MALCOLM KAM WRITES – Standing at 18 meters tall, Japan’s 1:1 scale animatronic Gundam is now fully assembled. The animatronic is modeled after the Gundam RX-78-2, a giant bipedal mech that made its debut in the 1979 anime Mobile Suit Gundam. Since then, Gundam has remained wildly popular, both in…
Full Article JAPAN: THE GUNDAM GLOBAL CHALLENGE HEATS UP POP CULTURE AND ‘COUNTRY COOL’
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – Despite lengthy lines and oppressive heat, L.A.’s annual Anime Expo broke its previous attendance records, embodying the growth and impact of Japan’s pop-culture diplomacy. Each Independence Day weekend thousands of passionate fans descend upon Southern California for North America’s largest convention for all things related to…
Full Article LOS ANGELES: A Stellar Showcasing of Soft PowerJEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – When it comes to making friends abroad, sometimes a pink-haired manga fan beats officially-sanctioned cultural exchanges. That’s proving to be the case in Japan with this summer’s 11th annual World Cosplay Summit (WCS) in Nagoya’s Osu district. Since the 1950s, anime and manga have been core…
Full Article JAPAN: Cosplay Summit Promotes Japan’s Soft Power