This is voice actress and singer Eri Kitamura snapped at the BRS PSP game press conference. Eri-san is an immensely popular voice actress with a long history of voice acting. Her Wikipedia lists just some of the titles that she has worked on.

• Angel Beats! (Yui)
  
• Bakemonogatari (Araragi Karen)
  
• Blood+ (Saya Otonashi)
  
• Chaos;Head (Rimi Sakihata)
  
• Dance in the Vampire Bund (Nelly)
  
• Durarara (Mairu Orihara)
  
• Fairy Tail (Aquarius, Cana Alberona)
  
• Freezing (Ganessa Roland)
  
• Fresh Pretty Cure! (Miki Aono/Cure Berry)
  
• Ga-rei -Zero- (Natsuki Kasuga)
  
• Highschool of the Dead (Takagi Saya)
  
• Idolmaster: Xenoglossia (Makoto Kikuchi)
  
• Ikki Tousen (Kakouen Myousai)
  
• Kanamemo (Hinata Azuma)
  
• Kodomo no Jikan (Rin Kokonoe)
  
• Koharu Biyori (Yui)
  
• Kurokami (Kakuma)
  
• Kyoran Kazoku Nikki (Akeru Nishikura)
  
• Last Exile (Tatiana Wisla)
  
• Le Chevalier D'Eon (Anna Rochefort)
  
• Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure (Seira)
  
• Minami-ke (Yuka Uchida)
  
• My-Otome 0~S.ifr~ (Sister Hermana Shion)
  
• NEEDLESS (Eve Neuschwanstein)
  
• Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! (Nao Takanashi)
  
• Potemayo (Sunao Moriyama)
  
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Sayaka Miki)
  
• Seto no Hanayome (Akeno Shiranui)
  
• So Ra No Wo To (Kureha Suminoya)
  
• Sora Kake Girl (Lily)
  
• Taishō Baseball Girls (Shizuka Tsukubae)
  
• Touka Gettan (Makoto Inukai)
  
• Toradora! (Ami Kawashima)
  
• Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Siesta 410)
  
• Vampire Knight (Rima Touya)
  
• Vampire Knight Guilty (Rima Touya)
  
• Working!! (Yachiyo Todoroki)
  
• Yumeiro Patissiere (Mari Tennouji, Honey)

You will notice that one of the titles is Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! where she does the voice of Nao Takanashi. As mentioned in the King Records post, I'm working with StarChild to get you more involved with their titles starting with Onii-chan and what we would love to give you a few personally signed Shikishi by Eri Kitamura.
To get your signed Shikishi by Eri-san, all you have to do is one of the following.

For bloggers

If you are a blogger, then all you have to do is write a post about Onii-chan - does not have to be a glowing review either - just what you think about the show. If you like it you can mention what you like and if you dislike it then tell us how you would improve the show. Please tag your post with "starchild_oniichan." You can have Eri make the signature out to your name or your blog name.
Leave a comment on this page with a link to your blog post.

For Illustrators

If you are an illustrator, do a doodle of one of the characters from the series which are listed here. Once you have done that then post the illustration on any of the following sites - Flickr, Pixiv, Figure.fm or Tsubuyaku and tag it "starchild_oniichan."
There will only be 1 winner for this category that StarChild will choose but we will post some of the entries on the official site.
Leave a comment on this page with a link to your illustration.

For Twitter users

If you got no blog or cant draw then this category is for you. For Twitter users, all you have to do is tweet the official site url and mention whether you recommend the series or not. Dont forget to use the tag "starchild_oniichan."
Leave a comment on this page with a link to your tweet.

For Facebook users

If you got no blog or cant draw and don't have a Twitter account then this last category is for you. For Facebook users, all you have to do is click the "share" button for this post. StarChild will pick an entry at random.

The deadline for this giveaway is Friday February 18th. The 4 winners (one from each category) will be chosen by StarChild and notified via mail. Eri will sign your Shikishi and StarChild will send your goodie out from the King Records headquarters.

This Eri Kitamura signature giveaway is only available to folks residing outside of Japan.

More StarChild giveaways

There will be more signed giveaways from seiyuu - lemme know who you want and if s/he is involved with any future StarChild (King Records) title then I'll get it for you.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

I think that's about it - Arms and installation is complete - Good Luck!

When I said earlier on that nothing special happens today - I lied ^^; Today, many folks across Japan are celebrating something called Setsubun [節分] which is pronounced "setsu-boon."
The reason why I completely forgot about it is because Setsubun is not a national holiday. These photos taken just now when we went out for dinner and grocery shopping. After seeing our mall busier than usual, we realized that there had to be something special about today.

The kanji for Setsubun is "節" and "分" - coupled together they mean "Seasonal division" and originally refered to the eve of each season. These days however, Setsubun is usually used to refer to the beginning of Spring and commonly celebrated on the 3rd of February.

The first photo is taken at our local Tokyu supermarket. You can see some devil illustrations around the Setsubun corner where they stock food stuffs eaten on this day. You can see a blue devil holding a bat to hit roasted beans being thrown at it.
It is said that as seasons change, evil spirits come out to play - beans are thrown outside ones house to ward off the evil spirits. During Setsubun, somebody will wear the mask of a demon while other family members throw beans at him/her and shout "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" [鬼は外! 福は内!] meaning "demons out! luck comes in!"

It is also customary to eat some of the beans thrown outside to bring in the luck. This is why many of the products in the Setsubun corner are made of beans. Today's Sukiya had a special beef bowl served with beans in it. However, one should only eat as many beans as their age +1. If you are aged 21 this year (like me) then you would eat 22 roasted beans which would endow you with good fortune.

In the video below, you can see some demons making little kids cry - kids retaliate by throwing beans at em.

During Setsubun, the main food stuff is Ehomaki [恵方巻] - the sushi roll that you see pictured above. It is eaten as a good omen - this one above would ward off calamity and keep all family members in good health.

At our local shopping arcade, there are huge queues of folks picking up a load of Ehomaki.

Marukaburi [丸かぶり] is another word for Ehomaki - folks for who for whatever reason can become one just by sticking their head through the hole.

How much of the Japanese can you read in this photo?

And here is the typical devil. Folks who want to be pelted with beans should simply print these and cut em out - images from Enjoy Tokyo.

And yes - dolls celebrate Setsubun too - photo posted by Yamada over at Tsubuyaku.fm.

Took these photos a couple O days ago but there has already been a lot of change which I guess I'll talk about in the next edition.
Pretty much the whole of January has been spent planning for the year ahead. Am also trying to catch up on writing stuff and cleaning up the website UI and implementing better discovery features.
Got bigger plans for Culture Japan this year starting with the second season. By the end of February we should have a good idea of the exact broadcast dates.

Have also been spending time on our new Mirai Gaia platform clients such as King Records, Ascii Media Works and another client which I think I can announce next week.

Its been absolutely freezing of late. If you are visiting Tokyo any time soon then bring plenty to wrap up in!

Didn't get to do an incredible amount of end-of-year cleaning so have been trying to fit it in between breaks. Its important to to know the whereabouts of everything that you own so as not to waste time looking for stuff. Its also important to keep your stuff clean too!

Mounds of dust can actually lead to fires. Scroll down a bit on this page to see a photo of what happened when a mound of dust caused a fire. Over 1000 accidents with fire are said to be caused by dust like this in Japan every year.

Dust that gathers on figures can also cause damage - evaporated oils in the air get caught in the dust which leads to oily surfaces. Have a look at some of the figures on your shelves that you have not touched for ages. Did you find any with oily surfaces?

Dont get to dust down the girls as often as I used to. You can just about make out the rings of dust on the shelves.

Everybody removed from the shelves to get a dusting down one by one.

These are the tools that I use for cleaning the office. The bottle contains paint thinner which is used for removing dirt from figures. The two cooking brushes are from 100 yen shops. The large one is for dusting down clothes or hair and the smaller brush is used for dusting down the face. After using the brushes for a bit, they start to get dirty which is why I use two different brushes - dusting down a whole figure and then using the same brush on the face occasionally leaves dirt marks.

But still, figures do end up with dirt like this which is not easily removed using soap n water. This is where the paint thinner and cotton bud comes in.

After applying some paint thinner to the knuckles, you can see that the dirt has been removed. Do not rub hard or the paint will rub off too. If you are applying the paint thinner lightly then you should be able to remove the dirt without removing the paint.

Everybody back up on the shelves.

I noticed that the bottom shelf here naturally ended up with figures propped up on one leg. The top shelf are the ladies with sharp objects to poke your eye out.

Some figures look better from the behind ^^;

Figure brushes should be soaked in hot water and washing up liquid every once in a while.

Sweetie Karin - youngest daughter looking forward to the Summer season.

Ryomo looks good in the Hakama.

Very soon Saber will have her own dollfie to carry.

This time round its Nanoha's turn to nom the melon pan but all she does is stare at it.

I need a better looking hair clip for Aoi.

The voice actress for Mirai-chan has been in the offices recording another project that I'm working on ^o^ That should be ready this month.

I generally use Eneloop batteries but there are somethings which don't warrant using Eneloop like clocks which last half a year or longer on a single battery - bit of a waste to have a rechargeable battery in there.

Calendar came with one of the monthly anime magazines. Which reminds me that I need to change it ^^;

About to check out the rules of the new TCG Vanguard.

More TCG action with the Victory Spark series.

Been filming a bit in the offices too.

Need to have a better system to manage business cards - these collected since November ToT.

Love the Bushiroad TCG boxes.

Got my hands on a Mirai telephone card at last ^^;

Kira Kira Asia together with the anime stuff - leaflet for the BS11 TV channel.

Founders of the iPad DoDo Case sent over a signed prezzie. I knew I was going to wait a long time when I originally ordered the red one but its certainly worth it. Have not seen a better looking case to date.

Some of the samples for this month. Anything here tickle your fancy?

The Miyafuji figma is just awesomely made.

The Kamen Rider figma's are also rather coolsome too.

A closer look at the Chocolate Gouache in a separate post.

Kotobukiya's Samurai Tamaki. There's going to be a red armor limited edition version on sale at the Wonfes this weekend.

A look at the BRS Bluray/DVD box set.

The box set comes with a load of illustrations used as reference to make the animation.

The econte storyboard.

Includes both the DVD and Bluray version.

The BRS box set also comes with these adorable Nendoroid Puchi too. Stand not included.

Brilliant Stage Saya Tokido sent over by comrades at Hobby Search. Wonder whats causing her to feel warm?

The perfect figure to display at work or on your desk at school.

Discovered these on a recent visit to Costco. Very nice indeed. Wifey does not let me eat too many in one go so I need to sneak into the snacks cupboard using my Ninja skills.

I'm sure these 3 games will last me for a very long time. Am half way through The 3rd Birthday and just started Valkiria Chronicles. Hardly touched Monster Hunter 3 but will go to visit the hot springs in Nagano that appear in the village.

The Culture Japan drawer. Boxes and plastic bags make things so much easier to look for.

This is the last you will see the back of the office looking like that - there is now a sofa there ^^;

Yes - the wide angle lenses do make the room look bigger than it is - one of the reasons why many estate agents use a wide angle lens when taking photos of apartment rooms that they are trying to flog ^^;

The Mirai Oppai mousepad that started off as an April Fool will be ready for sale soon at AmiAmi. It wont be this bikini version though.

Unfortunately I cant swap heads with the Iron Man armor ToT.

Mirai-chan will be in the Nitroplus game Sonicomi out later this year. Want to make that illustration into a T-shirt.

King Kazuma goes well with plants.

This is a print sample of the microfiber Mirai-chan towel that will first go on sale this Sunday at the Wonder Festival - the final version will be stitched at the sides. Head over to the AmiAmi booth to get yours where you can also have a photo with Mirai-chan ^o^
Will cost 500 yen each - will carry one for wiping the camera lens. AmiAmi will also sell them on their site after the Wonfes too.

Something that AmiAmi forgot to take home after filming the last AmiAmi ranking for Culture Japan. Shhhh.

Looks like I missed a few patches of dust on MG Guncannon ^^;

We use these HD cradles a lot when editing the TV show. 1TB fits up to 3 x 30 min shows - the rest of the HD is taken up by footage and render files for Final Cut Pro.

Another 10 years to go until we get wireless electricity?

Its been ages since I held the last Tokyo CGM Night. Plan to do the next one when the next season of Culture Japan starts.

The Japan Airlines badge that I used to wear when I worked there many many moons ago - I used to spell my surname without the hyphen ^^; Do you know how to write your name in Katakata?

Thats it for today - previous Desk Diary entries listed below.

Wonder Festival (Wonfes) is probably the biggest figure/garage kit event in the world. Held twice a year at Makuhari Messe, the last few events have attracted over 40,000 people on each day.
The Winter Wonfes took place today and I went along to enjoy the shenanigans and meet a load of comrades. Got a load of coverage for you over the next few days so please bear with me if you no likey figures - which does make me wonder...
There is a poll embedded in this article.

First up we got White Rock Shooter at the Good Smile Booth. Due out later this year and will be packaged with the PSP Black Rock Shooter game.

The photos here are of WRS with and without her Mecha Unit.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

All photos taken on the Lumix GF2 with the 20mm pancake lens. All Wonder Festival coverage being tagged "wonfes" with previous posts listed up below.

Just thought I'd show you a few things that I bought back from today's Wonder Festival before I head off to the shower - will continue with the coverage after. First up is the 1/1 scale FlameBurst Mirai from Samurai Generations. She was on display at the AmiAmi booth. Shes actually much bigger than she looks - was a challenge getting her to fit in the Itasha ^^;

And there is the sofa that I mentioned in the last Desk Diary. Its actually from the second floor - we decided all of a sudden to move some furniture around the house which has given it a slight refreshing feeling. Feels much more cozier in the office now.

The microfiber towels that were on sale at the AmiAmi booth - the AmiAmi Amiko & Riruko version together with Mirai. They will be on sale on the AmiAmi site soon - 500 yen each.

Good Smile Company were giving away a pack of goodies which included this figma poster - all 100 of them!
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Annotate the ones you own!

Just thought I would add a quick note to mention that there have been blogs out there who have been writing stuff to worry figure fans out there saying that figure exports are going to stop - a load of bollocks. No need to worry about not being able to get your hands on the figures that you want.
Today's Good Smile live broadcast is sponsored by AmiAmi - nuff said.

Number 088 soon ^^

The 100th figma is Hatsune Miku Append Ver.

All the Nendoroids so far - 156 of em. Wonder how many there would be if they included Nendoroid Puchi.

Just about everybody was walking about with an AmiAmi bag.

figma Mirai will go next to Mirai-Cosplay-Saber.

This flip was displayed at the AmiAmi booth too - they will be making the health mouse pads. The final version may not be this illustration though.

Snow Miku strap from comrades at Hobby Stock.

Good Smile were also giving out these Nendoroid calendars too.
More coverage in a mo but for now keep an eye on the following sites which already have a load of coverage
http://akibahobby.net/
http://www.moeyo.com/
http://www.figure.fm/

All photos taken on the Lumix GF2 with the 20mm pancake lens. All Wonder Festival coverage being tagged "wonfes" with previous posts listed up below.

Some of the goodies on display at the Good Smile Company booth. Arrived late so didn't get to take as many photos as I wanted at the GSC booth but should be going to the Hobby Maker Show that's open to industry buyer folks - will be able to take photos without the crowds or cases.
First up we've got a lovely 3D representation of an illustration by Redjuice.

Not going to label all of these as I need to get the other posts out so if any of you figure buffs think you can name em all then use the annotation tool to so do and win Internet cookies.

Which of these figures has tickled your fancy?

Edit - a collection of Wonfes posts over at http://www.foobarbaz.jp/2011/02/impre-20110206.html

All photos taken on the Lumix GF2 with the 20mm pancake lens. All Wonder Festival coverage being tagged "wonfes" with previous posts listed up below.

Wonfes coverage continues with the Kotobukiya booth. Kotobukiya have been doing a ton of To Heart figures (ans still occasionally do) but are now doing more mainstream stuff including Tohou.

This is Yoshikawa-san who you may remember seeing in a few photos from the past - the guy who I worked with on the Otacool series.

Gorgeous. Want.

Absolutely must have - but will be a Gamers X Kotobukiya limited edition.

More wonfes coverage at the following sources:-
http://www.foobarbaz.jp/
http://akibahobby.net/
http://www.cutanews.com/
http://www.moeyo.com/
http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~robomoe/mokuji.htm
http://www.pluto.dti.ne.jp/~rinou/
http://www113.sakura.ne.jp/~kotatsuga/cgi-bin/anews/ (right column)

All photos taken on the Lumix GF2 with the 20mm pancake lens. All Wonder Festival coverage being tagged "wonfes" with previous posts listed up below.

More coverage from the Wonfes with a bunch of figures from Alter, AmiAmi, Griffon, Orchidseed, Volks, Megahouse and more.
Got a few snaps of figures from the non enterprise booths but they are definitely dwindling in numbers. Some of the kit makers tell me how consumers can now get their hands on painted figures for under half the cost of a garage kit. With advances in figure production of late, the quality of figures has increased in the past few years meaning less demand for garage kits.

First up is a gorgeous Alter figure of Hitagi Senjogahara from Bakemonogatari. Wow.

All photos taken on the Lumix GF2 with the 20mm pancake lens. All Wonder Festival coverage being tagged "wonfes" with previous posts listed up below.

When leaving the Wonfes last Sunday, a few folks came up to the Mirai Itasha to take some photos of us struggling to get the 1/1 scale Mirai into the car. One person said that there was a Mirai cosplayer which I didn't believe ^^;

Then after coming back to base I see a few tweets leading me to photos of Kipi in Mirai cosplay! @.@ For folks who don't know who Kipi is then just check out this search query to see a load of her incredible work.

Was over the moon that Kipi decided to cosplay as Mirai (but miffed at the same time that I didn't get to meet her in person). Kipi writes on her blog:-

たくさんの人に、「何のコスプレですか？」って聞かれました
今回、コスしたのは末永みらい制服ver.
みらいちゃんは、カルチャージャパンというサイトのマスコットキャラクターなのです
むかし、たまたまこのサイトを見たとき、トップに使われてたみらいちゃんのイラストが本当に可愛くて、ずっと作りたいとおもっていました
使われてる画像が綺麗だし、読んででとても面白いですみんなでみらいコスしようぜ

Or roughly translated as:-

Many people asked "what cosplay is that?"
This time round its Mirai Suenaga (School uniform version).
Mirai-chan is the mascot character for a site called Culture Japan.
In the past, when I would stumble onto the site I'd see a really cute illustration on the top and have always wanted to do a cosplay of her.
The illustration is really nice and the site is a real interesting read. Lets all cosplay as Mirai!

Kipi actually posted a snap of the uniform in the making a few days ago - material from Okadaya.

If you are wondering about the camera and computer - they are the accessories that come with the figma Mirai ^o^ If I had known she was going to be then then I would be brought Saber in Mirai-chan cosplay too to do that pose.
Photo by http://valencia2.exblog.jp/15879287/

Photo by http://blog.livedoor.jp/hiromitipiyo/archives/51641320.html

Photo by http://blog.livedoor.jp/hiromitipiyo/archives/51641320.html

Photo by http://hasui.exblog.jp/15461129/

Photo by http://hasui.exblog.jp/15461129/

Photo by http://hasui.exblog.jp/15461129/

Photo by http://hasui.exblog.jp/15461129/

Photo by http://hasui.exblog.jp/15461129/

Photo by http://hasui.exblog.jp/15461129/

Photo by http://cosplay.exblog.jp/12079325/

Dont know who took this photo - found it at this site where you can see a few more Kipi as Mirai photos.

Update - source from here > http://sugo.sakura.ne.jp/wordpress/archives/824

Dont know the source of this one either - found in one of the pages below.
http://www.cosrain.com/2011/02/kipis-cosplay-mirai-suenaga-20110210.html
http://www.cosrain.com/2011/02/kipis-cosplay-mirai-suenaga-20110209_09.html
http://www.cosrain.com/2011/02/kipis-cosplay-mirai-suenaga-20110209.html
http://www.cosrain.com/2011/02/kipis-cosplay-mirai-suenaga-20110208_08.html
http://www.cosrain.com/2011/02/kipis-cosplay-mirai-suenaga-20110208.html

More goodies from last weekends Wonfes starting with some extra parts for your Nendoroids who maybe in need of something lighter to wear - these "Nendoroid Ppoi" body parts will instantly turn your little ones into a bikini version.

All photos taken on the Lumix GF2 with the 20mm pancake lens. All Wonder Festival coverage being tagged "wonfes" with previous posts listed up below.

One of the coolest things I come across in Japan are the construction and road works - so much cooler than the ones back in the UK. Over here, they got lights all over the place and workmen waiving mini lightsabers. Occasionally one will see monitors of somebody waving flags or even huge balloons which light up at night. Some construction work photos to gander at in this post.

Have been working lately on a a few character development projects with other companies and thought I'd work on another one of my own. Introducing Nanami Yume [夢七海].

Nanami-chan is 16 years old and currently in the second year of high school. Shes honest, diligent and has a bubbly bright personality. Shes 153cm tall and her 3 size is B76cm W53cm H77cm. Birthday is 23rd Feb - today!

Nanami-chan will always feed pigeons (even in places where she is not supposed to) when she sees any with the breadcrumbs that she always carries around with her.
She loves swimming and joins the swimming activities after classes. She feels more comfortable wearing her school swimwear during her part time work too.
Nanami-chan has experience working in a bakery and at a maid cafe but as she's clumsy, she often caused trouble for customers like pouring boiling hot coffee in their face or accidentally tripping over and stabbing customers with a fork.
Because of this, no restaurants want to hire her for part time work which is why she ended up getting a part time job after school at a construction firm.
These days shes always dropping concrete blocks on her co-workers feet.

In Japan, construction sites would usually display a notice with an apology about them being an inconvenience. Along with the notice is usually an image of a man bowing in apology.
Nanami-chan was asked by her boss to be the image girl that would apologize to the public - here are some examples of the notices that will be put up at construction sites around Japan.

I worked with a most talented artist called Yuu [悠] on the character design - you may remember her work from the Puchi Mirai.

Nanami about to poke the eyes out of her colleges with the cones.

I named her "Nanami Yume" for a few reasons. "Yume" [夢] (pronounced yu-meh) means "Dream." Nanami has a dream and represents the image of a hard working person striving to realize their dreams. Dreams become a reality only when somebody takes steps to make things happen. Doing nothing leads to nothing but doing something will always lead to something - that something being a step to the realization of ones dream.

"Nanami" [七海] represents the ocean. I love looking at the open ocean - and Nanami likes to swim too ^^; The final reason is something I can mention in a few days - will update this paragraph and write why ^^;

I had an image of Nanami in my mind and I gave Yuu-san everything I wanted in bullet points. She then came back to me with a few rough sketches. I asked for a few ideas where Nanami was wearing some construction site type uniform trousers and this is one of them. Love the hard hat with the neko mimi.

I liked this idea - construction worker uniform with an apron ^^;

I liked the idea of Sukumizu (School Mizugi (the blue swimwear worn at schools)) combination.

If you are working with an illustrator, I would advise to ask for roughs at screen resolution (72dpi) and then final images at 600dpi which you can use for print and screen. Where possible, ask the illustrator to draw your characters in their birthday suit so that you can ask for different garment variations later which would be drawn on a different layer.
The face should be drawn on a separate layer too so that you can have various expressions. The FlameBurst Mirai was 600dpi at 5000px x 8000px and was good enough to make a 1/1 scale print without looking pixelated or blurry.

If you are handing work into a printers or importing into Illustrator, make sure to convert the image into CMYK first which you can do in Photoshop.

Starting to look Sailormoonish ^^

I then took all the elements that I liked and whipped up this design in Photoshop. Her delicate zone was a bit over exposed so we put a belt on her ^^;

Nanami is not going to be a mascot for the site (that's Mirai's job!) and I'll be looking forward to developing Nanami-chan into various up n coming roles ^o^

Adorable Nanami dance animation by the talented Kaizeru.

Hmmm. Maybe we should get Mirai to cosplay as Nanami ^o^

Time passes. Life is over before we know it. Not afraid to die but am afraid of dying without achieving anything. We must achieve that something before we kick the bucket!

Didn't leave it as long as last time but still late ^^; After a load of planning in January, it was time to go and initiate those projects - been in n out of many meetings all over Tokyo which I talk about in today's installment of A Week in Tokyo.
First photo taken from the train on the way to Shibamata on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

At Edogawabashi meeting with King Records/Starchild at their offices. Tis one stop away from Ikebukuro on the Yurakucho line.

Launched the official English site for Oniichan on Mirai Gaia - was our first Starchild anime title and we've just completed the 3rd which will be launched soon.

Out n about on the highways of Tokyo on the way to somewhere or other. We always try to avoid driving on a weekend as most of that time will be spent in traffic.

The recently acquired PSP on full brightness setting. Very dark compared to the iPhone. Is the PSP screen supposed to be that dark? Looks fine indoors though.

Warming up on a cold Winters evening with some Yakitori - grilled chicken on a stick.

Dotted around Tokyo are Yakitori places like these. All you have to do is walk up to them and start eating what you want. Keep the stick on the counter in front of you and when its time to pay, the shop will just count the sticks.
On the counter are condiments but be careful as some containers are actually ashtrays! Wifey sprinkled a load of ash over her yakitori one day thinking that the container (which is a cylinder with holes at the top - cant see inside) was Shichimi.

The season of Setsubun came and went...

Folks who leave their bikes on other peoples property may have stuff like this notice stuck onto the saddle - this message says "Your nuisance of a bike has been reported to the ward office."

The Odoru Daisousasen is a popular drama/film series about a detective (chap in the green coat) called Aoshima Shunsaku and the antics of his police department.

Out getting groceries at Tokyu Store.

Our small loot for the evening. The Purin roll is just too good!

Nissan sent out a recall last October as they wanted to replace parts in our March. Only managed to drop it off the other day at their Meguro branch. Was ready the next day.

Having some rather scrumptious Chinese food at Gotanda.

Coco Ichibanya have started their Winter menu - this is actually the only reason why I go - tis a shame that they only serve this between Feb and May. Coco's even have wallpaper of this soup curry dish ^^;

Togoshi Ginza - another Shotengai located in our neighborhood.

On the 6th of Feb it was Wonfes time at Makuhari Messe. All coverage listed up below - have still got a few posts which I need to write up ToT.

More Metro Manner posters from the "Please Do It Again" series. This time round its a "be considerate when carrying your baggage." Reminds me of when I was removing my baggage from the rack of a train but a woman decided to rush into my direction at the same time - her face slammed into my bag ^^;

Tokyo MX is the TV station that broadcasts Culture Japan in Japan. Went over to cover bits n pieces for Season 2 which will probably be back to back with season 3 ^^;
Culture Japan related posts listed below.

*All* the Precure girls get together in the movie Precure All Stars. The series marketed at young girls but actually enjoyed by all ages. Bandai even have Precure figures aimed at folks over 15.

The Subway Map app from the App Store shows you which carriage you should get on that will stop right at the exit you want at your destination - save time by walking to the carriage you need while waiting for the train to come.

More meets at DLE.

Still not got round to watching BECK.

Our local tofu (bean curd) store is full O colors.

Chuuka [中華] is the Japanese word to describe Chinese food. The Chinese food in Japan tastes rather different than the Chinese variety that can be found overseas but can be nice depending on where you go.

Our neck of the woods - Musashikoyama in Meguro.

Flowers for wifey - I always buy her the orange ones. And I always forget what these are called ^^;

Modern rubbing along with the tradition.

Meeting with the CEO of Sony Pictures Japan. They got a huge cinema in their offices! Talks went well and if further talks proceed swimmingly then [...........................] (fill in the blank)

Next meeting is at Akasaka Sacas. Used to work round here during my Microsoft years. At the time, Sacas was still under construction.

At the offices of Hakuhodo - one of Japans largest advertising agencies. Hakuhodo manage the promotions and marketing strategy not only for automobile and fashion makers but also do stuff closer to our hearts - game and anime.

The lovely view from the hakuhodo offices. Am always inspired by views like this. Which of these would you choose to live in? Id choose the top floor of the building with the green slanted roof in middle of photo.

Nom! The Singapore laksa place at Akasaka Sacas tastes rather good indeed.

About to jump on the Chiyoda line and head back to base.

Spent some time at Ikaho Onsen (hot springs) for some filming and time out. We always offer to take photos for couples before they ask - because we are all thinking the same thing - "need somebody to take a photo but bit shy to ask."

Window O K-ON goodies.

Cutie Kitagawa Keiko dons the cover of a free mag called R25 which you can pick up for free from the subways.

Always use a coffee pot from Ikea as my tea cup but they always break after a while! The bottom got chipped and I only found out after pouring boiling hot water in it - which in turn sprinkled down over hand ToT

Figured that another Ikea glass coffee pot would just end up like the others so went for a Thermos this time - 1.5 Liters and keeps tea warm for quite a few hours - saves a lot of time ^^

First thing that happens when a load of relatives come over - Mahjong ^^; Me dont know the rules at all but would probably learn if I could get hold of a set of Moe Mahjong.
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Cloudy afternoon in Shinjuku at the South exit of the JR station. This is where I initially worked when serving at Microsoft. The area opposite the station has changed a lot. Today me off to meet Ascii Media Works.

Spending some time with traditional Japan at Ikaho. More from this visit in a separate post.

Examples of rent for 1 bedroom apartments in Tokyo. Average of 60,000 yen per month. How does that compare to rent in your area for the same size-ish?
The examples here are for convenient central locations like East/West Shunjuku, East Nakano, Yoyogi, Kagurazaka and Daikanyama.
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The snack area in the Ascii offices. Folks take what they want and leave money in the box with the yellow sign - an unmanned shop. I think this system only can work in Japan ^^;

Recycling is good.

One of the folks I'm working with on Tokyo Kawaii Magazine has been studying Chinese for only a year and speaks tremendously well! He proactively speaks to any Chinese person he comes across and made many friends online to enable him to converse with natives.
For those of you out there learning Japanese, where do you meet native Japanese speakers? When I was back in the UK, I made Japanese friends through posting notices at the Japan Center on their cork board and also through language exchange groups.

Will be working closer with Ascii over the year and should be able to show you more goodies starting July.

Employees at Ascii are of the otaku breed - they get to work with all the content producers and makers of their fave titles and goodies. What makes it more interesting is that they also produce much of the content too like Oreimo and Toaru Majutsu.

Lunch with the Ascii team. Nom.

Thai Red Curry. Nendoroid Puchi Mugi is my fave at the moment.

Shinjuku by day. Shinjuku by night photos in this post.

Yep - we has a Japanese version of Thomas the Tank Engine over here. There is even a theme park for Thomas.

Oreimo gatcha goodies.

Popular items of the moment at Sofmap.

11 Eyes Resona Forma out soon.

Food tastes better when its wrapped with moeness.

Around bustling areas like Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya, one will find folks selling manga on the roadside. These are not official sellers but folks who go round the underground or dustbins hunting for good copies of the latest manga.

Many Japanese just leave manga on the train racks for others to pick up and read - usually left in good condition. At a glance of these makeshift stalls, all the magazines look brand new but are not.
Have no idea how much they charge though but should be less than the retail price.

I live in an area called Musashikoyama [武蔵小山] which is on the edge of Shinagawa and Meguro. While there are a load of modern buildings around here, much of the old buildings still stand and are full of character.

Mugi looks like she wants to dive in ^^;

More meeting shenanigans - next one is in the Ochanomizu [お茶の水] area.

During the early years when I arrived in Japan 12 years ago, finding out where to go meant printing maps out and still getting lost as I still had to figure out where I was and which way I was facing. Thank you technology.

Ochanomizu has many schools in the area. Apart from the load of students walking about, you will also see a load of music and book shops too.

Today I'm meeting with the TV station BS11.

The Kings Speech makes its way over to Japan with the more specific title "The King of England's Speech" [英国王のスピーチ].

Love the name of this shabu shabu restaurant - "Hanchan Sunchan."

I just love this dish - Mince Katsu which is minced beef deep fried in breadcrumbs.

More Chinese food.

Mc Dees take out for the whole family.

Fried Wonton desu.

This is where I'm getting a good dose of Chinese food from of late - Inekouen at Musashikoyama.

My fave photo of the day - side alley branching off from the Palm shopping arcade. All photos in this post taken on the Lumix GF2.

There is a hole in the ceiling and figures keep on falling through it. Any of these tickle your fancy? The Max Factory Mio is miolicious.

Moved the sofa down to the first floor and moved the table up to the third. Feels nice n cozy right now. Wifey said to tell you that it was her that made the suggestion for the change and not me ^^;

Launched the official English site for Bushiroad on Mirai Gaia - Trading Card fans may want to check it out and register an account as we will be doing some giveaways over there soon.

Also launched the official English site for Fafner Heaven and Earth on Mirai Gaia. A few of the Mirai Gaia sites include:-
http://goodsmile.info
http://bushiroad.fm
http://cospasea.com
http://tkmag.jp
http://kidnemo.fm
http://starchild.fm/special/en/fafner/
http://starchild.fm/special/en/oniichan/
http://figure.fm
http://doll.fm
http://tsubuyaku.fm
http://culturejapan.jp

Many folks ask about Mirai Gaia licensing but its only offered as a tool for the clients that I consult for ><

Very often, when dolls take their first breath outside of the box, their eyes may not be fixed properly in place. If this happens to your daughter then remove the glue around the eyes and replace with some blu-tac or something similar.

Saber just back from a trip outside Tokyo.

Arashi are not only the image boys for the Nintendo 3DS but also for the Android too. Looks like they want you to touch and try them.

This afternoons office. Previous editions of A Week in Tokyo listed below.

And a photo from the A Week in Tokyo 51 this time last year - find out whats going on in this photo.

I just asked a question on Twitter but there were too many replies so I decided to make a post where you can add your own answers or vote for others.

If America = Statue of Liberty, England = Big Ben and France = Eiffel Tower, what landmark comes to mind when you think of Japan?
Please read through the answers others have added before adding one!

There is a poll embedded in this article.

While Chinka is in OVA production mode (hint as to how its progressing in this post), Mirai Fusion is working with Nitroplus on Japanese learning videos featuring Mirai Suenaga.

Mirai-chan is the virtual idol that will be teaching you the basics of learning Japanese and today we take a look at the first video which is about learning Hiragana. The video will teach you what Hiragana looks and sounds like - do try to remember them all!

Hiragana have a particular stroke order but if you are in a rush to learn as much Japanese as possible (like I was), then I recommend to forget about learning the stroke order - I personally feel that if you can write the characters so that they are recognizable then you should get by like I did.

Visual effects and animation is done by Tony Lymboura, 3D Engineering by polygon bangcho at Nitroplus and final cut editing/production is done by me ^^;
Mirai-chan finally has a voice which is done by an up n coming seiyuu Utaco. The Japanese learning videos will feature Utaco's cutesome voice but in the anime we will hear her is-going-to-kick-7-shades-of-poo-out-of-your-gut voice.

And Mirai finally gets a personality too as follows:-

• Name: Mirai Suenaga [末永みらい]
  
• Birthday: March 3rd
  
• Height: 165cm
  
• 3 size: B86cm W58cm H85cm
  
• Age: Forever sweet 17
  
• Blood type: Unknown (has rare DNA)
  
• Eldest daughter of the Suenaga family
  
• Honest and diligent
  
• Bright personality
  
• Kind and gentle. loves to help others
  
• Often jumps up and down when she's happy about something
  
• Always wants to try out new stuff that she's curious about regardless of the outcome. Sometimes will end up dropping, breaking or unintentionally hurting somebody ^^;
  
• As Mirai is an honest girl, she often believes anything she's told.
  
• Hobby is collecting Japanese swords and often swings them about in her room while watching samurai movies.
  
• In the story Samurai Generations and Mirai Millenium, we often see Mirai's serious side as she battles with evilness to protect her younger sister Haruka. Mirai's main weapon in both timelines is the Japanese sword.
  
• Interests are Japanese swords, cats, archery and taking photos of roadworks.

Might as well mention it now - keep your mince pies peeled for any up n coming anime titles for cameo apperances of Mirai-chan ^o^

Anyway, back to the topic. How many of you know the complete set of Hiragana?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

Today we have a gander at photos taken out n about Akihabara the other day. From reading the History of Akihabara, you know how the area became filled with electronic stores and moesome shops n restaurants.
Whenever there is a gathering of so much shops of the same genre, much competition occurs and on any consecutive visit, one will notice old stores being replaced with new ones.
On each and every visit to Akihabara, I discover new gems - and old gems being buried for good as they close down.

If you are looking for second hand electronics then Akiba has loads - some boxed and others just laid open on the table like this. Some places do trade ins too so if you got something you want to get rid of then bring it along - you may as well trade it in to get something cheaper.

Akihabara has a load of gadgets nearly (nearly) everything you can think of. Here we got some pens with built in camera's and devices to detect eavesdropping devices.
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Ikamusume Gacha. Shes such a cutie!

A load of Tohou games - how many of you are playing/have played?
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There is a poll embedded in this article.
Bad Apple below - a must watch.

When walking about Akihabara, make sure you look upwards as most buildings have shops on each floor. Many gems hidden in there.

The eroge shops are filled with gorgeous 2D girlies.

Yaoi goodies on the 3rd floor here.
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Taiyo no Puromia delayed until May 2011.

A load of cuties in the Skyfish title Soukyuu no soleil.

More cuties in Marguerite Sphere due out next month.

The recently released Artemis Blue - you've guessed it - filled with cuties.

Load of cheap K-ON! stuff. Mio's oppai up for grabs for 980 yen each. Erm, I meant "Mio's Oppai Mousepad up for grabs."

The new word for "second hand PC's" is "Refreshed PC's."

Gundam Musou 3. I got Gundam Musou 1 which I only played a few rounds of. Slashing through the hordes of Zak started to make my brain go a wee bit numb ^^;

Wall O eroge. At a glace, which are starting to tickle your fancy?

The Don Quixote building where AKB48 made it big. The black building is Tsukumo which specialize in a load of PC parts and accessories.

You'll pretty much need to explore both sides of Chuo Doori - the main road that runs through Akihabara. Sofmap has a few stores in Akihabara which cover electronics, software and anime media depending on the store.

Lammtarra is an ecchi shop where you can find health related DVD's and games. Its disguised as an anime/idol DVD store on the outside so that you don't feel embarrassed by walking in.

Toranoana sells a load of 2D girlie mags/doujinshi and a load of health material. They've got figures too and doujin goods/music too.

The Taito Game station has a load of UFO Catcher goodies where you should be able to get your grubby mitts on the exclusive K-ON/Nanoha stuff.

Animate have a ton of anime merchandise and figures - a ton! You can see more inside the Animate store in the Christmas in Akihabara post.

All of these shops can be seen in this photo and can be found at the location below. I've also annotated the photo too - mouseover to see em.
[gmap=35.700400, 139.771751]

The yellow building is Orecon and sells PC parts.

The building on the corner to the left of the photo is Sofmap which sells a load of electronic stuff and figures too. Tis located at the main crossing in Akihabara.
[gmap=35.699736, 139.771716]

Gacha are dotted all over Akihabara - cant miss em.

Photo taken from the UDX Building. I was attending a trade event which was why I was up here but it looks like pretty much anybody can walk in and head up to the higher floors to take photos.

If you want to give it a whirl then I suggest that you walk in to the conference area and then head to the elevators. Ensure that you look like you know where you are going - as opposed to looking like you are lost with shifty eyes and sweaty armpits. If anybody asks what you are doing there then just say you are there to meet Mr Tanaka on the 23rd floor. Although I'm not sure if they do have a 23rd floor though ^^;
[gmap=35.70052, 139.77262]

Snapped from one of the pedestrian bridges. Over to the left of the photo you can see Yodobashi Akiba and in the middle of the photo you can see the Gundam Cafe where Gundam waitresses will serve you.

Heading back to Akihabara station which has been completely renewed. The glass building on the right of the photo has restaurants on each floor. Not expensive either.

This is the Chuo exit.

And this is the Denkigai or "Electric Town" exit. Huge Vanguard poster up there.

Still at the Denkigai exit looking the other way. Usually see maids out n about around here but none today.

When you get off at Akihabara station, get out of the Denkigai exit and walk towards the main Chuo Dori road - this is the view that you will see.
The building on the left with the yellow sign is the Radio Kaikan which you should most certainly stop off at.
The Radio Kaikan is filled with a load of small shops which you will probably need a few hours to get through. They got dakimakuras, moesome bedsheets, merchandise, figures, dolls, doujinshi, books, cds, gadgets and more.

The Volks store is on one of the upper floors at the Radio Kaikan. This place has the potential to take out your wallet in a single shot as they from time to time have Dolfie Dreams for sale - not all the time though due to their popularity.

And this is what you will see as you hit Chuo Dori. Most of what you want is towards the right of this photo.
For folks who have been to Akihabara, what is your typical route like and what stores do you check out? If there was only one place in Akihabara that you would recommend where would it be?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Gamers is another dangerous place. Don't forget to set some money aside for food before you forget and end up spending all your money. Nothing worse than buying a load of figures, mags, trading cards, gundams and eroge and then dying of hunger - only to have others take stuff away from your dead body before them wiping poo from their shoe in your face.

The place on the corner with the "24" is Fujisoba - I guess it can be called Japanese fast food. What you get is traditional food like Soba or Udon and very competitive prices - something like 400 yen for a bowl of soba and toppings.

Game maker Renga-Sha shows off a cutie from one of their game titles.

Just tagged a load of Akihabara related posts which include more coverage of shops and wot not in the Akihabara area below.

Akihabara is just one of the recommended places to visit in Japan with more below.

And this was taken during the early years when I first started to visit Japan - this particular photo snapped in 1995. More photos of Akihabara through the times since 1925 in the History of Akihabara post.
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One of my focuses for this year is IP (Intellectual Property) content development inspired by comrades who are leading the way - Aki Takanori (GSC Boss), Takaaki Kidani (Bushiroad boss) and Kosaka-san (Nitroplus boss) - that IP being our mascot Mirai Suenaga.

Will start posting a series called Mirai News which will keep you up to date with what Mirai-chan is up to and hopefully you may find a few pointers should you decide that you want to develop your own IP too. Still new at all of this though and am learning as I go along. One of the key things to do is to try out anything and everything.

First up is the Multi Purpose Mirai Suenaga Microfiber Towel exclusive to AmiAmi retailing at 500 yen.
Tis multi purpose as you can use it for many different applications. For example, you can recycle your old sweaters by stitching the towel on your chest like I have done here - an instant Mirai-chan T-shirt.

For some reason, Yoshimi had holes in her sweater around the chest area. I had no idea why but gave her a Mirai towel to cover up - she now walks around like this all the time and as you can see it looks perfectly natural.

Mirai Towel comes in handy around the table - use it to carry around and wipe chopsticks, wipe the table and then finish off by wiping your face and armpits.

If you are out n about and have forgotten your brolley, you can use Mirai Towel to defend yourself from the rain. You may die from a cold after getting your body soaked but at least you wont die from a headache.

As you know, many folks in Japan wear Surgical Masks like this. Why spend extra money for masks when you can use the same Mirai Towel as a mask.

Mirai Towel comes in handy once again - why waste money on a load of tissues when you can repeatedly blow your snot in the same towel over and over again? The snot can then be removed by your fingers and rolled up into a putty which you can then use to stick posters up on the wall. You may even want to package up the snot and sell it to your best friends who don't have time to go to the shops to get some bubblegum.

Its taken several years to develop Mirai Towel so that it can also be used in stealth operations like this. If you have done something naughty, you can use Mirai Towel to get rid of unwanted fingerprints - although you probably don't want to put one hand to the glass like I am doing here or you will be trying to wipe away the finger prints forever.

Humans were designed to consume and eject. When you got to go, you got to go. But without any toilet paper handy, wiping poo away with your sleeve can get a wee bit messy. Depending on whether you had something spicy the night before, you could slip and fall with your face in the poo which could get stuck in yor eyes or between your teeth. Could possibly be an unpleasant experience.

Mirai Towel to the rescue. The great thing about Mirai Towel is the SCFFUAPIM (Sterilization Compound Funnel Filter Unit And Peanut Injection Module) which will sterilize any poo that's been wiped by the towel and inject 5gms of crushed peanuts into the sterilized poo - meaning that you can then spread it directly on toast. The TEU (Taste Enhancing Unit) will inject flavors into the poo to make it taste just like peanut butter.

All this for a laughable 500 yen from AmiAmi.

Mirai-chan is now a mascot for the Japanese Governments Agency of Cultural Affairs. I'll be speaking at one of their events at Keio University on Japanese culture around the world. Its free to participate but you need to register. If you are going then see you on the 21st of March. More details at http://humanmedia.co.jp/virtualmuseum/index.html

And this is the artwork for the event. Japan then and now.

For folks who keep up with contents via the RSS feed or daily email subscription, you may want to have a gander at the new header which you can see on the top page.

I'll talk about that new Mirai illustration that you see in the corner at a later date - there are three combination's of that pose.

The site branding is slowly transitioning from being called "dannychoo.com" to "Culture Japan." The TV show will be called "Culture Japan TV."

The header features a backdrop with iconic symbols representing Japan that I got from your feedback in the Japan Landscapes post. Chun-sensei did the work on the symbols like Godzilla, Fujisan etc. I threw everything together in Fireworks, added some buildings and just changed the opacity settings to add slight depth to the image.

The very cute little dot pixel sprites running around was done by AraydenAlpha during all his free time. Thanks to both Chun and Arayden for a great job!

I've included many different sizes for you to play with - feel free to do what you want with them. You can also go to your browser menu to save the whole page instead of right clicking and saving each one.

On the top page in the lower left corner, you will notice the dancing girls - Haruka, Mirai and kanata. As you can see, Haruka is the mischievous girl ^^;
Excellent work by Kaizeru.
I usually commission work from folks who have previously shared their work with on figure.fm. Kaizeru previously illustrated this Milk Mirai which I really liked. Including various sizes of the dancing girls for you to play with - again feel free to stick em on your blog or wot not.

Mentioned this before but Mirai-chan will be making cameo appearances in Japanese anime titles starting this Summer season. One of the titles has a scene in Episode 4 that is just one word - Wow! We are also planning spinoff products from some of the appearances ^^
I will un-mosaic this photo when the time comes to let you know the first title that she will be in - although the colors probably give it away ^^;

Got fab news from Good Smile Company the other day - we managed to sell much more units than anticipated of figma Mirai. To be honest I didn't think we would sell that many and also had no idea that Mirai-chan was that popular in Japan. She made it to the top 3 best selling toy on Amazon Japan. Thank you to all who pre-ordered her!

So now that we hit the target for figma, does it mean that the Nendoroid is next and is this a taste of what she will look like? Or will she be bundled with a set of other Nendoroid Puchi from one of the anime series that shes going to appear in?

As for the artwork - done by the talented Radiant Dreamer.

The other IP I'm working on is Nanami Yume who has been gaining some traction in the Japanese Internets. A few posts about Nanami-chan below.
http://www.moeplus.com/2011/02/blog-post_28.html
http://matomate.blog133.fc2.com/blog-entry-1268.html
http://arukugamu.blog70.fc2.com/blog-entry-2957.html
http://blog.livedoor.jp/anigam/archives/2363140.html
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2129887544922287701
http://notzubon.blog101.fc2.com/blog-entry-632.html
http://news2ch.6.ql.bz/index.php?page=single&cat=7&logid=1298809080
http://blog.livedoor.jp/ryo1415/archives/51820466.html
http://newsmoe.blog121.fc2.com/blog-entry-4550.html
http://web2ch.org/ag/toki/moeplus/1298809080/
http://2chtimes.com/moeplus/1298809080
http://ameblo.jp/tatibana-kanade/entry-10816575255.html
http://ceron.jp/url/matomate.blog133.fc2.com/blog-entry-1268.html
http://211.125.84.145/read/news/1298884034.html
http://logsoku.com/thread/hato.2ch.net/news/1298884034/
http://bbynews-2ch.seesaa.net/article/188091712.html
http://211.125.84.145/read/moeplus/1298809080.html
http://124.41.85.61/?s=%E5%A4%A2%E4%B8%83%E6%B5%B7
http://2chradio.com/dat/moeplus1298809080.html
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/sulmari_21/32943541.html
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/147275/blog/21624297/
http://undergroundsokuhou.blog95.fc2.com/blog-entry-117.html

Nanami does the happy dance - work also done by Kaizeru.

And something I forgot post ages ago - Chun's illustration of Mirai Bond?

For those who want a pet dinosaur but are stuck with a dog instead - dinosaur cosplay for dogs.

The Hina Matsuri [雛祭り] is a festival that takes place on the 3rd of March to wish the healthy and prosperous growth of young girls. During this time, ornamental dolls called Hina Ningyo [雛人形] are displayed on tiered steps which is covered in red cloth. Video below provides a better view than these photos which I took at Ikaho Hot Springs.

The 2 dolls on the top tier represent the Emperor and Empress. The second tier displays court ladies and the third tier displays musicians. Not all Hina platforms are displayed like this however and can just be filled with a load of dolls on each tier.

The Hina Matsuri tradition started during the Heian period in Kyoto where daughters of noble families would play with the dolls. It wasn't until the Edo period however when the tradition really started to take off across Japan with folks displaying the Hina dolls on the steps covered in red cloth.

Traditionally, Hina dolls are said to absorb evil spirits in place of your real 3D daughter. As the Hina dolls contain evil spirits, they shouldn't be kept around for too long as your real daughter would not be able to get married happily. Thus the Hina dolls should be put away soon after the Hina Matsuri.
During the Heian period, Hina dolls made out of paper were set afloat on a river which would later be collected and burned.

Speaking of girls, which would you prefer to have if you had kids?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

As for me - either but unfortunately the good lord has not blessed us with kids yet. How many folks do you know who have had more than 3 miscarriages? Doctors only say 5% of women have miscarriages but from asking friends it seems much much higher than that.

Today there are a load of shops doing special Hina Matsuri menu items like Cozy Corner - this cake looks so good!

"Chirashi Sushi" is a rice dish with various types of seafood sprinkled on top and is a dish that one eats to celebrate the Hina Matsuri festivity.

Ideally would have taken photos of my girls in Hina Matsuri style but didn't get round to it - so instead is this mornings Saber-chan.

The 3rd of March also means that its Mirai Suenaga's birthday! Today shes 17 yet again ^^;
The reason why I chose March 3rd as her B'day is because in Japanese, the first character of her name is "Mi" or [ミ] written in katakana. 「ミ」 is also used in place of the number "3."
I guess having Mirai's birthday on the 3rd is rather fitting as shes a girl who I want to grow up to be healthy and prosperous.

A small team of students who go by the name of Skeletonics set out to make a powered suit that would extend the movement of a humans arms n legs without the aid of any motors. The project took 6 months to complete from conception and this is what they ended up with - a powered suit by the name of Skeletonics -hybrid word from Skeleton and Mechanics.

The whole suit is completely powered by human motion alone and is made from aluminum sheets and pipes. The suit may not look fantastic until you can see what it can do from the video below.

All photos from the Skeletonics team site with the video originally posted on Nico Nico.
Thanks to Anin-Tofu sensei for the headsup!

Twice a year, Good Smile Company hold an event in Akihabara called the "Hobby Maker Show" which is organized for trade folks who could not make the Wonder Festival over the weekend. At the show one can meet the makers, buyers and industry folks (anime/game copyright holders).

Spent most of my time chatting so didn't get to take as many photos as I wanted ^^; Anyway first up is my fave of the bunch - scale figure of Nessa from Fractale.

Previous Wonfes related coverage listed up below.

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