I’ve heard you, space cowboy.

New Year’s is one of the few extended vacation periods in Japan, so for many Japanese people it’s a rare opportunity to travel overseas. Having some time off for work, one Japanese gentleman, travelling in what appears to be the U.S., called himself an Uber and, once the car arrived, hopped in.

When the driver realized his passenger was from Japan, he decided to put on a playlist of Japanese jazz music, which included a piece of background music from Cowboy Bebop. We suppose you could make the argument that it would have been a better fit for an anime music playlist than a Japanese jazz one, but the passenger didn’t mind. As a matter of fact, he recognized where the music was from instantly, and it turned out to be a great ice breaker, as he informed the driver, in English:

“I played Spike, the main character in that series.”

Yep, it turns out the passenger was none other than Koichi Yamadera, one of Japan’s most prolific voice actors. Yamadera’s resume stretches back decades and includes roles in franchises such as Dragon Ball, Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, and Ranma 1/2 (including its currently ongoing remake). Internationally, though, Spike is by far the most popular character Yamadera has voiced, and once his driver knew who was sitting in his backseat, he gushed “Seriously?!? I’m a huge Cowboy Bebeop fan! This is so cool!” and promptly put on “Tank!”, the Cowboy Bebop opening theme, as shown in the video shared by Yamadera through his Twitter account here.

“At that moment, I could feel the palpable power of anime,” writes Yamadera, and it’s a reminder that while anime tends to be first and foremost an entertainment medium, it’s also a way of sharing culture, which can then lead to warm feelings and positive connections between people from different parts of the world.

Though now we can’t help wondering if the pigeon Yamadera struck up a conversation with a while back was similarly starstruck.

Source: Twitter/@yamachanoha via Hachima Kiko
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