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Berserk, Paprika Composer's Ban on Light Sticks Backfires on Twitter
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Light sticks have become ubiquitous at pop music concerts in Japan, but composer Susumu Hirasawa (Berserk, Paprika, Millennium Actress) has apparently had enough. He tweeted on Sunday, "Glow sticks are prohibited at my concerts. If you want to wave something cylindrical over your head no matter what, make it an inkan. An inkan."
Inkan are seals commonly used in Japan in lieu of signatures to sign paperwork. Hirasawa was clearly joking when he told his fans to bring seals to his concerts, but that seems to have encouraged some of his smart-aleck Twitter followers. One fan tweeted, "Looks like there are light-up inkan with LEDs!!" The post was accompanied by an image of a device that looks similar to a flashlight but casts a light beam that looks like a stamp from an inkan.
Not willing to give Hirasawa any slack, the company Shachihata joined in on the teasing. The company directly referenced Hirasawa's tweet and suggested that fans could instead use its devices that can also produce name stamps.
Hirasawa is taking the reactions to his tweet in stride, and he may even be as amused as his followers. He referenced Shachihata in a later tweet and also retweeted the company's actual response tweet.
Hirasawa could have unwittingly started a new concert trend in Japan. He may want to be cautious about encouraging too many other alternative cylindrical objects, though. There are a lot of cylinder-shaped items in the world.... Who knows what fans will turn up with at his next concert?
Source: Susumu Hirasawa's Twitter account via Hachima Kikō
