Japanese Toys for Grownups
by Julianne Weiss

As you strive to make a graceful entrance to adulthood, cope with a midlife crisis or merely overcome self-doubt, you might feel the need to prove your personal merit. Not through hard work or an impressive knowledge of wine, but with something hip. "But how?" you ask. "I don't play an instrument and I know nothing of fine art ... I just want to fill out this plaid shirt!" Luckily, there's an answer for the untalented, disenchanted adults sulking 'round town: toys. Specifically, Japanese and Japanese-inspired toys as art.

The realm of Japanicana — Japandy, video games, Urban Vinyl, zines, quarterlies, knick-knacks, anime, Uglydolls and such — has been promoted and deemed cool by the greater good. Japanese product design is like inanimate MTV. Their bright colors, eccentric characters and perplexing slogans have Americans hypnotized. Often puzzling, but aesthetically and mechanically innovative, Japanese pop art is coming on strong in an underground art scene that has otherwise fallen into the gap. Duck into a local boutique gallery, toy store or comic book shop for a better sense of what's percolating and you might find a thing or two that catches your eye. And such things may well be fairly inexpensive — relatively speaking; $10 here and $20 there can go a long way in vinyl and prints.

This is not to say that Japanese design, toys, video games and such aren't legitimate members of the art world; in fact, they are all over it. The point is that any Tom, Dick, Harry or Jane has the opportunity to take part in the movement and earn that plaid. The design, technique and media are making their way from the underground to the mainstream, so yuppies everywhere want a piece of the action. Direct your attention just below the radar when possible.

And damn, it feels good to be an adult who buys toys. Not the naughty kind (let's save that for another day) or the lame-o kind (dolls — not the ugly kind), but the respectable stuff. For those of you who were screwed out of getting cool toys as a kid, adulthood has its silver lining. No longer are you expected to fill those stuffy bookshelves with cheap paperback books (although you should). Now, there is space allotted for Kubrick Figures and Baseman sculpts. Fill the gaps with this week's new comics. Emancipate your crap from hiding and break out the knick-knack menagerie. Freely eat Japandy at work, in the mall or out with your friends; wave your Pocky in the air as a shining beacon of originality and tastiness. Yes, the time has come to expose yourself ... tastefully.

Comic-Cons everywhere pulse with fanatics, nerds and geniuses alike. Techie conventions are now the breeding grounds for adult entertainment and innovative thought (again: not necessarily the dirty kind). Most importantly, everyone is welcome. No person is too old or too ugly. You don't need a Sotheby's budget to put art in your home because young artists have opened the door to Urban Vinyl as designer toys. The perimeters of fine art are expanding into new realms of accessibility. Comic book shops and Giant Robot-type stores (LA, SF, NY) are turning Deth P Sun, Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara into household names in all the right neighborhoods. They're also welcoming up and coming artists onto the scene. Minimally reproduced zines and quarterlies are paperbound treasures that differ from one location to the next, carefully printed and often sold locally. A couple of good'uns to watch for are John Pham's Epoxy and Marc Bell's The Stacks. Each artist has a different aesthetic, but urban vinyl, comic book and Japanese design shops tend to have a trustworthy artistic eye. Of course, gaming systems are also ever-popular on the scene — especially Nintendo's Wii and DS. The perfect ice-breaker, romantic date or time-spender for loners, they're the young adult's best friend.

So take heart, hipness-challenged young adults. Whether you're bored, bland or just looking to spice things up, help is on the way from the land of the rising sun.

E-mail Julianne Weiss at julianne dot weiss at gmail dot com.