Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo (Paperback)

~ (Author), Tomohiro Machiyama (Author) "Sailor Saturn is in the Mandarake store singing anime theme songs..." (more)
Key Phrases: capsule toys, otaku culture, garage kits, Morning Musume, Bandai Museum, Toei Animation (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

""Cruising the Anime City is chock full of information both a newbie and a seasoned fan will find amazing ... a must-read for all those who intend to do serious work about anime." -- "HeroRealm.com

Product Description

If you're into anime (and manga), there's no place like Neo Tokyo. Here otaku dress-up cos-play style for real, 100,000+ fans attend cons to buy and trade, and anime soundtracks are performed in concert halls. Neo Tokyo is where anime has become both urban fashion and cultural zeitgeist, and this is its first street-smart guide in English. Featuring interviews with tastemakers, it covers studios, toys, museums, games, film "locations," music, plus where to hang and how to cruise. Four-color, with maps and index.

Patrick Macias, a specialist in Asian film and Japanese pop culture, is the author of TokyoScope.

Tomohiro Machiyama is a movie critic and journalist who writes and publishes in Japan. Both authors live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"Useful guide for pop-culture tourists, it's stil an enjoyable read even if you never visit Tokyo." -- Fortean Times

"The perfect accessory for geeks who've saved up enough for a plane ticket to Japan and a few hundred thousand yen of walking-around money." -- Wired

"Although not for the easily disturbed, for every other anime fan/dilettante with a desire to visit, Cruising the Anime City is fun, fun, fun!" -- Library Journal

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880656884
• ISBN-13: 978-1880656884
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #609,540 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Planning a trip to Tokyo or not, you'll love this book., January 25, 2005

By	Shi-takesan (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

If I did some day get the chance to go to Tokyo, I don't think this would be the only book that I would bring, as it most likely wouldn't make for a very good stand alone travel guide.

HOWEVER, it does detail many of the essential otaku-points-of-intrest in the anime city. If anime, manga, model building, idols, cosplaying or Tokyo are subjects that grab your attention, then you won't be dissapointed.

I found this book to be exceptionally well written with detailed pictures and very informative, whether your going to Tokyo or not. In fact, It made me want to call my travel agent and start learning Japanese. Kudos to Patric Macias (and the other guy too).

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Geeks Guide to Tokyo, April 11, 2005

By	R. Brown "JapanVisitor.com" (Kyoto) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the geek's guide to Tokyo-and much more. It is guidebook, social commentary, and a peak into the latest trends on the otaku scene. And all before they hit the shores of the West. Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo covers the studios that produce anime; includes interviews with the movers and shakers in the industry; discusses the toys, museums, film "locations," music, etc.; and has detailed maps of that otaku mecca Akihabara.
Macias has written a comprehensive guide that does not speak down to beginners. It is written in a witty style and handsomely illustrated. Then, in a piece de resistance, there is the Great Gathering, the Mythical Beast of the Otaku Calendar: the annual Comiket 65. This is the yearly "Comic Market," a three-day festival held at Tokyo Big Site. All the sub-cultures are featured here; it is geek nirvana. Macias covers this with élan and humor. For those thinking of making the trip to Comiket or Tokyo itself-or just read about this fascinating world from home-this is the indispensable guide.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Written especially for hardcore Japanese animation fans, March 11, 2005

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Cruising The Anime City: An Otaku Guide To Neo Tokyo is a guide written especially for hardcore Japanese animation fans, video game players, and the like who want to know what to expect if they visit Tokyo in person - or who just want to armchair travel and imagine shopping! A street-smart guide in plain English, brightly illustrated with full-color photographs throughout, Cruising The Anime City discusses where to get the best deals on Japanese comics, where to find collectible toys, how to avoid cell-phone scams when crusing games from pachinko to porno and everything in between, a guide to finding memorabilia relating to one's favorite idol singer, and much more. Though basic travel information (lodging concerns, roadmaps and the like) is deliberatetly left up to more traditional guides, Cruising The Anime City is a "must-have" for the collector who needs to know "the" hottest shopping spots in Tokyo!