I reckon I was about 7 years old, when I got my hands on a comic book featuring a Japanese heroin called
Yoko Tsuno by Roger Leloup. I believe it was the 1977 album "The Border of Life", an album about a wartime drama, artificial blood, a medical experiment lasting over 30 years and the connection between them.
Leloup is a fabulous artist, and draws as faithfully to the original as possible (well, save for the extraterrestrial décors, of course), most often working from photo's, films and mock-ups.
While "The Border of Life" is set in
Rothenburg, Germany, and not Japan, I wanted to read more.
Also in those years, Dutch television showed a multitude of cartoons, all dubbed in Dutch, but with a particular drawing style as a common point.
I loved watching Swiss Family Robinson, Heidi of the Alps, Quack the Duck, Nils Holgersson and even Candy Candy.
A few years later, I discovered that they all came from the land of the Rising Sun.
Due to various things going on in my life, Japan dropped off of my radar as I had some serious matter to attend to.
We skip a few years. I still read the Yoko Tsuno-comics regularly at that time and my fascination for Japan was rekindled by discovering some video games and a book with Japanese fairy tales (but for the life of me, I can't remember the name of the book).
With those cartoons in the back of my mind, I wondered whether there would be more of this, and where. Well, I came up with next to nothing, and I wasn't very rich either, so I had to put it to bed once more.
However, I did find stuff about Japan on the 'net, so my interest rose once again.
Again, we skip a year or two to 1997, when I bought a few VHS video tapes containing Project A-Ko and Megazone 23.
Horribly expensive and dubbed in English with Dutch subtitles, but I managed to get myself some anime! I still have them, although I play those titles from DVD nowadays. That was basically the start of my anime addiction.
I also got more information about Japan itself, and somewhere in 1999, I decided that I wanted to go to Japan in the future.
Still piss-poor at the time, so I had to keep it a wish at that time.
Again, we skip a couple of years; I landed myself a job where I could save a bit of money as well as pay the rent, so in 2001, I decided that I would travel to Japan in either 2003 or 2004.
I missed out on Anime 2001 (I heard about it on the last Sunday of that year's festival), but I got my first taste a year later in Veldhoven.
As for travelling to Japan, I was unable to join Niels in 2003 because of work, but in June 2004, I finally managed to tag along.
The first thing I did for J-POP was ad-hoc Gophering in 2002, during the Nadia marathon on Saturday night. I volunteered as a Gopher in 2003, organised the infamous Quiz and kicked HiMu's ass as an added bonus. I probably knocked some sense into the guy, as he is now one of our esteemed Stewards.
I joined the J-POP Foundation just after the 2003 festival as the treasurer and therefore J-POP's beancounter to make sure you don't pay too much for your ticket, but I also help arrange various things and try to keep an eye on things in general.
During the festival, I keep an eye on the money, perform my duties as the Quizmaster, help out with the AMV contest, host the Cosplay Competition and do technical stuff when the need arises.
I hope to see you all in good health at Anime 2008.
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Hello World. :)19 days from now, Anime 2008 will be in full effect.
We are currently working our butts off to make sure all our special
ideas, well-laid plans and improvised carnage will run smoothly at the
moment surpréme.I'm currently working ...
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Posted: 13 April 2008 20:49:00
Filed under: Anime 2008, Preparations
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