Has anyone else been on the East Side of the JR Shinjuku station? Lumine has this incredibly obscene robot with a giant, bulging crotch. I love how there are always people snapping photos. I am unclear what the commercial goal of this display is, but it is certainly obscene.
Notice in the reflection, below, this new lamb-inspired fall fashion: matching white furry vest and leg warmers. Nice!
Thanks, Tokyo Matt, for showing me this commercial spectacle.
Tokyo Moe 
OMG I was there today and did not see that. I have to go back tomorrow to pick up my phone so I will make sure i see it this time.
That robot is from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. I was a fan of it back in the 90’s. I guess it’s still popular now? But, uh, I never noticed the crotch until you so kindly pointed it out, haha.
Wow. I know that Evangelion is very famous. But this is *obscene*. Love it!
Yeah, they’re doing some kind of re-make/new movie/thing soon, which is why they’ve got the display up now.
Hi Jared, I recently found your blog and have been reading through the old posts. Sorry to leave a totally off-topic comment, but I thought you might be interested in this. A girl who lives in Japan posted on a private forum I frequent, saying that she wants to visit a BL bar in Akihabara that someone handed her a flyer for: http://www.miraclejump.com, but she doesn’t want to go alone.
I had no idea that there was such a thing! The only other similar thing I’ve seen was staffed by women dressed as men. In this place the staff are all fudanshi (guys who just like playing BL games or reading BL manga for whatever reason), and they do fanservicey things for the customers. Some of them are gay but not all of them. You can see tons of cute pictures of the staff if you click on “Blog” from the main page; I like Taichi (the one with facial hair).
It seems basically like a host club, except that the girls don’t go there to be flirted with, they go there to talk to guys about their favorite BL manga authors and things like that (plus the fanservice). It only just opened in May, and it’s the first of its kind, so I’m wondering if it’ll be successful and other places like it will open as well. I hope so, since it seems less sleazy than a host club and yet much more fun than a butler cafe.
Anyway, do you (or anyone else who reads this) know of someone who would like to go with her? Preferably someone with a blog that I can send her to. I can’t link to the post she made since it’s a members-only forum. I’m not familiar with many blogs by people who live in Japan, and the ones I do know definitely would not be interested in this type of thing. I hope that someone at the forum lives in Japan and will go with her, but just in case I thought I would try looking for someone.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention it, but apparently guys are also welcome there. The site says it doesn’t matter if you’re a fujoshi or a fudanshi, and one of the blog posts said they had been getting inquiries from men about whether or not it was ok to visit, and that the answer was definitely yes.
Thanks, Ti, for the reference to Miracle Jump BL cafe. I am sure many of my readers will be eager to go. Please refer your friend to my blog. If asked, I would certainly visit!
Ok, thanks, I will! By the way, it’s not a cafe, it’s a bar.
Speaking of spandex clad nether regions…have you seen the new Team FedEx posters and ads on the Chuo? Apparently there is a FedEx Team Member action figure available. He is spray painted blue/purple and the crotch is also oddly bulging…kowai!
Japan does seem to cater better towards a female (or feminine) clientele, no?!
This will sound as geeky as it can but, first of all, an EVA is not a robot! (see the series dam it!!*mad*) This EVA is a clone of Adam, an angle, with a gigantic human shape, from which all humanity was spawned. Having said that, it *kinda* makes sense, since Adam is, essentially a human with 30 meters ~ muhahahah!
Alas, I’d recommend everyone to see the new movies (I know seeing an series is more tiresome):
– Evangelion1.1 You are [not] alone
– Evangelion2.2 You can [not] advance
Even if only for the visual awesomeness of it 😀