Japan hopes to cash in on 'Astro Boy' rebirth
By Yuri Kageyama
Associated Press
TOKYO — In the grimy, run-down district of Tokyo called Takadanobaba, store owners are hoping a doe-eyed, diminutive comic-book hero will bring them a business boom.
Associated Press
Like the rest of Japan, these shop owners are preparing for the birthday of Astro Boy, a hit from the 1950s who's coming back in a new TV show and movie and who's expected to set off a wave of nostalgia for this country's more robust economic times.
An Astro Boy toy robot by Takara Co. sells for 1,980 yen ($17) Like much of the rest of Japan, Takara is getting ready to celebrate the return of the robot with a heart of a little boy.
The birthday celebration will start in Takadanobaba where, according to the original story by the late Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy was created April 7, 2003, in a fictitious laboratory. Astro Boy is a 4-foot-6 robot with the heart of a little boy, built by a tormented scientist whose son died in a car accident.
In preparation for the big day, Takadanobaba train station is already playing the catchy jingle from Astro Boy's past TV cartoon show, which was a hit in the 1960s and 1980s. A costume parade is being organized in his honor that shopkeepers hope will draw gawkers and shoppers.
Meanwhile, merchandisers, TV producers and toy companies hope to cash in on the burgeoning Astro Boy nostalgia.
"The phones don't stop ringing. You'd think there's no other good news in Japan," said Tadakatsu Sasao, one of the Takadanobaba organizers.
Sony Corp. is producing the new TV series with Tezuka Productions, the artist's studio that's still in Takadanobaba, hoping to make Astro Boy — or Atomu, as he's called in Japan — the next cultural export to reach the stardom of Pokemon and the Power Rangers.
The first episode airs on the eve of Astro Boy's "birth," April 6, in Japan. Plans are under way for the show to arrive in the United States and other parts of the world, probably by the fall, Sony Pictures Entertainment senior vice president Tsuneyuki Morishima said.
Sony is planning an Astro Boy movie as well, perhaps by Christmas 2004.
Half machine and half boy, Astro Boy is alienated and wonders about his origins.
"He feels out of place. He feels disconnected. And all children feel that way," Marc Handler, an editor for the U.S. version of Astro Boy, said from California. "Kids in any country will relate to Astro Boy."
But Handler acknowledged that Americans will need time to get used to Astro Boy because he is different from American cartoon heroes; he is naive and vulnerable rather than savvy and macho.
Astro Boy's success is just as uncertain with Japanese children today, who have been pampered by flashy video games and films with sophisticated graphics. His comeback is more likely to excite their parents and grandparents, who grew up on his adventures in much the same way that Americans grew up on Marvel comics.
"He's so cute," said Reiko Okoshi, a 35-year-old piano teacher. "I remember the cartoon from my childhood."
Yoshihiro Shimizu, general manager at Tezuka Productions, said there's a modern message in Astro Boy's theme about the tolerance of diversity, shown metaphorically in the story by depicting shaky relations between robots and humans.
"It might not have murder, sex and violence, but there's a strong action-packed story," he said.
Astro Boy is popping up everywhere.
The image of the friendly robot is being printed on telephone cards, pillows, coins and T-shirts. He will appear on food packaging, and candy maker Meiji Seika Kaisha is projecting more than $5 million in sales in two months with sweets that come with Astro Boy stickers or figures in the packages.
Takara Co., a major Tokyo toy manufacturer, is planning wind-up figures, key chains and other products including a little toy robot whose eyes light up to a voice command.
