In the interview Jake mentions White Rabbit Press’ Tokyo Realtime: Kabukicho audio guided tour, in which the listeners learn about Sky Heart – a former club where clients, relaxing in airline seats, would be waited upon by women dressed in genuine stewerdess’ uniforms.

If you have one hour free on Sunday 14th March 2010 why not come along to Akihabara for a behind-the-scenes exploration of the area’s must see spots?!

Here at White Rabbit Press we’re looking for people who’d be interested in taking our new mp3 audio walking tour of the area, and telling us what they think of it.

To thank you for your time you’ll receive a free copy of the tour (which comes with a photo booklet and map), and a big smile.

The tour is narrated by Patrick Galbraith (editor of ‘The Otaku Encyclopedia’) – he’ll be joined along the route by a team of expert commentators who’ll all help paint a complete picture of the area.

We’ve mixed the narration, directions and commentary with sound effects and music, making it into a unforgettable augmented reality experience.

At the end of the 57-minute tour we’d like to ask you a few questions about what you thought of it, that we can then use in a short video for YouTube.

If you’d like to take part, simply contact us via our support site or comment on this blog post and we’ll send you a special download link and further instructions – you’ll need to copy that mp3 to your iPod / any other mp3 player before showing up on Sunday.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

[About]

Amongst the photos on Tokyo.JapanTimes are some taken by White Rabbit Press staff – Creative Director Max Hodges spent several hours standing in Meguro River to get these shots, whilst Marketing Director Joseph Tame spent 4 hours on top of the city’s highest skyscraper to get these photos.

To celebrate the launch, we’ve joined forces to give away some great prizes including:

• 3 x Prize pack 1: Tokyo Realtime Akihabara + Kabukicho tours as a set
• 2 x Prize pack 2: Kanji Flashcards Volume 1 + Kabukicho tour as a set
• 2 x Prize pack 3: Kana flashcards + Kabukicho tour as a set
• 2 x Prize 4: Huge (A0) kanji poster

We’re also giving away the grand prize of a US$200 Gift Certificate for use in our store! This can be used for any of our own products, or 3rd-party products.

Entering the competition is easy – if you have photos or stories of life in Tokyo just start posting them on Tokyo.JapanTimes – 12 winners will then be chosen by the Japan Times when the site officially launches next week.

The physical version includes a CD with mp3 audio, a waterproof map and a 20-page full-color booklet of area photography

With TOKYO REALTIME: Akihabara, visitors and residents alike can experience a unique behind-the-scenes tour of Tokyo’s ‘Electric Town’, a subculture hotspot for anime, games, manga, maids and more.

Assisted by his sentient GPS ‘Navi’, Akihabara expert Patrick W. Galbraith, author of The Otaku Encyclopedia, guides visitors through all the must-see places. Patrick provides historical background and cultural insight along the way, as well as breaking down insider jargon such as otagei, moé and itasha.

The release of TOKYO REALTIME: Akihabara marks the second volume in the highly-acclaimed Tokyo Realtime audio tour series. Interweaving narration and interviews within a soundscape of location ambience and music, Tokyo Realtime audio travel guides deliver a seamless mix of adventure and cultural insight while navigating real-world spaces.

“Producer Max Hodges has assembled a crack team of über-geeks from Japan and abroad to navigate Akihabara’s alleys and decode its mysteries. The audio guide is an illuminating portal into the neighborhood’s colorful history and vibrant currents of contemporary pizzaz.”

- Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica

This Akihabara audio tour features guest commentary by:

• Patrick Macias, author of Cruising the Anime City & editor of Otaku USA Magazine
• Danny Choo, pop-culture blogger & Tokyo Stormtrooper
• Kaichiro Morikawa, Meiji University professor & author of Learning from Akihabara
• and others

This 57-minute tour, available from White Rabbit Press, includes a CD with mp3 audio, an area map (printed on durable, waterproof paper) and a 20-page full-color booklet of area photography. Listeners simply transfer the audio program to their iPod, iPhone or any other portable mp3 player, go to the starting point shown on the included map and press play.

TOKYO REALTIME: Akihabara represents the second volume in the Tokyo Realtime series which launched with an audio tour for the Kabukicho district, Japan’s most imaginative entertainment zone. Each expert guided tour is brought to life through music, sound effects, location ambience and guest commentary from local personalities.

Additional details and audio previews are available on the Tokyo Realtime showcase site: www.TokyoRealtime.com. A media kit with images, sample audio and an interview with narrator Patrick W. Galbraith and producer Max Hodges is available for download here.

About White Rabbit Press

With customers in over 80 countries, Tokyo-based White Rabbit Press is widely recognized for producing outstanding Japanese language products. With the launch of the TOKYO REALTIME audio tour series, White Rabbit Press continues to receive praise for making Japanese language and culture more accessible to the world.

For further information, or to schedule an interview with Patrick W. Galbraith or the tour producer, Max Hodges, please contact:
Joseph Tame
Media and Communications Manager
joseph@whiterabbitpress.com

Follow us @WhiteRabbitJpn for news from our Tokyo office, to see kanji in use on the streets of Japan in our ‘Kanji in the Wild’ photo-tweets, and for the chance to win White Rabbit Press goodies!

See you there!

The cover shot of  the CD & photobook of Tokyo Realtime: Akihabara features Arisa, one of Tokyo’s most celebrated maids, who can be found tending to customers at Café Mai:lish.

The theme at Café Mai:lish is one of relaxation – an oasis of calm in the heart of the city.

Within that oasis, Arisa is a princess who warms the hearts of clients and brings smiles to their faces – it’s said that flowers bloom wherever she walks.

Arisa’s Profile

-Birthday: July 20th
-blood type: A
-favorite: flowers, gentle music, and other soft things

(see the original in Japanese)

Café Mai:lish Opening times

• 11am-10pm (Open year-round)
• 11am-5pm: maid time (maids wear maid uniform.)
• 5pm-10pm: kosupure time (maids wear costume.)
• *Every Tuesday and Friday, maids wear maid uniform all day.
• There are 20 maids (see their website).
• No photos allowed inside the cafe

Café Menu

• Cakes
• Soft drinks
• Coffee
• Alcohol
• Food (curry, pasta, etc)

Tokyo RealTime: Akihabara is available now from White Rabbit Press. To learn more about the Tokyo Realtime series please visit www.TokyoRealtime.com

We’ll be keeping it updated with news, product previews, details of special campaigns – and competitions to win some great White Rabbit Press prizes!

Join us over there now at http://www.facebook.com/whiterabbitpress

Patrick Macias is the author of Cruising the Anime City and editor of Otaku USA Magazine. Patrick blogs here and shares his insights and opinions on Otaku culture and the Akihabara neighborhood as a guest commentator in the TOKYO REALTIME: Akihabara audio tour by White Rabbit Press

The following article appeared on Akiba Today, in collaboration with the Akiba Keizai Shinbun.

The audio guide series Tokyo Realtime began distribution of its Akihabara edition in mid-October.

Tokyo Realtime is an audio guide published by Japan-based White Rabbit Press to help non-Japanese sightseers on walking tours. The company has also released guides for Shinjuku and Kabukicho.

And now White Rabbit Press is featuring Akihabara, with Patrick W. Galbraith as your navigator, who is the administrator of Otaku2 (an otaku information website for non-Japanese) and who conducts tours of Akihabara dressed in a cosplay costume of Goku from Dragon Ball. Galbraith’s code name when serving as a tour conductor: Gaigokujin, a play on words that mixes the Japanese word for “foreigner” (“gaikokujin”) and the character name “Goku.” The Akihabara guide has recordings for visiting locales such as Radio Kaikan, maid cafes and Mandarake, as well as explanations of Akihabara’s history and of otaku (nerd) culture, like itasha (a car that has anime or game characters decorating the body). In addition, also included is commentary by Otaku USA editor-in-chief Patrick Macias and Danny Choo, the administrator of dannychoo.com, a Japan pop culture website with over 20 million monthly page views by 2 million visitors.

The audio content is currently on sale for download at White Rabbit Press’ website for $12. There are also future plans to sell a packaged edition with a set containing the audio guide CD, an Akihabara map and a photo collection.

This article has been created in collaboration with
Akiba Keizai Shimbun

Are Japanese Crazy? 80,000 Questions Around the World

In October 2009 White Rabbit Press director and producer of Tokyo Realtime: Kabukicho Max Hodges was called upon by German TV channel NDR for a tour of the Tokyo neighbourhood.