Forum - View topicAnswerman - Is California The Otaku Promised Land?
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Velshtein
Posts: 72 |
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Contrary to your prejudiced and inflammatory remarks, there are actually plenty of anime fans in regions like the South and the bible belt who would no doubt love a local anime shop. |
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#855981
Posts: 4 |
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I've been living in LA for several years now, and have visited just about every store in Little Tokyo, and make frequent trips to the Anime Jungle store in the shopping mall. Also, I'm a flight attendant for a major airline, so I also make frequent trips to Tokyo and Osaka on my off days (usually every other month) to indulge in my anime enthusiasm. Having experienced both the LA culture of anime and having spent many days in Akihabara, Tokyo, I can say without a shred of doubt that the true Otaku Promised Land lies in Japan. As of now, LA cannot even begin to compete with the Otaku culture of Akiba. Anime Jungle in LA is a fantastic collection of otaku stores and they always have great merchandise for sale, probably better than you can find anywhere else in the USA. However 2 stores does not begin to compare with the 6 blocks of endless stores competing with one another for prices and customers. Not to mention the niche stores dedicated strictly to a single anime. The Gundam Cafe, The Love Live store, etc. to name a few.
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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True. They could build way more houses...then again, southern California's suburban sprawl is already really, really bad.
On Saturdays, I often don't feel like getting up early enough to get there before it starts, but I'll take your word for it.
Yeah, I soon learned that to deal with those maniac drivers, the best thing to do is just to let them have their way. If you let them have their fun or pride or whatever, they'll leave you alone. It's the safest way to deal with them. Same goes for any sort of lane change: I'll slow down and let them pass in front because more often than not, the driver in the other lane will speed up if you try to get in front of them, but if you slow down, they'll gladly let you take the space behind them.
Sounds a lot like the southern areas of the San Francisco Bay Area: They expect you to keep pace with them. Considering that one of my rulesof thumb is to drive at around the same speeds as the other motorists around me, it must have been the Comic-Con crowd. |
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omiya
Posts: 1834 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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I've mainly shopped in Akihabara and Nakano Broadway for used items, and used the odd Tower Records / Melon Books / Toranoana / HMV for other items (and haven't yet visited stores in Ikebukero, Tokyo or in the Osaka area). A pleasant surprise in November 2014 before the Animax Musix 2014 Yokohama concert was a Korean restaurant opening across the road from Yokohama Arena, inviting me in and putting on a GranRodeo DVD while I had my lunch there. |
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nobahn
Subscriber
Posts: 5124 |
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That's just crazy! |
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Gilles Poitras
Posts: 476 Location: Oakland California |
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They have far more than that, including a massive selection of posters. Looking for Lupin III, Kimagure Orange Road, Urusei Yatsura, Patlabor, etc? They are the place to visit. |
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Gilles Poitras
Posts: 476 Location: Oakland California |
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There is another factor that did not get mentioned. Over the air subtitled Japanese TV in LA and the SF Bay Area.
I don't know about the LA area but in the Bay Area you can only get the full programming, 2 hours a week is on cable, via broadcast. The stations are: KXLA http://www.kxlatv.com Tokyo TV http://www.ttvusa.com/english.php |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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You do probably want to limit sprawl, especially if you want to have a useful public transportation system. But there are ways to increase the housing stock without increasing sprawl. It all depends on how committed one is to detached single family units. |
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Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
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CandisWhite
Posts: 282 |
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I'll give you fundamentalists, of any religious stripe, because they are rigid (and often nuts) by definition but, as someone who lives in the heart of redneck country where most opportunities, but not all, come from blue collar industries (which, BTW, are not 100% populated with high school dropouts; There are universities dedicated to trades), I feel that I must defend my countrymen. There's a difference between not having a large enough concentration of fans to support a dedicated district of popular shops and between people not being easily able to find merchandise or stores that carry merchandise outright not being welcomed by the local populace. The biggest city I live close to is Edmonton (Alberta, Canada). You can find anime, and manga, pretty much anywhere in the city; Kitschy shops, found everywhere, carry merchandise. People don't buy things and stuff them into "appropriate" bags or discuss things in hushed whispers: People read manga on the train; A shop, which carries piercings of all kinds, off-beat clothing, and, of course, anime merch, and is more sophisticated than a Spencer's, is located in a mall next to a Payless and near an entrance to The Bay (Oh, and we've also got a Spencer's at that same mall). I would, also, point out that every summer the city is busy each week putting on one festival or another from street performers to a cultural fest to a local artists' walk; Summer's pretty darn fun, 'round here: It would be weird to meet someone put off by that. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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^Considering that they say in regards to the US, I don't think they are attacking your countrymen in Canada. And Edmonton has a higher percentage of minorities than Canada as a whole, so relatively speaking it is not all that whitebread either. Alberta as a whole has about the same percent minorities as Canada as a whole and only two provinces have a higher percentage (Ontario and British Colombia). So even looking at the province level, where you live isn't that whitebread (relative to Canada). Aside from your community being blue collar, they aren't talking about your countrymen at all.
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Heishi
Posts: 1328 |
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As much I would love to visit California, I myself am not much of a travel guy, so...
As for the whole Bible Belt thing, look I happen to live in one of these Bible Belt states but that doesn't mean we automatically despise anime. Hell, there are at least 3 anime conventions from where I live and there are plenty of anime fans that I know and even went to school with. I used to be part of an afterschool manga club, too. Good times. |
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TsukasaHiiragi
Posts: 179 |
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For anyone in the Northeast who might feel left out, take a look at Boston for an alternative. Its got alot of Japanese stores, restaurants and even two stores dedicated to selling otaku goods!! I have purchased probably $500+ worth of figures and plushies from Anime Zakka in Boston over the years lol!
In fact, I had my very first Taiyaki in Boston a few years ago! |
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CandisWhite
Posts: 282 |
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The commenter was listing some broad stereotypes, stereotypes which we ARE painted with time and again: When the NDP was voted in, several newspaper writers, particularly the ones down east, felt that Alberta had stopped dragging its knuckles and was finally getting indoor plumbing; People seem to love utterly ignoring that we are a bastion for immigrants, have world-class universities and hospitals, and have an artistic community that not only extends beyond Hollywood movie screenings and Beyoncé selling out arenas (though we don't turn hipster noses up at those) but that is openly welcome and supported. And this isn't achieved by shunning our cowboy & farming roots. Yes, major cities, here, have a wide spread of colours and faiths but many ( I don't have enough experience to say 'the majority of') small towns are still mostly white and Christian; This doesn't mean that no one else lives there or is unhappy there but that, technically, we are still a pretty white area. And nobody's monocle pops at the idea of something as simple as being interested in music or animation or comics from other parts of the world. I wasn't offended by the person's comments but I felt it was necessary to point out that they had pulled out a stereotype older and staler than a cracker left on the sidewalk, and which is about as appealing: I'm sure there are several American states full of citizens tired of being painted with the same brush as a few nut bars. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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Admittedly while Alberta is far from the whitest part of Canada, in absolute terms, yeah, it's still mostly white. By no means was I defending the comments made or the ideas behind them. My original intent was merely to point out the qualification that it pertained to the US only, but then I found your use of a city as evidence of a whitebread area having plenty of anime amenities and little if any judgment of those in our niche wanting, as I judged that Edmonton was probably relatively diverse as cities are wont, which led me to examine how whitebread Edmonton and Alberta are. Also, I'm not sure the people he was referring to have any monocles to pop (I know what you meant). |
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