Japanese Steampunk

[corpus6667]

Just a question...

Has there been any off shoot of Japanese steampunk (maybe a bit more iron use and oriental iconography)?

Just a thought...

[Rev.Hammer]

GADS!...I love the conceptual imagery that it conjures forth! I have never heard of it, pesonally, but I see no reason why some intrepid soul could not design it into fruition!

[Utini420]

take a look at Japanese construction works.  this is a crap link, but first I could find.  google on your own, but here's a gander:

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/japanese_construction_worker_fashion_3363.asp

[Burr]

I'd have thought Japanese games would have a lot of examples of this.

[Pnakotus]

I've seen the Japanese construction worker clothing Utini420 mentioned, which there's a whole thread about somewhere on this forum. And I've seen some examples of victoriental dress around the net. Unfortunately there's not enough of it. I think the blending of steampunk and asian esthetics looks awesome. I would love to blend some of that into my own gear, but I lean more towards Chinese rather than Japanese for myself as I'm a big fan of all things relating to The Romance of Three Kingdoms. I've been mulling over in my mind this year about trying to come up with an outfit that would resemble kind of a steamy version of Guan Yu or Zhuge Liang, but unfortunately I don't know how to sew stuff myself very well and hanfu clothing is kind of expensive.

[Utini420]

Guan yu.
Guan me.
Guan di!

(sorry, confirmed cinophyle and Bruce Cambol fan)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwi77qlEl9c
	DQ

Seriously, dude, this is gonna crack you up.

[Burr]

A well-timed thread considering the other one about multi-culturalisms in steampunk. An example of how it can be done.

[Pnakotus]

Guan yu.
Guan me.
Guan di!
(sorry, confirmed cinophyle and Bruce Cambol fan)
Seriously, dude, this is gonna crack you up.

lol I have seen it Bruce Campbell fan here too!

[Ottens]

Japanese steampunk? Sure!

* Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

* Castle in the Sky.

* Metropolis: there's a review of this anime in issue #7 of the Gatehouse Gazette.

* And, of course, Steamboy.

* There's also Fullmetal Alchemist, Last Exile and The Big O though these are more dieselpunk than steampunk.

* Skies of Arcadia, video game.

* Here's a Japanse steampunk website. I'm sure there must be more, but this one looks pretty nifty.

* There's even a Steampunk Japan livejournal.

* I have a little section about Victorientalism at my own site that might be of interest.

* In terms of fashion and life-style you'll want to look into Lolita.

[Ryu]

  Yay for Japanese inspired steampunk! Thank you Ottens for the links!
 I love Skies of Arcadia!

[akumabito]

There are a couple of pretty informative threads on Victorientalism on this forum as well

[Rev.Hammer]

Forgive me for intruding, but I see him as a great subject for steampunk intrepretation!
Here is a sort of stream of conciousness recipe:

The Dragon Lance would be great done as a Johnson Bar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_bar_%28vehicle%29 ) with a clockwork dragons head having furnace eyes and smoke coming from them.

This is a Johnson Bar:


It is the large adjuster with the squeeze grip that disengages the ratcheting position lock.


His chest armor as more of a leather mechanics apron and untility belt with chinese characters in gold on the covers of the pockets. The upper being a sort of heavy brocade affair in red and gold with brass epaulets of dragons, lions, chimera's or what have you.
His robe would be a sort of longcoat, riders coat, oilskin, outsized labcoat affair with slightly larger than normal shoulders. The edges of it are finished in silk ribboning beset with dragons, phoenix, serpents, etc.
His boots are open targets as to how you want to do the boots. I would speculate dark blood red with copper and hammered steel accents and HEAVY rubbe soles studded around their visible perimeter with tiny foo-dog faces in nickel.
His head gear would remain nearly as is but with a flip down eye shield or goggles.
The beard is a must have but change it to something like a VanDyke, or big  Muttonchops.

How would that strike you?

[Rev.Hammer]

That is the squeeze grip would be at one far end of the lance..

[von Corax]

Err... "Him?" All I see there is a gigantic pixillated WordPress logo.

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Rev. Hammer,
 Are you speaking English? Are you doing powerful hallucinogens? I could not make heads or tails of your post.

~T

[Lord Wraste]

The first thing I think of?
ROBOT CARNIVAL.

Robot Carnival- A Tale of Two Robots Pt. 1/2	DQ

Robot Carnival- A Tale of Two Robots Pt. 2/2	DQ

I love all of Robot Carnival and think every part has something that could be a bit SP, but "A Tail of Two Robots" is really the most fitting.

In fact I have plans for an Eurasian SP ensemble that's a bit Meiji-meets-British...

[corpus6667]

Thanking you gentlemen for your comments.
The problem with being in this country is that anything decent that is not FULLY mainstream is so difficult to come by legally (i.e. buying it at a shop, or from iTunes). I will see what i can get hold of.

[Rev.Hammer]

Rev. Hammer,
 Are you speaking English? Are you doing powerful hallucinogens? I could not make heads or tails of your post.

~T

Apologies! I am not sure that what I am seeing is what you are seeing.....

[Rev.Hammer]

Err... "Him?" All I see there is a gigantic pixillated WordPress logo.

My apologies... It should be corrrected now.

[Herr Klinger]

I was going to 'steam' up my Tengu(Japanese goblin) outfit with some goggles and brass, but it is challenging enough to walk on Tengu geta, nonetheless with tinted lenses in. I may build a metal tengu mask for next year, time will tell.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[elShoggotho]

A thread about Japanese steampunk should be long and resourceful. Remember Haruo Suekichi, the watchmaker?
http://watchismo.blogspot.com/2007/07/watchismo-times_13.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/14/haruo-suekichis-stea.html

Also this: Nostalgia (Nintendo DS) Trailer

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Aha, Rev. Hammer, now it makes perfect sense! Yes, that fearsome fellow could be "steampunk'd " quite nicely.
Sorry I wasn't able to comprehend you the first time around...being able to see the picture certainly helps...and perhaps the fact that last night I was diligently working on a bottle of absynthe might have had something to do with it, also.

Thistlewaite

[Wordsmith]

I had thought there was a whole steampunk sub-subculture (like the well-known "clockpunk") based around this general idea... namely, Victorientalism. Or have I missed the point?

[Lord Wraste]

I had thought there was a whole steampunk sub-subculture (like the well-known "clockpunk") based around this general idea... namely, Victorientalism. Or have I missed the point?

My good Wordsmith, You've not missed the point at all.

As I understand it:
Victoriental is a broad term for the mixing of Victorian and Asiatic styles.
We just happen to be focused on Japan specifically in this thread.

I'm fond of the Meiji Restoration in general. It's VERY SP without any help at all really.

[Rev.Hammer]

Indeed there are many an issue clouded with absinthe. In my case, the Makers Mark often slows intellectual uptake!

Aha, Rev. Hammer, now it makes perfect sense! Yes, that fearsome fellow could be "steampunk'd " quite nicely.
Sorry I wasn't able to comprehend you the first time around...being able to see the picture certainly helps...and perhaps the fact that last night I was diligently working on a bottle of absynthe might have had something to do with it, also.

Thistlewaite