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Danny Choo (born 1972) is a blogger and the founder of Mirai Inc., best known for his exploits as a Star Wars Imperial stormtrooper exploring and dancing in the streets of Tokyo. As of March 2008, Dannychoo.com is ranked among the top 10,000 most visited websites in the world.
Career
Danny Choo was born in 1972 in London, England, where he spent time as a shoe designer working for his father Jimmy Choo before deciding to study Japanese and Korean at London University. Over the next year, he posted pictures and video clips of himself wearing the costume in public and visiting businesses in Tokyo. On September 24, 2006, he uploaded a video of himself wandering the streets of Tokyo in the costume to YouTube, which has been viewed more than 11,000 times. A second video, filmed in Yokohama, reached a similar audience.
Tokyo Dance Trooper
On June 30, 2007, dannychoo.com and kirai.net co-produced a video called Tokyo Dance Trooper, in which the stormtrooper dances in an intersection in the town of Akihabara in Tokyo during a red light, as well as in a subway car and on a sidewalk. The video has been viewed almost 700,000 times. A screenshot of the video appeared on the official Star Wars website, and Lucasfilm mailed Danny Choo to tell him that they enjoyed the video. Danny Choo was later invited to a "YouTube Mix" in , where he met YouTube co-founder Steve Chen.
The following month, a second co-production featuring Darth Vader as a second dancer was uploaded, which has been viewed almost 300,000 times. In October, a third video was filmed in Shibuya, Tokyo, featuring dance scenes at popular landmarks HachikÅ? Crossing, Shibuya 109, and Center Gai, as well as footage of the Dance Trooper at the YouTube Mix in Tokyo. The video has been viewed more than 650,000 times,
Popularity
The popularity of Star Wars and the breadth of memorable characters has made the franchise a popular target for parodies in television and film, as well as fan videos. Although YouTube videos featuring dancing stormtroopers preceded Danny Choo's videos by at least a year, the most popular videos have been viewed between 30,000 and 80,000 times, despite appearing in "Related Videos" and searches for Danny Choo's videos.
Tokyo Dance Trooper videos are notable for being filmed in highly public locations, such as busy Tokyo intersections, as well as the spontaneous reactions of passersby. People appearing in the videos sometimes dance with the Dance Trooper, take pictures, or shake his hand. While a dancing stormtrooper would be an unusual sight in any urban setting, creating and wearing highly accurate costumes depicting characters from Japanese popular culture has become a significant subculture in Japan known as cosplay. This may partially explain the willingness of witnesses to participate, and the overall popularity of the videos.
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