A Japanese person told me...

[Metropolisforever]

that his dad was a friend of Osamu Tezuka, and that they own a signed copy of the cover of the Metropolis film(?) I think he uses film to reffer to manga, but he said he had never read the Metropolis manga. The same person also told me that American music is all they listen to down in Japan, and that the Japanese music sucks.

[jonerik]

Re music: American music is never shown in the Japanese pop charts, but I think that has a lot to do with the way the charts are compiled. I'm positive they listen to a lot of American music, though. I've certainly seen tons of Western artists for sale in the Japanese record shops I've been to. I'd disagree with the contention that Japanese music sucks. I love Puffy AmiYumi. Titan GoKings and Petty Booka, too. He might have been talking about the likes of SMAP and Morning Musume, though. My understanding is that hip-hop has finally overtaken rock in the last couple of years as the most popular Western style of music in Japan.

Re Metropolis. Either Tezuka signed the manga, or Tezuka's son signed the DVD. I'm not sure what other explanation is possible.