Could be a turning point for Akiba. After the airgun shooting and Mrs Wide Open shenanigans, we now see a bunch of "patrol people" from "Akihabara Town Management" marching around with "no street performances" signs. We also see performers being lead away by the police - even the non leg-opening type. Looks like I wont be going back there in armor anytime soon... Via Akibaos.
oh no :( that's not fun! but well danny you can start bringing selected figures to go out for photoshoot? :P
Danny, you cannot imagine how angry and irritated I am by these news, I want to say terrible things and complaints but I want to relax and save my breath. As I'm seeing it, I won't have the chance to see the old Akiba anymore, if I go all I'll see is these guys instead of people in costumes and wacky stuff... And what made me more sad is the idea of no more Storm Trooper... This is depressing, in my opinion.
...on the other hand, those yellow jackets and green hats are approaching costume status themselves.
you know what, that gives me an idea. Someone should mass a cosplay group of those guys. It'd confuse them so much they'd explode... (wishful thinking)
would love to see that!
...I'm hoping this will blow over, but that doesn't seem too likely. People will be watching their step and thinking twice now, if even normal "street performers" are being led away. That said, the whole idea of "street performance" seems a bit vague. Does a cosplayer count? He/she could be just boldy stating his or her own fashion sense.
Bah, I feel like I'm spamming. Anyway, what I want to say with the last remark is that it seems to leave some intentional room for people to play with. I'm sure those town officials are quite aware of the business otakus bring.
reminded me of akihabara@DEEP
Doing things for the sake of doing things...
And Akiba became even more popular (in the bad sense)... *major sigh* It has become much the unruly place now and otaku will still be seen as oddballs, no thanks to a bunch of mess-makers.
Btw Danny, what will you do now in the current state of things? No more dancing trooper in Akiba?
Double sorry: 1) to not have read it fully 2) for triple post. *Promptly runs away*
depressing to read, but also very relieved that Mrs. Wide Open won't be around to torment me.
Why is the back of there heads blurred?
Particular brand/logo on their hats?
So you don't see the barcodes.
interesting, seems they are out to changes things. i only hope that you will still be able to go out on a torn in a storm trooper and dance, dance like there is no tomorrow. ^_^
Hopefully it is not about all places in Tokyo, so Danny can dance elsewhere... And this is good for maintaining our hopes high.
Airgun shooting and Mrs Wide Open: NO! But street performing is the heart of Akiba, as long as it isn't offensive or harmful to people walking there. Who these guys think they are? The modern shinsengumi or something? I say street performers (of the good kind) also form some sort of organized force to defend their right to be there...
is that little smoking sign a subsidized campaign or something.. anyway, it brings me down to hear this...I hope this doesn't apply to cosplaying or photo shoots? I think this will affect other parts of various cities in Japan as well. Its just a conspiracy!!!
They should bring in a certain Western time-traveling robot *cough*Arnold*cough* to clean up the Akiba streets of such blasphemous people.
really bad....hope akiba would turn back to what it used to be
Where will all the village idiotstresses go?
We all saw this coming. The smaller shops were slowly disappearing and there have been many people saying that otaku paradise of Akiba was slowly disappearing. As of right now I'm canceling my plans to visit Akiba on my next trip. I guess this is now a golden opportunity for another city to step up as Otaku Mecca.
my dream........crashing....
Same... I feel that idiots truly killed the unique essence of Akiba.
hope someone make a march or something because is part of akihabara and shouldnt be banned
.Don't lose hope gang. Things can change and probably will, just give it a little time.
Bad news, indeed. The old Akiba was amazing and unique ;)
Well I personnaly think this is a bad for a good, Akihabara is a great place that I saw getting down since the past last 6 years, being able to have fun is one thing, but the past event were too much. And we must make sure that Akiba stay a place for Electronics Fan, Anime/Manga Fan, Video Game Fan and so on where everyone from any ages can go without being solicited for porn, illegale software... I really sad to see how Akihabara went, all good store had to closed
Man, this sucks. No cosplay, no dancing on the streets, boring town to visit. I think Akihabara is becoming the next Shibuya, which is sad.
I really prefer Akiba as an Otaku's paradise. That's a place where we Otaku's can really express ourselves. I don't want it to change!!
Now that's no fun... No performaces = Torture! Akiba's not going to be the same...
To me the performances are part of Akiba and shaped it to what it is nowadays, a vivid place for people to have fun and not only a big shopping mal...
*Sigh*, Just as I was starthing to think that Akiba is going to be saved so that my visit will be a success, this happens. Why do stupid people always have to ruin good things? >.>
I guess there will be no chance of him dancing in Akihabara anymore or anytime soon.
i thought what my jap friend in school said was a lie. . . i guess its not after all T-T
That sucks, so few people ruined it for everyone. Whenever I went to Akiba on Sunday, I've seen many decent performers who tried to show their skills and not do something radical or rowdy to grab attention. It sucks that those people(including Danny) won't be able to do what they like because of some inconsiderate people. I hope things can change back to normal soon and some people can mature.
I bet all this political correctness is coming from the "new" residents of Akihabara, the invading large corporations and universities who have changed Akiba's skyline and, in my view, started ruining it. I mean, sure, some people went a little overboard with their exhibitionisms, but it's sad to think that something like the Haruhi dance can not happen any more in Akiba. Whatever happened after that otaku demonstration last year? Is it time for another one? Akihabara is being changed against our will.
this may be an irritating news and a kill joy but we should accept this for our own good. we should blame the people who abused the open street system...
the japanese should issue out permits for street shows.. and if the po po come buy they can just show them the permit and be left alone.. an ida anyways.. don't let free speech die!
Damn....the otaku culture will gain it's old image back if it goes this way :/
Guess it did already... There would have been no witch hunt (in the political sense) in the first place, otherwise.
It's still not doing any harm, imo. Guess they need something to spend their budget on. Hell, Ikea's taken out more eyes than those airgun shooters according to this blog.
Troubling, to say the least. Akihabara was going to be one of my milestone stop points when I travel Japan in September-October, to hear that Otaku-Mecca is more or less paralysed like this doesn't sit all too well with me. Despite my not being able to do a damn thing about it. I'm going to hold my breath and hope that things swing a nice 180. I'll probably still end up going to Akiba during the trip it just won't be the same without the performances. Heck I was hoping to Hare Hare Yukai just once...
Attention whores meets Camera Geeks in The Farce of Akihabara! Oops! You can't cosplay now! No singing! No dancing! And boys dressing up as girls. Just give us ya money and piss off! Akihabara is now business only! You give us ya money and we give you ya toys. If you wanna play, go home and play with yourselves. By the edict of Akihabara Business Managers.
I guess I can't drive my Sutherland up there now, eh? I'm sure they'd welcome you, Danny. You ARE one of the top bloogers in Japan and after appearing on Blog TV(I'm not sure about the title :X), there's got to be SOMEONE who wouldn't lump you together with some other people who do @#% and $#^%#&#% and %^$#...
Oh no, that's not good. I really hate Ms. wide open. =(
Where oh where is the brave and humourous manga-ka who will annihilate these yellow-jacketed, chest-puffing Deputy Dawgs the way Nagai did to the PTA in Harenchi Gakuen?
That's pretty lame. They should let people have fun and do what they want. That brings the business there.
this is a nightmare... please someone, tell me this is all a bad dream... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Oh well, they've got their right to express their opinion and we've known that Otaku are quite disliked by many even in Japan and once those haters see an opportunity to deal damage to the Otaku community..
its sad ...sad...n more sad....it wont be the same again.....sighzzz >_< !!!!!!
