Oh great! We will have shitty camera angles now in real life as well...

Rafalapso

Rule of thumb, don't stumble into a japanese Happy Days convention, don't they know 'The Fonz' is cooool

AEEEYYYY!

//wants a 3d costume.

jigglypoofs

I thought it was funny that in the interview he said that he wanted to replicate the aesthetics of "third world" gaming.

He also explains that he was a lot more eager to act like a jackass because he had the same feeling of anonymity that one gets when playing a game and looking at yourself from a third person point of view. That's actually pretty interesting.

Kavatar

Why does a giant white-haired lady-guy pop up on the screen all of the sudden towards the end of the video? I don't have sound but...way to force your profile into the memory of unsuspecting people.

Adam In Texas

I couldn't even watch the whole thing. I'm going to sleep.
=/

Channing

I_Hate_This_Place

Asshole got whatever he deserved. You can't go around acting like a jackass and expect no one else to return the favor.

chaos242

So in order to get this experience I have to dress up and act like a complete faggot in public? No thanks, if I wanted to do that, I could do it without some elaborate and expensive camera system.

That Lamer

I don't get it? Why is het acting like a twat? And why is everything repeating itself?

Cchrist

"I will go to another country and make an ass out of my self...its diplomatic genious!"

dropoff

Hey Marc Owen! People have been meeting together in avatar machines on a daily basis for much of the past century. They're called traffic jams.

godot

Yeah Harajuku is not the place to be doing crap like this. Should have gone to Akihabara.

Odin

He deserved to get beaten up far more. Seriously he puts on a silly costume and suddenly he thinks he can walk around being a c*nt to people?

Zim

Get.A.Life. Should have beat the crap outta him, then all gather around and go "Ayyyy! Da Fonzarello don't take no Cosplay!"

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Ma1agate

Why do the guys who are essentially Eddie Knox knock-offs get to pretend they are kooler than the guy in the cos?

Seems they miss the point . . .

DrStrangepork

Greased Lightning. Go Greased Lightning.

BjLive45

Yeah, that looked like Yoyogi park- and those dudes hang out and dance. Usually, people go there to watch all those guys dance to 50's music- not to see some stupid gaijin cosplaying. Usually the cosplayers don't hang out there. They probably got pissed because he was invading their territory.

jwrose

The way he was acting he got off lucky. Watching the video, I wanted to kick his ass. Harassing those women was not cool.

Slorg

I had a instance when I was living in California like this. I was in Six Flags Magic Mountian. I guess these similar type Japanese "tough guys" were taking a trip to the states.

I don't know what little man disease type had but I was happily eating a churro when they slapped it out of my hand. I was like 16 at the time but still bigger than them. Which heck I am only like 5'10 so I am not a big guy. My friends were all there too. Guess they don't realize violent Americans don't get intimated easily by dudes in leather and spiked hair.

Needless to say me and my 4 friends proceeded to beat the living hell out of the six of them. One peed on themselves too.

Pttf...tough guys indeed. Though in this situation the guy deserved the shove. Just some people you do not act like an ass too.

Figcoinc

Leather more like Pleather

Schoolimangooli

@Donutt007: Yeah, I like that as a saying.

"I'm about to kicks the shit kicked out! It's party time!"

Adam In Texas

Japanese Raggare folks are pussies!

This guy must should be glad he didn't bump into a Japanese Skinhead and Hard Mod crowd. Remember Suspenders/braces are more dangerous then pussy leathered Raggare crowd.

loempiavreter

This video leaves me with too many questions this early in the morning to deal with.

Kinburn

no HP/MP bar?...

vln

@Kingdom Oblivion: Love the video for Hikari.. Simple, but effective.

Jayenkai

@Kingdom Oblivion: Thanks.

Cruithne

lol nice job. that was a japanese gang. He should of been lucky just to get shoved. Well wearing what he did and making himself look like a fool is another reason, but yah.

mythus

This is a cool idea and great execution...but seriously, is-

"What kind of ethics has this raised for you in virtual life?"

an applicable question? The guy strapped a frickin' camera to his back.

mgy

He should consider himself lucky, where I am, if some dick turns up in some stupid costume, waving his arms about like that, I'm sure some dudes would have shot his ass.

and what is: ..nearly kicks the shit kicked out of him suppoused to mean?

Shin-Kaiser

Interesting. One might want to try that without being the crazy gaijin that's harassing people.

Fury-genesis

Yeah, that was pretty dumb.

I've had times where guys like that in Shinjuku or Harajuku say retarded things to me like "デッケーなー！" and I'll just tell em off in Japanese and they don't really do much. But.. I am much bigger then them and NOT doing a cosplay.

landonkun

Nice design, but not too sure what the point of walking around that place acting like an ass is. :-S

NunianVonFuch

@Cruithne: The first song was Hikari by utada Hikaru and the second song was another song from kingdom hearts which i can't remember the name of.

Kingdom Oblivion

when the leather clad types get a bit arsey, the realisation was an obvious but strange one - they were cosplaying as much as the guy in the camera suit.
Heck, we all are.

GMC

"kicks the shit kicked out of him"?

Donutt007

Yeah, that costume had "School Bully bait" written all over it.

Cruithne

Well, he is totally asking for it with all that macho posturing... lol.

Livid

Love the kingdom hearts music but it would be pretty annoying some guy walking up to you in yoru face and waving his arms around.

Kingdom Oblivion

Shit, the Fonz moved to Japan, who knew?

Anyway, cool music in that video, anyone know what it was?

Cruithne

Same here.

Fukanzen

What did he expect to get from them? Seriously?

Candlejack

What a douchebag. I would have kicked his ass aswell.

Tokoyama

This geek obviously never leaves his house and meet punks... Wtf did he expect messing with guys like that?

rich8606

That "gang" looks about as dangerous as a Nerf ball. Having said that, I do with they had brutally beaten that douchebag in the Avatar costume.

KaneRobot

@Rehabilitator: Actually it's a bunch of guys that perform to 50's songs i think i've seem them on something before.

Cchrist

This actually seems pretty cool, it'd be like living out a real video game.

It would be WoW, except quests entail doing the laundry and going to work.

Callidux

wow, "punks" really dress that way in japan, alaways thought anime exaggerated it.

Rehabilitator

Guy in the suit deserves to get his ass kicked,however what is going on in that country,last week i saw girls who tan themselves nearly black and dress like bratz dolls,this week its 4 foot tal elvis impersonators being referred to as "tough guys" and "bad asses".

I wanna move to Japan,if those guys are tough guys i can likely be a crime lord.Funniest thing is,world used to fear that country :)

SlowDeath420

@loempiavreter:

They may be pussies, but some of them carry straight-razors. I wouldn't be pissing off a Japanese Teddy-Boy.

This kid looks like a total dork. Someone probably should have kicked his ass. I wish he met up with some skinheads.

They make some rockin' music - and check out the Lambrettas:

+ Watch video

mangajunky

Wow... This guy is the biggest tool ever.

HibikiRush

yeah now i can have people ask me to join their clan in real life too.....whoopy.

This is a cool IDEA but after seeing how this dude acted kind of wondering what would happen if a bunch of the 12 year olds on live would get this......

_Ted_

What an idiot.

evslin

@skrame ☆:
Why are you assuming I was talking about Americans? (which I am, also) Gaijin is anyone not from Japan... I don't know where the guy in the video is from.

jwrose

If those are supposed to be tough guys then I may move to Japan. You pull that shit in England and you'd end up in a state.

Gofthick

@I_Hate_This_Place:
Well, seeing how "stupid gaijin" simply means, "stupid foreigner" (which he was being- even more so in the eyes of the Japanese people) and "Jap" is a known racist slur to English reading audiences- I think there's a difference.

jwrose

@JustOneFix: Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the dork with a camera on his back?

kelptocratic

The guys in leather look like they are from River City Ransom

JustOneFix

damn kengo stole my line....

smackthenun

lol...japanese johnny mcbadasses with pompadores are hilarious.

ManjiKengo

@I_Hate_This_Place: I've noticed that too. People can shit all over us Americans just because we're the majority and have an unpopular president, but if you put down anything Japanese then you're a bigot.

skrame ☆

Tonight Only! Greasers versus some idiot "design student"! Live!

Seriously though, to echo most of the above comments, I'm surprised that shoving was the extent. Try that shit in the Mission and get stabbed.

Man, those Japanese are sure polite!

kelptocratic

all i can say is:
LOL @ japanese skinheads.
LOL @ japanese greasers.

I didn't watch it all the way through, but did he run into a gang of japanese cowboys too ?

expansionsss

Well deserved. Is this guy going on a US tour so I might be able to give him the same treatment?

crapsh00t

That guy was lucky that he wasn't dressed like a jukebox or the Fonz really would have kicked his ass.

kingofallcosmos

They really should have just leveled the jerk.

Neer'mo

where were his supperpowers man! Looks like vitual boy there was gonna get a good flesh n bone slap.
LOL

Markyboy

I say that guy was asking for it.

Witzbold

@jwrose:

Ahh, yeah, I misinterpreted what you were saying. Basically, he was just stealing their thunder.

For those interested in the whacked out group of greasers, I think its this year that the ramen girl is being released finally. I was in the park a year and half ago or so and they were filming it with the greaser people(its a horrible looking movie with britney murphy) Just a side thing for those who want to see how popular this club of weird japanese guys has become over time.(god knows how long really)

RuneX

@mangajunkie:

In general I try not to piss off anybody, but if I had to choose between pissing off Japanese greasers with straight-razors or a bunch of thugs in LA....I'm pissing off the Japanese greasers.

Meohfumado

@Odin:
I was just gonna say this. Yoyogi/Harajuku isn't the right place for that, but still no danger of getting "his ass kicked for real" by those greasers.

Trocar-Slush-Weasel

@RuneX: Right, actually, by "their territory" I meant more that he was probably taking attention away from them- that's the area that they hang out to dance. The cosplayers are usually close by, but not in the park. I think we're on the same page- just reading it differently. :)

jwrose

@jwrose:

Well, not really. The cosplayers do hang out there, just roughly 100m away or so around the corner.(it really does look like yoyogi)

That said, those guys are pretty harmless and there really isnt anything to fear. Thier fake tough guys, basically there as an act to perform for the crowds of people. This is really a story of a retarded gaijin cosplayer doing stupid things as usual.(arent all cosplayers retarded though?)

RuneX

He deserved it. It was clear he was just trying to be an annoying goober.

UltimatePancakeSensation

He was asking for it. The first time he jumped in front of me I would have let it go. The second time I would've kicked him in the nuts.

As for the Japanese dudes in leather..

LOL.

heretrix

Bass Wolf LIVES!

terraform

@Witzbold: Agreed. I don't care if he's Foreign, Japanese or Extra Terrestrial, when you go up to people whose existence is acting tough, you should expect to AT LEAST be shoved by them when you get in their faces and flair your arms. That guy is lucky.

Robotube

Lol that was lame....they would have kicked his ass

xarchsagex

If that guy Marc had a camera strapped to him that let him see himself in third person view, how come he didn't see that guy that pushed him coming? :)

(Such a noob design mistake - design rule #1 - always position the camera so the player can see the environment around him.)

Boneyard

@Figcoinc:
Screen shot or it didnt happen. No just kidding I believe you, we have crap like that happening around where I live all the time. People like that dont learn unless something drastic like an old fashion ass kicking is administered to them. Maybe theyll go back to Japan and just be normal people now instead of "tough guys".

Striker118

"Third world gaming".. He wants to know what it is like to game in a developing country?

No wonder they wanted to beat him up :P

Still, I think it's a pretty cool concept, must be pretty fun to do. But if you go around and start throwing your arms out in front of people... yeah, expect to get at least a shove.
Also, I wonder what 'research' he thinks would have saved him from the 'gang'. He should go research on how to behave in a social manner.

Bashi

This is why, when you're in japan, you avoid other gaijin. Seriously, I dunno why geeks in North America think that they'll suddenly be accepted as cool in Japan. A geek is still a geek, no matter what continent they are in.

kevko

Silly cunts, thinking they're Marlon Brando. No need to get violent, or threaten the guy, he wasn't actually doing any harm.

Jamie_W

Holy crap, I only thought people like that existed in River City Ransom! I wonder if you could get little bouncing coins from those guys if you beat them up...

ManekiNeko

@mangajunky:

Your a guy I could talk with!

Teddy Boys & Rockers, Raggare's, Greasers... They will all tremble in front of a bunch of Skins.

The only time I see those folks are when they are getting their head stomped down to the floor even by some Mods.

loempiavreter

mellowsmoothe

Huh... please correct me if I'm wrong, but...
Akihabara or the Nipponbashi are meccas for cyberculture. Harajuku is known for varied self-expressive fashion. And that suit does not look... "fashionable" by any stretch.

And I didn't know those guys still looked like that, wow. Would those count as bosozoku (you know, minus bikes?) Those guys even looked pretty polite and reasonable (maybe they're cosplaying old style punks?) The avatar guy just kept getting in people's faces and gesticulating wildly. Also I know many Japanese seem quite aware of privacy rights and not running around filming people's faces against their will.

fuchikoma

Someone should have warned me this was set to "Simple & Clean" From KH. I just had a huge fit of Nostalgia... I didn't realize how much I missed that game.

phnord

@jwrose: And in Jackass they made so much fun of them. BTW, I'm gonna echo the sentiment, no need for the "stupid gaijin" remark, xenophobia is no less atrocious than racism.

zoesch

Ooh, almost tricked me into clicking another lousy BBTV video. NoScript saved my ass. And judging from what these comments say about the video, not a moment too soon.

Enkur

Leave Avatar dude alone LEAVE HIM ALONE!! He dint do nothing wrong!

Jehuty2

@ManekiNeko:

hahaha "BARF!!!" *pingping*

I dunno. They didn't look especially tough to me. Then again, they had numbers on their side.

dunetiger : the mekuri master

amazing! he can see himself acting like a jerk!

LeBaron

Would've loved to see this guy in SoCal when somebody asks him, "Where you from?"

Meohfumado

@Neer'mo: lol just imagine seeing yourself get knocked the fuck out in third person.

ProdigalMoon

Is it just me, or that BMW commercial seemed to be straight out of GT5?

IntelSilver

I know if he ever tried that kind of crap where I live, he would probably been robbed and shanked.

logicaldefense

@mangajunky: music video IS pretty good. I wish I knew what they were saying the majority of the video though.
@Pancho_Villasan:
Same. Japanese greasers are more bad ass than that...I'd hope.

ManjiKengo

Nobody noticed him unless it was a foreigner, or he annoyed/provoked them. Harajuku... niiice.

ph15h

Byakko

Japanese greasers don't mess around aparently. They probably carry knives and are ready for a rumble in the park at any moment. Stay golden Japanese greasers... Stay golden. But honestly wtf is the guy in the suit's deal. If you're going to dress like a jack ass, at least try not to act like a total jack ass. "Do something without fear for your physical being," is that guy learning disabled? No, being a douche in real life always carries the chance that you'll run into someone who's more than willing to call your bluff.

Anemone

i was hoping they shoved him hard enough that he would fall and break the camera, or a third-person ass beating wouldn't have hurt either.

Pancho_Villasan

He was obnoxious to women, and aggravating the japanese gang, so he was definitely asking for it. If only they just beat his ass, I would laugh out loud, with no sympathy.

zerokoolpsx

All of the internet tough guys that have posted are hilarious. Keep it up guys, we believe you!

Jaysunli

Beware the umibozu.

art_zombie

So he had an out of body experience. If I had this, I would jump around everywhere, jump over peoples heads, jump to see how many times I pull off a flip. I'd.....just jump. Alot.

macr0planet

Further fueling the perception of the "Ugly American"

What a dick.

citykids

ahahaahhaha why did they put hikari and other kh songs as the background music XD ahahahaha kh ftw!!! totally doesnt go XD

*ahem* anyways I do think it looks fun to mess with japanese people in japan :D lol not surprised that dude got his ass kicked though XD

hrabbit

@citykids:

The guy isn't American, he's british.

@Jaysunli:

Totally agree. Sure this guy was acting like a fool, but he wasn't doing any harm. All these tough guy posts are nothing but an attempt to enlarge their E-Peens. Amusingly, most of these posters sound like the annoying Xbox Live kiddies they so love to complain about.

Seriously, at least this guy had the testicular fortitude to do something like that. The lot of you have to grow a sense of humor

bodmodkub

I don't believe these guys are gangsters, they are more like hobbyists/street performers. Rockabillies is what I believe they call themselves.

+ Watch video

Japanese gangsters = yakuza

GrassJelly

am i the only one who thinks that something like this should be done with the camera about 10 feet above and behind you, to get the full MMO perspective?

frank0127

I wonder if the "shoved by dangerous greasers" line was removed, if people would talk more about the camera than him being a jack ass.

Ah, naohhhhhh!

:)

I missed visiting Harajuku last time, next time I'll be sure to drop by and say hi to the gang.

DELICIOUS BUNNY

SpearXXI

This is how much these guys are worth, worth for getting there but kick by a legion of mods.

+ Watch video

loempiavreter

@Anemone:
Greasers? Looks like Raggare to me

loempiavreter

RhymePhile

Did anyone else think the lady conducting the interview looked kinda strange?

Makidian

invading personal space. someone should have kicked him in the joystiq.

GDUB

Man those guys were hostile. I don't think he should have approached them in the first place, but they really got out of hand quickly...

Zeouterlimits

To see if our behaviors in the virtual world would carry over into the real world by trying to emulate a third person effect in the real world is an amazing experiment, but its validity is still questionable.

I question if his behavior is intentional or was it a natural occurrence of the experiment? Its very hard to tell. We could accept it at face value, but that doesn't make the problem go away.

I hope to see this experiment repeated several more times, but through other individuals. In that case, it might show the validity of this experiment.

yjaved1

Oh, c'mon. How come when Mega64 does this kinda stuff, it's hilarious and okay, but this guy does it and he's an asshole?

Seroth

i would've helped them stomp him. let the men dance!

JellyDoodle

I've heared about gangs like that. Don't they usually hang around in parks and perform Elvis songs and stuff with choreographed dancing? :P

Recoil

p.s what a shit invention

JellyDoodle

@Jayenkai: I hope that was a pun on the title of the english version of Hikari... lol aka Simple and Clean

sovietspartan

Nothing says "Don't fuck with me!" like a Pompadore in 2008

RagingTowers

darn greasers.

Really cool experiment though

Nessman

Interesting interview. And while I agree that he was asking for it with those guys, I understand that he believed he was just playing around. He was acting the same way with the girl at the start, lighthearted fun. He wanted to do the same with those guys, but I guess he didn't noticed that they looked dangerous, which I'll agree is his main fault here.

Seeing your life from that perspective though, the possibility of that is fascinating. Would you really feel like you couldn't be hurt? Like your in a videogame? I'd like to try something like that. Though even if I didn't fear for my physical being and became completely immersed in it- there is absolutely no way I'm going near any one who looks remotely dangerous.

PurpleMonkey

I found his experiment interesting with the camera strapped to his back viewing himself from an outside perspective. I doubt it will make you feel any more annonymous. Id like to try strapping a camera like that to my car so I can feel like im driving in a video game.

Snowdaddy

@bodmodkub:

Thanks for the correction, I just read it on Boing Boing's site...

He's still a dick though.

citykids

@bodmodkub:

Thanks for the correction, I just read that part on Boing Boing

He's still a dick.

citykids

...the hell was that guy thinking? I mean, it should be fairly obvious not to act like an ass in the first place, but to do it to those dudes just isn't smart. Not to mention the fact that one of them actually saved his ass by stopping the one guy, but then Marc just goes right back to being annoying again - you don't screw over the dude who helps you in a situation like that.

Blah8

Ahaha Japanese Greasers, i've heard about them. They're not really a gang though, just some dudes who emulate what the Greasers were in America.

Also, did that first girl in the kimono have a tail? Japan is weird.

Tesahli

Yeah they play old 50's music and dance around near the end of the park. I Am in japan and I have been there many sunday mornings

curbside

Wow why where the rocka billys so angery stuff like this happends in hakajuku on a regular bases especially on sunday. sure this guys a bit more annoying than most.if he had just not gotten in the way of there dancing Im sure they would not have cared.

curbside

I wouldn't say 'gang'. They were rockabillys. Agressive ones.

Pinhead

stuminus3

Okay,

Apologies if this is a double-post but since I didn't have the foresight to actually copy the original, it'll still be a little different.

The dude in the video's an ass. He deserved it. Really. That's just rude and lame. The rig is cool and without his exaggerated motions, it would not have accurately depicted his accomplishment of creating a system that sways and turns like an MMOs camera system typically does.

But come on, you can prance down a street all day through a crowd, just don't harrass people. Should've been arrested or something if Japan has public disturbance laws, at least to get him momentarily off the street. Besides, that would've been cooler to film. ;)

What also bothers me is that day-in, day-out, I repeatedly hear on Kotaku of the uber-society everyone claims Japan to be. Even in the posts Ashcraft makes about citizenship, especially regarding portions of the society who have to change their name just to be accepted and treated equally. What the Japanese do in their country is fine. That's their country.

Your cause is only double-damned when the very people in this comment thread say 'stupid gaijin' or similar things. Yes. I know, gaijin alone is a harmless word and a truthful word when referring to this asshat and his antics in public. He is gaijin. Fact.

But using it in the context that I've always seen it used, the word has lost it's innocence. It's now hateful, racist, and xenophobic. I have to assume that if you use it this way, so do the Japanese. In which case, from where Is it, their society sucks just as badly in tolerance than our (US) own. If not more so because everyone admits the problem here.

Example: If I begin to use the word "kitten" in my daily language and only use it when referring to people of Arabic ancestory, moreover only utilize it in a negative context that reflect my displeasure against actions or policies of that heritage, than the utterly cute and adorable word "kitten" has been turned into racist, hateful statement. Just like gaijin has.

Stupid kittens.

SlightlyConfused

Okay...

This is just odd and frankly, the guys' a complete ass. Granted, to get the 'idea' of what he was doing, took a moment. Without his grand gestures and motions, it'd be hard to really appreciate the rig he's assembled to mimic the delay and swing of a typical MMO camera system.

Totally, he did deserve getting pushed away like that. That's just rude.

What bothers me equally the same is a majority of my fellow commenters who day-in and day-out defend the Japanese society and "tolerance" as if it's some holy goal to be reached by all societies. Guys, if that's the point you're trying to prove, try to do it without attempting to be "cool" by saying things like "crazy gaijin" or "stupid gaijin".

The word by itself is useless but in it's context, is borderline racist, isolationist, and xenophobic. Otherwords, it's xenophobic and anti-cause for you to use as justification. That'd be akin to me suddenly using the word "Kitten" every time I refer to a person of Arabic heritage, for example.

In an of itself, it's a harmless word. Through use in circumstances mostly meant to establish the differences of the person I'm talking about from myself or my society and prefaced with "stupid", "ignorant", "rude", the word kitten will indeed take on a racist comment. Just like gaijin appears to have.

Stupid kittens.

SlightlyConfused

jackal27

Wow, punch perms actually exist...

onikuwagata

"tough japanese dudes"

Complete oxymoron unless they're named Sakuraba, Fujita, Yamamoto, Inoue or Sudo.

O-Z

he's lucky he got off that lightly. Doing that just about anywhere else in the world would warrant an instant ass whooping.

Hibikino

@Meohfumado:

Exactly... I definetly prefer the greaser bunch to LA thugs or south american gangs like the Salvatrucha. A stab in the gut is better than being cut to pieces and flushed down the toilet.

Señor Cagon

hahaha i think i had a bad dream like this once

Uckofay