GIANT ROBOT - Issue 11
(June 05, 1998)
Japan is a trip. On the surface it looks like any other progressive 20th Century country. It has an efficient public transportation system. It's city streets are clean, sidewalks are full of well dressed salary people walking with conviction, and everyone is so polite one almost feels like punching someone in the face just to see what happens.
On closer inspection, however, things begin to get strange. The entire country is obsessed. Every pop-cultural item is fetishized into sanctitude. Everyone has a fetish be it with cartoon heroes, pencil boxes, Photo Club machines, school girls in uniform, or tiny electronic communication gadgetry.
Cruising the streets it's nearly impossible to stop asking the question: why? Why is an office girl in a Prada business suit carrying her stuff in a cartoon infested plastic backpack? Why do the guys wear calf length dress pants? Why all the uniforms, and Love Motels, and beer vending machines, and self-heating cans of Sake?
Japan is a semioticians wonderland and Giant Robot is the perfect guide. Edited by Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, Giant Robot is technically a 'zine, however, it's slick. Each issue is packed full of cool things Asian. I picked up issue 11 for a story titled The Kogal Thing about Japan's obsession with school girls in uniform. But issue 11 also features a story on 70s Jumbo Machinder robots, a profile on 70s martial arts actor Jim Kelly, an interview with Shannon Lee (Bruce's Daughter), Board Aid 5 coverage, and a short profile with Eric Koston.
According to Nakamura, the magazine was created to reflect he and Martin Wong's interests. "These range from skateboarding, sumo wrestling, Hong Kong films, Ultraman, old and new TV, masked wrestling, Asian and Asian American history, exploring places, computers, cooking, and more," he says on the Giant Robot website. "The sky is the limit on our interests."
If you've ever been into Bruce Lee, collecting action figures, or had a thing for Asian girls (like they guys from Hook Ups Shoes), then you really should check out Giant Robot. Of course, if you're into this stuff then you already know.
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