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Labels: videogame news, 日本 japan
posted by Woodrow at 6/12/2008 06:09:00 PM
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The signature look of the Star Wars movies has always owed a great debt to the past: the Rebel starships loosely resemble World War II aircraft, or at least "feel" like they do; the blasters are based on actual mid-20th century pistols and machine guns; and the costumes are evocative of several classical styles, including the Nazi-esque uniforms of the Imperial officers and semblance of the Samurai in the costume of Darth Vader.
One tradition of Tango no Sekku includes the displaying of the Samurai yoroi (armor) and kabuto (helmet) by a boy's family in the hopes that it will protect his spirit and ensure good health and prosperity. The yoroi and kabuto, while reduced in scale, require the same level of skill and attention to detail in their manufacture that the original full-size costumes once demanded. This centuries-old craftsmanship has been kept alive in the Yoshitoku Company for the last 300 years, providing the traditional Samurai accoutrements to families celebrating Japan's sons every year (Girl's Day, or Hinamatsuri, occurs on March 3, and includes the display of dolls dressed in traditional female costumes).
Transforming Vader into a Samurai, or a Samurai into Vader, required the integration of several design motifs that married the traditional with the fantastic. "First, we hit on the idea of adding the 'front crest', which was designed based on the Imperial Icon, to the front of the helmet," says Yoshitoku. "By adding this, the 'leader of the Imperial Army' image is emphasized, as ancient Japanese military commanders used their ancestral family emblems on their front crest. We also added a Vader-like design to the face guard (called a menpo) which features a handcrafted look as if artisans of the past had done it."
"Actual prototype production was done by Mr. Tatsushi Satoh under the lead of Mr. Noboru Kawakami [president of J.A.P. Inc., who produces silver Star Wars accessories in Japan]. The prototype made in the 1/1 size was scanned by a 3-D scanner and a rough prototype was made using a computer-controlled cutting machine. Mr. Sato then finished the prototype by hand and Mr. Takeya himself provided the fine-tuning."
Yoshitoku likes to point out that while some of the costume's parts required state-of-the-art technology to produce, many of its components were created using ancient skills and traditional materials. "Basically, many parts of the helmet (kabuto) and armor (yoroi) are made by hand," says Yoshitoku. "The materials used for each part are similar to those that were used for the real thing. While we can mass-produce the metallic parts that can be duplicated, we still have to assemble those parts by hand. Also, many of the materials include cloth and strings which essentially have to go through the traditional production process. Many of the artisans who master these skills are over 70 years old."
As the creation of these traditional pieces are considered high art in Japan and require a lot of hand-crafting, they will not come cheap. The kabuto (helmet) with bow and sword will cost about 180,000 yen (about $1,500), while the full ensemble including the yoroi (armor), kabuto, bow, and sword will run 330,000 yen (about $2,700). At this time, these items will only be offered in Japan.Labels: movies, new technology, 日本 japan
posted by Woodrow at 3/23/2008 09:05:00 PM
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posted by Woodrow at 6/12/2007 01:08:00 AM
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cls colls said:
erinnert mich an einige Dir en grey videos. nicht so mein fall, die cyberpunk seite ist aber sehr interessant.

Labels: new technology, videogame news, 日本 japan
posted by Woodrow at 5/24/2007 11:38:00 PM
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posted by Woodrow at 5/13/2007 01:26:00 AM
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posted by Woodrow at 1/18/2007 12:12:00 AM
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