Had an incredible time in Singapore over the past 9 days. AFA was just incredible. I want to say special thanks to Kodomut, Alvin, Tatsuya, Alafista, Dcal, Shane, Marcus, papershot, Scorch and Kaisheng for setting up my booth and to Esther for being Mirai.

Also thanks to everybody who organises AFA and to everybody else! The following post is a collection of all the photos I took with somebody on my camera - if we took a photo on your camera then leave a link in the comments! There are also a few photos with folks who recognized me on the streets too ^^; Are you in any of these photos?

I love Singapore and will make a point of coming over more often. See you all soon!

All AFA related posts listed up below.

Just got back to Tokyo. Had not been felling too well since I arrived in Singapore but couldn't afford to get sick so I held it off until I got back to Japan - then came down with a fever as soon as I got back ^^; Still recovering but should be fully charged by tomorrow.
This photo taken at our local shopping arcade Palm in Musashikoyama.

Zooming back in time to the morning when we were still in Singapore. Brekkie at Toast Box with some Teh (tea) and toast with butter and kaya.

Some locals enjoying brekkie.

Green Earthworm tea - yummy!

Meeting up with Pinakes - the guy I worked with on the Mirai Millennium OP.

Beefun for lunch near China Town.

In the middle of being allured by Android.

Out n about in China Square.

I try to drink as much Teh as possible as we dont freely have it in Japan. Especially love drinking it in a shop with marble tables like this one.

Some french toast and kaya on the side as we talk about setting up a business in Singapore.

Off to the SOZO offices for a wee bit.

SOZO are the folks who organize Anime Festival Asia. They hire very cute interns.

Folks at SOZO also wear AFA-kun masks during work.

Singapore's OK.

Spending some time at East Coast Beach while going over next years plans for Asia.

This is Derek who knows just about everybody in the anime business - but he cant tell me what he really does for the government or he will have to kill me.

Now its time for evening nom noms.

I think this is now one of my fave dishes ever - Rojak. Its kinda difficult to explain the taste ^^;

Popiah has always been a fave dish of mine too. Its got veggies and nuts inside. And when I say nuts I dont mean dolphin.

I'm not a fan of oysters though ^^;

Tastes great but looks like fried alien intestines.

The lady who runs the AKB48 Cafe.

The local AKB girls also join us for dindins.

After dindins its off to Changi airport. Picking up some food and wot not.

Was treated like a person who was going to do evil by security when they discovered my Dollfie handcuffs which they called "thumb cuffs." They took the "thumb cuffs" and stuck it in an envelope and told me I should pick them up when I arrived in Japan.

As its a night flight, dinner is not served but instead they give you this bag with some water and potato chips.

But they do serve brekkie which was at about 4AM Singapore time.

Not sure what type of plane it was but it seemed new. The monitors in the back of the seats were touch panel. The most interesting thing however was that none of the seats reclined - instead, the seats slide forward to give the illusion that the seat is reclining ^^;

Landed at Haneda Airport which is located in Tokyo unlike Narita. This map lets folks know the traffic situation on the highways.

Haneda only recently opened its international wing and is slowly but surely starting to cover routes to many parts of the world.

There are many ways to get to and from Haneda including the monorail, Keikyu line, bus or taxi.

We live quite close to the airport so usually take a taxi.

Even though the time difference between Tokyo and Singapore is an hour, we both felt jetlagged as we didn't get any sleep ToT

Back at home sweet home.

The other girls have been on good behavior since we were away.

Watering the plants.

In the meantime Yuki climbs out of the luggage for a stretch and breath of fresh air.

Prezzie!

Heading out in the evening to grab some grub and a few groceries.

Wifey picks up her iPhone 4S. She just continues to pay what she's paying now with no extra fee ontop. I still got 9 months before I finish paying off my iPhone 4 so will stick to it for now. The 4S has a lovely camera though.

Time for dindins at the local sushi place. This is Tamago Yaki [卵焼き] - fried egg.

Dobin Mushi [土瓶蒸し] is soup with veggies and prawn.

Our usual platter of sushi.

Off to grab a few groceries. Christmas decorations are already up.

The milk n yogurt corner at Tokyu Store.

"Shishoku" [試食] is where they let you try some of the food before buying. Crayon Shin-chan and mother occasionally went to supermarkets to fill their tummies on Shishoku alone ^^;

Yaki-imo [焼き芋] is baked sweet potato. When you ask for one however, the guy will always try to give you a small one - just point at a bigger one before handing over your money - 300 yen per piece.

Apple Cinnamon Crepe for dessert.

Only picked up a few bits n pieces from Tokyu Store before we go back to do the hefty shopping tomorrow.

This is what always happens after a long business trip - the office becomes a war zone.

Unpacking stuff from AFA.

Can you guess what this becomes when assembled?

Cant confirm if shes wearing pantsu or not.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Need to tidy up as soon as possible so I can get back down to work.

The MacBook Air needs an L connector for the Thunderbolt.

Soon on the to-visit list is Taiwan, Shanghai, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore again.

I just cant wait for AFA2012!

For folks wondering about the Asian broadcast for Culture Japan Season 2 - me aiming for Jan 2012. America will start in Jan too.

Hehe - folks who came to the Anohana talk show will know why I'm giggling here ^^;

Doujin goodies from CDS and Peach.

Met a load of industry folks at AFA who I'll be working with soon.

The Mirai-chan x afa T-shirt. Did you get one?

Will be getting back to replying to mails and wot not soon and should be able to find just a wee bit more time in between Culture Japan production for a more regular schedule of posts - starting with the AFA coverage.

Previous Tokyo Arrival posts listed up below.

Arael shows off his absolutely gorgeous custom Kashiwazaki Sena from Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai. Arael's photos originally shared on the figure community site figure.fm.

And some extra photos from Arael.

「創作造形©ボークス・造形村」©1998-2010 VOLKS INC. All rights are reserved.
「創作造形©ボークス・造形村」©2003-2010 VOLKS INC. All rights are reserved.
スーパードルフィー®、ドルフィードリーム® はボークス社の商標登録であり、その全ての権利を所有しています。

Moekana [萌え仮名] is the start of the Japanese learning series brought to you by the Culture Japan label. It features the artwork of Ikkyuu-san where Mirai Suenaga, Haruka Suenaga and Kanata Hoshikawa will first teach us Hiragana.

Moekana will be released as a deck of cards where you can also play the Japanese game "Karuta" [かるた].

I was thinking of sticking Katakana in the same pack but that would raise costs and production time of the first pack so decided to do Hiragana first. This means that I need to remove any Katakana and odd ones from this first pack.

The ones which we need to replace are:-

#Ke for ke-ki [ケーキ] (cake)
#Chi for chochin [ちょうちん] (lantern)
#To for tokyo tawa [東京タワー] (Tokyo Tower)
#Mu for mune [むね] (breasts)
#Ra for Randoseru [ランドセル] (randsel)
#Ri for Ribbon [リボン] (ribbon)
#Ru for Rubi [ルビー] (ruby)
#Re for Ressa Panda [レッサーパンダー] (Red Panda)
#Ro for Robotto [ロボット] (Robot)

Do you have any ideas as to what I can use for these? I'd love to keep Mune (oppai) in there but probably not good idea for mass distribution ^^;

And which is your fave Moekana illustration?

I regularly work with quite a few voice actresses and recently got to work with Chiwa Saito at the Anime Festival Asia - she is one of the nicest persons I've ever met!

For folks who are not familiar, Chiwa-san is an incredibly established voice actress who has roles ranging from Natsumi in Keroro Gunsou, Francesca Lucchini in Strike Witches, Hitagi Senjogahara in Bakemonogatari and recently Homura Akemi in Madoka Magica.

These photos taken on the 2nd day of AFA where she was doing some live dubbing for Madoka Magica. The producer of Madoka Magica Atsuhiro Iwakami (also the producer of Bakemonogatari, Kannagi, Kara no Kyoukai and fate Zero) joins us on stage for a talk too.

Had a chat with Chiwa-san backstage and she asked me to contact her when Mirai Millennium goes full production!

And more photos taken during the Chiwa Saito session.
More AFA related posts below.

Photos of my Culture Japan/Mirai Suenaga booth at the Anime Festival Asia 2011. Thanks once again to Kodomut, Alvin, Tatsuya, Alafista, Dcal, Shane, Marcus, papershot, Scorch and Kaisheng for setting up my booth and to Esther for being Mirai.
Most of the photos in this post are taken by Kodomut, Alvin and Tatsuya.

Also thanks to everybody who came along! Was a lot of fun but wish I could have stayed around my booth for longer - was stuck on stage for most of the time ToT. But the stage was fun too! Looks like there is only 1 way to solve this AFA 12 to be 4 days instead of 3...
A time lapse video of the booth being setup.

More AFA posts coming up - for now previous ones listed up below.

A cheap but effective method for X Men Cyclops cosplay. Just get yourself a banana and then place it over your eyes. It can be any banana - even a green one. Try to make sure the banana is fresh or you could go blind by using a maggot infested one where the maggots will crawl under your eye lids and eat your eye balls.

Review and giveaway time! One of you will be the owner of this absolutely gorgeous figure of Marron=Macaron from Queens Gate. Folks who are into the figma scene will know that you can only get your grubby mitts on this figure if you buy the PSP game.

Marron comes with a load of bits n pieces including the ecchi Shift Body part - perfect for displaying in your car.

This giveaway is brought to you by the good folks at ToyLet. Maron is currently sold out at Toylet but when I asked the boss, he said he kept the last one for himself. I told him that it would be in his best interests if he gave the figure to you instead and he agreed but he wants to keep the game ^^;

So, for this giveaway you will get the unopened Marron=Macaron figure only - without the PSP game. Still sounds like a good deal to me as you had to get the game just to get the figure!

Toylet are having a thanksgiving sale of character goods which you can find here. As you can see, many items are heavily discounted including a load of K-ON and Madoka stuff.
To win Marron, all you have to do is tell me which product am I talking about from the special deal page.

How much is a contract in a bottle worth these days?

If more than 1 person guesses correct then I will choose one at random. Toylet will send you Marron directly from the US.

If you are not feeling lucky and cant be bothered with the giveaway, then you can still get a load of goodies from Toylet in their Thanksgiving sale or their Ebay Auction where they have listed a load of nendoroid's and other goodies starting at 1 USD.

Leaving you with more photos of Marron. Mmmmmm. Om nom nom.

More giveaways! But before that, some background on the giveaway...

Once upon a time back in 2004, I used to write about Gundam every day! I was still a salary man at Amazon and actually had time to make Gundams. A load of Gundam fans gathered to the site and many still read my writings.

These days running my own company, I only get time to look at the Gundams that other folks make ^^; I've neglected the Gundam community of late but hope to be slowly making up for that in some shape or form.

First up, Hobby Link Japan and I are giving away a few goodies!
1 x 1/60 Perfect Grade Strike Freedom Gundam ( retail price is 25,000 yen )
2 x 1/100 MG Full Armor Gundam (retail price is 5,000 yen )

All you have to do to win is post photos of your previous Gundam models to the Gundam category at Figure.fm. If you are posting multiple models, make sure its all in one post and tag your entry hlj_giveaway. You can put up to 80 photos in a single post.
This contest however is not about the best looking Gundam but more about participation and sharing so the winners will be chosen by random by the folks at HLJ.

If you are posting for the first time at Figure.fm then you need to wait for a wee bit before your post shows up on the top page but it eventually will - unless your photos are blurry ^^;

You've got 2 weeks to share and winners will be announced on my Twitter and Facebook.

The good folks at HLJ are also having a Black Friday special where shipping rates get flattened - 980 yen for SAL and 1,980 yen for EMS, per order, for orders of any size, to any destination in the world (excluding Japan ^^;)
You have to place an order for items that are currently in stock between 2pm November 25 and 2pm November 26, 2011 (Japan Standard Time; GMT+9) to qualify for the Black Friday Special. More details at HLJ.

Anyway, good luck with the Gundam contest and happy Black Friday shopping!

Its Thanksgiving which means its either time to giveaway a plate of Sashimi or 100 USD of whatever you want - I guess the latter would be more appealing to you so get along to J-List and choose up to 100 USD of anything you want and leave the URLs and product names in your comment like:-

Japanese T-Shirt -- Mirai Suenaga, 17 Years Old
http://www.jlist.com/product/SHIRT-MIRAI4
$19.95

Mirai Suenaga Figma Action Figure
http://www.jlist.com/product/YYN850
$48.00

Japanese T-Shirt -- Keep Fighting, Japan!
http://www.jlist.com/product/SHIRT-MIRAI1
$19.95

Thanksgiving also means that its Black Friday and J-List have something for those who dont feel lucky to win the 100 USD. All you have to do is get along to J-List and depending on how much you spend, you will get cash back coupons.
$5 when you spend $50 or more, $20 when you spend $150 or more, $40 when you spend $250 and above. Offer lasts until Mon 28th,11:55pm desu!

You can get a load of goodies at J-List from their categories which include:-

• Books & Calendars
  
• Games & Computer
  
• Anime & Toys
  
• Bento & Kitchen
  
• Snacks & Food
  
• Traditional & Study
  
• Apparel & Cosplay
  
• Health products

Had a most awesome time at AFA11 this year where I spent most of my time on stage as MC. I had the pleasure of working with:-

• LiSA
  
• Chiwa Saito
  
• Haruhiko Mikimoto
  
• FLOW
  
• Ichiro Mizuki
  
• Go Nakanishi
  
• Tow Ubukata
  
• Atsuhiro Iwakami
  
• Tatsuyuki Nagai
  
• Mari Okada
  
• Masayoshi Tanaka
  
• Milky Holmes
  
• Sea A
  
• angela
  
• Kalafina
  
• Kanako Ito & Chiyomaru Shikura
  
• May'n
  
• vividblaze

Photos taken throughout today on the Sony NEX-5N which just came back from repairs. Wee too much going on of late with most of my time taken up with TV production of Culture Japan. Season 2 comes to an end December 24 - hope I can make it to the new year alive ^^;

Today I test out the NEX-5N, clean up the office preparing for tomorrows filming and sort out a load of mails before heading to the AmiAmi HQ with a load of Mirai Mousepads which will go on sale worldwide on this Monday. Will also be on sale at Hobby Search, Kid Nemo and KKnM.

Had meeting with the folks at AmiAmi regarding the filming at Asakusa on December 5th and then its off to dindins. After that its back to base to prep the website for this evenings broadcast of Culture Japan. Now I'm watching Fate Zero on Tokyo MX TV while writing this up and as soon as this is posted I'll finish prepping for tomorrows filming in the office.

The office is still a mess after getting back from Singapore.

Step outside to test the NEX-5N.

Nice zoom with the 18- 55mm lens.

I usually remember to censor that mousepad.

the 18 - 55mm lens also gives a nice bokeh.

The E 18-55mm lens. Photo snapped with the E 16mm + SEL16F28 | 16mm f/2.8 Wide-Angle Lens.

Ah damn - this photo gives away what the next product lineup is ^^;
Karin is nekkid because I didn't have time to dress her after Singapore. I promise.

Photo snapped with the E 16mm + SEL16F28 | 16mm f/2.8 Wide-Angle Lens.

PG Strike needs dusting.

Lots of wrists will be saved with this product.

Lunch!

Will be delivering the goodies to the stores in batches.

How many kilos have you done on your car?

Taxi's behave the same wherever you go even in Japan - they got special cutting in privileges.

I took these while driving ^^;

The trusty Mirai Itasha.

At AmiAmi's main meeting room.

Richard and Yumi.

Nakayasu-san.

Going over some...stuff ^^;

Mirai Clock 3 out in the App Store next month!

Yumi's gorgeous illustration.

Nakayasu-san's collection of discount stickers that he collected from bento's ^^;

Nyan.

Yumi's desk.

Richard's desk.

Wut?

Homura.

Reimu figure want.

In many Japanese offices, employees take off their shoes.

Dollfie size?!

Wrist Support System spotted.

Nice trousers n boots.

Off to dindins.

Menu is difficult for even Japanese folks to read!
Have you ordered anything odd at a Japanese restaurant before that you didn't like because you wasn't sure what you was ordering?

This is Otooshi [お通し] - its an excuse to charge you a seat charge and will be added to your bill - its brought to you automatically when you sit down. Tastes nice in most cases but in some cases tastes' like...

Chirimen and Tofu salad.

Yakitamago (egg).

Kara-age [唐揚げ] - deep fried chicken.

Fugu! The most dangerous fish dish that you will eat in Japan.

Renkon which I think is called Mooli in English.

Heading back to base.

Time to update the site before the Culture Japan broadcast.

Cuppa tea and biscuits to accompany me while I work.

The Japanese term Kawaii [かわいい] has been in urban dictionaries for a while now but its finally made its debut into the Oxford English dictionary.

"kawayusu" [かわゆす] is the short form of "Kawaii Desu" and one can also use the term "Kawaii-ssune" [かわいいっすね].
"Kawaii" is also often written in katakana like [カワイイ].

Be careful how you pronounce "Kawaii" because if you say it like "Kowaii" [怖い] then it means "scary" ^^;

Other Japanese terms that have made it to the English dictionary are Bokeh [ぼけ] which refers to the out of focus background in photos and tsunami. I think it will only be a matter of time before "Oppai" makes its debut too ^^;

What other Japanese words do you think should make it into the Oxford English Dictionary?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
These puchi illustrations of Mirai Suenaga and co from the Moekana hiragana learning series.

Thanks to Cavalock for the tweet.

Recording 2 studio episodes for Culture Japan with my AFA co-host Yoshimi in the office - and had a few readers come to join in on the fun n games. Filming for most of the day and then its off to treat everybody to a well earned dinner. Can you recognize these readers?

Mirai Mousepads now on sale desu.

A load of Super Sonico goodies arrive just in time to film this weeks Culture Japan - the most important goodie of the bunch being her new game SoniComi which also has a guest appearance by Mirai Suenaga ^o^

And this is why Sonico and Mirai are now members of AKB48 - folks who order SoniComi at Amazon will get a plastic clear file featuring Sonico and Mirai in AKB48 uniforms - officially approved by AKB48!

This is the limited edition box set of SoniComi which is a Windows only game - other system owners will have to Parallels if they want to play.

SoniComi is an adventure game where you play the part of a cameraman taking shots of her as she progresses through her career. Some screenshots here.

Tis filled to the brim with goodies!

PV for SoniComi below.

Loli Sonico.

There is a booklet in the box which features Sonico art by various illustrators.

Not sure what flavor of card game this is for.

Sonico's Galaxy One CD in a tin can.

This is a free mag given out around the Akihabara area.

The Nitroplus boss Kosaka-san also sent over some Sonico jigsaw puzzles too!

I had no idea that jigsaw puzzles came with glue these days - glue in this silver packet poured over the jigsaw when its finished and sponged off.

And here are some of the other characters taken from the SoniComi character page.
<spoiler alert>
I'm in the game somewhere too ^^;
</spoiler alert>

Looks like the 2008 April Fools that Nitroplus and I done together kinda came true ^^;

And the following photos from the eroge magazine Push that was published last year when SoniComi was first announced.

Who can provide the best translation of whats in the pink flower next to Mirai-chan?

And these are development screenshots taken last year.

Artwork is by the same illustrator who does Sonico - Tsuji Santa. This was the first concept version.

And this is the final look n feel for Mirai-chan.

Mirai-chan and Sonico are good buddies - Sonico appears on Culture Japan from time to time.

Mirai does not appear in the game in 3D form but Nitroplus did make her in 3D which we used in the following video that teaches Hiragana.

When I wake up in the morning, my hair is usually all over the place. But today for some reason, I woke up and discovered that I grew an ahoge just like Mirai-chan. Like father like daughter?

Ahoge [アホ毛] (pronounced "Ah-Hor-Geh") is a word used to describe a bunch of hair that stands out from the rest - I first learned this word after I got Saber ^^;

How many characters can you name with an ahoge?

Photos taken around my neighborhood in Musashikoyama, Meguro. Whenever I get hold of a new camera, I need a few months to get used to it - or it needs a few months getting used to me ^^; Lately I got myself a Sony NEX-5N and am taking as many photos as possible to learn what sort of settings I need and in what sort of environment/situation I should be using them.

The NEX-5D has a "Miniature" setting which creates interesting tilt shift effects without me having to open Photoshop or do any post processing at all. Most of these photos are taken with auto ISO - night shots tend to automatically set to 3200 which is why the sky is a bit grainy. Took some photos today at 800 ISO with much better results and no blur.

Will do a review of the NEX-5N after I use it for a bit. Expecting the macro lens to arrive soon. What camera are you using?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

"I can die happy now" was the first thing I said to myself when the tag for my TV show Culture Japan (#culturejapan) became a Twitter Trend in Japan today. This had always been a goal of mine. Culture Japan is broadcast in Japan at 22:30 every Saturday and it became a trend on the top page of Twitter at about 23:00. Thanks to everybody who tweeted with the tag at the time!

But I'll take back the "I can die happy now" because the next unlocked achievement has ben set ^o^

While the show is broadcasting, I usually follow what folks are tweeting about the show and would retweet. Its so rewarding to know that so many folks are enjoying the show and that all the hard work does pay off - even though I'm on the verge of extinction as we near the end of Season 2.

Folks around the world will be able to enjoy the show very soon.

The K-ON! movie is currently in cinemas across Japan and some of the trains are plastered with the K-ON! girls.

Stations are gradually being fitted out with safety barriers - this is the Yamanote line at Meguro.

And wherever you go in Tokyo, you are likely to spot the Milky Holmes girls.
Are there any anime related posters out n about on your public train systems?

The convenience store Lawson has a ton of K-ON! goodies to coincide with the release of the Movie - this Yui Hirasawa from my local store at Musashikoyama station ^o^

It also looks like Yui found something very comfortable to relax on.