learn more: tokyorealtime.com
produced by
MAX HODGES
tokyorealtime.com
motion graphics
RALF BÄHREN
visuaheli.com/
music ‘Kabukicho Human Zoo’
STEVEN SCHULTZ
hellodamage.com
photography
MAX HODGES
maximalism.maxhodges.com/
You can download the full song file here:
TOKYO – Apr 19th, 2010
White Rabbit Press is pleased to announce that the first volume in its Tokyo Realtime guided audio tour series has been nominated as a finalist in the 15th annual Audie Awards.
This prestigious competition, organized by the Audio Publishers Association, celebrates the best in spoken word entertainment. Tokyo Realtime: Kabukicho has been selected as one of five finalists in the Package Design category, where it is up against industry heavyweights such as BBC Audiobooks America.
Tokyo Realtime audio tours provide a new way to explore the city’s most interesting neighborhoods. Interweaving narration and insider interviews within a soundscape of location ambience and music, they deliver a seamless mix of adventure and cultural insight while navigating real-world spaces. In addition to the 65 minute mp3 CD, the nominated package includes a waterproof map and a full-color booklet of area photography.
White Rabbit Press Creative Director and Tokyo Realtime producer Max Hodges created the series out of a desire to make Tokyo more accessible to visitors. Seeing a market for personal tours provided by experts, Max assembled a team of local insiders, passionate about their neighborhoods, and worked with them to create these unforgettable augmented reality audio adventures.
Uninspired by off-the-shelf options, Max worked with local printers to design an elegant new packaging form that is low- waste, yet substantial enough to earn a spot on customer’s bookshelves. This prototype was then passed to Tokyo-based designers AQ, who developed a striking, easily recognizable look for the series.
“We worked really hard with Max to make sure every element, from photography to typography, paper stock to ink, came together to express the unique culture of Kabukicho and delight the user, from the first time they crack open the case to when they’re actually taking the tour.”
Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice, praised the tour: “A decade ago as a police reporter for Japan’s largest newspaper, I was assigned to the 4th district, home of Kabukicho, and never forgot some of the crazy things I saw there. For a behind- the-scenes look at Japan’s seedier side, without getting mired in the sleaze, you can’t do any better than this tour. A wonderful insight for strangers into a very strange land.”
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.
Photo © Max Hodges
Tokyo Vice author Jake Adelstein was recently interviewed on ABC Radio Australia. Jake, a member of the Japan Subculture Research Center, was asked to comment on the news that upcoming mass-redundancies at the national carrier Japan Airlines would lead to a sudden surge in demand for stewardess uniforms.
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 served by women dressed in genuine stewardess’ uniforms.
The New York Post recently reviewed White Rabbit Press’ Tokyo Realtime guided audio tours.
“If everything you know about Tokyo you learned from a Ranma ½ marathon, you need help. And it’s here, in the form of mp3-player-friendly audio.
Tokyo Realtime ’s guides (order on CD or download directly) give you a serious insider’s walking tour of the 東京’s wackiest, seediest and geekiest hoods. The first in the series, narrated by a researcher of otaku (anorakism) at Tokyo University, explores Akihabara — a k a “electric town” — the city’s top stop for all things gamer, manga and cosplay related (this being Tokyo, that’s saying something).
Packing in even more of the awesome, though, is the tour of the Kabukicho area, Tokyo’s red-light district. Interviews with bar owners and a bondage artist, among others, take you through a world populated by Yakuza, hookers and pay-per-hour hotels — makes Bangkok look like Salt Lake.
Besides the hour-long audio, each $12/$18 Tokyo Realtime guide comes with a map and photo book. Order online here.
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.
