Happy Goku Day! May 9, 2015 is now officially recognized by the Japan Anniversary Association as “Goku Day”!

Why May 9? Because in Japanese the number 5 is pronounced go (五) and the number 9 is pronounced kyū (九), or lazily, ku. Thus, Goku.

Goku’s Japanese voice actress, Masako Nozawa, attended an event after a screening of Resurrection of ‘F’ on Saturday in Shinjuku to commemorate the new day.

Sunday is Mother’s Day, so a ‘Goku’ actor surprised Nozawa-san on stage with a bouquet of 59 carnations along with the official certificate. He presented them to her as the “Mother of Dragon Ball.”

Nozawa-san responded by saying:

“That’s sneaky of you. I’m gonna cry!”

She added that to her, Goku does feel like her own child.

Nozawa-san said that she hated voice acting work at first because she began her career as a stage actress in a troupe [which was more dignified at the time]. But through several auditions she was awarded the roles of young boys in Western films. Through that she became popular, and before she knew it she had started her new career as a voice actress. Since then she’s always played the role of young boys. However, she really wants to play beautiful women.

She then mentioned that after she auditioned for the role of Goku, Akira Toriyama hand selected her after listening to the audition tapes. Then she continued to play the role of Goku’s children, Gohan and Goten, which is the first time this had ever happened in the industry.

Nozawa-san said, “I’m truly glad that I’m a voice actress.”

News sources: Cinematoday and Mantan-web

Goku Day Announcements

Shūeisha updated their official site with new announcements!

The first is an official logo for Dragon Ball’s 30th Anniversary:

They said, “In accordance with the announcement of Goku Day, the Dragon Ball 30th Anniversary logo has been decided! It’s not just for this site, but will also be used on official goods and books! And remember, the 30th Anniversary continues for the next six months! So let’s celebrate “DB” together!”

Even better, Shūeisha announced a new book that will celebrate Dragon Ball’s 30 years!

“Announcing the production of a book to commemorate the 30th Anniversary!! From time to time we’ll publish new information about the book, so don’t worry. Enjoy!”

This is exciting for me, because I’m almost done with my own book to celebrate this occasion, called Dragon Soul: 30 Years of Dragon Ball Fandom.

It’s all about the fans, with 81 stories from across the world, and 27 professionals who helped create the series. So I’m eager to see what Shūeisha does with their own.

As if that weren’t enough, Shūeisha just published the Dragon Ball 590 Quiz Book:

This is a Dragon Ball quiz book that contains 590 questions. Every time you answer a question correctly your power level goes up, and at the end of the book you tally up your score to see if you’re the strongest in the world.

It’s 198 pages long, came out on May 1, 2015, and can be purchased on Amazon Japan for just over ¥700.

I think it’s official that we are in the second renaissance of Dragon Ball!

Goku Day in Dragon Ball

If you’re a serious Dragon Ball fan, then you know that May 9, Age 753, is the day that Piccolo Daimao declared to be “Piccolo Day.”

But it’s also the day that Goku defeated him.

The irony is that nobody but Goku’s friends, along with the Nation King, knew that he was the true savior of Earth.

It took until May 9, 2015 for it to become official.

The only question that remains is, how are you going to celebrate Goku Day?