Shorinji Kempo in street display? The Matrix Reloaded.

[Tripitaka of AA]

On the forum "News from Japan" is a thread titled "Smiths absorb Japan", which links to a forum devoted to the film "The Matrix: Reloaded" (are you with me so far?). The link goes to a thread which is detailing the Japanese reactions to the premiere and inparticular some unusual fan events that have occurred. Apparently groups of fans have been dressing up as the film characters and acting out scenes on the busy city streets of Tokyo, Osaka, etc. There are video clips which can be downloaded (trust me, I'm reaching a point soon). On the clips, there are some rehearswd fight scenes.... which look uncannily like Kempo Embu to me!


What do you think?

[Anders Pettersson]

Originally posted by Tripitaka of AA
There are video clips which can be downloaded (trust me, I'm reaching a point soon). On the clips, there are some rehearswd fight scenes.... which look uncannily like Kempo Embu to me!
Hi David.

Could you point us at a direct link please?


/Anders

[Tripitaka of AA]

I thought you might enjoy the long way around :D

I'll get the link up soon.

[Tripitaka of AA]

This is the thread on the "RottenTomatoes" forum:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=238636&perpage=25&pagenumber=1


Links to video clips as they are mentioned in the thread;

This is the site for the group who organised the event
http://members.tripod.co.jp/matrixreloaded/

The Live Webcam that shows Shibuya 24 hours a day, Recording from the first "Event".
http://home.uchicago.edu/~xbensky/matrixinshibuya.mpg


http://home.uchicago.edu/~xbensky/allagentsunite.zip

http://homepage.mac.com/sibamasa/615.avi

http://members.tripod.co.jp/matorixshibuya/index.htm

http://www.globetown.net/~2ch_hane/osaka3.mpeg

http://www.teu.ac.jp/intebro/ondemand/video/smith/index.html
http://plum.sakura.ne.jp/~alpha/matrix/

[Tripitaka of AA]

The clips are being edited and impoved all the time. So a lot of the links seem dead already. It seems these fans are extremely keen, and the quality of output is improving all the time.

The best compilation so far is this one;

http://gebira2.hp.infoseek.co.jp/japatrix.jpg

you load it as a jpg, then rename it to a ".exe" which becomes a self-extracting movie file. I'm not sure why it is done this way, perhaps caution is required to check for viruses.

My first impressions about possible Shorinji Kempo connections have yet to be proved by any video images. The poses seen in still photographs of some of the "Smiths" look more like Shorinji Kempo or Boxing than any Karate Kamae or Kung Fu. It had me hoping.

All in all, it makes a fascinating view of the type of thing that a japanese audience will do... that would seem highly improbable in London. One or two nutters might be up for it, but can you see the amount of planning that is going into these events, and so many people!

So as it has yet to yield any Shorinji Kempo connection, I shall cease adding to this thread. I hope you all enjoyed the diversion.