J!-ENT
Asian Entertainment News and Pop Culture

“THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN” gives us a rare glimpse of Japanese auto fashion, in this case, capturing the heart and soul of artistic Japanese delivery trucks.  If you thought your toy Transformers vehicles can look awesome or menacing, take a look at the awesome photos featured in this book and be awestruck that these are being driven on the road in Japan today.

BOOK: THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN

WRITTEN BY: Kato Tomoyuki

COMPANY: Cocoro Books (DH Publishing, Inc.)

PAGE COUNT: 84 pages

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The art trucks of Japan made their debut in the 1975 smash hit Truck Yaro!, roaring onto the big screen to wow Japanese moviegoears.

Decorated with banks of flashing lights, lengths of aluminum piping, and sheets of shining steel, these vehicles were brash, colorful and unapologetic. A new word was quickly coined - “dekotora” (decorated trucks) - and soon colorfully decorated trucks could be seen on roads throughout Japan. The art truck had entered popular culture.

Some 30 years later, Japan’s art trucks have become highly stylized creations that attract a loyal following of hobbyists and professional drivers. This stunning collection of decotora photos reveals both the beauty of Japan’s art trucks and the creative talents of their owners. Described as masterpieces of the highway, the art trucks of Japan are a must-see for all lovers of vehicle art and extravagant design.

One of my first collaboration writing works during the early years of J!-ENT was assisting a writer from Japan for Auto Fashion and Bye-Bee Magazine.

I was always curious about the Japanese auto fashion. From those who race (thanks to my interest in “Initial D”) to the hobbiest that just want to make their vehicle look cool.

I was always blown away by the money dedicated to a vehicle’s look via its exterior or interior.

But when I started to read Kato Tomoyuki’s book “THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN”, I was floored by the look and financial dedication that a few truck drivers have done for their delivery trucks.

From the amount of aluminum/metal and the paintings on delivery truck, the only thing that these trucks can’t do is transform to some mecha robot because looking at it, the sheer coolness is so unlike what I’ve seen here in the United States, these are owners who are passionate for making their delivery trucks stand out.

Some look like futuristic vehicles with weaponry but in actuality, it’s just the look.

Also, possibly inspired by the neon lights of a Tokyo metropolitan city, some of these trucks at night tend to exhibit a similar appearance as lights of various colors fill the delivery trucks from all sides.

The book does a great job and showcasing various trucks from day and night, various shapes and sizes and some that look like a truck meets Las Vegas/Shibuya to a truck that seems to have collided and meshed with Decepticons of Transformers fame. That’s how cool these trucks really look.

The book of course is mostly a photo book but you do get a two-page forward by Clive France discussing the Japanese trend of art trucks and very informative information and brief history can be found on these two pages.

Definitely an interesting book showcasing the various artistic styles of Japanese trucking. There are many people who enjoy publications on auto fashion and in Japan, although a lot of publications go towards more of those who spruce up the minivan, station wagon or small car.

But “THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN” gives the reader/viewer a part of Japanese pop culture that they are probably not familiar with.

It would have been nice to get interviews with the owners to discuss why they do it, how much they spend on their truck and more. But nevertheless, the heart and soul of this book is its pictures. This book is a photo book filled with beautiful photos of these trucks and capturing the neon lights during the night, to the stoic and war machine look for some vehicles during the day.

The book has its goal of introducing and showcasing these trucks of Japan. It may be a rare glimpse of that side of the artistic pop culture permeating to the expression of their art for their vehicles. Definitely something that make this book definitely worth your while to check out.

Tags: Cocoro Books, dhp-online.com, Kato Tomoyuki, THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN, Tomoyuki Kato

BOOK: We Love Cosplay Girls - More Live Anime Heroines From Japan

COMPANY: Cocoro Books (DH Publishing, Inc.)

PAGE COUNT: 82 pages

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Back when I was working on the J!-ENT cosplay project “COSPLAY UNDERGROUND“, I would peruse a lot of Japanese and Korean cosplay sites to see the awesome cosplay and the quality of the outfits for various anime, video games and manga.

As we and various other sites were at the forefront of showcasing photography of cosplayers in America at that time, still I would wish there would be publications that would feature the cosplay in Japan.

Sure, there has been a single video release and we would see glimpses on US anime magazines but I felt it would be rad to have a book where cosplayers can look to see the kind of cosplay coming from Japan, look at the quality of the outfits and also possibly use as a resource.

Well, Cocoro Books has been doing it for some time now and have released “We Love Cosplay Girls”, the third volume of their cosplay photobook series (following “Cosplay Girls” and “Cosplay Girls 2″) featuring hundreds of full-color photos of female cosplayers from Japan.

The book starts out with an interesting three page writeup by a cosplayer which seems like a page from her diary as she dishes out the dirt on her cosplay rivals, stressing about getting a costume ready for this event and so much more.

But the remaining 77-pages are then dedicated to photos of cosplayers in Japan broken down in chapters such as: Heroes, She’s So Cool, Asian Style, Animal Land, Spacey, Dark Side, Cute Style and School Life.

Photos are shown, with the names of the cosplayer, the character and the anime, video game or manga that they are cosplaying from.

Looking through the “Heroes” section and seeing this beautiful outfit created by Ayamori Yika of Iteza Seiya from the series “Saint Seiya” is just awesome. If there is one thing that I would love to see in a future adaption of a cosplay book is how the costume was created, how long and how much.

But to see the craftmanship put into her overall outfit is just amazing.

Then seeing a page of a cosplay group and individuals showcasing their outfits based on the CAPCOM Playstation 2 game “Sengoku Basara” (”Devil Kings” in the USA) which was awesome to see. And was surprised how many cosplayers adored the characters as there are many cosplaying “Sengoku Basara” characters.

As I turn the page and viewed each cosplayer, I can imagine that many fans outside of Asia would appreciate this book because there is cosplay from the noticeable “BLEACH”, “ONE PIECE”, “DRAGON BALL Z” and “NARUTO” cosplay, to video games such as “Tales of Symphonia”, “Dragon Quest”, “Suikoden” and “Sengoku Musou” (aka Dynasty Warriors), “Final Fantasy” and more.

I just found it also interesting to see pages dedicated to certain characters like the cosplayers dressed up as the sultry Rangiku of “BLEACH” because as a bloke, I have been interested to see how much umm…cleavage that a cosplayer would show for Rangiku and sure enough, some cosplayers did.

Of course, I had to check out the “Dark Side” section and see the cosplayers of darkness dressing up as “Suikoden”, “D.Gray-man”, “Black Lagoon” and “Sengoku Basara” (Devil Kings) characters. Especially to see the group cosplaying as the evil “Akatsuki Warriors!” from “Naruto” was pretty cool.

I have to applaud Cocoro Books (DHP) for bringing these Japanese cosplay books to the US. The third volume “We Love Cosplay Girls” is definitely a book that many cosplayers will enjoy.

Many cosplayers always look for resources and to come up with cosplay that everyone else is not doing and what best but to have a book like this and get ideas and inspiration from.

What the book does well is showcase people from Japan dressing up as a certain character, may the girl be tall or short, thin or overweight, no matter.

Granted, if there was a negative to be found, some guys may be asking “where are the male cosplayers - we want to see that to” but this is all about the cosplay girls. Also, from seeing some costumes that are just awesome and inspiring, one would wonder how it was created? How much? What material was used? and more questions that could be asked but perhaps maybe that is something that could be considered for another cosplay book.

So, whether you have a “moe” fascination for a character, Japanese cosplay girl fetish or a cosplayer that needs an excellent pictorial resource for their costume research, “We Love Cosplay Girls” is a book that is not just cool but also worth owning.

Highly recommended!

Tags: Cocoro Books, dhp-online.com, We Love Cosplay Girls