Tragedy

I don't normally post over the weekend, and I wouldn't have been able to if I'd tried. I'm currently in a state of shock and heartbreak.

Most of you who read this blog know that I lived in Japan for a number of years until recently. I'm studying Japan, and was there are recently as last July. So as you can imagine the current disaster unfolding in Japan has hit a bit close to home.

Everyone I know in Japan is safe -- most of them live in the western part of the country, far from the epicenter of the quake. But that doesn't make me feel a whole lot better. Thousands of people in a place I love are dying and I can't do anything to help them but hope and pray.

Things like this remind us of how powerless we are sometimes in the face of the world. We can't move mountains like Superman. So when the world shifts we have to shift with it.

But that doesn't mean we're without heroes. Even in the face of all the destruction there are people from all around the world doing everything they can to help. They're heroes in the truest sense of the world, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

I spent most of my time in Japan living in Kobe. In 1995 Kobe was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake. But by the time I arrived in 2005 you could barely tell. Kobe had been rebuilt, stronger and more beautiful than ever.

And so I have faith that the people of Sendai, Miyagi, and all the other places devastated by this earthquake will rise up and rebuild their homes. They won't be able to forget the pain or the people they've lost. But I know the spirit of the Japanese people. It won't be easy, but they'll make it through this.

頑張って、日本。

Elementary Japanese

Okay, look: I don't expect the people who write comics to know Japanese. Lord knows they don't know much about real Japanese culture. But at the very least they could check with somebody when they decide to try and use the Japanese language. I've been over this before. This is not allowed:

This is one of the first things you learn in first year Japanese. "San" is an honorific. You never apply an honorific to yourself. It's incredibly arrogant and no Japanese person would ever think of doing that.

Honorifics are exclusively for other people. If this Kodama is supposed to be Japanese he should be saying "Kodama, Legionnaire-san."

And I don't want anyone to pull out the "things can change in a thousand years" argument. The Japanese have been doing this the same way for the past two thousand years. I don't think this most basic of things about the Japanese language will change in the next thousand.

Do a little research, guys. It wouldn't take that much. You can call me, if you want.

The Dark Ages

Okay. So I said I was going to be posting a lot more now that I'm home. And I specifically said I'd be posting about comics. But you know, sometimes things don't work out quite the way you expect them.

I'm still... Adjusting. Even though I should be out of the jet lag zone, I find myself exhausted at the strangest time. And well, there really isn't a whole heck of a lot to do around here.

Today I went to buy a new cell phone. And jeeze... Is this the stone age? The phone I got three years ago in Japan was more advanced than these things. 1.3 megapixels? Are you kidding? And it can't even travel through time?

Hopefully things will be looking up -- and by that I mean less boring. You all heard about my going up to Gen Con next week. And I'll be visiting Kalinara this weekend. So that should be fun. But what I really need is a job, I fear. And that's the one thing I don't want right now...

Real Quick

Still pretty busy... Lot's of stuff to do. But I just wanted to say real quick my thoughts about Final Crisis #2 I was a little leery about the first one, but the second one has really gotten things going. And the Japanese characters?

Well done, Mr. Morrison. Well done.

"So says Most Excellent... Superbat..."

Moving Along...

Apologies, friends, for the dearth of quality posting these past few weeks. As many of you know I'm preparing for my move away from the romantic, mysterious archipelago of Japan and back to the vast, empty plains of the Midwest. I leave in less than a month.

As such, I find myself with less free time with all the shipping and packing and freaking out that I need to do. And trust me, I really need that last one.

That said, I'll try to keep posting things when I've got something pertinent to say about comics. Or anything else, maybe. And I'm sure Azrael and the Doc will be around. Because they just won't go away.

Besides, when this is all over -- and I'm back on my home terra firma -- I'll probably be posting a lot more. And a lot more substantially because I'm not going to have anything else to do...

Irashaimase!

All right, friends. I'm back in the game. Let's talk about Final Crisis.

Specifically, an aspect of Final Crisis that I feel well qualified to discuss: Grant Morrison's wacky Japanese superheroes.

I'll admit that at first glance characters like the members of the "Super Young Team" appear to be ridiculously over the time. They appear on the surface to be quintessentially Grant Morrison. You would be forgiven in thinking that there is no way the real Japan could be that wacky.

You would be forgiven, but you'd be wrong. I don't know if Grant Morrison has spent any time in Japan. But on the surface, I'd imagine that he has. And even if he hasn't, he's probably studied some of the pop culture. Because characters like Most Excellent Superbat and Shiny Happy Aquazon aren't that far off from the characters you see in the comics here.

The key, of course, is to combine things that shouldn't go together with bright colors and a dash of poor English. The result is not far from what we've seen in the Final Crisis Sketchbook.

Of course, even though he gets some of it right (Only some... "Shy Crazy Lolita Canary" wouldn't wear a schoolgirl outfit; she'd wear a lolita outfit) the real test will come in how they are played on the page. If Morrison can play them straight while still keeping the wacky elements, they'll be perfect.

(Oh, and for the record... Japanese shopgirls don't usually shout "SUMIMASEN!"... They shout "IRASHAIMASE!")

This is the Beginning of the End

This post is not about comics. It has nothing to do with comics. This post is about me.

I don't reveal much about myself here on the blog. I prefer to encourage an air of mystery -- much like the Phantom Stranger. But I'm sure that by now you've all gleaned that I am an English teacher who works in Japan. Before too much longer, that will all change.

Today was the due date for my "re-contracting intention form." I faxed it to my bosses this morning. And I told that that I will not be staying in Japan for a fourth year. Which means in about six months I'll be returning to the United States. Probably for good.

I don't know what I'll be doing there. I know I'll visit a comic shop. And spend some time reacquainting myself with friends and family. But beyond that, I have no idea. In truth, it's a little scary. I'm trading a comfortable job I enjoy for a future that could be anything. But it's time for me to move on.

I've been doing this blog for about two years now. That entire time I've been in Japan. In all honesty, it's been hard writing about American comics in Japan. No local comic book shop gossip. No quarter bins to file through. Which is why you shouldn't be worried that I'll stop. No, I'll keep this going until I die or somebody destroys Earth-Prime.

But I just thought I'd get it out there, the fact that I'm moving into the Great Unknown. But it's not that scary. Hell, I may see some of you there...

Slightly Off Topic

I was thinking about Grant Morrison's wacky team of Japanese superheroes earlier. You know, the team including Most Excellent SuperBat, Big Atomic Lantern Boy, and Shy Crazy Lolita Canary? I said to myself "sure, that sounds interesting, but maybe not completely accurate."

Then I remembered that I'm watching an anime called Seto no Hanayome. It's about a junior high school boy who is saved from drowning by a mermaid (who is the daughter of clan of merfolk gangster), and then has to get engaged to her resulting in wacky hijinks because her gang leader father doesn't approve.

Or Nagasarete Airantou where a boy is washed up on a tropical island populated entirely by beautiful girls, talking animals, and carnivorous plants. Every day he has to fight for his life to escape... The girls. Because they want to alternately marry him, have sex with him, or experiment on him in ways best not mentioned here.

Or there's the Japanese anime of Romeo + Juliet (if anything needed the anime treatment it was that). Of course it takes place on a floating continent where Juliet disguises herself as a boy who in turn disguises himself as a Zorroesque masked avenger. Of course it does.

So yeah, I decided Grant Morrison's Japanese superheroes aren't accurate enough...