Newbury Park store offers anim world of Japanese pop culture
By Joe Cohen

CULTURE CLASH-Newbury Park's JPOP anim store provides on-screen games for its customers. JPOP, which stands for Japanese pop culture, has the hottest games, action figures and collectibles. In photo at left, Sequoia Middle School eighth-grader Kyle Trethaway, 13, center, challenges JPOP employees Shannon Duggan and Thomas Henn to a game of Super Smash Brothers Melee on Tuesday.

As summer vacation begins for the thousands of kids in the Conejo Valley and parents are bombarded with the inevitable "We're bored" chants, JPOP, a new anim store in Newbury Park, could be a lifesaver.

JPOP stands for Japanese pop culture, and anim is the Japanese shortened word for animation. In Japan, anim would be any animated production, no matter where it originated. Outside Japan, however, anim tends to refer specifically to Japanese animation.

And that's just part of what's offered at JPOP, operated by Alison and Wes Roelke. They're doing everything they can to entertain your children this summer. Events include free movie nights every Wednesday, birthday party hosting, and a video game tournament scheduled for July. Walking into JPOP, it's easy to understand its appeal. There are video games, hats, T-shirts, action figures, DVDs, key chains, lunchboxes, pencils, dolls, and costumes of popular anim characters for sale.

What's refreshing about the business owned by the 30-something couple is that there's never a hard sell. Everyone is welcome to play the used video games for sale or to draw pictures of their favorite anim cartoons for display on the wall. Hanging out is actually encouraged.

"We want it to be more of a community hangout, where kids can come in and play video games or draw or watch movies," Alison said. "It's a safe and fun environment for younger kids and teenagers alike. I've actually had moms come in and thank us for babysitting," she said with a chuckle.

The Roelkes started selling anim out of a pull cart at the Westlake Promenade late last year. Wes is passionate about video games and anim. JPOP offers cartoons, movies and games for a large range of ages. On any given day there may be a line out the door of pre-teens, teenagers and adults waiting to get in to sample the games and hang out.

To learn more about JPOP, visit online at w w w. m y s p a c e . c o m / jpopcollectibles or drop by 3315 Kimber Drive unit A (next to 7-Eleven) seven days a week.