- Author: RaikenTB
- Categories: International, News
- Date: Feb 19, 2009 19:04 JST
- Tags: Glay, Hillary Clinton, J-Rock, Parody, Photoshop, Politics, Shinto, Tokyo, USA

Current US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently paid a visit to Japan to discuss weighty matters with regional leaders; whilst in Tokyo, she saw fit to visit to the Meiji Shrine and took a moment to take in the morning air (or rather, take in a photo opportunity), resulting in a pose reminiscent of popular Japanese band Glay.
Fans were quick to spot this and comparison photos, along with the inevitable Photoshop chaos, soon ensued:
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The ceremonial robes of this lady seem to mark her as a miko, and those of the man out of frame suggest a priest? Which rather suggests we have some kind of intriguing ero-ritual, or at least a prurient parody of such…
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Ancient and noble “nude” Shinto festival celebrating the generative powers of man, or a scene from a gratuitous mass fundoshi AV shot out in the backwoods, though also celebrating man’s generative powers, in a way?
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The otaku desire to decorate as much of the otherwise normal world with moe pictures knows few bounds, as demonstrated by the growing amount of ita-ema on display at Shinto shrines. (Ema are wooden plaques with prayers written on them and offered at shrines or temples for the gods to read.)
New Years is an especially active time for ema offerings, and pictures of some ita-ema have become available online and are shown below.
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Washinomiya, the real life location of Lucky Star‘s Kagami and Tsukasa‘s family shrine, received a flock of otaku pilgrims celebrating the Japanese New Years tradition of hatsumoude – visiting a shrine/temple on Jan. 1.
Good Smile Company, maker of Nendoroids and Figma, took the opportunity to join in by releasing limited edition Miko cosplay Nendoroids of the 4 main girls at the gathering, the latest of many such events to happen at the small town since Lucky Star turned it into a moe version of Mecca for otaku.
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Somehow, this isn’t very Shinto, but I think few fans are likely to complain about this charming Santa Nagi-sama.
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A schoolboy who invited a 10-year-old girl to join him for a chat at a local shrine, which in fact was a pretext for him to assault her, has been arrested.
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This splendid apparition is 天狐空幻 / Tenko Kuugen, kitsune lead of kitsune anime 我が家のお稲荷さま / Wagaya no Oinari-sama.
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Charming petanko miko anime Kannagi has been the subject of much investigation by fans, and it has transpired that the anime makes extensive use of real world locations, in much the same way as the recent Someday’s Dreamers, though where that title was ridiculed for being a pure Photoshop anime, there are few who would criticise Kannagi’s tasteful adaptation of key locations.
Below is an interesting comparison showing the extent of the similarities:
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Nice to see some young ladies particpating in a fundoshi festival, and not just because of the choice of underwear.
However, I am curious as to what they are wearing underneath those open tops… If you look closely below at a similar photo it seems rather ambiguous.
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The latest in development in the saga of Lucky Star Shinto took the form of a Lucky Star mikoshi, a portatble shrine hefted by matsuri (festival) goers in a devotional relay at the famous Washinomiya Shrine, lately known mainly as the shrine featured in the title, and the object of considerable attention from fans because of this.
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A beautiful rendition of a day in the life of Hakurei Reimu and her various acquaintances (nearly all of them by the looks of it, friend and foe), realised in the style of an 8bit console; more a visual manga or even an anime, than a MAD as such, the quality is really faultless.
It’s entirely visual, with no actual Japanese, so anyone can enjoy it fully, and it runs for an amazing 22 minutes (and you would be well advised to watch to the end). Sold? Watch it below.
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