The Asian reporter., November 03, 2014, Page Page 16, Image 16

Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
November 3, 2014
Disney pens love letter
to Japan with robot film
Continued from page one
FIRST SWIM. Roman Catholic priest Jacob Gomes blesses a four-
month-old Humboldt penguin before it takes its first swim at the Manila
Ocean Park in the Philippines. The park launched its baby penguin attrac-
tion last month and announced the winner of a contest to choose the
baby’s name, Kaya, meaning competence or ability in Tagalog. Before the
penguin’s first swim, it was placed in one side of a pool, separated from
its penguin parents by a net. During the blessing, Gomes stressed the im-
portance of environmental conservation and the need for people to pro-
tect all species of marine life, which are “a creation of god.” Kaya was
born July 8 and is the first penguin to be born in the country. Its gender
is not yet known. This photo is part of The AP’s “Images of Asia” series.
(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
FIFA launches campaign to
combat soccer match-fixing
TOKYO (AP) — The Fédération Internationale de
Football Association (FIFA), international players’ union
FIFPro, and Interpol have launched a campaign to combat
match-fixing.
The aim of the campaign, launched at the FIFPro
Congress in Tokyo, is to raise awareness of the dangers of
match-fixing, to provide positive role models for players,
and to educate them on how to recognize, resist, and
report attempts to fix matches.
To start the campaign, the three organizations are
releasing a DVD produced by Interpol that provides
players with information they need to help fight
match-fixing. The DVD features soccer players like Frank
Lampard, Sone Aluko, and Kolo Toure.
In April, a Malaysian man who organized an inter-
national match-fixing syndicate involving Australian
games in 2013 was jailed for at least a year.
Hall said the mouth-less face of
Baymax, the inflatable marsh-
mallow-like robot, was inspired by a
bell he saw at a Japanese temple.
“I saw a smile,” Hall told reporters
recently while in town for the Tokyo
Film Festival. “I thought it would be
the perfect face for Baymax.”
The rubbery Baymax, designed to
be a healthcare robot by Hiro’s older
brother
Tadashi,
becomes
a
companion for Hiro, and an
embodiment not only of Tadashi’s
charming and loving persona, but
also of his message of peace, even
after Tadashi dies in an explosion.
Despite Tadashi’s intentions to
devote Baymax to healing and
cuddling, Hiro adds some of his own
more conventional robotic-design
touches, such as a powerful fist,
metallic ware, and sky-soaring
rockets, as Hiro embarks on his
mission of solving the mystery of
Tadashi’s death.
It’s a safe bet that Japanese are
enamored of all things Disney — and
that they are willing to spend.
Disneyland and DisneySea parks,
outside Tokyo, had 31 million visitors
last year, up 14 percent from the
previous year, nearly all Japanese.
Each spent an average of about $100,
or 10,000 yen, on admission tickets,
eating out, and goods purchases.
Mickey Mouse is so popular in
Japan that the rodent’s image is sold
as traditional festival dolls, is a
mascot wearing the blue uniform of
BIG HERO 6. Disney executives call their next film “a love letter to Japanese culture.” The film,
Big Hero 6, opened the Tokyo Film Festival — the first Disney animation film to have its global pre-
miere in Japan. (Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios)
the World Cup soccer team, and is a
familiar pattern on fashionable
clothing in collaboration with design
brands.
But can the new film duplicate the
success of Frozen? It might take a
super-Hiro.
Big Hero 6 features fantastic music
by Henry Jackman, but not a
potential smash single like “Let It
Go.” It also lacks fairytale princesses,
which were a big part of the Frozen
merchandising frenzy.
The new film is about brotherly
love and a little boy’s perennial
fantasy, a loyal robot friend. But even
in robot-innovator Japan, Disney
half-heartedly showed a fluffy stuffed
doll in Baymax’s likeness. It wasn’t
even inflatable.
Roy Conli, who also produced
Frozen, was unfazed, emphasizing
Big Hero 6 was “a love letter to
Japanese culture.”
“We hope that Japan loves it,” he
said.
q
Victim’s body found from
sunken South Korean ferry
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The first body found in
three months is being recovered from the sunken South
Korean ferry, increasing the official death toll to 295.
The government task force said in a statement that the
body was found around a women’s toilet in the ship. The
badly decayed body was being pulled up to the surface and
DNA tests were planned to identify the victim.
The Sewol ferry sank in April. The body is the first
recovered since July 18.
Nine victims are still missing.
Family members of the missing people last month
rejected a proposal to hoist the ship. They worry over a
possibility the remaining bodies would be swept away or
damaged.
Most of the ferry victims were teenage students who
were on a school trip to a resort island.
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