"New People" Mezzanine Floor
by Evan Miller,
Mezzanine Floor: New People Store
Our last stop on our tour of New People is on the Mezzanine level between floors one and two, which is home to the official store for the entire building. It's hard to put the shop into words; I think the most apt description would be to call it an "emporium" devoted to anything kitschy and made in Japan.
Stuff like this Detroit Metal City-themed bear...creature... thing. Yes, nothing gentle about this guy. He's not here to look cute, but to rock your face off. Perhaps he would have been a better cultural emmisary than Hello Kitty. Besides, I'm willing to bet he'd be more willing to talk at the podium.
Much like the United States, Japan has produced its fair share of silly iPod accessories, some of which can be purchased at the New People store. This one is a monoaural speaker that resembles some kind of musical weather balloon. Or perhaps they were going for the tetherball look on this one.
The store also has a small music section, complete with music magazines and CDs. The CD section seems to be devoted mostly to Japanese electronica and experimental sounds, which isn't a bad thing - except that out of all the genres of Japanese popular music, that's the one that's the easiest to get domestically. In fact, many of the imported CDs being sold at the store (Cornelius, Towa Tei, etc.) already have domestic releases that are available for a fraction of the import CD asking price of 32 dollars. I'm a little shocked that New People is trying to sell the imported versions, but hey - it's still good music.
Finally, a few Random House furnishings were also for sale in the store. I'm not sure I have a use for a tall...fog...thing. Well, maybe for Halloween or if I want my apartment to look like San Francisco in the morning.
A few more photos from the store are below, but I'm guessing you also want to check out the J-Pop Summit Festival, right? Yeah, I thought you might. You know where the link is.
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