by the fans for the fans

By BRUCE KENNEDY
Posted 8:00 AM 03/21/11

www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/no-fant...stry-edite/19883638/

Along with sushi and Toyota vehicles, one of the best-known Japanese exports is anime -- the Japanese term for animation.

The distinct anime style originated in post-war Japan – first in manga, the so-called graphic novels or comic books. But by the 1960's, anime television programs were being broadcast in North America, Australia and Europe -- shows like Astro Boy and Speed Racer. And today, as many parents know, anime programs like Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z -- along with their related merchandise -- have been hot items with children for years.

Anime Studios "At a Standstill"

Japan's recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor crises are taking their toll on the nation's population and industrial sector -- and Japanese anime, an industry that brings in an estimated $2.5 billion annually, has suffered as well.

"The whole thing is having a pretty significant effect right now," says Christopher Macdonald, CEO and publisher of Anime News Network. "70% of Japan's animation studios are in the suburbs of Tokyo, and those are . . . the areas being affected by the rolling blackouts. That means it's very hard for people to do work. They don't know when their electricity is going to be turned off for three to six hours; the offices start shaking every 15 minutes [from aftershocks]. For the most part, most of those studios are at a standstill when it comes to their animation work."

See full article from DailyFinance: srph.it/g8LI64


Macdonald says some popular anime programs may end up having shortened seasons in Japan due to the disaster, but a lot of that programming has already made its way to international markets. "At this time we don't foresee any production delays for our series," says Jane Lui, publicity and events manager for San Francisco-based VIZ Media -- the largest North American distributor of anime -- in an email. "That fact . . . of itself is a testament to the incredible work ethic of our partners in Japan."

See full article from DailyFinance: srph.it/g8LI64


That being said, the situation at the anime studios remains in crisis. "Our parent companies, Shogakukan, Shueisha, and ShoPro (all based in Tokyo) and the studios . . . are extremely supportive of their staff," says Lui, "many of whom may be searching for missing loved ones, or taking care of those displaced or affected by the disaster. It will take a while for normal day-to-day business to stabilize."

An Industry Already in Crisis

The disaster is just the latest setback for Japan's anime industry. While demand for anime is growing internationally, Japanese anime is being challenged by animation from other countries. A lot of the manually-intensive animation work by Japanese studios is also being outsourced to countries with cheaper labor costs like South Korea, China and Thailand.

"Production budgets have been slashed because of the economic slump, and young workers on the margins are bearing hard burdens," Hisako Sasaki, the head of anime studio Wish, recently told the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun. "Young workers have fewer chances to accumulate experience and improve their skills."

There's also an ongoing international slump in the sale of DVDs, anime and otherwise. Internet piracy of anime programs, meanwhile, is rampant -- with some of the more popular shows illegally available online with hours of their first broadcast in Japan.

Grueling Entry-Level Work

As an important cultural icon, the Japanese government is taking the anime crisis seriously. The nation's Agency for Cultural Affairs is providing nearly $500,000 in subsidies for a program where experienced animators collaborate with novices to educate the next generation on key anime techniques.

But there's a high burn-out rate among Japanese trying to break into anime. Employees at the bottom of the anime ladder are expected to do the grueling "in-between" work, and are paid by each cell or drawing they complete. "And even though they produce a lot of drawings every month, their salaries are pretty crappy," says Macdonald -- who estimates the average salary of an anime "in-betweener" runs from $8,000 to $18,000.

"The talent pool for creating new visionaries, new directors, is shrinking," he says. "Like most industries, the animation industry is shaped a bit like a pyramid. If the base shrinks, the top shrinks."

And there are now concerns the earthquake and tsunami could create a worse-case scenario for Japanese anime. With work at home interrupted by the disaster, Macdonald says, "some of the studios might decide we need to get this work done, so we're going to hire some more Korean studios to fill in temporarily. Once a season is off-shored for a couple of weeks, it's not coming back. And if you lose a complete season or two seasons of salary in Japan, these people are going to find work in other industries, higher paying industries, like video gaming."

See full article from DailyFinance: srph.it/g8LI64

Anime Site
Lesley Aeschliman
BellaOnline's Anime Editor

www.bellaonline.com/articles/art171079.asp


Effects of the Earthquake on the Anime Industry

On Friday, March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. in Japan, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake was centered off the east coast of Honshu, Japan. The earthquake triggered a tsunami wave that hit land and swept through the coastal cities near Sendai. The tsunami left a trail of damage and destruction in its wake, destroying homes and claiming lives. In addition, the earthquake and tsunami caused problems at some of Japan's nuclear plants, and had added nuclear threats to the issues already created by the earthquake and the tsunami.

As can be expected in this type of situation, these disasters have had an effect on the anime industry. The disaster caused anime-related events that were scheduled to take place in Japan to be cancelled. In addition, big events scheduled to take place later in March (Tokyo International Anime Fair 2011 and Anime Contents Expo 2011) to also be cancelled due to the disasters.

It was also reported that anime in Japan with disaster scenes faced changes after these events. A Pretty Cure film scheduled for release in Japan on March 19 had a tsunami scene removed since it was "reminiscent of the disaster." Anime channel AT-X cancelled reruns of the tenth episode of Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne--!! at the request of the rights holder, because the episode has a scene of characters being swept away by a giant wave. Animax replaced reruns of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, a series that recounts a hypothetical earthquake in Tokyo.

The earthquake and tsunami also caused delays for anime releases in Japan; this included delaying the debut of new series and the debut of new episodes for series already on the air, as well as delays for Japanese anime DVD releases.

The earthquake also claimed the life of an anime producer/animator from the anime industry. Anime News Network reported on March 18, 2011 that Hiroshi Kakoi was killed during the earthquake; according to their report, Mr. Kakoi's passing was confirmed with Jan Scott Frazier (a close friend of Mr. Kakoi), as well as by other anime industry members. Mr. Kakoi was a key animator for the first Macross anime series, as well as for the 1980s Astro Boy series. He also produced the The Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers, Again and the Moldiver OVA anime series, and also served as a production manager at Artland and at the anime studio AIC. Mr. Kakoi is survived by his wife, Kumiko.

Obviously, the earthquake and tsunami are affecting and disrupting the anime industry quite a bit in the short-term. Hopefully, as the Japanese are able to rebuild to get the country back on its feet and move forward, that the anime industry will also be able to bounce back.

Strange...I was under the impression that most anime studios were in Suginami Ward (where I live) and the Kichijoji area of Musashino City (where I work), and both of these areas (along with all 23 Wards of Tokyo) have been spared the rolling blackouts. The regions AROUND Tokyo have been hit nearly every day, but I don't think there are many anime studios there.

Most of the so called journalists that wrote those articles are

A: Usually based outside of Japan and are just guessing what may or may be happening in the Anime industry since the quake.

B: Regurgitating and compiling twitter messages from anime fans that live in Japan but have no connection to the actual anime industry and still getting the facts wrong.

The part in the article about Hiroshi Kakoi was taken from an ANN news post that was actually posted from my office and the picture of Hiroshi Kakoi was a scan from one of my old anime magazines.

Having worked for a Japanese animation school and having many friends in the industry I know most studios based in Tokyo have not closed down at all. Satelite (Macross F) didn't even close for a day they just kept on working.

If all this "SPECULATION" was true RT fans might as well just give up on getting the new 2011 project anytime soon.

HEHEHE

COOL TO KNOW. FIGURES IT WILL SLUMP DOWN FOR A BIT THEN EVERYTHING WILL GET BACK ON TRACK IN COMING MONTHS LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED.

BLACKOUTS?



www.japanprobe.com/2011/03/13/rolling-blackouts-in-japan/

As we speak, they are reading long lists of city names and times on Japanese television. The nuclear reactors in Fukushima provided a lot of the electricity for the Kanto region, so Tepco is experiencing power shortages. Starting on Monday, the entire region will experience rolling blackouts:

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that rolling blackouts in the Kanto Plain, including Tokyo, will begin Monday.

It is Sunday now in Japan. Power is on in Tokyo now because there is less usage on Sunday.
Monday brings more demand so TEPCO will implement rolling blackouts.

TEPCO will announce the schedule later today.

The schedule being read on the TV is somewhat vague, but it seems that the rolling blackouts will be scheduled for the daytime hours. Large cities like Yokohama and Saitama are included in several of the time blocks they are reading – presumably only certain areas of those cities are included in the times listed, but it is not clear.

Of Tokyo’s 23 wards, only Arakawa-ku will be effected. It would seem that they are punishing Tokyo’s suburbs under the assumption that downtown Tokyo is where most of the important business happens. Nonetheless, this will certainly wreak havoc upon the Japanese economy, as many factories and offices are outside of the 23 wards.

Reports are saying that the situation could continue for “weeks.”

Related Document: Blackout Schedule (in Japanese)

A Country Divided: Japan's Electric Bottleneck

NPR
March 29, 2011

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/03/24/ap110314031185-2-.jpg?t=1300994435&s=2
Advertising boards on buildings are seen without illumination at Tokyo's Shibuya district. Rolling blackouts are crippling a number of industries.



March 24, 2011

Even on a slow day, Tsukiji market, the largest fish market in the world, is a beehive of activity.

Motorized carts buzz down narrow aisles carrying tuna carcasses. They're sawed into chunks and shipped to restaurants in Tokyo and around the world.

Normally, these aisles would be jammed with buyers. But on a recent day, they're nearly empty. Mr. Kaoru, a wholesaler, blames the blackouts.

"I predict one-third of the wholesalers in the market will close the shop, the business," he says. "[The] main reason is the power source."

Rolling blackouts continue in the Tokyo area following the loss of power generation at the damaged nuclear plants in Fukushima. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the giant utility that serves the region, has lost 20 percent of its power capacity.

Blackouts are crippling businesses from auto producers to fishmongers. The rolling blackouts are also reducing train service, making commuting unpredictable. So people don't stay downtown eating and drinking after work. The result is that fish sales at Tsukiji fish market are down about 50 percent.

In the morning, the blackouts mean some rail commuters can't get to work on time. That's a problem for big auto manufacturer Nissan. "Electricity going down creates its own damage," says Andrew Palmer, a senior vice president at Nissan. He's trying to get the company's auto plants up and running. But he's plagued by power outages that shut down production lines and damage equipment.

"Certainly the power outages are something we have to work with," Palmer says. "Obviously, it's partially a negotiation with the local authorities."


But so far TEPCO, one of the biggest privately owned power companies in the world, says it can't guarantee power to anyone.

"When blackouts are required we do not discriminate among our customers, whether industrial or residential," the company says.

Blackouts That Could Continue For Years

The problem is these rolling blackouts could continue for many months — even years.

"This is a real problem for those factories which need uninterrupted supplies," says professor Tatsuo Hatta, president of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. He says the situation might cause some companies to move.

"It's clear that from their viewpoint they'd better move their plant to the western part of Japan where electricity is plenty."

It might seem much easier to send the surplus power from one side of Japan to the other to ease the blackouts. But that's harder than you might think, Hatta says.

"One major problem is that the east and west of Japan have different electric cycles and the capacity of the connectors are very much limited," he says.

That's partly an accident of history. Eastern Japan followed the German model and has a 50-cycle electrical power grid. The western part of Japan used the American model and has a 60-cycle grid. Transferring power from one grid to another requires a very expensive facility. And there are only three connections between eastern and western Japan. That bottleneck means the power transfer is just a trickle, even during this national emergency. Creating more capacity would take years.

Train services snarled amid power outages
www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103140131.html

2011/03/15


Station staff control crowds at JR Kichijoji Station in Tokyo's Musashino on Monday morning. (Shogo Koshida)


Travelers swarm around JR Kichijoji Station in Tokyo's Musashino on Monday morning. (Toshiyuki Takeya)



Tokyo Electric Power Co. went ahead with planned blackouts in some municipalities scattered across the Kanto region and adjacent areas Monday evening.

The power outages, part of rolling blackouts meant to deal with a shortage of electricity after Friday's magnitude-9.0 earthquake knocked out power generation capabilities serving the nation's capital and surrounding areas, was to last from 5 p.m. through 7 p.m., officials said.

The areas to be affected were in the fifth group of municipalities scattered over a vast area in Tokyo, the six Kanto region prefectures, as well as parts of Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures.

While the first two rounds of rolling blackouts, initially scheduled from 6:20 a.m. through early afternoon were averted, railway operators drastically scaled back their train service.

The result was mass confusion among commuters, many starting the first day of the work and school week after the quake.

Station staff struggled to control and redirect impatient crowds to alternative transportation.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said the first and second groups of cities that were targeted for stoppages were spared because of lower consumption levels.

Officials credited train companies' cancellation of many train runs along with conservation efforts by the public.

But depending on consumption levels later in the day, TEPCO officials had warned that stoppages from the third group onward may have to be implemented. They warned that electricity consumption tends to jump drastically in the evening hours when people return home and turn on appliances and start cooking.

TEPCO officials found themselves wavering on whether to implement the first group of planned outages Monday morning. At 6 a.m., officials initially announced that the first round of outages would not happen as there was a surplus in supply.

However, about an hour later, officials announced they would decide whether to implement a blackout depending on the demand-supply situation. They added that the utility may implement the first group of blackouts after all, if supply became too tight.

Then, around 9:20 a.m. they reverted to their original statement to say that the first blackout would not be put into effect.

"We would like to avoid implementing rolling blackouts as much as possible, so we have been coordinating efforts until the last minute," a TEPCO official told a news conference explaining the flip flop in policy.

According to TEPCO, as of 10 a.m. Monday, the utility company had 33 gigawatts of electricity supply compared with 29 gigawatts of demand.

"At this moment, power stoppage is not going ahead because demand is down. However, power supplies will likely stop shortly," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference Monday morning.

Municipalities subject to be affected have been divided into five groups at which blackouts will be conducted in shifts of three hours between 6:20 a.m. and 10 p.m. Some regions face two blackouts, one in the morning and the other at night.

Tohoku-Electric Power Co. said Monday it is considering rolling blackouts for the six Tohoku prefectures and Niigata Prefecture.

TEPCO has also been plagued with inaccuracy problems in issuing its lists for prospective regions to be hit by the blackouts. The mistakes included wrong or missing place names for locations to be struck. New mistakes were found after corrections had been made.

The initial list had included Arakawa Ward in Tokyo as a potential target for blackouts in the fourth group. However, officials later discovered that Arakawa was supposed to be in the fifth group.

TEPCO Vice President Takashi Fujimoto initially told a news conference Sunday night that Tokyo's 23 wards, excluding Arakawa, would be spared of the blackouts. TEPCO later changed the list to include Suginami and Nerima wards in the first group.

Train services were scaled back across the Tokyo metropolitan area Monday. In addition to preparing for the blackouts, railway operators said they were unable to secure enough train drivers.

Trains serving East Japan Railway Co.'s main lines in the greater metropolitan area were running at 20 percent of normal operation.

While the Tokaido Shinkansen Line had been scheduled to operate as usual, Central Japan Railway Co. ended up canceling 12 bullet trains starting with a Shin-Osaka bound super express train scheduled to leave Tokyo at 8:20 a.m.

Tokyo Metro subway lines, which initially planned to operate as usual, had to scale back services after other railway operators such as JR East canceled trains. Officials said train drivers could not get to work in time.

Keikyu Corp. said it would suspend operations on its lines, which include services linking Tokyo with Haneda and Narita airports, as well as Kanagawa Prefecture, after 3:30 p.m.

Many schools in the affected areas decided to close Monday, with at least 1,173 canceling classes.

The Tokyo District Court's Tachikawa branch in Tachikawa decided to postpone a hearing that involved citizen lay judges citing the snarled transportation situation.

BESIDES ANIME INDUSTRY, OTHER SUPPLY COMPANY'S TAKING A TOLL.

IPOD'S ESPECIALLY

Is Japan Disaster Will Effect Supply For iPad2/iPod/iPhone?
allgizmo.net/blog/is-japan-disaster-will...for-ipad2ipodiphone/

According to the Folks of iSuppli they had issued a report which finds that the disaster in Japan could cause supply problems for the iPad 2.

MEMO1DOMINION wrote:

BESIDES ANIME INDUSTRY, OTHER SUPPLY COMPANY'S TAKING A TOLL.

*sigh*

You're not really listening to anything Save and I are saying, are you?

Posting news from two weeks ago really doesn't have any bearing on what the situation is now. Yes, the 15th was murder, and I had to call out from work because my train wasn't running. From the 16th on, though, it's only been a minor inconvenience. Some stores are closing earlier, most shops have half their lights turned off, and the express trains run fewer and further between, but really, if you're in Tokyo, there's not much to complain about.

MEMO1DOMINION wrote:

Travelers swarm around JR Kichijoji Station in Tokyo's Musashino on Monday morning. (Toshiyuki Takeya)

Three things about this pic.

First, it's about a block from the building I work in.

Second, if I've got a date after work, I usually meet them outside the Baskin-Robbins on the left-hand side of the pic. I just met someone there on Sunday.

Third, THIS EXACT STREET shows up briefly in Megazone 23 Part II. If you were to follow the street down from the "bottom" of the picture a block or two, you'd see it looking like this:



(The building next to the building on the far right side is the one I work in.)

And if you look here:



the small building with two windows behind the white bus is where that Baskin-Robbins is now.

Neat, huh?