{"id":11591,"date":"2012-09-14T01:38:32","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T01:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=11591"},"modified":"2013-09-19T16:54:57","modified_gmt":"2013-09-19T16:54:57","slug":"2013tourphotos4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/2013tourphotos4\/","title":{"rendered":"Yamatour 2013 Photojournal 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Meiji University had just opened a new exhibit named “SF and Future Visions,” which I saw with my pal Tsuneo Tateno. No photos were allowed, so all I can tell you is it was the greatest thing ever created by human beings. I will never be the same after seeing it. You’ll just have to take my word on this one.
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To my utter surprise, Meiji also had an exhibit space devoted to writer\/lyricist Yu Aku, who wrote the words to all the Yamato<\/em> songs of the original saga. Couldn’t take the camera inside, but there were all sorts of artifacts inside including a rebuilt version of his actual writing room.
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A wall of Aku’s music on 45rpm singles. Everywhere I go, there’s Yamato<\/em>.<\/div>\n

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Apparently you need an engineering degree to make proper use of the toilets at Meiji University. Though I’m sure we agree that ALL toilets would benefit from a volume control.
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At left: The entryway to the Leiji Matsumoto exhibit in Wakayama. A TV in the corner continuously looped a speech he had given in this very room. At right: manga volumes and pages in the center display case.
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At left: a pristine collection of Matsumoto’s first published works as a teenager. At right: his more “mature” fare from the 60s.<\/div>\n

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At left: The Ueno Science and Nature Museum. That blue whale was a good sport, holding that pose all day long in the hot sun. At right: they had a magnificent hall of dinosaurs. Who cares if the occasional owl gets mounted there by mistake?
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One of the things I love about giant dinosaur skeletons is their rich, chocolate color. This T-Rex was, in fact, made entirely of chocolate. Note the word “was” in that sentence.
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Awesome.<\/div>\n

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Also awesome.<\/div>\n

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If I had to be a dinosaur, Ankylosaurus would be a good pick. You can’t run very fast, but you’re immune from all backbiting. At right: this Stego gets major props from me. How would YOU like to be preserved for all time with a big flap of fossilized skin hanging from YOUR neck?
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The Hall of Things That Would Swallow You Whole.<\/div>\n

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Left: no one was more surprised by their own extinction than “Bugeye” Bobasaurus. At right and below: fossilized Gamera.<\/div>\n

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Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Spooky Lighting.<\/div>\n

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Back to the modern world. At left: Yamashiro-ya toy store’s booth for the Yamato 2199<\/em> “stamp rally.” Here you’d get a card with space for two characters, Kodai and Yuki. You’d then rubber-stamp a Kodai and take your card over to Kinokuniya Bookstore to do the same with Yuki – then win a prize. At right: A whole case of WIN.
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At left: FOUR Yamato<\/em> Girl figures in one place! At right: another case – the bottom shelf contains a sketch by Yuria Misaki’s voice actress, Aya Uchida. To the left of that is a Space Wolf<\/em> model kit from Captain Harlock<\/em>. Despite the bitter standoff between properties, stores in Japan are only too happy to cross-promote them.
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One side of the Yamato 2199<\/em> Premium Shop aisle at Yamishiro-ya. The upper half is a gallery display of animation art. The lower half has various things for sale, including XL t-shirts that actually fit Americans!
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\nReturn to the travelogue<\/a> <\/p>\n

Continue to the next photojournal<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11591"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11816,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11591\/revisions\/11816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}