Japanese Male Cheerleaders seen as masculine

I found it interesting how different things can be in two cultures.  When one thinks of cheerleaders in the U.S.A., we associate the stereotypical popular female in high school.  Kind of a symbol of popularity and femininity.  

Although this kind of cheerleader also exists in Japan as it modernized and adopted more Western cultural practices, its traditional Ouendan (???) style of cheer leading is held by men and they were seen as masculine and cool.  

Here is video of them at work.  It usually involves shouting to a drum beat and intricate hand movements. 

                           

I also included this stark comparison within the "Nihontown" illustration.

Also filed under "Works in Progress" because this is the story behind the image.

Lomography in Japan Part 1

Photography is something I've always had fun doing.  I figured if I was already going to be stereotyped as one of those Japanese 'toursits' who shoot pictures I might as well try to learn.  But with that logic I should know Karate too but lets just say I'm lazy.  

But seriously, photography is not only fun but its useful in general.  You can record your life happenings, use it as reference for your art, and in my line of work use it as a starting reference for creating environments for video games.  

So my soft spot for cameras led me to buy a Lomography Horizon Perfekt.  I'm a sucker for these things and I'll admit it was an impulse buy, but a very rewarding one at that.  

more pics after the jump...

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Blue C Sushi @ SouthCenter soft opening

I was fortunate to be able to make this mural for Blue C Sushi last summer so I'll post the pics of the soft opening:

I've been waiting for a good Kaiten Sushi restaurant (conveyor belt sushi) in the Seattle area.  If you're a long time like myself you'll know you've been putting up with Marinpolis for a long time.  I've been to Marinpolis many times myself but it was never to me a place I'd go for Sushi.  If you've never been they have a Blue C Sushi in Freemont, University District, SouthCenter, ...and coming soon to Bellevue!

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Qee design

 I entered into a contest to design a Qee a couple years ago, so I thought I'd show the pictures of my first attempt ever to design a vinyl figure.  Well...just paint a vinyl figure. 

Artists generally like to dabble in many things creative, and this was another opportunity for me to try something new.

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-enfu blurb:

Enfu is a sushi & hamburger eatin' samurai cowboy.

He grew up watching Dragon Ball & G.I. Joe, playing jan-ken-pon & rock paper scissors, and collecting Bikkuriman & Garbage Pail Kids.
Enfu is a bilingual Japanese American Nisei, his illustrations, blog, & comic, reflect this identity exploration. 

 

Here is a little help getting around my site.

 

The comic portion of Enfu is my collection of webcomics I make for fun & for your enjoyment.

Its a bilingual comic, not a translation.  Same comic for two different (or same) audience. 

2 comics listed per page, one in English, one in Japanese.

These comics appear in print in Ibuki Magazine.

 

The blog portion of Enfu is broken down into 3 categories:

1.  Opinion-my critical views on both Japanese & American cultures (east vs west).

2.  Design Inspirations-things that spur me to create.

3.  Works in Progress- showing the process in which I create my own pieces.

 

The catalogue is enfu's online store:

1.  Poster-open edition poster quality prints, more affordable than the limited edition versions.

2.  Silkscreen-Most of which are limited editions.

3.  Mixed Media-includes Giclees, canvas prints, prints on bamboo veneer etc...

 

I offer most of my poster prints, giclees, and silkscreens online, but if you want my canvas prints go through Kobo.

Enjoy!

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