The anime, cosplay and doujin event Fancy Frontier takes place 4 times a year. The large events are called Fancy Frontier (FF) and the smaller events are Petit Fancy (PF). FF 19 took place last weekend and comrades at Aniarc went along to take some photos for us.

Looked like a load of fun! I could not make it this time but plan to attend the next FF in July where I will be setting up a booth too. Will also be having Culture Japan Night Taiwan Summer Edition too.

And here is some video footage of the event.

Are you or have you been attending any anime events this year? If so which ones?
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More slice of life in Tokyo. Eventful day today where I head to meet with many folks from Sanrio (the Hello Kitty peeps) and also learned loads about the licensing business in Japan which I will talk about when the timing is right.
Starting off at lunchtime - seeking food at the Musashikoyama palm shopping arcade.

Its a real life anime school boy character. And if you are wondering, Japanese schools are really just like anime as you can read from the photo posts below.

Have you seen one of these in anime or elsewhere? This little chap is called Teru Teru Bozu [照る照る坊主]. A Japanese custom where a doll made from white cloth or paper is strung up outside ones window - the gesture is said to ward away rain which is why its usually hung up before the day of an event. "Teru" means "Sunshine" while "Bozu" means "Monk."
There is also a Teru Teru Bozu song too.

This store still shows 7 digits for its telephone number. Telephone numbers became 8 digits in 1991 (not including the area code).

Bibimbap for lunch.

Have not been to Korea for ages. How many of you have been?

A bicycle park outside a train station. Bicycles parked illegally are usually taken away by a nice man and if you want it back then you need to pay a fine. You can just about see the yellow sticker on the frame of the bicycle on the right of the photo - it has a number which is issued when you register it with the police.
Most folk here register their two wheelers in the event that its stolen - and in the event that you leave it parked illegally - they can call or send you a message ^^;

Poster to promote fire safety. How many of you have a figure extinguisher at home?
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Long snowboards are long. I've been skiing a few times in Japan but have *always* injured myself ><
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The best carriages on the Yamanote line are the back and front as you can get an insect-hit-by-speeding-train eye view.

Heading to next meeting.

Looks like Yugawara should go on my to-visit list this Spring.

Madoka Magica gets the Weiss Schwartz treatment.

Meeting up with folks from Ascii Media Works at Osaki station.

Its off to meet folks at Sanrio for the Sanrio Expo 2012.

The event today was for industry folks where they had an absolute ton of Hello Kitty merchandise and other tie ups on display. No photos were allowed though.

Then its off to the next destination for more meetings.

The next meeting is with G-MIX - a company that handles a load of licenses including ones for Sanrio. They look after the With Hello Kitty brand besides other stuff.

The With Hello Kitty project blends cute 2D girlies with Hello Kitty.

I've become a Hello Kitty fan over night ^^

Card game sleeves. The moekana cards will be compatible with all Weiss Schwartz sized card supplies.

AKB48 X Hello Kitty.

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Cosy sardine apartments.

Next meeting is with a company called Kitan who make and sell an absolute sheet load of gacha.

Lovely office - setup to look like a farm ^^

Taxi to the next destination - business over dindins. The first fare for getting on is about 700 yen. What do taxis in your neck of the woods charge as soon as you get on?

At Ribera in Meguro - apparently the most famous steak house in Japan.

Inside the restaurant there are photos all over the place of famous folk who have eaten here which include Japanese talents and wresters from around the world.

In this industry, everybody is connected with each other and once you have a network of people then you are pretty much set up with work for a lifetime. Just make sure you keep yourself useful and dont charge for every single little thing that you do.

Dinner is here! But the smoke is overwhelming so I retreat to a corner for a while and pretend to take photos.

The photo doesn't really capture just how smokey it was in there ^^;

Didn't know about Ribera but found out that it was just a 20 min walk from home. This is the building by night that I was talking about in Tokyo Today 2.

Some more snaps taken on the way home. Using the Sony NEX 5N as always.

What with the amount of folks with a mobile phone, it can be hard to find public phones at times.

The new laughing man logo.

Tis been rainy of late.

Back to base.

Some ginger flavored chocolates that the steakhouse Ribera gave us after dindins.

Mirai's shoes to go with her Summer uniform on sale at Lucy Pop.

Playing with some of the gatcha that I was given earlier on...

...you are free to come to my office and take all of it.

Perfect valentines day gift.

Some of the Sanrio folks who I met today from many different departments including licensing and rights. Met Gainax too who have a Hello Kitty x Evangelion collaboration going on.

A look at some of the goodies that landed in my lap.

Cheese Risotto - sprinkle on rice with hot water.

Hello Kitty Coffee and Youkan sweets.

Cinnamoroll is another popular Sanrio license.

Ol Blighty X Hello Kitty.

One Piece X Hello Kitty.

A peek at the TV to see that the world is supposed to end (again) later this year.

More life in Tokyo through photos in the posts below.

Did you know there are 2 situations where you can get free drinks from a vending machine in Japan? One situation is where you have to first buy a drink from a vending machine that has what they call a "roulette" feature.
The banner on the top of this machine says "strike lucky and get another can!" [当たったらもう1本]. But even if you cant read Japanese then all you need to look out for is the 4 sevens printed in slot machine style which you can see to the right on this machine.

All you have to do is stick in your money and depending on the type of the machine, the lights under the drink select buttons will start to flash in sequence. Depending on your luck and when you press the select button, the led located on the right of the machine will show 4 sevens in a row. If this happens then you get to choose another drink of your choice (regardless of how much it costs) but you need to choose within 30 seconds.

Drinks manufacturer Dydo explains that they have this feature as a way to thank their customers.

This is another machine with the same feature - again, even if you cant read Japanese, you should be able to recognize the "7777". After buying a drink, if all 4 sevens line up then you get to pick another drink - make sure to do so in 30 seconds or you may cry.

On the display you can see the number 10 in a circle. The words above say "out of change" [釣り切れ[つりぎれ]] so if you are buying a drink and are expecting some 10 yen coins back then...well you wont be getting any because it has none ^^;

This is a Dydo machine where you can earn points as you buy more drinks. The points can be exchanged for various goodies like these.

Not all vending machines will have numbers in slot machine style - sometimes it may be different characters like chicklets. The videos below show folks who have struck lucky and won themselves another can.

And here is another machine with the "Lucky roulette 7777."

The other way to get free drinks from a machine is in a situation that you probably dont want to be in - during a major disaster like the 2011/03 earthquake. Many vending machines are equipped with a feature that serves up free drinks during a disaster. This setup is an example of how multiple vending machines would be triggered to release free drinks by the owner of the machines.

As explained before, vending machines can be rented by anybody. In most cases, vending machines are owned or rented by jon doe and not necessarily a drinks manufacturer. It is up to the owner to decide if they want to activate the feature but I heard that during the 2011.03 quake that many vending machines had the free drink feature activated.

I love Japanese vending machines - they are everywhere and well serviced - unlike the ones which I used in the UK - you never really know if you are going to get something back after you stick in your money ^^;

What are vending machines like in your neck of the woods?

I forgot about a 3rd way to get free drinks from a Japanese vending machine - tickle its nuts and bolts.

Comrade Ken went over to Sapporo in Hokkaido where they are having a Snow Miku festival. As part of that festival, they have this lovely Snow Miku tram running around the city - following photos snapped by Ken.

I've only seen Hokkaido in late Summer but would love to go over to see it during the Winter season. I hear its very very cold up there though. How many of you have been to Hokkaido before?

The whole of city of Sapporo has been Mikufied! Hatsune Miku City ^^

Ships pass through the Millennium Gate as Eiji in his Solar Marine Shell and Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform do their hero pose - a doodle by Pinakes for the EOY event in Singapore that took place at the end of last year.
Mirai usually wears a belt but forgot and left it in her school locker ^^;

The full scenario of Mirai Millennium coming later on this year.

Sorting out photos for the next A Week in Tokyo and realized that I got a ton of photos piling up. Thought I'd take all the Yokohama ones and make a photo walk out of it.

Yokohama is the capital city of the Kanagawa Prefecture and is located next to Tokyo. The population is about 3.6 million and the amount of registered gaijin-san is about 75,000.

For more than 200 years, Japan went through a period of seclusion [鎖国] where it was forbidden for any Japanese to leave Japan. Trading and communications with the outside world was also forbidden.

In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry arrived at Yokohama with a fleet of American warships requesting that Japan open up its ports for trading. The Tokugawa shogunate agreed by signing the Treaty of Peace and Amity. Since then, Yokohama has developed to be one of Japans major ports.

Zooming back a few mins into the past on the train passing some driving grounds. In Japan, you first learn to drive not on the roads but in a driving center. I remember taking my driving lessons back in the UK which was on the roads. Took me aaaaages to pass. I think my driving was fine but the instructor kept insisting that I get the reverse-and-park-on-a-corner-move correctly. Been driving for over 10 years now and not once have I ever had the need to do this move. Probably an excuse to get me to pay for more lessons.
Do they make you do this in your region too? And for folks who want to find out more about driving in Japan can look up the Japan Drivers License post.

This lady sure looks hot. Would somebody like to help her cool down?

Arrival in Yokohama.

A load of modern constructions in Yokohama. This is the Minato Mirai area.

The tall building is the Landmark Tower. Great views from the top.

There is *a lot* of people around the tower on a Sunday. At the bottom of the tower are performances like this one where there it looked like some gaijin indirectly insulting the Japanese folks...

Mc Dees is completely packed out!

Mc Dees stands strong in any economic climate.

No seats left inside Mc Dees so people spill out to the nearby park to eat.

One of the things one needs to get used to in Japan is lining up for just about everything. In this Starbucks, you need to line up for a seat where you will get a ticket. You then go to a separate queue to line up for your drink. Then you line up again to fetch your drink.

Was the first Starbucks that I saw over here that lets you walk into the bookshop and fetch any book to read.

Akarenga which you saw by night in the Yokohama Photo Walk 1 post.

Skating rink at Akarenga. Finding decent size skating rinks in Japan is tough.

This performer would do any pose that you pose the mannequin in. I should have done a floating Dhalsim pose for him ^^;

And this is the more bustling area around Yokohama Station. Yokohama was one of the first places we shot a Stormtrooper video. Didn't do much back then apart from walk about and just stand there ^^;
Also had that horrible AFX helmet. You can see a comparison in the Shepperton Battle Spec post. Video below was taken in December 2005.

There is a quite a big Volks store in Yokohama too with a load of figure and Dollfie goodies.
http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/volks/sr/sr_yokohama/index.html

All photos taken on the Lumix GF1.

OK, I'll drop you off here while I get back to working on the well over due A Week in Tokyo.

The next Tokyo CGM Night will be held at the blood donation facility Akiba:F which you may recall is actually a crash landed spacecraft thats stuck in the side of a building. The outer hull has a Trans-Ion Kryptonian shield around it meaning that you cant see the rest of the ship sticking out the side of the building unless you are wearing Titanium Diamond Class 9 contact lenses.

Went along on Friday to check out the facilities with Tokyo Live Blogger Steve Nagata. Snapped here with some local dannychoo.com readers who were also at the facility doing a report.

Akiba:F is run by the Japanese Red Cross Society. Their mission statement is to bridge peoples life's and the future together.
Get off at Akihabara station and exit at the Electric town entrance. Dont walk towards the Radio Kaikan but the other way and lookup - you will see the logo for Akiba:F on the building.
The address is:-
5th Floor Asakaze Building, 1-16-9 Soto Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
[千代田区外神田1-16-9 朝風二号館ビル５階] (map here)

The place is just gorgeous. This is what you are greeted with when you step out of the elevators.

To the right is the lockers, toilet and some machines which I'll cover in a mo.

In the center of the facility is the WDDCRM2 (Warp Drive Duo Combine Retrograde Mark 2 Engine) which is being currently used to display some Bakemonogatari goodies.
Every quarter, Akiba:F has a theme. Previously it was Good Smile Company where they displayed a load of figures.

What is it about Senjogahara that makes her so mmmmmmm?

Here are some terminals which will ask you a bunch of questions to see if you are able to donate blood. About 10% of folks fail the test due to some complications with their blood or life habits.

Folks who cant give blood are those who consume narcotics, had blood diseases, who have just come back from overseas within the past 4 weeks and folks who have been to certain countries between particular periods.

This pose of Senjogahara gets the figure treatment by Good Smile Company.
If you don't get the stationary thing then give Bakemonogatari a whirl.

The Bakemonogatari theme will run through to the 31st of March 2010.

They got a small glassed off room in one corner. CGM Nighters - leave your stuff here if you want.

The toilets are zero gravity so you need to be good at dodging your poo and pee.

Lockers are free to use and can be locked with a blood sample - a needle will shoot out from the ceiling and land in your forehead to take a sample before the doors open.

Mirrors are made from Shimapantium mined from the spice mines on Kolletar. They have the ability to show what you will look like in exactly 3.5 months from now. If you walk past these mirrors and don't see your reflection then it means that you should prioritize everything you want to do before you die.

The Shimapantium mirrors also remind us that we should be prioritizing our lives anyway because we never know when we will kick the bucket.

They told me that after having your blood taken, they will stick your life juices in some sort of centrifugal unit which spins out all the stuff that they want - you then go back a week later and then they stick the stuff that they don't want back into you.

If you like loli's with huge school bags then Bakemonogatari will be right up your alley.

Drinks are provided for free for folks who donate blood. This machine will not be turned on during the next CGM Night as they need the machine to be ready for patients the next morning (sorry).

Akiba:F has a load of reading material - included for this theme term are Bakemonogatari novels.

Also some Katanagatari too. Anybody watching?

Maki Horikita-chan! Video below - kawaiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!

More Bakemonogatari goodies on display.

I love the bins! There is a circle which glows white...

...and when you throw some rubbish, the white glow temporarily turns into a blue glow.

I love this place. Its such a relaxing atmosphere. Decided that one of my life goals is to have an office like this ^^;

Displays around the center show Bakemonogatari stuff.

Free wifi is provided within the center for those who want to work while waiting their turn.

For the next CGM Night, we will display the Dollfies here.

If you are considering donating blood then feel free to go along to have a look - no obligation to donate blood. If you do want to take photos then please ask the staff members first.

How is your Valentines day coming along so far? Did you receive or give any goodies?
Here is my Valentines day gift to you - Mirai Suenaga all strapped up in a ribbon waiting to be untied.
Anybody in your life that lights up your fire? Are you in a two-way or one-way relationship?
During my younger years I had two one-way relationships with Kylie Minogue and Nishida Hikaru ^^;

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A few cosplay photos from the Wonder Festival taken last Sunday starting off with this lovely girl - I never thought I would find a cyclops girl to be cute!
I forgot to ask which character she was cosplaying as though - anybody know?

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The biggest figure and garage kit event in the world - Wonder Festival takes place twice a year. Good Smile Company has a live broadcast called Nama Wonhobby after each Wonder Festival which reaches nearly 400,000 viewers.

For the first time ever we started an English version called Wonhobby Broadcast International Ver that was broadcast on Nico Nico. Despite the short notice, we managed to reach just over 5000 viewers. I remember the first few broadcasts of the Japanese Nama Wonhobby reached about the same number too.
My co host was the lovely Ferlyn Yoshimi who I have worked with for a few years at the Anime Festival Asia.

The comments we received during the show however reached 70,000 - a very high rate given any live Nico broadcast according the the guy from Nico Nico who set up the servers for us.

On the show we had the big boss of Good Smile Company Aki Takanori, the General Manager of Good Smile Company Akiyama-san, the boss of Nitoplus Digitaro and the boss of Sanjigen Matsuura Hiroaki-san.

Akiyama-san brought along a load of decoration masters for us to play with and viewers from around the world got to ask all our guests questions. The show was a great success and cant wait for the Summer version where I would like to invite dannychoo.com readers to the studio to meet everybody. Any of you plan to be in Japan this August?

The show was a smooth broadcast but the recording turned out terrible for some reason - the sound recording was fine though.

The following photos taken of the Japanese and English broadcast studio setup which was held at the Good Smile Tetsujin cafe in Akihabara.

Thank you everybody who joined the show - leave a comment if you watched and annotate your Nico comment too!

A bunch of lovely Yuzuriha Inori figures up n coming from Good Smile Company and Max Factory - a scale, Nendoroid and figma. Pre-order date to be announced soon. These figures taken at a Good Smile industry event yesterday.
Stay tuned - much more figure stuff up n coming.

Photos taken on the Sony NEX-5N with Zeiss f1.8 24mm lens.

Guilty Crown on your watch list?
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Nendoroid Inori - so cute!

I think my fave out of the bunch is the Nendoroid - how about you?
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All wonfes related photos listed up below.

Incredible scale figure of Ultimate Madoka displayed at the Good Smile Industry event this week. She's huge! First got to play with her at the Wonhobby Broadcast. Looks great with just the surfacer alone but am sure she will look even more stunning when painted. No price or release date yet.
Photos taken on the Sony NEX-5N with Zeiss f1.8 24mm lens.

All wonfes related photos listed up below.

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Anybody fancy 25 tons of Good Smile Company figures? These photos taken at two events - the Wonder Festival 2012 Winter and the Good Smile Company Industry event that was held in Akihabara.
This first photo of Izumi from Sekirara. So cute!

Photos taken on the Sony NEX-5N with Zeiss f1.8 24mm lens.

At the UDX in Akihabara.

A load of industry folks doing some wheeling n dealings.

The Good Smile booth at the Wonfes had queues of folks lining up just to take photos! A comrade of mine lined up for over an hour to get photos of the Madoka Magica stuff @.@
The Good Smile Industry event however is just for industry bods so we can do wheeling n dealings while snapping away. The downside is that some of the figures that were on display at the Wonfes dont appear at the Industry event because they need to be shipped to China for production.

I loved Nendoroids! If you watched the Wonhobby live broadcast last week, you would have heard the General Manager of Good Smile Akiyama-san talk about the Mirai Suenaga Nendoroid ^o^
Cant wait!

This is Ne-san from the free anime +tic Sister which we featured on an episode of Culture Japan Season 2.

Miu-chan from Papakiki. Kawaii!

Head probably removable.

Nya-

Awesome goodies from Three A. Lovely metallic look n feel even though its all plastic.

Back stage with Good Smile boss Aki Takanori. He's only a year older than me and has already changed the world. I have a looong way to go ><

After every Wonder Festival, the Good Smile team get together for some pep talk.

The portal opens.

Nitroplus big boss Kosaka-san.

Which of the announcements tickled your fancy the most?
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All wonfes related photos listed up below.

Saber's Motored Cuirassier is certainly a mouthful to pronounce ^^; The Nitroplus boss was having a conversation with Good Smile one day and casually said that it would be cool to have a 1:1 scale Motored Cuirassier - and the Good Smile team actually went and made one!

The bike actually works but Japanese laws prevent it from being ridden legally on the roads over here. The problematic parts are the pointy bit at the front and back which could end up impaling somebody ^^;

As for the 1/8 scale version out later this year - I got 6 of them to giveaway! Will write up the giveaway post next week.

Photos taken at the Wonder Festival - all related posts listed up below.

A couple of Anohana Menma figures spotted during the Wonfes festivities at the Good Smile booth - a scale and Nendoroid version. Both are cuute! But which do you prefer?
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Which is your fave character from Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai?
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All Wonfes related photo posts below.

I've always loved Kipi's cosplay work. Have been wanting to meet her ever since she cosplayed as our mascot character Mirai Suenaga.
In the cosplay section at the Wonfer Festival, was having a conversation about Kipi when all of a sudden there she was! Was great to meet her in person - she's an adorable lady!

I prefer the AFA pass instead of the Wonfes one ^^;

Yoshimi-chan!

Some happy chap.

Since I posted the last bunch of photos of Kipi in Mirai cosplay, she has had a few more photo sessions which I pucked off the Internets. Most of these from Cosrain who dont credit the original photographer so I dont know who took most of these photos. Did manage to find two of the photographers below though.
http://bixtuke.exblog.jp/15009567/
http://shirokai.exblog.jp/13007204/

More wonfes photos in the posts below.

Tony Taka's rendition of Luca in figure form! Snap taken at the Good Smile Company Industry event after the recent Wonfes. Do you have any Vocaloid figures in your collection?
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All related wonfes posts listed up below.

Conveyor Belt Sushi - also known as Kaiten Sushi [回転寿司[かいてんすし]]. "Kaiten" means "to rotate" or "go round in a circle." As the name suggests, a load of sushi goes round on a conveyor belt and the customer takes what she wants for om noms.

In other countries, I see that many kaiten sushi has each plate covered with a plastic cover but in Japan most are open like these ones.

This kaiten sushi place has dishes which are not typical Japanese like these ones - a huge mound of rice topped with salmon, ikura and onions. Many gaijins come to this place which is why some of the dishes are more adventurous ^^;

Price of the dish is decided by the color of the plate - gold plates are usually the most expensive.

Its not just fish to be found on a plate - drinks and dessert too.

If the belt does not have what you want, all you have to do is ask the chap behind the belt. For example "Engawa Kudasai!" [えんがわください！] (some Engawa please!)

There are some rules that you should follow when entering a sushi place which are all outlined in the video below. Be sure to watch before going for some sushi.

This type of sushi is called "Gunkan Maki" [軍艦巻[ぐんかんまき]] and is named because it looks like the shape of a battleship ("Gunkan" meaning battleship).

Ikura [いくら] is salmon roe. For many years I didn't dare try but once I did I found that I love it! A dollop of it on rice is lovely.

The red and black containers contain green tea powder which you should help yourself to.

Usually there are cups at the counter for you to help yourself.

If you see a plate with a sign like this - its just to let you know whats available - if you fancy some then just ask the sushi guy.

Not everything available will be on the belt. They usually make stuff that they think is more popular and stick it out for everybody. Look around at the menus to see what else they have on offer.

This is gari [ガリ] which is sliced ginger - take a sensible amount to have with your dish.

Some places have an english menu - if you want one then just ask!

The sushi clock!

Forgot to mention - notice the black rubber button underneath the tap - dont press it like a friend did because boiling water will burn your hand and make you cry! Press the cup against the rubber bit to fill up.

Some places will sell bags of tea that is served in the restaurant - if you want some then just ask.

T'was christmas when we went.

The sushi place was Heiroku Sushi located in Harajuku - nearest station is Meiji Jingumae or Harajuku on the JR line.
[gmap=35.66741, 139.70824]

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Insane Black Rock Shooter figma snapped at the Good Smile Industry event looking very nice indeed! Out of all the Black Rock Shooter versions however, I think I like the BRS White version the best - which is your fave?

The BRS anime series is being broadcast now - how many of you watching?

And here is the BRS anime figma version.

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The Nendoroid version is really sweet!

All Wonfes related posts listed up below.

This gentleman proves that Hatsune Miku cosplay is not just for the girls to enjoy. Very well made and lovely to look at.
This year I noticed a significant increase of crossplayers at the Wonfes - I even had a chap contact me about cosplaying as Mirai-chan ^^;
How many of you are cosplayers?
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More Wonfes related photos below.