Olivia never sleeps? Oh, I'm sure none of you out there would lose sleep over video game playin'. Yeah, right! It makes me wonder how late this video game party will go? I guess as long as Ryan's watching, his cousins can stay up as late as they want. Looks like J is having fun. I'm sure he didn't expect to!
I had a great time at the APE convention in San Francisco. Those of you following me on Twitter and Facebook saw more pics and updates while it was going on. I was representing Fried Chicken and Sushi in a small way by giving away postcards to attract some new fans. It was fun selling my mini comic The Adventures of Caffeine Baby! I've been getting positive feedback on it from some of you out there that bought it. Thanks! Me and my friend, Dale Wilson, of http://dwapproductions.com/magnificentcreatures/ shared a table with cartoonist Nat Lee of http://fakinglifecomic.com/ and we had a lot of fun! We even had our friends from http://carpechaos.com/ at the table next to us! Check those guys, and their cool comics!
I feel like it was a good con but not as busy as last year. Next year I will be back because I just love all of the independent and off the wall comics I can find there! It's also fun to see artists that I only get a chance to talk to, in person, there every year. If you want more pics and FC&S fun you should follow me on Twitter and Facebook at the top of the page! Thanks guys!
Let's not feel too bad for Ryan here. He seems very happy with his current situation. The one I feel sorry for is J. I guess Ryan thinks of him as a real friend. Maybe that's why Ryan is always coming over to J's desk and bugging him. You gotta love Ryan's cousins though! I'm not sure that they understand how important they are to him.
I'm sure this is hurting J but the challenge has been set! How could he back down from a chance to play his favorite video game and whup Ryan's tail at it at the same time?! We'll have to see about the skills of Ryan's friends when J shows up ready to show them how it's done. Oh yeah, if you haven't listened to the review of FC&S on the Deconstructing Comics Podcast hurry over here http://deconstructingcomics.com/?p=1389 and give it a listen! Thanks!
The awesome guys over at the Deconstructing Comics podcast critiqued my webcomic here http://deconstructingcomics.com/?p=1389 I was a bit nervous because both of the hosts, Tim and Mulele are Americans that have been living in Japan for many years. They had good things to say and made some great points! I think they really get what Fried Chicken and Sushi is all about. Give the podcast a listen and see if you agree!
It's great to see that J is seriously saving up for his trip to Japan. I hope he can keep it up with all of the temptation out there! Looks like Ryan finally has one up on J!
If you took the time to check out the pictures below from my visit back to Shimamoto, thank you! I'm glad I could take you into the reality of Fried Chicken and Sushi.
This past summer I decided to take a quick trip up to the town I lived in while teaching English in Japan. Yep, it has the same name as Karl's town, Shimamoto cho. It felt good to go back after six years and I didn't tell anyone I was going so I could walk around relatively unnoticed. However, I think a few people were a little shocked to see a big black man strolling around their town taking pictures. Check out some of the photos below. I've been trying to re-create some of these locations in the comic. Enjoy!
Here we are at Minase station off of the Hankyu railway line.
Hey, you can look up my nose! The building behind me is where I used to live. Right under the number 2.
I walked past #1 Junior High School where I used to work. Pretty much all Junior High Schools in Japan look like this.
Here's the long road up to #2 Junior High School. The bus would take me up this way if I was too tired to ride a bike. The smaller white building on the left is where the Board of Education office is.
I was trying to remember this map outside of the train station when I drew the strip about taking the bus up to school. I think I got it right...somewhat.
Let's take it back to when I was teaching there! I remember it well, walking around while the students take an English quiz. Makin' 'em nervous!
Looks like the Black Samurai finally gets a chance to use his sword! Thanks, Tanuki! I don't think the Oni will be very happy after this though. At first, I wasn't sure about using the Principal Glossy Gleam typhoon joke at the end. You would need to have read the previous comic with PGG talking about how he loses his gleam during typhoons. I was afraid that if someone came here for the first time, they really wouldn't get the joke. Oh well, I did it anyway because I think it fits perfectly! Hopefully, all you new readers will go back in the archive and learn more.
Aaaaaand there it is! The caffeine crash! It was bound to happen. You knew it was coming. Doesn't look like Karl was ready for it. Let's hope he stays away from coffee. What's that you say? Give him MORE coffee? Come on guys, give the guy a break!
Just added the rest of our FC&S main characters to the ABOUT page. I also added a new version of Tanuki's avatar. The last one was an old version that didn't really look like the Tanuki we all love to hate. Go on over and check them out!
I can drink green tea and get a nice energy buzz but it's one that I can handle. A coffee buzz is somehow waaaay too much! Just like Karl, I can zoom through my work with super speed! However, I have trouble stopping. I continue to look for the next thing to do and then the next until I'm dizzy!
When I drink coffee I feel like everything is going a mile a minute! It can be a bit scary how fast things move. Not as fast as Karl though! Now that's some super speed!
Ok. This one really happened. I remember the principal enjoyed having me visit his office for English conversation practice. His favorite drink was the iced coffee BLENDY (yes, I changed the spelling a bit) and I continued to drink it even though I'm sensitive to caffeine. There was a lot of smiling and awkward laughing going on every time I visited his office! He didn't have quite the glow of Glossy Gleam though...
Those of you that know the bookstore BOOK OFF in Japan, BOOK AWAY is my version. I did this comic and the four before this one, while visiting Japan this summer. I actually went to many used bookstores and bought quite a few manga (that I can't really read). For me, BOOK OFF had the worst selection of new manga but a lot of old or classic collections. My local used book store had the best selection of almost new editions of manga. I loved going there because since they're used, the wrapping is off and you can skim through them. I liked going to the manga shop to spot the comics I want, then go to the used store and buy them.
I hope this comic reflects the excitement I had when I was told about used bookstores in Japan. So many people buy there manga collections new, read them and then turn around a few days later and sell them to used bookstores! You really can buy almost new issues for half price. Of course, then you want to buy more...
It really is rude to point your chopsticks at someone while eating in Japan. I've been guilty of doing it, by mistake of course. The "ninja chopstick defense" isn't real but I have a feeling that if you pointed your chopstick at a ninja, you would get slapped! Looks like J has a little bit more patience for foolishness than your average ninja. I wonder if Ryan will back down a little now...probably not.
You can believe what you want but I know from experience that there are Japanese people that enjoy spending time with foreigners only because they think they're cool. It's like hanging out with a movie star. For other Japanese people, foreigners seem interesting but very different and a bit strange. This doesn't come from racism or prejudice but simply ignorance. There just aren't that many chances for them to get to know people that are not Japanese. So, is it that far fetched to think that a woman would date a foreigner to look cool to her friends? I don't think this happens very much but it's not as far fetched as you might think.
That's what I hear from a lot of people. "Whoa, living in Japan would be so cool!" I hope that this comic strip shows that it is cool living in Japan but also challenging and crazy in many ways. Yes, some of my characters are a bit over the top but you have to remember that most of this stuff is based on actual events and people. I'm making a lot of jokes about how difficult it is to learn the Japanese language but, to me, that's one of the COOL things. After years of studying Spanish in America and not really retaining any of it, studying Japanese while living in Japan was amazing! It was so cool to study a new word or phrase and then hear it the same day over and over again. Maybe I'm just a geek but I actually love the sound of Japanese being spoken. Listening to the many ways people express themselves with it is fascinating to me. I think the fact that it is so difficult, with many levels of proper speech and a complex writing system makes it all the more exciting to study.
Unfortunately, that excitement does not get me over my fear of saying something incorrectly and looking foolish. Fear of failure, or embarrassment, makes it difficult for me to confidently go out and speak Japanese. I want to speak with ease and not have to pause and think about the next word. Of course, people in Japan do not expect for me to speak fluently but because I look so different I want to prove to them that I can hang! This fascination with the language but fear of speaking it is probably something I will have to deal with for many years now. It's tough to imagine a time when I will be able to confidently hold a complex conversation in Japanese and not sound like a cave man. If I continue studying, maybe one day it just might happen.
Do you guys feel me on this? Please share any stories or feelings you have about learning a new language in the comments section. We might just cheer each other up!
I hope you're starting to see how Fried Chicken and Sushi challenges perceptions of how we see people of different races. Of course, we're getting used to seeing Karl screw up socially while living in Japan. Through characters like Miki and Hachiro, we see that even being asian in Japan is not all it's cracked up to be. Now, we're getting a chance to experience some of J's challenges of being a talented African-American in a predominately white video game company. It's so easy to pre-judge individuals due to their "look" that we can underestimate their knowledge and ability without even realizing it. I think it's going to be fun to watch J and Ryan compete for attention while designing the Ninja Super Saga video game. Let's hope Ryan will give a bit more respect to J. Many of us out there, no matter what race or ethnicity have been judged unfairly by people that didn't really know or understand us. Hopefully, we can lighten up enough to have a little laugh at it in comic strip form. Enjoy!
Happy New Year! Yeah, I know, I'm a bit late. This holiday season was absolutely amazing and extremely busy with family, friends and even a little drawing! I hope you enjoyed it! Sorry, I didn't draw any holiday themed comics because I'm just not ready to tackle that issue yet. Maybe next year? Welcome to all of my new readers and I hope you're ready for even more Fried Chicken and Sushi fun! Coming into the new year it feels good to be in a place where Karl's story is pretty much set up. Finally, he started teaching English, Tanuki is driving him nuts and Japan doesn't seem like such a crazy place. We will be checking in on, J, more in the next few months to move his story along. Thanks for reading!
Fried Chicken and Sushi is a Blog and humorous comic strip about living in Japan and Japanese pop-culture.
© copyright 2010 - Khalid Birdsong All Rights Reserved.
