NEW PEOPLE: JUNKO MIZUNO SIGNING

Follow up news to my Friday post about the Junko Mizuno signing at NEW PEOPLE in San Francisco. I headed over yesterday to make a second visit to the shop, meet Junko and get my Disneyland autograph book signed.

Junko was signing in support of her new manga from Last Gasp, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU, Volume 1. Lots of local manga folks were in attendance, including Colin from Last Gasp, Otaku USA editor-in-chief Patrick Macias (whose jaPRESS did the English adaptation of PELU), About.com's Deb Aoki, and some editorial Viz friends.


Junko Mizuno recently moved to San Francisco earlier this year. She mentioned hating the summer weather in Tokyo and that SF was a way more comfortable place to work on art and comics.


A number of people lined up, bringing comics, toys and even a Junko Mizuno-designed skateboard deck for her to sign.


Deb Aoki brought Junko a bunch of presents :)

I mentioned this a little in my previous posts about NEW PEOPLE, but the shop is not the Viz/Shogakukan-centric store I expected. While they sell some Viz books (most notably, Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys and Pluto), they carry lots of other publisher's book-- both English and Japanese editions.



The shop is pretty snazzy and all, but the main thing I like is having NEW PEOPLE as a place to host events, readings, and signings like this. Previously, I guess the Cartoon Art Museum would suffice, but it's great having a manga-centric gallery and store for when creators come into town.


NEW PEOPLE features two Junko-designed t-shirts, in addition to a new Yokoyama shirts and other designs.


And finally, the latest addition to the autograph book :)

UPDATE: About.com's Deb Aoki has now published her own signing scene report, along with an interview with Junko.

JUNKO MIZUNO SIGNING TOMORROW AT NEW PEOPLE

For Bay Area folks, quick announcement that Junko Mizuno will be signing copies of her new manga, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1 , at the NEW PEOPLE Store in San Francisco. The signing was put together by publisher Last Gasp and will take place tomorrow (8/22/09) at 2pm.


[You can check out a preview and buy it on the Last Gasp site.]

HERE ARE THE DETAILS FROM LAST GASP:

Junko Mizuno will be signing her new book, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1, on Saturday, August 22 at 2pm at NEW PEOPLE The Store in San Francisco’s Japan Town.

PELU is a cute extraterrestrial critter who travels to Earth to find happiness in the form of a bride. Prepare to be astounded as the search for fulfillment takes him from the surface of his fantastic alien planet to an off-kilter modern Japan inhabited by aspiring enka singers, sassy girls, paint-sniffing bad boys, sushi chefs with unspeakable secrets and the body-switching students of a mysterious high school.

NEW PEOPLE
1746 Post St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Saturday, August 22, 2pm

Praise for Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU:
…Fluffy Gigolo Pelu suggests that her work is only veering into more vividly mischievous territory. It offers a look at an exercise that is comparable to taking the broken crumbs from the bottom of a bag of candy and trying to melt them into a lollipop – bright and supposedly sweet, but deformed and foul smelling where it’s burned. Pelu’s stories of alienation, unconventional pregnancy and huffing are overtly cracked, but the view that it presents of less incendiary subjects like office work dreariness and career dissatisfaction similarly fit into its scheme of candy colored unhappiness.

…noting the diversity of Earth’s population, Pelu leaps into a magic mirror hoping to find someone like himself. His mad anti-trip-to-Oz whirlwind is captured in a montage of dreary meetings, lottery wins, and over eating – framed by a psychedelic expectoration of bubbles.
Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu features enough dire absurdity that it’ll force you to laugh.
– Scott Green, Ain’t It Cool News

Whether her stories titillate you or not, it’s hard to deny their unique place in the world of manga. Sans narrative, they’re vintage candy wrappers that you hold on to because you know you’re going to want to just look at them again sometime down the road. In that respect, maybe Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu is the lovelorn-tragedy-laced Laffy Taffy of the bunch.
…is there enough love on our cruel planet to include a vomit-green, bow-tie-wearing cotton ball like Pelu? Maybe the answer lies in volume two, but I’m digging the journey so far.
– Joseph Luster, Otaku USA

The book is filled with bizarre, disturbing, but utterly engaging adventures, like the chapter where Pelu’s friend the Space Hippo arrives on Earth, eats too many unfamiliar foods, and ends up vomiting an acid-like substance all over the town’s local poodle ranch.
– John Jakala, Robot 6

Here are some photos from a Junko Mizuno singing in Barcelona:

NEW PEOPLE OPENING & YUICHI YOKOYAMA

As mentioned in my previous post from Friday, the NEW PEOPLE center opened to the public on Saturday in San Francisco, accompanied by a street fair with 2-3 different stages hosting performances and signing/panel events. I spent most of my time stalking Yuichi Yokoyama, but took other pictures too. Here is my (photo-heavy) recap of the afternoon!

WELCOME TO NEW PEOPLE
NEW PEOPLE is officially open! The inside of the store is sleek, clean, and full of interesting goods from Japan... or so I heard! From the opening until the late afternoon, there was a non-stop line to get in to the building and check out the shops. I heard from folks that waited that it took over an hour in the sun to get in :( I opted to skip this, and am planning to visit the shop leisurely tomorrow afternoon on my day off.

That said, the store was constantly hopping and looked pretty slick from the outside.



Right by the entrance to the building, they had set up a stage for conducting interviews. Over the course of the morning and afternoon they interviewed Yoshitaka Amano, cast members and the producer of the 20th Century Boys film adaptations, and various gothic-lolita designers featured on the 2nd floor of NEW PEOPLE. Here is the head lady who runs the "BABY The Stars Shine Bright" label:


The apparel component of NEW PEOPLE is a welcome addition for San Francisco teenagers-- they get access to a subset of Japanese fashions that other Americans won't get. I'm expecting to see more lace and parasols very soon in the Bay Area. That said, the fashion show I saw showed off a lot of gimmicky and sorta cheap looking outfits. Oh well.

I WOULDN'T HAVE GUESSED
Down the way from the front of the NEW PEOPLE building were a bunch of tents/booths for local businesses, vendors, and the Asian Art Museum. On the other side of the main Peace Plaza area were local food vendors, selling shaved ice, onigiri, hot dogs and Beard Papa pastries.


ANONYMOUS was also out in force, giving out free hugs and dancing to a boombox.


4-chan people are not as fearsome (and younger) in person than expected.


This booth sold dozens of colorway block shirts, and offered custom color combos you could order and have sewn on demand.


Toto Washlet had a booth. The NEW PEOPLE folks said it's the first public building in the US with Toto toilets. The only other building in the US where I've seen the washlet in effect was at the Google offices. I wonder if they will catch on in the US?


Workers setting up the FRIEND banner for the 20th Century Boys film premiere event. The film is playing all week at Viz Cinema (in the basement of NEW PEOPLE), with the 2nd and 3rd films playing in subsequent weeks. Just read Volume 4 last night, holy shit the Friend logo is starting to terrify me when I see it. So good.

YUICHI YOKOYAMA LIVE PAINTING

I can't remember if I said this above, but the main highlight of the day was catching a live painting demonstration by geometric genius Yuichi Yokoyama (of Travel, New Engineering fame, duh). Apologies to the fainthearted or uninterested, here are like a million photos of Yokoyama at work:

[In this one you see the small flashcards he used to pre-plan the mural elements]









I also shot a short video of Yokoyama putting finishing touches on the last of the "faces":


MTV IGGY & ROCK GIRLS
In the Peace Plaza, MTV IGGY had a tent and were MC-ing the live acts and contents on the bandshell stage. MTV IGGY is a global news/music channel that (I believe) is predominantly online content and focuses on Asian and Asian-American artists. A cool dude I met through mutual friends named Woody Fu works for them, but I didn't see him around. Woody's is submitting a comic for Electric Ant #2, and also interviewed Jim Lee dressed up as Cyclops.



Girl rock group TsuShiMaMire played a long set, and got a good response from the crowd.


These same bands played a bigger show Sunday night at Yoshi's.


Merch table for the various bands.


All rock ladies, all the time.


A bunch of local girls got made-up and took part in a nerdy HARAJUKU KAWAII(???) fashion contest.


Hosted by MTV IGGY, the winner of the contest won a free round-trip flight to Tokyo courtesy of JAL. Pretty chill prize, no?

YUICHI YOKOYAMA SIGNED MY BOOK
Last thing before I got my pale ass out of the sun, I had the chance to meet Yuichi Yokoyama and get him to sign the Disneyland autograph book. There was a very short line to meet Yokoyama (4 people including me?) which sorta confirmed the general anonymity he enjoys/suffers among most J-pop/manga fans. I talked to him for all of 20 seconds, mostly me showing him my PictureBox bag and gushing about his work inarticulately. As our small group made its way to the signing table, others noticed and started lining up to meet the man as well.


For folks without books/things to sign, Viz was handing out rad/creepy paper masks of Yokoyama's designs. These same designs were all over the inside of NEW PEOPLE and the main part of much of the advertisements, volunteer t-shirts and motif for the center. Very cool, but I wondered how it was hooked up? I assume Seiji (Viz's president) is buddies with him :)


Yokoyama was not into my brush pen and silver sharpie. It is red & blue all the way.


Signing my book! His sketch was right after the Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Frank Santoro sketches I got at TCAF earlier this year.


FOR LIAN.

I again shot a really short video of Yokoyama in action.


Finally, after getting back home I here "model" the Yokoyama mask. It conveniently covered up my sunburned face:


Other folks are probably writing more representative posts of like, the actual inside of NEW PEOPLE, and the other events I skipped (Amano happenings, gothic lolita fashion show). The first (and biggest) comes in from About.com's Deb Aoki (who was at NEW PEOPLE on Saturday from 8am to 1am). Check out her full write-up here.

UPDATE: Another great post, with lots of video tours, can be found over at ANIME VICE.

NEW PEOPLE ARRIVE ON EARTH

Tomorrow marks the opening of San Francisco's NEW PEOPLE experiment, a unique otaku-centric center in San Francisco's Japantown. After months of construction and planning, and what seems like a crazy flurry of finishing touches in the last few weeks specifically, NEW PEOPLE is opening its doors.



NEW PEOPLE is a shopping/community hang-out, planned and sparked by Viz's president Seiji Horiguchi, and was funded with Shogakukan yen. To commemorate the opening, they're throwing a hell of a launch party-- with a whole day of artist appearances, signings, music, and street fair with local vendors. MTV IGGY and other print/web/tv media will also be in effect to cover the opening. Here are the highlights for me:

Yuichi Yokoyama live painting event!
Holy crap! The artist behind Travel, New Engineering, and other conceptual manga and paintings is making his inagurural American appearance for the NEW PEOPLE opening. He will be painting at the Buchanan Mall/Post intersection from 12:00 to 2:00pm, with a signing at the NEW PEOPLE store from 3:00 - 4:00pm. For other posts I've made about his work, follow the Yokoyama tag.

Here is a video from PictureBox/Comics Comics Mag blog of Yokoyama painting. I'm beyond stoked to potentially meet this guy and see him in action!


Signing with Yoshitaka Amano
I think high school Ryan would be more pssssssyched for this one, but it's still a super interesting choice of artist and I'm looking forward to seeing his paintings at the NEW PEOPLE gallery, Superfrog (more on that below). Amano events this weekend:
Panel Discussion welcoming Amano: 12:00PM
Autograph Session: 4:00PM -5:00PM

Finally, here is a full rundown of what is actually in the NEW PEOPLE WORLD building, from their press releases:



BASEMENT: VIZ Cinema
A 150 seat theater featuring contemporary and cult live action Japanse films, along with Viz anime and licensed films. The films premiering at the theater launch will be the 20th Century Boys live action adaptation trilogy. They are also planning to show the Death Note, L, and Nana flicks in the near future too.





1ST FLOOR: Coffee Shop & Food
Just what every otaku needs: organic coffee and Japanese delicacies. Not sure if these are stands, or a space to hang out and chill. Could be a great spot for hosting drawing meet-ups, etc.

MEZZANINE: NEW PEOPLE: The Store
Not sure what this exactly will feature, but it sounds like a curated collection of gadgets, trendy toys, shirts, manga, imported Japanese books, housewares, other stuff. Featured items on the site include signed copies of Travel by Yokoyama, and the new Cornelius CD. I had assumed this would be a Viz-only shop originally, but that definitely does not seem to be the case. Interesting.



2ND FLOOR: CLOTHES
6-7 different Japanese boutiques, with a focus on kawaii clothes and gothic-lolita. I guess we can expect to see even more San Francisco teenagers rocking arm-warmers, eye patches, and lace in the very near future.





3RD FLOOR: Superfrog Gallery
Very cool, a small gallery featuring contemporary, pop/manga artists from Japan. The kick-off exhibit is new paintings [DEVA LOKA USA] by Yoshitaka Amano. I haven't heard any other artists on the list, but I am gonna try to find out this weekend. Who is in charge of the planning, I wonder? Yes, I'm thinking a Suehiro Maruo gallery showing next year to coincide with the release of Panorama Island.

I'm excited to see if this thing catches on and is viable after the initial opening. If done well and offering interesting shows/shopping, it could be a great place for otaku to hang out in San Francisco. In an interview with the SF Chronicle, Seiji from Viz said, "...If it works, we will bring it to other cities. New York, Paris, London. And I believe we will succeed. Because this generation of new people -- they are curious, they're experimental, they're open to the rest of the world, and to unfamiliar ideas. So doing this makes sense."

For a full listing of NEW PEOPLE happenings, check out this event guide here [PDF]. They also mentioned related events, like a Japan Girls Rock show at nearby Yoshi's, featuring Bacteria Vacuum, noodles, and TsuShiMaMiRe.

Maybe I'll see some of you Bay Area folks there tomorrow, and full report and pictures coming on Sunday for everyone else!