei, and cosplay–however, in Harajuku, anything goes. The young people who show off their clothes in Harajuku take pride in creating their own mix-and-match designs.

Lolita: Lolita fashions (exclusively for women or men crossdressing) are somewhat reminiscent of Victorian-era clothes with much shorter skirts and a few modern accessories. There are a number of subcategories within the style, including “Gothic Lolita,” which makes use of mostly black and dark colors, and “Baby Lolita,” which emphasizes pastel colors and cutesy accessories.

Visual Kei: Visual kei, which we’ve covered as a musical genre, is known for theatrical outfits that mix Gothic black and dark colors as well as Victorian-era type of clothing. Brightly colored hair and kabuki-style makeup complete the ensembles.

Cosplay: Cosplay is short for “costume play” and it refers to dressing up as fictional characters. Most often in Japan, this refers to dressing as characters from anime, manga, video games, and famous bands, but it can also refer to roleplaying by wearing costumes, such as roleplaying as maids, nurses, and even schoolgirls.

Have you ever heard of Harajuku? Have you ever been to Harajuku? What do you think of the street fashion there?

On December 15th, the Tokyo Assembly (part of the local government) approved Bill 156, a reworking of an earlier-proposed bill referred to as “the Non-Existent Youth Bill.” Bill 156, sometimes called the Tokyo Youth Ordinance Act, is causing a stir in the Japanese entertainment industry because of its often vague and sometimes overly strict mandates for the creators, publishers, and sellers of anime, manga, and video games.

The original intent of the bill seemed to be aimed at what’s called “lolita” or “shota” content in an effort to protect the “non-existent” (fictional) youth and, in the government’s opinion, reduce deviancy and suicidal thoughts in the actual youth who may be exposed to these series. In Japan, strangely, what’s allowed in terms of potentially sexual content even when it comes to children (so long as they’re fictional characters) hasn’t been that regulated. “Lolikon” (“Lolita complex”) refers to anime, manga, and video games that feature (fictional) young girls in risque situations and “shotakon” (“Shotaro complex”), which is less popular but still somewhat prevalent, refers to the same with young (fictional) boys. While often risque, most of these types of series are not outright sexual (although some can be). Nevertheless, under the new law, any fictional character under the age of 13 must not be “wholly or partially naked” or shown wearing swimwear in anime, manga, or video games. However, all such content–including the outright sexual–will still be allowed if it’s sold exclusively to adults and not aired on TV.

Bill 156 potentially impacts much more than just this somewhat contentious kind of content. In an effort to completely regulate the anime, manga, and video game industries, sexual content–even if just slightly risque and not outright sexual–may have to be censored if aired on TV. The Bill has also mandated that violence be toned down, which impacts some of the most popular anime and manga in the country. Content that features homosexual or incestual relationships may also be censored or, in the latter’s case, outright banned.

However, at the moment, all of the bill is vague and creators are struggling to understand what will and won’t be allowed. At the last minute, political opposition to the bill (who didn’t have enough power to overturn the bill) requested that a rider be attached to allow anime, manga and video games that are culturally relevant to remain uncensored and accessible to the general public. (The exact words of the bill ask censors to consider “merits based on artistic, social, educational, and satirical criticism criteria” when allowing content to be produced.) This may apply to such pieces of entertainment as the works of Studio Ghibli, which generally receive favorable reviews from critics and are enjoyed by the general population at large. However, this again is vague and may cause further confusion.

Another point of contention with Bill 156 is that it does not apply to live-action TV shows or movies, nor does it apply to books. Actual children can still be shown in swimwear, for example, and live-action movies can be as violent as they please. This leads many to believe that the bill is a movement sparked by anti-otaku (socially awkward extreme anime, manga, and video game fans) politicians with tenuous data at best how this kind of content “hurts” the Tokyo youth.

Publishers are creators are expected to comply by changing the type of new content they produce on April 1st; sellers are allowed to continue selling old material under pre-Bill 156 laws until July 1st. Publishers and creators are trying to protest the bill by withdrawing their presence at the Tokyo Animation Fair in March.

The Ministry’s strategy targets other parts of Asia, Europe, and North America. Currently, only 2% of these Japanese pop culture sales are actually made outside of the country. However, the “Cool Japan” industries employ over 2 million people in Japan and total about ¥45 trillion (about US$480 million) in sales annually, so adding to this total by focusing on foreign markets can boost employment and commerce in Japan considerably.

The proposal asks the Japan External Trade Organization and private Japanese consulting firms to provide assistance to companies that want to export their properties overseas, particularly small to midsize businesses that are struggling to get a foothold. Companies like Nintendo, for example, certainly won’t need the assistance, but they could still benefit from some of the proposed changes.

Japan’s largest book publisher, Kodansha, might have been ahead of the game. Long since one of the biggest manga publishers in Japan, multiple American manga publishers have licensed their work for North American publication over the past decade or so. Kodansha got a cut of the sales, but they largely left creative control over translation, presentation, and marketing to the American companies. This has led to a wide range of quality from title to title and publisher to publisher. Not so anymore, as Kodansha has stopped licensing its manga titles to American companies and let most of its licenses with American publishers expire in preparation for starting its own American division. This will employ more Japanese citizens, give Kodansha full profit over North American sales, and allow Kodansha better control over how their part of pop culture is presented outside of Japan. (However, they will still be distributed by an American company—Random House—and so are allowing some of their titles to continue publication with Del Rey, one of the top American publishers of manga.)

Another part of the Ministry’s strategy actually involves asking foreign creators to come to Japan to help create the “cool Japan” image that’s going to be exported. The Ministry hopes to accomplish this through a reform on the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law that will make issuing and keeping work visas easier for companies and immigrants.

Are you a fan of “Cool Japan”? What’s your favorite part of Japanese pop culture? Do you think it’s counterintuitive for the Ministry to want foreign creators to help them export the “Cool Japan” image? Why or why not?

In Japan, many novels, particularly those aimed at young adults, are sold in a similar fashion. “Light novels,” as these novels are called (the Japanese even say the English words “light novel”: “raito noberu”), are actually closer to what we consider novellas (short novels) in the West. At an average of around 40,000 to 50,000 words each, these novels are miniature versions of what we consider novels for young adults in the West. To give you an idea, the Harry Potter books range from 76,000 to 257,000 words each.

Light novels are easy to read because they don’t require a long period of time to commit to reading, so they appeal to busy, technical-savvy modern young adults in Japan. However, you’re unlikely to find stand-alone works published as light novels—that would defeat the purpose of the light novel. The publishers really want to hook their readers on the first book and make them come back for the next, which is often published mere months after the previous installment. Light novels are usually series that can last 5, 10 or even 20 books. The average length of a series is around 12 to 13 light novels. However, add up 12 light novels and you still only get about two Harry Potter books!

Light novels are rarely considered modern Japanese classics, although some frequent light novel authors have been praised for their skills. The language used in light novels is very minimalist and to-the-point. This also helps make them more appealing for the busy Japanese teenager who wants a quick and easy way to escape the pressures of school and daily life.

Another feature of light novels is that, although they are aimed at young adults, they often feature black and white illustrations, most often in the Japanese manga (“comic book”) style. This appeals to a culture where even adults enjoy reading manga. Light novels are also printed in smaller dimensions than we’re used to in the West, so they’re easier to carry around. Typical light novels are printed in dimensions of only about 4 inches by 5 inches.

Even some Western books that make it into translation in Japanese are published in light novel format. Stephenie Meyer’s popular Twilight series is one example. Four rather bulky books in the West were turned into one light novel series in Japan consisting of 13 volumes (complete with manga-style illustrations). None of the books are considered “sequels.” They’re all part of one large series. If you’ve been paying attention to Twilight in the West, you may have noticed that it’s incredibly popular with young adults (mostly young women) while critics have panned the books for simple language, uncomplicated plots and an idealized, simplified depiction of romance. Well, that’s exactly what the light novel market in Japan looks for, so the books fit right in with the competition.

Would you rather have long books broken up into smaller chapters so they’re easier to carry around (and you wind up paying more in the end)? Do you like your novels to provide escapism or do you prefer something that engages your mind a bit more? Do you have any favorite Japanese light novels? (Some light novels have been published in English.)

Or not. Maybe Disney was onto something when they moved from Beauty and the Beast to Valiant (a 2005 CG movie about British homing pigeons fighting an evil German hawk during World War II if you, like most of the world, never saw it). The Princess and the Frog has earned a respectable $100 million domestically after over two months in release, but it took only a couple of weeks for 20^th Century Fox’s “stellar” CG children’s film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, released shortly thereafter, to earn double that.

The children of America may have been raised to believe that kids’ movies should be CG, crude and generally forgettable, but in Japan, CG has yet to appear in more than a handful of animated films and when it does, it rarely plays more of a role than it does in live action special effects flicks here: to paint the background of a world and make action sequences stand out.

Japan gets and loves Disney films (as the two Disney theme parks in Tokyo can attest), but they also have their own answer to Disney: Studio Ghibli and, when one of the studio heads himself chooses to direct, Miyazaki Hayao. Miyazaki and his co-heads, director Takahata Isao and producer Suzuki Toshio, have animation careers that date back to the 1960s. Miyazaki in particularly made his mark at Toei Animation, another essential staple in the folds of Japanese animation that still produces work today. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the founders of Ghibli worked on two animated films together, one of which, Kaze no Tani no Nausicäa (US title: Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind), remains a veritable classic of Japanese animation today.

After Nausicäa, Miyazaki, Takahata, and Suzuki formed Studio Ghibli and released their first film under the studio’s official title, 1986’s Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa (US: Castle in the Sky). Fifteen award-winning films have followed this award-winning start to the Studio Ghibli tradition: break box office records in Japan and entertain and delight adults as much as children.

A little longer and perhaps slightly less action-oriented than their American animated film counterparts, the Studio Ghibli offerings usually follow the story of a young girl or boy (girls tend to appear more often than boys) who face spiritual, fantastical and compelling adventures as they learn to understand the importance of their friends, their family, and even the planet. There are definitely exceptions to the magic and fantastical—1988’s Hotaru no Haka (US: Grave of the Fireflies) comes to mind, as it deals with a young boy and his even younger sister who must deal with tragedy and survival after they lose the rest of their family to bombings in World War II—and exceptions to the young boy and girl protagonists—how about 1992’s Kurenai no Buta (US: Porco Rosso), which followed a Humphrey Bogart-esque Italian humanoid pig’s career as a World War I fighter pilot?—but the films always deliver on epic, thought-provoking themes that encourage children to dream and think about the world around them.

The folks at Disney know that Studio Ghibli films are something special, as current head of the animation department at Disney John Lasseter made it his mission to bring as many of the Studio Ghibli films to an English-speaking audience as possible—and uncut, at that. It was thanks to Disney’s international release of 2001’s Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (US: Spirited Away) that the film got enough exposure to win an Academy Award for best animated film, a first for Japanese animation.

While Disney has been going the way of CG, never has it been easier to get your hands on Studio Ghibli films in America. If you’ve grown up from jokes about passing gas and fish with cell phones in your animated films, try a Studio Ghibli film and take a peek at the kind of quality animation that’s been around in Japan for decades—the kind that won’t buck to current trends and yet, makes a huge impact on the nation regardless.

What are some of your favorite Studio Ghibli films? Do you find Studio Ghibli films more or less entertaining than Disney films?