Hong Kong-
It is strange there isn’t a strong RLSH movement in Asia. After all it is a culture that has picked up some odd bits of American culture (baseball, Rambo movies, and rockabilly for just a few examples) in Japan in particular. Japan also has a culture that loves manga and anime, giant lizards and robots.
Even the current Japanese first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, describes meetings with aliens, including a trip to Venus, and a meeting with Tom Cruise in a past life in her book “Very Strange Things I’ve Encountered.” There has been at least a couple Japanese reports on RLSHs.
So it would seem RLSHs would not only be welcomed, but maybe even decorated as public ambassadors or state spokespersons!
However, Red Arrow of Hong Kong is one of the only known RLSH of Asia. He is dressed almost like a Hong Kong version of the DC superhero Red Tornado. He has a blue cape and shirt with a giant red arrow and a blue mask concealing his face with a plush red arrow stuffed with Styrofoam attached to the forehead.
A 2006 YouTube video shows him making the costume, then going out into public, where he hands out candy at a school assembly, says hi to people and offers favors, performs yo-yo tricks, hands origami swans to children, and offers to shade pedestrians under an umbrella.
In a second video, shot on Christmas of 2006, he walks around handing out 100 small gifts to “kids in poor places in Hong Kong.”
On September 19, 2007 he updated his MySpace page, announcing he would be moving to the UK for 4 years. His trail, at least for the time being, seemed to have disappeared there.
On Friday (April 2), however, the Red Arrow appeared on the RLSH.net forum, announcing that he was currently in the UK, had not been active in RLSH activities the last several years, but was making a return to the scene.
I guess he's letting the giant red arrow on his head guide his way.
There are RLSH in Japan, but they are mostly for entertainment. Still, it's a start.
ReplyDeleteYou know Tea, Red Arrow seems like a good guy. He came back to one of the RLSH forums and has been very cool in his return. In looking at his costume/uniform I just have to wonder how he actually maintains steady vision in that thing. And are you serious when you said current Japanese first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, describes meetings with aliens, including a trip to Venus, and a meeting with Tom Cruise in a past life in her book “Very Strange Things I’ve Encountered"?
ReplyDeleteI know some folks lik to take jabs at some of the RLSH for their eccentric stories/backgrounds so I just find your revelation of Miyuki to be amusingly ironic. Comic book characters, anime, and science fiction are pretty big in the China & Japan so I'm also surprised that more Asian RLSH have not made their presence outwardly known.
Malvado- Yeah, someone was telling me there's something called like "neighborhood heroes" there who are more or less mascots of different Japanese neighborhoods. Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteMr. Jingles- Oh yeah, and my understanding as she's just viewed as "delightfully eccentric." Here's her wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyuki_Hatoyama
She also claims to "eat the sun" every day.
I've tried in vain to find an English translation. No such luck so far.
Well, considering they cut shit off you for committing crimes in Japan, I'd say they really don't need much on low level crime patrols.
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