Japan 日本 Animation and Gaming

Basic Knowledge Japan is an island country in eastern Asia. It lies east of the Sea of Japan. The characters or symbols that make up the name of Japan mean “Sun Origin”, which is why Japan is sometimes known as Land of the rising sun. Japan has over three thousand islands making it an archipelago. The four largest islands located in Japan are Shikoku, Kyushu, Hokkaido and Honshu. All together accounting for 97% of land area for Japan.

Most of the Islands of Japan are mountainous and, or volcanic. The highest peak, Mount Fuji for example, is a volcano. 128 million people reside in Japan, taking up a tenth of the world population. The capital of Japan, and also, largest city is Tokyo. The national language is Japanese, but often some know other languages, even English, as it is compulsory in school to learn. The currency in Japan is known as yen (¥) internationally but, due to the language of Japan, the ‘Y’ is cut out and pronounced as ‘en’ with the symbol 円 instead. As of March 17th, $1 AU converts to ¥64.

Technology Despite what is seen now, with technology coming from Japan, at one point in history, before the Meiji era, Japan was one of the least technological countries of the world, behind in most things, especially in medical arts, and during the Meiji era, a lot of people started studying abroad for this reason and Japan soon became the most developed nation in Asia, and the second largest economy in the world, next to the USA. And therefore, now Japan is one of the leading nations in scientific research, specifically, in technology, machinery, and biomedical researching.

Travel High Speed Shinkansen or ‘Bullet Train’ is one of the more common forms of transportation in Japan, even though cars, used and new are inexpensive. Planes are also a common form of transport in Japan, as exactly 173 airports reside there making it easy to pretty much go anywhere, quick.

Japanese Animation “Anime”, taken from the first half of the Japanese pronunciation of ‘animation’ is most commonly what Japanese Animation is called. Anime began at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers began to experiment with animation techniques, also done by France, Germany, the USA and Russia.

Anime information The oldest known anime in existence was screened in 1917, a two minute clip of a samurai testing a new sword on his opponent, only to be defeated. By the 1930s, animation became an alternative format of storytelling to the underdeveloped live-action industry in Japan.

Manga and Anime 1970’s saw the surge of growth in manga, cartoons, often later animated into ‘anime’. Which inspired genres and the fundamental tiers of anime today. Giant robots are the most common form of anime to start. Gaogaigar, Gundam, Macross, being only some.

Current Anime The current long running anime at this point include the following: Naruto: Shippuuden One Piece Bleach Pokemon Yu-gi-oh

Live Action Anime Some anime aren’t just limited to animation and some are so popular they are produced in live action or even musicals. Some of these include Bleach, Prince of Tennis, and more known, Death Note live action.

Favorite Anime 1: Bleach Despite the strange name it entails, Bleach is not about washing detergent. Bleach is a well known Manga and Anime in Japan, even in America. The Manga is written by Noriaki Kubo, with the pet name Tite Kubo. The picture in the next slide is the front page of the first Manga of Bleach showing the main character Ichigo, which in japanese means Strawberry

Basic Bleach Info Bleach is a animation and Manga about Shinigami, or ‘Death Gods’ Each Shinigami has a Zanpakuto, a katana with each a personal name. All Zanpakutou have a special ability, some can drain the power of another, one can even double the weight of an opponent’s weapon every time it hits. In the background is Kira Izuru, with Wabisuke, which doubles the weight of anything it hits, which can stack up.

The Enemy of Bleach There are multiple enemies of Bleach, the most reccuring enemy is the Hollow, a creature of multiple sizes that eat wandering souls of dead humans, as well as Shinigami. There are multiple levels of Hollow, including the large hollow, Menos Grande, which is, as you can see in the background, larger than the large buildings.

Favorite Anime 2: Death Note Death note is no longer running although remains popular among many people in Japan, even in America due to the nature of the anime. The anime is about a high school student named Light Yagami who finds a note book called the Death note. The next screen is a picture of the anime, Death note.

Death note Info Death note is about, specifically, Light Yagami and a detective named L. Light finds a note book called the Death note. If you know the face, and the name of someone, their name can be written down and they will die from a heart attack. Not only this, it is possible to select how this person dies and when. In one example, Light writes that someone will die one week at a specific time, cutting his finger off, writing a suicide note with it, then hanging himself. He only targets criminals, usually.

Characters of Death note Light Yagami, holder of the first death note Ryuk, a death god, original holder of Light’s death note Misa, Light’s girlfriend, and holder of a second death note L, a detective hunting down Light.

The End That’s it about Japan and Animation, not much else to say.