Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Manga Road begins right outside of the train station and spans across the city. Various life-sized iron anime figurines are bolted to the ground. Ranging from superheroes to beloved characters, these structures stand out in the aftermath, still brightly colored. The road ends at the Mangattan museum, or Ishinomori Manga Museum, which was built in 2001. The edifice, comically shaped like a bubble and UFO saucer, boasts of Ishinomori’s original artwork, unique exhibits, and displays of Cyborg 009, characters from Android Kikaider, Robocon, and many more.
Ishinomaki is a quiet town whose main attraction is Manga Road and Mangattan (石ノ森萬画館), an oblong-shaped museum dedicated to Ishinomori. The city celebrates Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森 章太郎), a mangaka, or manga writer, renown for his creation of 1970’s popular anime Kamen Rider, among other long-running series. Ishinomori is often compared to American Marvel comic book writer, Stan Lee, an equally prolific creator of Spiderman and other heroes.
I trundled into the Ishinomaki JR station dripping sweat and smelling like karaage (から揚げ)—fried chicken. Even three months after the earthquake and tsunami, trains still couldn’t run directly into the city due to reconstruction. Relief workers and I transferred several times and then took a tightly packed bus whose exhaust fumes smelled crispy and tantalizing. Shooting footage of tsunami relief for a documentary—we were naïve to think we could come away unaffected.
The Comic Con has started and I’d like to think it’s a great way to open when Marvel Comics King, Stan Lee is right near your booth with just a tiny mob. He’s talking to Neal Adams in this shot. I can’t tell you who the photo bombers are. On fans, Neal Adams said, “at least they’re nice to us” and Stan Lee said, “they’re not to me”. It wasn’t too long ago when Stan Lee was relatively forgotten by the world, and now with the good remakes of the films (not the weird Fantastic Four, Spiderman TV show, Ang Lee’s Hulk, Punisher, etc) which are now worth billions, he’s back to being known by the masses as Stan the Man – a serious god.
The GR booth features the red lanterns. It’s a beacon. I love hearing, “I’m at the Giant Robot booth.” Yes of course! Look up at the signage, you can’t miss us. I think this is my 18th year in a row attending this convention. The first was in 1993, I’m pretty sure. It’s changed of course especially in size and in scope. The actual comic book dealers seem more and more scarce, and the Hollywood quotient is larger than ever. But this year, what’s the hot promotion? Last year, it seemed like Scott Pilgrim was everywhere, but this year? I’m not quite sure. Maybe it’s just an amalgam of a lot of features and television. We’ll see. Keep updated. We have a lot coming up. This was only preview night.
There’s plenty more photos below!
From left to right: Megumi Nishikura, Marcia Yumi Lise, and Lara Perez Takagi. Photo credit: Ryu Kodama.
Megumi Nishikura and Lara Perez Takagi are two filmmakers living in Tokyo, Japan. Their next project, The Hafu Documentary, focuses on a lesser-known part of Japan’s demographic: biracial individuals. Hafu is the Japanese loan word for half-Japanese. The documentary features a Mexican-Japanese family (the Oi’s), a Ghanian-Japanese model named David, a Venezualan-Japanese community organizer named Ed, an Australian-Japanese expatriot named Sophia, and lastly, an unannounced Hafu of mixed Japanese and Asian descent. Both Nishikura and Takagi are half-Japanese themselves and I last interviewed them before the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. Once again, they take time out from their busy schedules to discuss their documentary and its progress since then.
Lara and Megumi in action. Photo credit: Michael Connolly.
Giant Robot: How has production progressed so far?
Megumi Nishikura: “Sophia” is the fourth person. We put up a new image for her on the website. [When we first met her] it all came naturally. She wanted to show that she was part of this movie. She has her own blog and started writing about her participation in the film, and she tweets about us now and then. Her story is on the website and she grew up in Sydney, [Australia]. She spent a few summers in Japan here and there visiting her relatives, but doesn’t have too much experience in Japan. Last year, she decided that this was her last chance. If she didn’t take it now then she would never come and live here. She moved here and is tried to find a job, take Japanese lessons, and figure her way out while abroad.
Most of us have eaten sushi in one form or another. I’d like to think that I’m fairly adept, my mother owning a sushi restaurant for decades in Santa Monica. I’ve seen the rise of the American sushi movement from the early 80s. Sushi is now available everywhere, from your local supermarkets to the secret sushi locations that feature high end everything at unpublished, market rate prices. People talk about them, as if they’re holding onto a secret. Yet one place stands alone at the top of the rugged mountain of sushi establishments, and it’s Sukiyabashi Jiro – a restaurant that’s garnered back to back Michelin three star ratings in 2008 and 2009. It’s the food lovers holy grail. Filmmaker David Gelb captured the head master chef and octogenarian, Jiro at his finest moments in Jiro Dreams of Sushi. The documentary isn’t overly cinematic, or overly dramatic, it’s actually shot clean and classic, and at the same time, takes you into the world of the business of sushi – from in the shop, the fish market, to Jiro’s personal life which further explains how he is known to be the best.
GR: Can you back track and talk about sushi and how you felt compelled to make this documentary?
DG: I’ve loved sushi ever since my dad took me to Japan on business trips starting when I was 2 years old. I was fed a diet of cold soba and cucumber rolls. I’ve loved sushi and Japanese culture ever since. After I got out of film school, I thought to myself, ‘why not make it my job to travel to Japan and eat the best sushi in the world?’
GR: Jiro seems like a stoic and strict person. How is he off camera?
DG: Nobody takes his work more seriously than Jiro. He’s been making sushi for over half a century and he still considers everyday an opportunity to improve his skills. He’s strict because he’s applying his full concentration to the present task. However, once the last customer leaves and he has a moment to relax, you’ll find that he is incredibly kind and personable. He has a great sense of humor.
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