EN: Anime is becoming more and more popular outside Japan, especially in the US, where it generates quite a significant amount of money. Unfortunately that does not apply to my home country Slovakia, where people tend to watch low-level soap operas and reality shows. Even if anime is considered to be something “for little children” by Slovakians, I have a very good reason in believing otherwise – I attended the Anime Japan 2014. This brand new soon-to-be annual event started after the merger of Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) and Anime Contents Expo. Last year TAF welcomed over 105 000 visitors, this year it was even more mental – according to Wiki more than 111 000 people attended the fair during one weekend. This is how it looked like at around 9 AM in the morning:
SK: Japonské anime je populárne v mnohých častiach sveta (v roku 2009 bola hodnota anime priemyslu odhadnutá na asi 2,7 miliardy amerických dolárov), na Slovensku sa zatiaľ veľmi neuchytilo, keďže ľudia radšej pozerajú reality shows a mnoho odrôd telenoviel, či amerických seriálov. Pradoxne práve v USA anime stále rastie, keďže v domácom Japonsku je kvôli populačným problémom stále menej mladých. Anime je ale vecou celej populácie bez ohľadu na vek, presvedčil som sa o tom dnes. Výstava Anime Japan 2014 vznikla spojením dvoch podujatí, Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) a Anime Contents Expo. Vo štvrtok a piatok boli stánky v známom výstavisku Tokyo Big Sight otvorené iba pre insiderov z priemyslu, sobota a nedeľa boli dostupné pre verejnosť. Iba pre informáciu – TAF prilákala minulý rok asi 105 000 návštevníkov, takže je ľahké si predstaviť, ako to dnes vlastne vyzeralo.
A ešte aj takto / And like this:
EN: I decided to get to Tokyo Big Sight later on in the morning, as I wanted to have a walk around Odaiba (an artificial island created in Tokyo Bay, which consists of some residential zones, but mostly entertainment and commercial districts) and to see the Rainbow Bridge. I got to Big Sight at around 9AM, just on time when the gates were opened. I had to wait approximately one hour in the lines, which were very civilized and calm (not something you see in my home land) until I got to the entry.
SK: Ja osobne som sa vybral na výstavu neskôr, keďže som z domu odišiel relatívne skoro ráno a išiel som si obzrieť aj Rainbow Bridge a časť Odaiby (Odaiba je umelo vytvorený ostrov, ktorý existuje z malej časti ako rezidenčná zóna a z tej hlavnej ako zábavné a kultúrne centrum Tokia). K Big Sight som sa dostal až po deviatej, pričom práve vtedy otvorili brány pre verejnosť. Nasledovala asi hodina a pol čakania v rade, potom sme sa konečne dostali ku vchodu.
EN: When I got inside, I saw something I had never seen before. I mean – right, that was my first time in such a big city (well, it is the largest city in the world), but even if I had attended several music festivals and conventions in the past, this was like from another world. The Japanese are usually very calm and very well-behaved, but inside the Big Sight it looked like someone had unleashed them from a chain and there were plenty of them running around like if they were mental. It simply worked like this – when someone spotted the kiosk he wanted to see, he didn’t lose a sight of it until he got to it – without caring what’s going on around him. A lot of shouting, loud J-Pop music from all the corners, live stages with some of the performances (the links are in the text above).
I spent around 90 minutes inside for various reasons. Firstly – it was clearly not designed for people who didn’t speak Japanese, which is not surprising, really. I know some of the kiosks did have some English leaflets, but not many of them. And I saw quite a lot of foreigners over there while waiting in the line. Which is a shame. And if you don’t know all the Kanji (I only know Kana and several basic Kanji characters), you were pretty much done for, as you had no idea what was the name of that one or the other TV Show, even if you were really interested. But my aim is not to criticize – I was there, I’ve always wanted to see such a fair and to attend it, how it goes on, how the people behave, which I eventually did. I am happy that I had a chance to go there, although I am not sure if I want to attend the same fair again (you never know). When it comes to Cosplay pictures – it was almost impossible to take them – the people went ballistic in those waiting lines and I really wasn’t in the mood to fight just to take pic of a nice girl in some dress. Sorry. Not happening. Well, the pictures are below, you can see the landmarks of Odaiba over there, including the Fuji TV building, Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Big Sight.
SK: To, čo nasledovalo po vstupe do samotného komplexu, sa dá slovom opísať iba ako šialenstvo. U Japoncov som videl to, čo u nich inokedy nebadať – zmätok, behanie kade-tade, absolútny nezáujem o okolie a neváhali sa trmácať jeden cez druhého. Fungovalo to v štýle, že niekto zbadal nejaký jeho obľúbený stánok, zafixoval naň pohľad z polovice haly a išiel bezhlavo svojím smerom – bez toho, aby vnímal čo sa deje za ním a pred ním. Náhodné zastavovania a piruety boli pravidlom. Jednoducho mayhem. Odvšadiaľ megafóny a krik, hlasná hudba, live pódiá, na ktorých vystupovali kadejaké hviezdičky a hlavne mužské publikum z toho bolo zjavne unesené. Krátke video tu, v niektorých momentoch je spomínané veci vidno. A tu sú tie hviezdičky.
Na výstave som vydržal asi 90 minút a to z jednoduchého dôvodu – toto podujatie úplne jednoznačne nie je na cudzincov prichystané. Videl som síce niekoľko iných zahraničných návštevníkov, ale pokiaľ neovládate japončinu naozaj dostatočne dobre, nemáte z toho nič. Všetko, všade a vždy bolo výhradne iba po japonsky, našlo sa iba zopár výnimiek (nadpis Sword Art Online a Ghost in the Shell, prípadne názvy štúdií), no všetko ostatné iba pre lokálnych. Kto neovláda kanji, nemal ani len šancu prečítať si názov anime, ak by ho aj náhodou zaujalo. Takže asi tak nejako. Dôležité je, že som sa zúčastnil, zažil som to na vlastnej koži, teda najväčšiu výstavu anime na svete a viem, ako to na takom podujatí vyzerá. Zvyšné fotky nasledujú teraz.
