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22 September, 2003
The Cultural Diversity of Anime
A Holiday Inn in Aurora is not where you'd expect to meet someone like George Robbert.
 Barbara Edwards (left), dressed as Risky from "Omishi Magical Theater: Risky Safety," and her friend Naomi Osborn, president of the anime club at Cheyenne Central High School in Wyoming, dressed as Chun Li from "Street Fighter." |
He's a tall, bearded Caucasian, who wore a kimono and hakama (the traditional skirt-like pants that samurai used to wear with their kimonos) and spoke perfect Japanese. He walked in geta, the traditional Japanese elevated wooden flip-flops, and constantly bowed apologetically, murmuring "sumimasen" ("excuse me").
I wasn't sure if I should just say "don't worry about it" or talk back in my rusty, halting Japanese.
Over the weekend, my partner Erin and I attended Nan Desu Kan, Denver's annual festival of anime, or Japanese animation. We were both asked to speak at the event, me about Japanese American culture (and how it's not quite Japanese culture) and Erin about the Japanese American internment during World War II.
When we arrived at the rambling hotel near Denver International Airport, we were guided to the green room where speakers could mingle, chow on some food and snacks (which varied from Japanese to Mexican) and chat with the event's many volunteers. That's when I met a handful of non-Japanese who put me to shame with their knowledge of contemporary Japan (they'd all lived or worked there) and their fluency with the language.
 The Go master Sai Fujiwarano from "Hikaru no Go"... or is it Dan Hess? |
George was there, making guests feel at home. Some of the other guests in the green room were Japanese from Japan, and George was perfectly happy to chatter on with them while Erin and I felt embarrassed and excluded.
It was like being in an exclusive clubhouse but not knowing the secret code.
The feeling deepened as we met other volunteers who were perfect Japanese speakers. There were Caucasians, African Americans and a Latino who had driven from Texas to help out at Nan Desu Kan. "Well, after they stopped doing the convention in Dallas, everyone I know comes here," he said. We were the only ones in the room who couldn't speak Japanese.
Luckily, I could understand enough to fumble my through a conversation with Susumu Sakurai from Tokyo, a computer game graphics developer and editorial director of Raijin Comics, with some prompting from Michael, a Caucasian translator.
I also knew enough to proffer my business card in the correct Japanese way (even young people in Japan know proper business protocol), with a slight bow and holding my card face-up with both my hands holding the corners. And, of course, when he gave me his, I was careful NOT to slap it into my wallet and sitting back down on it like most Americans do. That's rude - tantamount to saying "kiss my ass." Instead, I slipped it after reading it slowly, into my card holder and put it in my chest pocket - close to my heart.
None of this seemed out of place at Nan Desu Kan.
 Melissa Thom and Dustin Dickerson at the prop check table in the vendors’ room. Can't have those samurai swords and angel wings getting in the way of the merchandise... |
The entire event is a celebration of all things Japanese and now Japanese American, although anime is front and center. The fascinating thing about the event, and about the growing U.S. interest in Japanese animation in general, is how it's helping to generate interest in cultural exchange, and how it introduces so many non-Japanese to a whole new culture.
I don't mean just the weird and fantastic plot lines, sci-fi technology, characters and creatures either. Anime is an industry that is still largely created and for the Japanese market (although more Westerners are starting to create anime, and also Koreans have begun making their own anime). Because so many of the titles are made in Japan and are meant for Japanese viewers, a lot of the cultural settings are taken for granted as being Japanese. I've often wondered what American kids think when they see their favorite anime characters slurping ramen in a noodle shop with chopsticks, or see a Buddhist temple or any number of Japanese architecture and symbols in the background.
They probably don't give it much thought at all, but for me, there's a seed being planted that can be nurtured, especially with the largely young audience attracted to anime. I was struck at how young people use anime as a touchstone for a personal exploration of other things Japanese.
 Alex Schuester as Sakura from the popular girls' anime title, "Sakura Card Captor." |
The Japanese-speaking volunteers (who were all older -- for instance, George in the kimono works for Hewlett Packard and is probably in his 30s) are all longtime avid anime fans. And there were thousands of younger fans jamming video screening rooms and the dealers' marketplace all weekend (and all night, since NDK showed vids in several rooms around the clock).
Sure, they're often dressed in what might look like silly costumes like a Trekkie convention sideshow, but they're dressed that way because they love their anime and they're hoping to win the annual Saturday night costume contest, which is the highlight of the event.
Naomi Osborn, a high school senior and president of the anime club at Cheyenne Central High School in Wyoming, who was dressed as Chun Li from "Street Fighter," and her friend Barbara Edwards, as Risky from "Omishi Magical Theater: Risky Safety," told me the club has about 30 members. They get together regularly to watch anime and talk about Japanese culture. Sure beats the ham radio club geeks from my high school days!
 Yik Wai Cheng as Rikku from "X-2." |
Dan Hess corrected me when I asked if he was dressed as a Shinto priest.
He's dressed as a traditional master of Go, the ancient Japanese board game, he said. He was playing the Go master Sai Fujiwarano, one of the main characters in "Hikaru no Go," an anime about a boy (Hikaru) who discovers the spirit of the Go master and learns the game. The anime and comic (many anime start out as manga, or book-length weekly serial comics) has helped Go become fashionable again with young Japanese. Hess is 25 years old, and has been a "fanime" for years. This year he's on staff at the convention.
 The digital anime version. |
Out in the hall, Alex Schuester was a walking tribute to Sakura from Card Captor Sakura, a popular series aimed at girls (there are anime and manga in Japan specifically made for boys, girls and adults). Card Captor Sakura is about a 10-year-old girl, Kinomoto Sakura, who uses magic to collect powerful magical cards that escaped from a book. This anime also started as a manga.
As we left the convention, we ran into Yik Wai Cheng, 19, who also goes by the name Apple. She was a popular subject of other attendees, who stopped to snap her photo. She's the spitting image of the character Rikku from "Final Fantasy X-2."
A Hong Kong native who now lives in Denver, she's one of the few Asians in attendance. She now attends Rocky Mountain College of Arts and Design, studying - what else? Animation.
She's been to the convention before, and she says she's noticed this year there are more Asians, which she thinks is good. "It shows that Asians know about anime too," she says.
We left feeling energized about how many non-Japanese were being exposed to Japanese culture via this innocuous exchange of pop culture and commerce. How many young Americans are taking martial arts and Japanese language lessons, how many have planned to go into Asian studies in college, how many now think it's perfectly normal to eat white rice wrapped with seaweed as a snack?
Now, THAT'S cool cultural diversity!