More life in Japan with the "Japan in the Winter" series. Today we take a look at Harajuku where you can find the latest trends in fashion, food and accessories for young folks - in particular high school girls. To get to Harajuku, get off at Harajuku station on the JR line or Omotesando station on the Ginza, Chiyoda or Hanzomon line.
[gmap=35.670194, 139.702690]

Photos in this post taken before Christmas.

And you can check out what Harajuku looks like in the Summer!

A list of the Japan in the Winter photo posts below.

And a list of Japan in the Summer posts listed up below.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Its been snowing in Japan a lot and we got a load of snow around the Yokohama and Tokyo area. Tokyo had 8cm of snow while Yokohama had 14cm. Some places in Japan got 40cm of snow within 24 hours. Many flights were cancelled and trains grounded to a halt just like the ones in this photo.
The rest of this post is filled with snow photos around the residential areas. Has it been snowing in your neck of the woods?

The Yamate Shotengai.

The Negishi Forest Park.

Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>

Tis freeezing in Japan at the moment! But thats one of the great things about Japan - the 4 very distinct seasons. Today the Japan in the Winter theme continues and we take a look at the area called Odaiba - an entire city built on reclaimed land.

Situated in Tokyo Bay, Odaiba is filled with many entertainment facilities which range from arcades, cinemas, restaurants, shops and theme parks too. Odaiba is also home to the 1:1 scale Gundam which I hope starts to be recognized as a landmark. Gundam is now located outside Diver City.

There are a few ways to get to Odaiba - you can take the Rinkai line [りんかい線] and get off at Tokyo Teleport station [東京テレポート駅] or take the Yurikamome [ゆりかもめ] and get off at Daiba station[台場駅].

Below is a map of the Odaiba area.
[gmap=35.62850, 139.77751]

Odaiba Decks entertainment facility.

Around New Years Holiday, you will see a load of "Kadomatsu" [門松] placed in front of homes and stores.

Odaiba Takoyaki Museum located inside Decks for all Takoyaki fans.

Aqua City - another entertainment facility. The cinema is located in this one.

The Fuji TV building.

Venus Fort - designed to resemble a 17th - 18th century European city, the place opened back in 1999 inside Palette Town and the original concept was that it was to be a theme park for ladies.
These days however, Venus Fort is filled with not only stuff for the ladies but also for Men and Hideyoshi's too.

Venus Fort is located in the Odaiba area and you can get there by getting off at the Tokyo Teleport station on the Rinkai line which you can get from JR Yamanote Osaki.
[gmap=35.62573, 139.78062]

A whole photo article on Venus Fort lives here.

Inside Diver City.

A book for Gundam fans studying English.

And you can check out what Odaiba looks like in the Summer!

A list of the Japan in the Winter photo posts below.

And a list of Japan in the Summer posts listed up below.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Just came back from being in Asia for a month and got a load of event coverage to catch up on including Culture Japan Night KL, Culture Japan Night Penang, Culture Japan Night Bangkok, Thailand Game Show and Thailand Toy Expo. Unfortunately I've not been feeling too good - been running non stop since last June and something just broke ><
The doctors put the stop on me with a load of medicine and am trying to stay away from the computer while I mend hence the slow updates - but posting stuff to my Facebook, Instragram and Twitter is something I can do while in bed ^^;

First up we take a look at just some of the cosplay from Comic Fiesta - there was a load more but this is all I managed to get on my camera ><
Firstly I would like to thank all the Mirai Millennium cosplayers who showed their support - it means a lot to me! I want to make it up to all cosplayers worldwide who show their support - just need to think of how ^^

Will be posting more from Comic Fiesta - meanwhile other CF related photo posts listed up below.

While I didnt manage take many cosplay photos, Studio Omoshiroi did capture many of the cosplayers in action - check out the video below.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

And here is the coverage of the exhibition hall at Comic Fiesta - Malaysia's longest standing ACG (Anime Comics Games) event that takes annually in December.
It was my first time attending CF and was surprised to see just how huge it was in terms of space and attendees. CF had a load of guests which included RedJuice and Bless4.

I also brought along a couple of names in the anime industry including Bushiroad and Good Smile Company. If I'm still alive this December then I'll be sure to attend again and make sure that I bring in more Japanese content and wot not.

Studio Omoshiro made a nice Comic Fiesta x Culture Japan intro for us which you can take a gander at below.

Together with RedJuice-sensei! This post contains more photos like this taken in the guest room.

The good looking lads and ladies of Bless4.

And photos of my booth are in a separate post which lives here.

Thank you to all who came to listen to my talk!

OK - I'm going off to prepare the other backlog of photo posts and leave you with the wall of photos. Other Comic Fiesta related photo posts listed up below and the Comic Fiesta Facebook has other coverage too.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Culture Japan Night Kuala Lumpur took place at Menara PGRM on the 27th December 2012 and was attended by a ton of comrades! We had the usual shenanigans - cosplay, live anisong, moekana tournaments and networking. Little Akiba also attended to show us their goodies.

Had an awesome time meeting everybody - thank you all for coming! If you see yourself in any of the following photos then be sure to photo annotate yourself ^^

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Photos of Insane Black Rock Shooter taken at the Good Smile Company headquarters. Awesome sculpture but you will need a lot of space to display her - she's a biggie! Retails for 13,800 yen and will be out this June. More details at GSC.

If you are interested in pre-ordering Insane BRS then check out the following trusted online retailers.

• http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
  
• http://www.amiami.com
  
• http://hlj.com
  
• http://jlist.com
  
• http://kidnemo.com
  
• http://toylet.net

And this is what she would look like on yer desk.

And here are photos of what she looked like just before a lick of paint. She was sculpted by a Chinese sculptor who is a full time employee for the Good Smile Company Shanghai offices.

And here is some of the other BRS stuff that was taken at a previous Wonfes along with the unpainted Insane BRS.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

Other Wonfes coverage below.

Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>

As part of the Comic Fiesta festivities, there was a fanart countdown where folks submit their artwork of the Comic Fiesta mascots Tea and Coffy. For CF2012 however, I was most humbled to see so many decided to include Mirai Suenaga in their work!

Comic Fiesta chose 20 folks from this pool and we gave them some Moekana T-shirts. I do want to thank everybody who included Mirai in their artwork which should be somewhere below - if not please shout out!

First up is some Gangnam shenanigans by artist KaiE
Website: http://sohai9132.deviantart.com/& https://www.facebook.com/KaiEsoh

Artist: Kaze-Hime
Website: http://Kaze-Hime.com

Artist: Yooani
Website: http://yooani.deviantart.com/

Artist: starstray
Website: http://starstray.deviantart.com/

Artist: Engkit
Website: http://engkit.deviantart.com/& https://www.facebook.com/leongengkit

Artist: Loo
Website: http://looawesome.deviantart.com/

Artist: Neuro
Website: http://neurzero.deviantart.com/& http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=1302712

Artist: Sanmo
Website: http://sanmoe.deviantart.com/

Artist: veleries
Website: http://veleries.deviantart.com/

Artist: teohcheeeing
Website: http://teohcheeeing.deviantart.com/

Artist: Allories.L
Website: http://www.facebook.com/allories.limsinyih

Artist: Yun-Afezeria
Website: http://yun-afezeria.deviantart.com/

Artist: Chocosweet
Website: http://rainny311.deviantart.com/& http://www.facebook.com/chocosweet.rainny

Artist: Chi
Website: http://arielucia.deviantart.com/

Artist: 喜薇

Artist: AC

Artist: Doneplay
Website: http://doneplay.deviantart.com/& http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=2517840

Artist: Alvin Chow

Artist: Miychi & kapaww
Website: http://miychi.deviantart.com/& http://kapaww.deviantart.com/

Artist: Silver
Website: http://silverfox5213.deviantart.com/

Artist: LWY
Website: http://digitalcoo.com/

Artist: Yuan3
Website: http://yuan3.deviantart.com/

Artist: Cantabile
Website: http://cantabile94.deviantart.com/

Artist: Cantabile
Website: http://cantabile94.deviantart.com/

Artist: Akira_yuu
Website: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=1376967

Artist: Heby
Website: http://www.shrimpheby.deviantart.com/

Artist: Cocefi
Website: http://coco-n-cream.tumblr.com/

Artist: Syku
Website: http://www.sykuart.com/& http://sykugen.deviantart.com/

Artist: Konifia
Website: http://konifia.deviantart.com/

Artist: Mushi23
Website: http://mushi23.deviantart.com/

Artist: Mitsukiven
Website: http://mitsukiven.deviantart.com/

Artist: Kai Kuroi
Website: http://kuroikai-tmk.deviantart.com/& http://www.pixiv.com/users/4610222

Artist: Sakurai Kaito

Artist: Tin@Leader
Website: http://lightingsaber.deviantart.com/& http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=2386203

Artist: Maru Lee

Artist: Fenrixion
Website: http://fenrixion.deviantart.com/& http://furaffinity.net/user/fenrixion

Artist: CZ Xing
Website: http://xing0206.deviantart.com/

Artist: PandaYue
Website: http://jvladoka.deviantart.com/& http://www.youtube.com/user/pandayue0612

Artist: Jeii
Website: http://jeii-chan.deviantart.com/

Artist: Kuehsy 懸之越映
Website: http://kuehsy8.blog131.fc2.com/

Artist: Satsuki Kyo
Website: http://satsukikyo.deviantart.com/

Artist: Hyamei
Website: http://hyamei.deviantart.com/& http://abbydraws.tumblr.com/

Artist: Ilurisa
Website: http://ilurisa.deviantart.com/& https://www.facebook.com/suwa.caroline

Artist: pandayuki94
Website: http://evaproduction.deviantart.com/

Artist: BookTown
Website: http://futsuki.deviantart.com/

Artist: Chiaki-Chan

Artist: Yurkary 素羽
Website: http://yurkary.deviantart.com/

Artist: Aki
Website: http://aki95.deviantart.com/

Artist: Jason C.
Website: http://escar.deviantart.com/& http://onlyparkland.blogspot.com/

Artist: Jasphere
Website: http://jasphere.deviantart.com/

Artist: Rine
Website: http://icewinx.deviantart.com/

Artist: Phan
Website: http://phantomscythe666.deviantart.com/

Artist: Reiko
Website: http://asahirureiko.deviantart.com/& http://www.anipan.com/5391

Artist: 戈薇

Artist: Kaz Kazuaki
Website: http://panda-prodigy.deviantart.com/& http://kazkazuaki.deviantart.com/

Artist: Christine
Website: http://peejun.deviantart.com/

Artist: Xsaye
Website: http://xsaye.deviantart.com/& http://facebook.com/xsaye

Artist: Finni
Website: http://finni.deviantart.com/

Artist: YouShi
Website: http://harryyong.deviantart.com/

Artist: SwaNamimi
Website: http://swanamimi.deviantart.com/& http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=272956& http://www.anipan.com/1625

Artist: zfoo
Website: http://zfoo.deviantart.com/

Artist: autome
Website: http://autome.deviantart.com/

Artist: Adiosu Mura

Artist: Ayano
Website: http://ayano94.deviantart.com/

Artist: Scull
Website: http://markcw.deviantart.com/

Artist: Natsupi
Website: http://natsupi.deviantart.com/

Artist: REManiac aka 校長
Website: http://remaniac.deviantart.com/& http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=3116983

Artist: Slime
Website: http://blackieslime.deviantart.com/

Artist: TwoTonneTuna
Website: http://twotonnetuna.cghub.com/

Artist: Woon Bing
Website: http://katzai.deviantart.com/

Artist: Shixye
Website: http://mydailybedhair.blogspot.com/

Artist: Osamau 八葉草
Website: http://osamaujunk.deviantart.com/

Artist: PT
Website: http://paintrigger.deviantart.com/

Artist: naznazie
Website: http://naznaz95.deviantart.com/& http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=2338076

Artist: Charlotte~Q
Website: http://sylphinaedenhart.deviantart.com/

Artist: Troy

Artist: Ryouhora
Website: http://pchaness.deviantart.com/

Artist: Aiko188
Website: http://aiko188.deviantart.com/

Artist: Nazgullow
Website: http://nazgullow.deviantart.com/

Artist: etto-sama
Website: http://etto-sama.deviantart.com/

Artist: Layna
Website: http://laynafeynreique.deviantart.com/& http://laynart.tumblr.com/

Artist: Bowlfish

Artist: Riyuel
Website: http://riyuel.deviantart.com/& http://facebook.com/riyuel.2301

And last up is work by artist: Aya-Ka.
Check out other related Comic Fiesta posts listed up below.

We hunt for Mirai fanart that has been tagged "Mirai Suenaga" on Pixiv and Deviantart and pin them on Pinterest - if you have Mirai fanart - make sure its on either one of those sites and tag it properly ^^

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Its been 5 months since we last took a look at Shibuya - it was sweltering back then but its freezing right now slap bang in the middle of Winter.
If you are visiting Tokyo then Shibuya is certainly a place that you dont want to miss - filled with energy and home to the busiest crossing in the world. Get off at Shibuya station on the JR line and just wander around to start exploring!

First photo - Shibuya crossing. These photos taken before Christmas by the way.

This photo taken about 20 years ago in the same spot at Shibuya crossing - you would have already seen this photo in the How Discovering Japan Changed My Life post.

Going to leave you to the rest of Shibuya to wander around - enjoy!

Which do you prefer ladies - 2D or 3D?

Never did get round to seeing the Richard Gere flick Hachi - how was it?

View of Shibuya crossing from the Starbucks.

Shibuya 109 - everything for the ladies and the only thing for men are toilets.

Order cinema tickets online and pick up here. Standard seat tickets typically cost roughly 1,500 yen - 2,000 yen. How does that compare to your neck of the woods?

What Japanese folks eat for new year - read all about Osechi here.

It says "Information Center" but they dont give the sort of information that you would be expecting - its actually for folks who are looking for some hanky panky...

Lawsons Vocaloid "Akikoloid." Who are your fave MMD modellers?

For folks who are fans of cigarettes and salt.

How many of you try out the UFO catchers when in Japan?

Are these thingies popular in your neck of the woods too?

And the green lighted hotel is where some of that hanky panky is likely to be executed ^^;

Mandarake Shibuya - I got a whole photo post on that just for you.

How many of you play instruments? The musical variety I mean - not the ones attached to your body.

At the Gunpla section in Tokyu Hands.

And here is 109 for mens - you should be able to pick up quite a few fashionable items.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Shibuya bus terminal.

And you can check out what Shibuya looks like in the Summer!

A list of the Japan in the Winter photo posts below.

And a list of Japan in the Summer posts listed up below.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Suisei no Gargantia (Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet) [翠星のガルガンティア] is an original sci-fi mecha anime coming in April 2013. The story is a collaboration between director Murata Kazuya [村田和也] (Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos) and scriptwriter Urobuchi Gen (Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero). Animation production will be handled by Production I.G (009 RE:CYBORG, Eden of the East).

Knowing only a life of constant fighting against an enemy known as the Hideous, during one furious battle Red and his humanoid mobile weapon are swallowed by a space-time distortion and he awakens on the long-forgotten planet Earth. There he meets Amy on the fleet Gargantia who helps him adjust to a peaceful life.

Main Characters

• Red [レド] played by Ishikawa Kaito [石川界人]
• Amy [エイミー] played by Kanemoto Hisako [金元寿子]
• Saaya [サーヤ] played by Kayano Ai [茅野愛衣]
• Melty [メルティ] played by Asumi Kana [阿澄佳奈]

Everything from the key visuals and PV looks good to me - cant wait to see it!
There is a poll embedded in this article.

You can find these key visuals, design sketches and more on the official website.

Some screencaps from the promotional material.

Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>

At the new Good Smile Company offices to snap a bunch of the up n coming releases. First up we have Nendoroid Rin and Ren Append Versions - both will retail for 3,500 yen and be out this June.

Next up is Elf from Lineage 2 - will retail for 10,800 yen and also due to be out this June.

Nendoroid Houki Shinonono from Infinite Stratos. Will retail for 3,500 yen and due out this June.

Nendoroid Fujiwara no Mokou from the Tohou series. Retails for 3,500 yen and due out in June.

Next up is one of the IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Shibuya Rin figma - such a cutie! Will retail for 3,500 yen and be available at the Wonfes next month.
Folks who cant make the Wonfes can order at the GSC shop after the 10th of Feb.

Futaba Anzu figma - another one of the IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls. Will also retail for 3,500 yen and be available at the Wonder Festival next month. Again, if you cant make the Wonfes then she will be available for pre-order at the GSC Shop.

For Ultraman fans - Guren Fire - a Wonfes only item.

Looks like PVC but is actually soft vinyl.

From the anime series 'Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb' - Nendoroid Miyako is due out in June and will retail for 3,500 yen.

Looks like this years Nendoroid calendar 2013 features Nendoroid Mirai Suenaga!

If you are interested in pre-ordering any of these figures then check out the following trusted online retailers.

• http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
  
• http://www.amiami.com
  
• http://hlj.com
  
• http://jlist.com
  
• http://kidnemo.com
  
• http://toylet.net

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Its not been that long since I announced our new character Chitose Shirasawa and there has already been a cosplay of her - Angie from Malaysia cosplays at Comic Fiesta 2012.
The following photos taken by Razrig, shuichimeryl, Garion Photography, Kirostory and Sihan Chen.

And for those who missed the announcement - this is Chitose - the research and development girl who likes to stay in her lab.

And dont forget you can download the Photoshop file to make wallpapers and wot not - this chap made a Chrome theme!

All other Comic Fiesta related posts listed up below.

Even if you are not familiar with the anime series Nisemonogatari [偽物語], if you like cute girls or steamrollers then you will like this figure of Araragi Karen [阿良々木 火憐] by Good Smile Company. She will retail for 11,800 yen and is due out this July.

Photos taken recently at the Good Smile Company offices.

If you are interested in pre-ordering Karen then check out the following trusted online retailers.

• http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
  
• http://www.amiami.com
  
• http://hlj.com
  
• http://jlist.com
  
• http://kidnemo.com
  
• http://toylet.net

And this is what she will look like around your workspace - be prepared to make quite a bit of space for her ^^

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

The third part of the Tokyo Photo series where I aggregate all the latest photos I've been posting to my Instagram account ( http://instagram.com/dannychoo ). While this series is called Tokyo Photos, I'm overseas for business trips nearly every month so it normally includes photos posted abroad. If you are not into Instagram then you can always follow these updates on my Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook.

Today we continue off from last time - I'm about to head to Penang from Kuala Lumpur where we had Culture Japan Night Penang (the biggest so far) and then off to Bangkok for the Thailand Game Show. Then come back to Tokyo after being a month away then end up being down n out with illness ><

Previous Tokyo Photo updates listed up below.

On the move again. Heading up to Penang. また移動!これからはペナン島へ。観光庁と打合わせに。

Culture Japan Night Jan 5th Gurney Paragon Penang 1-6pm. Look forward to meeting you!

On highway with the rest of the Mirai Convoy heading to Penang. みらいコンボイでたくさんのユーザーと高速でペナンに移動。

Mirai Suenaga and CJ Night in today's papers in Malaysia. マレーシアの新聞にみらいちゃんやカルジャパナイトが大きく取り上げている。ドールも!

海外のアニメアパレル最大マーケットシェア獲得目指します。Mirai hoodies soon!

ペナン観光庁x末永みらい。Interesting stuff soon re Penang Global Tourism x Mirai Suenaga.

How many of you use Line? Lineさんから色々頂きました!とういうことは公式のアレが?

Wa di gurney drive chiak ho liao leh. Noms at Gurney. ガーニーでもぐもぐ。

At Gurney Drive for dinner. If find me I buy you pohpiah. ゆきちゃんとガーニーで食事。

At Penang Intl Airport about to leave for Bangkok. ペナン空港で搭乗するところだ。バンコクへ。

Bankok touchdown. SIM and data get. バンコクタッチダウン。SIMカードを速攻入手。

Checked into our residence in Bangkok. バンコクのレジデンスにチェックイン。

Bangkok is an amazing city! バンコクはすごい街だった!

Noms in Bangkok. The tea is lovely! Wa di Bangkok chiak ho liao leh. バンコクでもぐもぐ!

Finishing off lunch in Bangkok then back to hotel to finish keynote. バンコクでランチ後ホテルで仕事。

TV filming done. Off to the factories. タイのテレビ収録終了。これから工場視察に。

At Bangkok's Chinatown. バンコクの中華街に来ています。

Akibatan x Mirai Suenaga (wip) . タイのオタクブログアキバタンとのコラボです。まだラフですが。

Thai food tastes better by the roadside! タイの食事は路上の方が美味しい!

Setting up booth at the Thailand Game Show. タイランドゲームショーでブース設営中。

Our booth for TGS day 1. うちのブースinタイランドゲームショー。うちのユーザーは思ったよりいました＞＜

Thailand Game Show queues! タイランドゲームショーの入り口で人人人人人人。

Thanks for coming to listen to my talk at TGS! タイランドゲームショー講演一日目終わった。

Thailand Game Show hall. タイランドゲームショー会場の様子。

Bare oppai in Thailand. タイラランドで丸出しおっぱい発見。

I'm live on Japan Bravo in 30 mins on Thailand's Channel V. タイの生放送30分前！

TGS2013 day 2. Our booth is packed! タイランドゲームショー2日目。うちのブースはギッシリ！

Thailand Game Show hall is huge! タイランドゲームショー会場の様子。凄い人。

I don't think our stock will last too long >< 在庫はやばいです! タイのみらいちゃんファンは想像以上にいました><

On stage at Thailand Game Show with my girls. うちの娘達とタイランドゲームショーのメインステージに。

Just a few of the Mirai cosplayers at Thailand Game Show. タイランドゲームショーのみらいちゃん達のレイヤーはまだまだいました！

Poisoning the public with dollies in Bangkok. バンコクで大型モールでドール展示。これで一般人にもドールの魅力を！

Thailand Game Show floormap. タイランドゲームショーさんはすごくサポートしていただいている。

Moekana sold out at Thailand Game Show. もえかな数百パック完売。

No more liao. 完売御礼。

More Mirai cosplayers.みらいちゃんレイヤーまだまだいました！

Awesome cosplay at Thailand Game Show! コスプレコンテストも盛り上がっています！

みらいちゃんねんどろいどをよろしくお願いします！Mirai nendoroid out now!

My girls love local snacks. Thailand has beng beng too. うちの娘はタイ現地のスナックが好き。

ブース解体。610枚のシャツ、カードケースやポスターも数百個単位で完売。たくさんのみらいちゃんファンが買ってくれましたが殆どは彼女を初めて知った人。「可愛い」と「日本のもの」と言う理由で買っただそうだ。

Heading to post TGS dindins with Yuki and gang. タイランドゲームショー後の打ち上げに。ゆきちゃんも一緒。

Heading to floating boat market with Yuki. ゆきちゃんとお出かけ。ボートマーケットへ。

Thailand is incredible! At the floating boat market. タイのボートマーケットは凄い!

Bangkok Skydive. バンコクでスカイダイブ。

At Ancient Siam just outside Bangkok. Its lovely here. バンコク郊外にあるエイシエントシアムに来ています。素敵。

Last day in Bangkok. Yuki wraps up warm to prep for Tokyo snow. バンコク最終日。東京は雪なので、ゆきちゃんは暖かい格好で準備OK。

Boarding now. Love you loads Thailand and see you again very soon!バンコク離脱。日本に帰ります。一ヶ月ぶり!

Tokyo Touchdown. Snow everywhere! 東京タッチダウン。近所の雪はまだ積もっておる。

Ramen for my first meal back in Japan. 一ヶ月ぶりの日本。最初に食べるのはらーめん。

Ramen and gyoza in Tokyo omnom nom. らーめんと餃子もぐもぐ。餃子を食うたびに橘田さん思い出す。

綾瀬はづき先生がみらいちゃんを描いていただきました! Ayase Hazuki sensei drew Mirai Suenaga for us!

綾瀬はづき先生が描いていただいたみらいちゃんの裸差分をうっかりアップ。Nekkid Mirai by Ayase Hazuki sensei.

At the hospital. No look so good >< And no i dont smoke. Only passive smoking. 病院でレントゲン。

5 types of medicine. But I will complete that project before I kick the bucket! 5種類の薬。でもくたばる前にあのプロジェクトを実現してやる。

This afternoons workspace. About to get through a backlog of work. 今の机周り。

Moekanji. Pre-orders open soon. Japanese learning changes again. もえ漢字。近日予約開始。日本語の勉強法は再び変わります。

Dinner in Bangkok. Omnomnom. バンコクでディナー。

Banana case doubles as Nendoroid playset. バナナケースがねんどろいどの遊園地になる。

Japanese snacks om nomnom. えびせん&ねんどろいど。

Rilakkuma U like? りらっくま。

My niece's talisman to help her pass exams. Can get from shrines in Japan . Do you own any charms or talismans?

Testing Firefox mobile OS. The UI is made of HTML5. Firefoxの携帯OSをテスト中。

Testing the new full screen blackberry. I need to start making apps for this. ベーターブラックベリーをテスト。

At Telok Bahang with Yuki-chan. ペナン島の砂浜でドール撮影。ドールはマレーシアで人気になりつつある。

DmC Devil May Cry get. what games have you been playing of late? やる！

Evangelion chopsticks prezzie from Kotobukiya.

Tempura lunch in Tokyo. 天ぷらでランチ。

Mirai's rival Kizuna Yumeno in action. みらいちゃんのライバル夢乃きずな。

DmC in the evening. Good game so far！DmCは爽快感抜群！

Mirai Productions SDN BHD - our Malaysian branch setup complete. マレーシア法人設立完了。

How many of you recognize this character? 戸越銀座でパシャリ。

Lovely.

Spring cleaning. Sorting through lanyards. 遅れている年末掃除を。

Filling up the Mirai Mobile and heading to Kichijyoji. ガスを入れ吉祥寺へ。

At Sato Dai's for more meetings. He gave us Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell SAC and more. ストーリーライダーズ本社。

Awesome.

Negishi - the best place for Yakiniku. ねぎしが武蔵小山に店出したら毎日食うと約束するよ。

At the supermarket nabbing after dindins dessert. 東急でデザート見っけ。

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Have not really talked about it much before but I produce lounge music together with the Japanese group called vividblaze where the tracks have been used on all seasons of the TV Show Culture Japan.

We decided to put together a CD with all those tracks and so the album Mirai Music was born. We completed production of the CD mid last year but only found time to get it onto the distribution networks of late.

Folks outside of Japan can order the physical CD from AmiAmi for 3,150 yen. If you are not bothered about having the physical copy then you can buy on iTunes where you can also sample the music.

If you are feeling broke then do a search for "Mirai Music" + "vividblaze" + "mp3" on Google or Youtube and download it for free ^^;

First photo is of the whole package which as you can see comes with some nice booty.

The following videos contain music from the CD.

The CD comes with a sleeve like so.

11 tracks - I sing the chorus on Mirai Mechanism ^^;

The CD includes postcards of many popular illustrators who have doodled Mirai-chan for us. As the CD went to production last year however, the set does not include some of the latest illustrators like Iizuki Tasuku.

Mirai in Winter school uniform illustrated by Kobuichi-sensei.

Mirai in Summer school uniform by Mikeou-sensei.

Mirai in Summer school uniform by Choco Chip-sensei.

Mirai in Summer school uniform by Hagure Yuuki-sensei.

Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform illustrated by Piromizu-sensei.

Mirai in her Aqua Skin swimwear by Refeia-sensei.

Mirai in her Summer school uniform by DMYO-sensei.

Remove the CD from the sleeve to find the bog standard plastic CD case.

Design of the CD with a Moekana Mirai by Ikkyuu-sensei.

The booklet contains artwork from the Mirai Millennium universe.

Lyrics contain original Japanese language and romaji so that you can sing along to and learn Japanese at the same time.

This illustration from the opening of Culture Japan season 2.

The last two pages with our profile details and credits.

And here is the front and back of the booklet opened up.

Photo taken at an interview a while ago - vividblaze members Miho to my left, Okano to Miho's left and to my right is the guy who interviewed us ^^

And just to recap, the physical CD of Mirai Music is available from AmiAmi (shipping in a couple of weeks time), digitally on iTunes and Amazon or if you are feeling broke then search on Google sensei for the mp3 to download for free ^^;

If you want to use any of the tracks for videos that you make and distribute then feel free to do so at no extra cost ^o^

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

The Japan in the Winter theme continues and today we take a look at the first place that I went to when I first visited Japan - Akihabara! Akihabara is another spot that you certainly want to stick onto your visit list when in Tokyo. Its filled with Electronics and everything anime and otaku. For those who are wondering - this photo article explains how Akihabara became what it is today.

To get to Akihabara, get off at Akihabara station on the JR Yamanote line.

Back in Akihabara during my 3rd(?) visit to Japan - t'was in 1995. These are what eroge looked like back then ^^;

This is how you know you have arrived at Akihabara station - when all the billboards become moe-fied ^^

Going to leave you with the rest of these photos as I continue to try and get through the backlog of posts that I owe you ><
These photos taken before Christmas by the way.

The following photos are of the Hokousha Tengoku [歩行者天国] where the main Chuo Doori street is pedestrianised on a Sunday.

And you can check out what Akihabara looks like in the Summer!

A list of the Japan in the Winter photo posts below.

And a list of Japan in the Summer posts listed up below.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Photos of our booth at the Thailand Game Show 2013. It was our first time in Thailand and I was looking forward to experiencing the culture, learning new ropes and meeting new comrades.
I was invited to the Thailand Game Show to give a keynote talk and thought it made sense to have a booth at the same time.

It was difficult to gauge just how many readers and viewers of Culture Japan we had in Thailand. I thought we would sell at least 50 T-shirts over the 3 day event. But even though I expected to make a loss in terms of setting up booth, shipping merchandise and hiring staff, I was prepared to invest the money spent on everything to gain a new experience and learnings - experience and learnings which would not have come about if we just decided to do nothing.
More importantly however - it was crucial to make time to meet readers and viewers. I was not prepared for what was about to happen over the next 3 days.

I was completely overwhelmed at the response and support from folks in Thailand! We sold about 610 Moekana T-shirts and all our posters, Moekana and paper bags became no more liao.

We spoke to folks who bought stuff at our booth and found that about 80% of the folks didn't know about Mirai Suenaga but they thought she was cute from the illustrations so decided to pick something up. I then discovered increased incoming traffic from Thai search engines and BBS ever since.

From this experience, I realise that the costs of the booth should be considered as marketing costs as the exposure alone is worth the effort of setting everything up.

There were also a ton of lovely Mirai-chan cosplayers who showed their support! It was great to meet all of them - more photos further down the post. This is the lovely Tina!

Would like to thank our local Thai staff and Akibatan for helping out!

Setting up - the booth looked quite empty on the first day as customs didn't want to let our merchandise go. When they finally did, they charged us 80% import tax. We still managed to make a small profit after costs of booth, staff, shipping and tax though.

Mannequins were procured locally - I feel that the merchandise looks better than just on a plain hanger.

Bags opened and stacked helps speed up transactions at the till.

Our 3D menus ^^;

As we didn't expect many people to buy our stuff, we had no crowd control measures in place and it was chaos for a lot of the time ^^;

We had a doll display for folks to leave their daughters - it was like a day care center ^^;

Our Thai DJ Pok!

By this time, many folks started to receive their Mirai Nendoroid - did you get yours yet?

Tower O Mirai paper bags - something to do with the last bags ^^;

Meanwhile just outside our booth we spotted some Mirai cosplayers! I dont have their details or names though ><
If you know who they are then lemme know!

Together with Team Thailand - the cosplay team you saw at AFA12.

The new fun way to learn Japanese - Moekana.

MiraiClock3 for your Android and iOS device.

This is Marron as Mirai-chan!

This is Ruki as Haruka-chan.

And this is Ayami Sora as kanata-chan.

More photos of Tina.

Reporting in For Channel V Thailand - the recording can be seen below.

Caption that photo.

Naoki as Mirai in Winter uniform.

We use Square as our till to keep track of orders - would be completely lost without it.

All posters sold out!

And the Thailand Game Show event photos are coming up soon!

Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>

Photo coverage of the Thailand Game Show that took place between Jan 11 and 13th. I only knew of the existence of the Tokyo Game Show but never knew of the Thailand Game Show.

The Thailand Game Show has been running for quite a number of years now and is organised by celebrity Pongsuk Hiranprueck. Previous guests include Jam Project. This years Japan guest was me ^^;

While TGS does have some console game coverage, most of it is PC games - and a lot of that being League of Legends. I still have not got into PC gaming yet but I've been looking for a way for me to play online games with my readers. At the moment I try to get regular time with my PS Vita, PS3 or Xbox - but all of them have a friend limit.

There was quite a presence of Japanese anime in the form of cosplay and booths selling merchandise. Through our booth at TGS this year, we discovered that there was a high demand for Japanese content.

Comrades at HIVE were involved in some of the planning and they recommended me as a guest to Pongsuk which is why I was at TGS. I was asked to give a talk on MICE which is a strategy that many governments are trying to utilize to increase tourism. Through attending various events around the world and being involved in the planning of such events like Anime Expo and AFA, I gave some insight into what organisations should be doing to build their MICE experience.

The following video is of me reporting on Thailand's TV show "Japan Bravo" about TGS.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

More photos of our booth and info about our cosplayers lives here. Also thanks to Akibatan for taking some of these photos.

Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>

Girls look great in tough hero poses but what do Japanese heroes look like in feminine moe poses? bakAnki shows us - these photos posted on Figure.fm.

Anime you like? Food you like? Figures you like? If all you like then you will certainly want to visit the Good Smile Cafe in Akihabara the next time you are in Tokyo.
Here you can omnom on some lovely munchies while being surrounded by anime themes and Good Smile Company figures.
To get there all you need to do is to get off at Akihabara station on the JR Yamanote line and walk to the following location.
東京都千代田区外神田1-7-6
toukyouto chiyodaku soto kanda 1-7-6
[gmap=35.699586, 139.770389]

The Good Smile Cafe in Akihabara is a place that I frequent - we do broadcasts and hold Culture Japan Night Tokyo here too - check it out - tis an awesome place to be ^o^

Today we are filming with comrade Julie Watai - our multi talented actress and photographer.

I know that there are anime or maid themed cafes around the world but how about in your neck of the woods?
I also know that some of these themed cafes outside of Japan dont do too well - some of them close down after a short period of being in business.

What is the hook for you to regularly visit an anime themed cafe? The food? Atmosphere? Merchandise?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>