Day 11 Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Yesterday was our last official outing with SCAD. We would be on our own beginning today. There was a nasty bug going through the students and faculty of the school, and we caught it too. In a society where so many people are wearing face masks, we were very conscious of every sniffle and cough.

We had bought Rail Passes before arriving in Japan. These are great deals, but only sold to foreigners, and only before they step foot in the country. Basically, any Japan Rail system can be ridden with these passes. You can even get reserved seating, in fact, some rail lines require that you reserve a seat. Japan has the most efficient rail system in the world, and the most expensive. Our one trip to Hiroshima would pay for the Rail Pass on its own.


We stowed our bags at the Mercure cloakroom, and walked over to Tokyo Station with a single duffle to catch the 9:03 Shinkansen to Himeji. We had seats in car 13, and waited at the designated spot on the platform. When the train from Himeji stopped, the doors opened right in front of us. Such precision. The cleaners went through the train first, and, since the train would be returning to Himeji, rotated the seats so each of them faced the right way. I hate facing backwards on a train. We had wanted seats on the right side of the train to get a good view of Mt Fuji. The weather was gorgeous, and we got wonderful views not only of the volcano, but of the tea plantations, and towns along the way.


Whenever the conductor or JR staff came into our car, he (or she) would always bow before entering, and would turn around and bow as they left. It was a little act, but it pleased me greatly. For me, it embodied what Japan is.

We had purchased bento lunches at the train station, and ate those on the 3 hour 40 minute ride. I had the teri beef, and Sharon had the chicken cutlet. We had 10 minutes to catch our connection in Himeji, and we made it with ease. We arrived in Hiroshima just before 2:00.

( click here if you want to read more )

One of the astounding things about Furries is the sense of community that we have developed. When one of us is down, others will come to his aid, even if they do not know him well. It is enough to know that it is a Furry. That community spirit, an increasingly rare thing in this modern self-absorbed world, is the singular greatest strength that our Fandom has.

( And five minutes ago I was reminded of just how strong that spirit is )

December 6, 2009 Sunday
It was a beautiful, sunny day. The group met at the usual time--about 8:50--and metroed to Sengaku-ji Temple, the grave site of the 47 ronin. These masterless samurai avenged the death of their lord, and were ordered to commit seppuku, ritualized suicide. They waited two years before completing their vendetta. Their leader put on an act of drunkeness and lechery, throwing the enemy off his guard. They gathered one night in December and attacked the enemy stronghold. They fought his guards, and finally found him in a hidden room. They cut off his head, paraded it through town, and brought it to this temple to wash before laying it at their master's grave.




The well where they washed the head

People still visit the graves to place incense. The smoke got so thick when we were there it was difficult to see the grave stones. There is also a museum showing a video of the ronin, and a hall with fairly life-size statues of each of them.

Ray places incense

( click here to read about our search for Godzilla and going to Studio Ghibli )

Day 7 in which we eat ninja style
Friday, December 4, 2009
This was the final day of classes and i did a watercolor demonstration. Coloring was the only thing that Bernard and I discussed prior to starting our classes. He did a day on computer coloring, and I would do it the traditional way. I colored the two pieces that were inked the previous day. As I worked, I talked about breaking into the business--networking, attending conventions, submitting to publishers, and portfolio reviews. The finished colored drawings were given to SCAD faculty Ray and Duncan.

Bernard and I later got together with the faculty to pick the 19 students who would go to TMS and Studio Ghibli. There were some great submissions, and it was a difficult choice. Duncan drew up neat Totoro cards for all the students saying either, "Let's Go!" or "Sorry." I'm still waiting for mine.


Bernard Chang and me at the Imperial Palace
( click here to see cemetery and robots )

Japan Days 5-6
Wednesday
In class we finished up story and thumbnails, and went on to pencilling and lettering. Before class though, Ray made an announcement. I had received an invitation to visit TMS's Telecom Animation Studio and Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. Both studios do not usually give tours, especially not to students, but I had managed to get a group of 24 invited. The problem was that there were almost 50 of us, so almost half the group would be excluded. The SCAD faculty came up with a contest. We would be going to the Tokyo Edo Museum today and, anyone who wanted to go on the studio tour, could turn in a single sketch, drawing, strip or painting. Bernard and I, with the instructors' advice would chose the 19 students who would accompany us.



The Tokyo-Edo Museum shows life in and around Edo, as the capital was formerly named, from the 17th to the early 20th century. It has artifacts, dioramas, displays, and interactive activities. I was most interested in the early Edo period, as that is the time period that Usagi takes place. Besides our SCAD students, there were local elementary groups all wearing matching hats or bandanas.





( click here to read more )

Day 3-November 30

This was Monday, and our first day of classes. I gave a brief description of what I do and how I do it. I will be focusing on the different aspects of cartooning in the following days. I am not a teacher, but I do bring 30 years of being a freelance artist, 25 of them in the comic book field. I write, pencil, letter, ink, and, in some cases, color my work--and I do it all the old fashion way with paper, pencil, an Aames lettering guide, pen, and watercolors. I also own and license my own character, and have negotiated a few contracts.



After the two 1-hour classes, we met in front of the hotel, and metroed over to Asakusa. Senso Jingo, the big Buddhist temple, is there. The main hall was being renovated and covered with canvas, but it is still open. The walk leading from the entrance to the hall is a gauntlet of shops selling food, souvenirs, religious items, and traditional crafts. You could get freshly grilled mochi dango or Barack Obama masks. At the start of the walk is a portal with a huge paper lantern.






With SCAD instructor, Ray Goto

( click here to read more about Asakusa, and about Akihabara and Disney Sea. )

This showed up on AC's message boards:

Hello from Toronto. I am researcher for a television series about Fandom created for the SPACE Channel here in Canada. We're doing an episode on Furries and I'm looking for a few passionate people in the community to participate as interview subjects. I am posting here because I am hoping to connect specifically with those planning to attend AC in 2010.

I've done enough research so far to know there is a reluctance to speak with media -- and I understand why. All I can tell you is that our programme is about a celebration of fandom. Each episode will profile 2 or 3 fans who will take us into this world. We will travel to where you live and spend time getting to know you and are just as interested in your life outside of any fursuit as in it. We are particularly interested in furries attending their first convention, especially if you have a specific quest (to meet a certain artist or long-distance friend, debut a new fursuit, give/attend a particular panel, etc.) but am keen to speak with anyone who would like to share their stories.

(There are also episodes on steampunk, otaku/cosplay, and others. For more information about the company, visit http://www.markhamstreetfilms.com, where you can watch parts of their award-winning series Driven By Vision and see how the directors deal with fringe communities.)

If you are outspoken about furrydom and would like to talk on camera about what this scene means, and what it means to you, please send me a private message with your contact info so we can arrange to talk by phone or email. Some of you I may have already spoken to last year when we were in development -- we are now going into production and so my search has revved up again.)

( And immediately I heard echoes of a similar email I received not long ago. )

Tokyo November 27-29
Day 1

Sharon and I flew out of Honolulu International on Delta/Northwest Flight 329. We had vacationed there, spending Thanksgiving with our families. It was a nine hour flight, but we crossed the international dateline, so we left Friday morning and arrived at Narita Airport early Saturday afternoon. Many of the Japanese passengers wore gauze face masks on the plane. We would see a lot more of them during the two weeks we would be in Japan.

We touched down a little past one PM, about a half hour ahead of schedule. It was the smoothest landing I had ever experienced. Passport control was very fast, but it took awhile for our bags to arrive.

Entering the lobby, we saw no one waiting for us, so went downstairs to the train station and the Japan Rail Pass office. We turned in our vouchers for passes, told the agent when we wanted our 7-day window to begin, and were able to make reservations for most of our rail travel.

We went back to the lobby, where we found Ray Goto, Dove, Jacques, and David Duncan, faculty members from the Savannah College of Art and Design. We were in Japan because I had been invited as a traveling artist to a student group from SCAD. Bernard Chang was the other artist. Basically, we would teach 2 1-hour classes for 5 mornings. The afternoons could be spent sightseeing with the group, or on our own. We would spend 9 days with SCAD, then 5 days on our own. The last time we were in Japan was about 11 years ago, when we were guests of Osamu Tezuka Studios.

I exchanged dollars for yen at the airport, as they had a much better exchange rate than in the city. Even so, it was $1 for about 83 yen. The last time a dollar bought us 130 yen.

Dove escorted us to Tokyo Station on the limosine bus, and we walked the kilometer or so to the Mercure Hotel Ginza. I've stayed in Mercure hotels in Europe, and it is a very nice business hotel chain. This one had some very nice Japanese touches, including slippers, a yukata, and a neat bathroom.


The 7 story Itoya Art Store is a couple of blocks away, and I picked up a couple of brushes and a small watercolor set and a few things I had not seen in the US.

We met the faculty and Bernard (who flew in later that day), and the 8 of us went out to dinner. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant, as the Japanese restaurant upstairs could not accommodate us. The food was delicious.

( click here to read more with sketches and photos )

I was musing on the idea of Post Con Depression of late. While I was waiting for my shuttle to take me to the airport down in Australia I went for a little walk out in the streets of Melbourne. It was Monday morning. There were businessmen in suits hurrying along, talking on cel phones. People hailing taxis. Stores opening up for the day. Crowds queuing up for the bus to take them to work. It struck me as all so spectacularly mundane after such a raucous and whacky weekend.

That's when I realized where PCD comes from. It is when we wake up to a dreary day after a particularly enthralling dream.

I am rather late in posting, and I can't say much else than the con totally rocked. Of course, that's like saying "Winter is cold" or "plants produce oxygen." Midwest Furfest always rocks.

My ears have detected a rumor, though, that I did not have fun at Furfest. Some people speculated that the prohibition on open containers of alcohol spoiled my good time; this, of course, is false. Others speculated that I was angry at 2_gryphon for hitting me in the face with a pie. Ridiculous! I do not get angry...I do, however, get even. Oh, yes. The gryphon will never see it coming.

So why such rumors, then?

I was told this evening that some people got the impression that I was angry or otherwise distressed, and they assumed that it had something to do with the convention. That itself cannot be further from the truth. It was simply a matter of some annoying distractions that have been weighing on my mind, and I suppose I let them get the best of me. Hardly the hallmark of a good entertainer. I hope that I did not upset anyone at Furfest, and am mortified to have given the organizers the impression that I had anything other than a totally outstanding time in their company.