In Tokyo, there are shops where hundreds of trading-card photographs of j-pop “idols” are displayed hung in plastic sleeves. These shops are filled with teen girls searching for images of their favorite group or singular star. The cards are coveted; collected in special scrap books.
There are huge amusement arcades with computer games and with "Puri-Kura,” computer photo booths, that for 300 yen (@ $3.00), offer sheets of photographs that can be digitally decorated with fancy frames and borders. As you stand in front of a video monitor which shows your face, loud teeny-bob music blares and lights flash while a high pitched female voice calls out. Your portrait can be embellished with a variety of effects: glitter text, cascading hearts, playful kittens, and rainbow colorful backgrounds. Then, in about a minute, the machine prints out a sheet. The small photos are used for personal introductions, posted as surprise impromptu visages on power poles, and eagerly traded.
Marc De Ansar was enthralled by the Puri-Kura and spent many happy hours adding to his repertoire of postures and pronouncements. He liked the idea of the “idol” and thought that he should display himself as such.
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