Five Inspiring Things That Inspire Me

Well, part of my studies needs me to post about things that inspire me. Japan is a big one, in less than a month I will be there and thought this would be a good reflection on the things that inspire me to take this trip. 

Mt Fuji known as Fuji-san to the Japanese

I would think Japan is pretty high on the list. The art, culture, even the respect for one another really strikes a chord.  I will try to provide as many reference links. I find it hard to explain things in words sometimes but hopefully you can delve more into the links and explore. :) These are the 5 things that inspire me the most.

1. Old Art...

The Great Wave off Kanagawa (神奈川沖浪裏 Kanagawa-Oki Nami-Ura) One of the most famous Japanese pictures, "printed" by using blocks of carved wood was part of the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji from around 1826 to 1833. It is a very common image but the others in the series are also as striking, to think that this was hand printed art from the masses using hand carved wood blocks nearly 200 years ago is awesome! 

2. New art...

Yumiko Kayukawa's ピンク／PINKU (Pink) (2011) blends the traditional with the contemporary. She started as a comic book artist in Japan and after going to art school she moved to the USA to continue her career . Yumiko blends modern and traditional Japanese motifs with a fusion of American pop, rock'n'roll and fashion. I love her use of colours and the fusion of new and old. her webpage is well worth a look. 

3. Pokemon...

It may not look like much but for kids, but in 1998 I played a small game, Pokemon Red and Blue. It was released in America and Australia after it's original success in Japan in 1996. The game was created by Satoshi Tajiri, a fanatical bug catcher who wanted to make a quality game for children, who also created the original 151 Pokemon to catch in the game.
The game sparked a multi-billion dollar franchise that is sold and marketed to children (and adults) worldwide. There are also TV shows, movies, a trading card game, comics and other stuff.  Lately the webpage Twitch.com did a social experiment called "Twitch Playes Pokemon" where about 80,000 people logged on, watched and participated in commanding the one character in the one game. It was absolute chaos, but fun to watch.  They completed the game in just over 16 days and sparked an Internet sensation. The images above are game graphics or "sprites" from the original game. I enjoy the simplicity of the grey scale pixel art from this game and would like to design stuff like this one day. 

4. Anime / Neon Genesis Evangelion...

This anime is the first one (apart from Astro Boy when I was REALLY little) that I watched over and over.  Neon Genesis Evangelion was aired in Australia on SBS. When the trailer was shown for the first time, I remember, it gave me goosebumps.  I didn't understand a lot of it's complex story line but there were giant robots and lots of explosions. It was set in the post apocalyptic city of Tokyo-III in the distant future of 2015.  The animation and characters were nothing like any of the other cartoons I watched as a kid. I later found out that Japan made lots of anime, they even wrote comics and made action figures.  This anime and it's creator's complex story lines really got my imagination turning. I still sit down from time to time and watch a few episodes.  

The first of it's 4 movies retelling the story was released in 2007.  It is also a good comparison about how far animation in Japan has come in 11 years. 

5. Music...

The music also inspires me, this is The Pillows a small three person alternative / indie rock band formed in 1989. They found western popularity after writing the soundtrack for an anime called FLCL in 1995. 

AKB48 is a 89 member pop group that are hugely popular in Japan and Asia, one of their songs was used in the Disney film Wreck It Ralph... Their costumes, cuteness and catchy tunes are a perfect combination of Japanese performance.

Using my scanner to tell a story,

So here is my story, 



First of all there is a photo of me and my wife at Christmas, if we both didn't go to work we would be almost inseperateable. She is my best friend. Also christmas is a big time in my family and I like Christmas.

There is a few Pokemon things, I like cards and games, since I was young I have played Pokemon and its something I have not grown out of. Mosty likely I never will.

There is also some RAM from a computer and also a USB I really enjoy computers and studied this for a while. I fix friends computers and also give advice a lot, even at work I give tech support when some of the others need some advice or something small fixed. There is a little Iron Man on the USB and that’s my fave comic and movie series.

The pastport is because I am about to go on the biggest adventure of my life, I have never traveled outside Australia so this is pretty big,

The white and green keychain is from Japan, it is the sign to a trainstation in the prefecture of Tokyo called Akihabara, this is Japanese Nerd equivelant to Mecca, and will be the first place I visit in Japan, It was given to me by my old Japanese housemate Miki, who I can not wait to see in Japan again. 

There is also a comic that is very blurry in the background, It was probably the first Japanese comic I read and the start of my obsession with Japan.

Apologies for the crappy scanning, the scanner I have is pretty old,