Late last month, we did a post on an Akihabara "tour" for foreigners lead by a "hippy" with a "flag." Those "tours" are actually tours. And that "hippy" is not actually a "hippy," but a Kotaku reader. Name's Earl. He's a translator and verbose. He writes:

I'm the so-called "hippy" with the flag. I'm the guy that goes "Wooo! Akiba!" and "The otaku population is going to increase" and "The mentality is different... yeah! It's cool!" like a doofus. Cut me some slack. That was the first time I've ever been interviewed... I personally am not proud of being put on TV in that way. I tried my best to answer 90% of their questions in Japanese, and they only took from the portion of the interview where I was speaking English (I think that's what they really wanted to air, anyway).

The reason I'm e-mailing you about this is that I feel like we've been misrepresented. Not just myself, the "hippy", but the tours themselves, and the participants. I can understand how, when watched out of context, with no other knowledge of the business that's being run or anything else, that one would jump to the conclusions that it seems you have. I'm e-mailing you to explain that it's not just a bunch of otaku being led around by some random hippy. Fuji TV's SuperNews program had their own preconception of what we're all about, and about all of the participants, and I think it sucks that now there are a bunch of comments on Kotaku that reflect exactly what Fuji TV set out to start.

Like I said, verbose. Hit the jump for the rest.

I'd like to explain a little bit about the tours we run. We're running a business called "Pop Japan Travel". We're part of a larger company called Digital Manga Publishing (famous for bringing over yaoi manga - don't get me started on that part...), which in itself is a little strange. Tours are generally run by travel agencies. Back in 2003 (even before I was with the company) the company thought to make tours to Japan that were themed around anime and manga, marketed towards hardcore otaku. It was essentially supposed to be the dream-trip for hardcore fans. Recently (around last Spring), we've noticed that a lot of the participants weren't the kind of hardcore otaku we were marketing the tours to. We were finding that a lot of them just wanted to go on just a tour that was more fun than simple sight-seeing around temples and the like. So we've been trying to make tours that showcase more of the pop-culture side of Japan, while also still including some traditional stuff... We go to shrines, fashion districts, sightseeing spots (Hakone, Nikkou, Sapporo (snow festival FTW!!)), and also give people the freedom to do what they want on the tours with a couple of free days. While we'll spend maybe half of a day on Akihabara, that's not the main focus of our tours. We want everyone to experience Japan and all of it's FUN parts, not just sightseeing, and Akiba is a place that nearly 90% of our participants want to at least check out. Saying our tours are "Akiba Tours" is misleading.

...Sure they took some time to geek out over in Akiba. I confess, I did too. I spent far too much money in Club Sega trying to get better at Guilty Gear. What I'm trying to get across is that they know Japan isn't just about anime/gaming - but that's the part that some of them love, and that's a big reason why they visit. I understand that sick feeling you feel in your stomach when you see a segment on otaku like the one on SuperNews, and I hope reading this will take some of that away...

...Anyway, I hope you get the idea that they're not just "tours", they're tours. And they're different from traditional tours. We know Japan is much more than just Akiba and anime. We're in no way trying to portray it that way to our customers or to anyone else. It's the media that's spun it that way.

Earl also points out that the flag is "indispensable" in crowded areas like Shinjuku Station. (I thought following a large group of foreigners would be easy enough, but w/e). Anyway, they've got a website, which I've linked above. I'm not into taking tours myself and prefer wandering around lost alone, but if you are into the whole tour thing, do give 'em a click. Earl seems like a nice enough guy — Even if he admits to liking Guilty Gear. Brian Ashcraft