The lovely cosplayer Enako cosplay's as Snow Miku at a recent event that took place at Kinokuniya in Bangkok. Comrades at Akibatan went along to take some photos for us!
I would love to invite Enako to ome of the events that I'm involved in like AFA and Anime Expo.
Which cosplayers would you like to see at one of your local events? Does not have to be Japanese.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>
Twin tails you like? if so then its time to celebrate - today is officially Twin Tail Day in Japan.
The Japan Anniversary Association has officially declared that Feb the 2nd is "Twin Tail Day" (ツインテールの日)
The Japan Anniversary Association websites explains how today became to be "Twin Tail Day."
The explanation mentions that the hairstyle is admired worldwide and how titles like Sailor Moon and fashion brands have been spreading the appeal of the twin tail. The reason why its Feb the 2nd is because of how 2/2 (Feb 2nd) overlap with each other donating the Twin Tail.
...Sounds like a good reason to celebrate the bodaciousness of twin tails!
There is even a website to promote and feature the wonderful world of Twin Tails - most of it covers only 3D girls at the moment though.
I always keep up with what goes in in Japan through Twitter Trends and discovered that I should have been celebrating all day today ><
But folks in the US still have a day ahead of them to break out the champaign.
Folks in Japan have been celebrating by drawing a load of twin tail girlies - check out this search query.
The Twintail website has been asking us to spread the joy of twin tails and I thought I'd do my duty. This first set of photos is of the lovely Sano Hinako-chan. More photos of her live here.
The next lovely twin tail is Kenmochi Sakura-chan who works part time at Starbucks!
More photos of her lives here.
I love 2D twin tails too and here is my fave - Haruka Suenaga! This is her in Summer Uniform.
Haruka in Winter Uniform.
Haruka in Solar Marine Uniform.
Haruka in Bikini Battle Gear.
And here is Haruka with her big sister Mirai Suenaga and comrade Kanata Hoshikawa.
All these wallpapers and photoshop files are available for you to download for free to make Twin Tail Day cards for your family and friends.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
Am delighted to announce that Japanese Illustrator Ayase Hazuki-sensei [綾瀬はづき] took time out to doodle our Mirai Suenaga for us! I've always been a fan of her work and was delighted when she said she could make time for us ^o^
You can see some of her work over at Pixiv - a word of warning and some of it is ecchi.
As for the first image - wallpaper lives here!
Ayase-sensei has been active in the eroge scene for quite a while now - Kamidere is one of her recent titles featuring some really cute girls!
And here are the 2560px x 1600px wallpapers for you which include Mirai's sidekick Retrokyu.
First up is Retrokyu and Mirai in her Summer uniform. High-res wallpaper here.
Retrokyu and Mirai in her Winter uniform.
High-res wallpaper here.
Retrokyu and Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform.
High-res wallpaper here.
Retrokyu and Mirai in her bikini.
High-res wallpaper here.
Trying out some wallpapers with different layout.
Mirai in her Summer uniform. High-res wallpaper here.
Mirai in her Winter uniform.
High-res wallpaper here.
Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform.
High-res wallpaper here.
Mirai in her bikini.
High-res wallpaper here.
You can also get the raw psd file for all the variations of mirai-chan illustrated by Ayase Hazuki-sensei complete with logos.
Inside the PSD file you will find layers for various facial expressions and all her uniforms. Feel free to use for non-commercial purposes (wallpaper/stickers etc).
Maybe you can make some wallpaper and upload to devientart or pixiv!
Would be great if some folks can make some Android, iPhone, iPad and other wallpapers too! If you do then just provide a link to http://mirai.fm when uploading - then leave a link in the comments below to your work. Cookies available for folks who come up with exceptional designs!
More photoshop files of Mirai and our other characters listed up below.
I was supposed to post this yesterday but didn't get the chance. Many folks across Japan were 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.
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.
Continuing from January - today I share the February of the Moe Calendar a few days late ><
The large wallpaper sized version lives here which should also be good enough to print.
Eiji gets to play the demon while mirai-chan gets to throw beans at him ^^;
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.
Continuing with the Japan in the Winter theme. Its so cold right now that there is still clunks of snow dotted around my house. Located in the West of Tokyo is a ward called Nakano which is home to the Nakano Broadway shopping complex. While you can get hold of a load of anime, manga, idol, figures, doll and doujin stuff, Nakano Broadway have a load of Mandarake stores where you will find some of the more rare goodies.
To get to Nakano Broadway, get off at Nakano station on the JR Chuo and Sobu lines and the Tozai line.
[gmap=35.70689,139.66566]
Going to leave you with the usual wall of photos while I go and get on with some other work ><
Nearly forgot to mention that these photos are taken before Christmas.
And you can check out what Nakano Broadway 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.
Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>
Folks who are not so familiar with anime always say to me - "Why do all anime characters all have big oppai?" But remember - folks who dont get it dont matter - folks who get it *do* matter and you and I know that anime caters for all tastes as demonstrated by Kuroneko from Oreimo!
1/7 scale Kuroneko is currently up for pre-order and is due out next month from Kotobukiya. Retail price is 7,140 yen with more nitty gritty at Kotobukiya.
These photos taken recently at the Kotobukiya office in Tachikawa.
If you are interested in pre-ordering Kuroneko then check out the following trusted online retailers.
So who do you prefer?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
And this is what Kuroneko would look like around your workspace.
Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>
Today we are going to talk about Rapid Prototyping - techniques and technology which allows us to quickly develop physical products from 3D data.
Much of this technology is available to us mere mortals and allow us to develop and produce products that could someday change the world.
You know - I really like dolls. I like them so much that I've always wanted one of my own mascot character. I did ask a few manufacturers but nobody was interested in making one - so I decided to make them myself just like my line of T-shirts ^^;
Introducing a doll of my mascot character Mirai Suenaga which we have been working on using Rapid Prototyping. For a first attempt I think she's kinda cute ^^;
Not sure why but there are many BJD (Ball Jointed Doll) doll manufacturers in Korea. I was there for a bit last year to learn more about various doll manufacturing processes and visited a few of the makers including SQLabs. It was on this visit where I started to get the idea of producing my doll using CAD instead of traditional manual sculpting. Many of the Korean companies sculpt their dolls using CAD (Computer Aided Design).
I decided to base the looks of my doll on the illustration of Mirai by Japanese illustrator Iizuki Tasuku-sensei. We took the illustration of the eye and stuck it in a resin. I generally prefer my dolls to have resin or acrylic eyes instead of printed eyes.
And this is what she looks like! Its my first time making a doll so the first attempt is certainly nowhere near the level of the other doll companies ><
There is so much to learn including material properties (expansion/shrinkage/strengths etc), breaking points, friction calculations and the list goes on - but Google sensei is always there to help and we'll improve as we go along.
Eventually I decided that we would do everything in 3D. Sculpting it by hand would have taken close to a year and any changes would have been an absolute nightmare. Just imagine I wanted to shrink or expand everything by a few %!
The software we use to sculpt the body is ZBrush which is typically used for movies, games, and animations. Its a great package for sculpting and perfect for making a shapely doll body which is very very important.
See how it was used in movies such as Tron and Avatar below.
Once the body is sculpted, we cut it up!
Now that all the parts are cut up, we can focus on making each piece fit together in a way so that it can be articulated. I decided to make the oppai Mirai sized ^^;
Then the data is imported into 3D Max for various tweaks and to make sure everything moves and fits together.
While I did use 3D Max many moons ago, my Art Director Pinax did the modelling while I supervised the aesthetics, movement and development flow.
The face is mostly generated by a system that we created using morph targets to generate faces ^^ This over here is a test which shows 5 main targets being the two eyes, cheeks and mouth with a bit of texture mapping. We can move the targets around manually or enter numerical value to modify the look of the face.
This is an example of the morph targets in action - the head on the far left is an extreme example with huuuuge eyes ^^;
From now, when we want to make new faces, all we have to do is change values and 3D Max will do the rest - no more sculpting!
If you take a photo of yourself and mirror one side of it, you will notice that you look like an alien as both sides of our face are different. This rule applies to dolls too which is why many computer generated dolls look odd. When faces are sculpted in 3D, in ost cases, one side is sculpted and then just mirrored.
Our system purposely makes both sides of the face look slightly different - just like a human. Faces sculpted by hand will naturally be different on both sides - so if you ever make a face in 3D then take note!
As for our system - I'm thinking that maybe we should distribute it for free so that you can make your own faces too. But need a way to do it so that you dont need 3D Max which costs 3 arms and a leg. All you would then need to do is print the data, sand down, spray and do a Face Up. Face Up is the term used to paint a dolls face.
The face is the most important part of the doll. It is said that 80% of doll buyers decide whether to buy a doll depending on the looks of the face alone.
As the face is the most important, we make sure that we go overboard with the amount of polygons available on the surface for a smooth finish.
We made the hands using bones meaning that we now dont need to sculpt hands again - all we do is to move the bones around and after a few tweaks its ready for printing.
Using Netfabb to prepare the data for printing. All pieces have to fit within a certain area depending on the printer being used.
The output is an STL file which is short for STereoLithography that is widely used for rapid prototyping and computer-aided manufacturing.
We use an Envisiontec Ultra rapid prototyping machine to print the parts. The video below introduces you to the technology.
The bits that you see attached to the hands are called support structures.
How the printer works is that a DLP (Digital Light Processing) projector projects a slice of the 3D model downwards onto a bath of liquid resin which contains a built plate. The area exposed to the light hardens and the build plate moves down into the bath by about 0.2mm where the process is repeated until the model is complete.
Depending on the shape and because the model is built on a plate, support structures have to be created to support the weight of the model. You can read more about this process at Wikipedia under Photopolymerization.
The finish is very smooth but not babyskin smooth and if you look closely at the thumb you will see some staircasing (stepping, steps). The resin is easy to sand though. many of the printing companies (including Envisiontec) claim that the surface requires little or no treatment - not so as you can see from the following photos.
Still, the resin is easy enough to work with so I'm not complaining ^^;
The support structures can be easily snapped off by hand - the remaining bits have to be snipped off and sanded down.
This is the bottom half of the leg. The bigger and heavier the parts are, the bigger the support structures become.
Putting together the arm.
Whenever we print models, we always make sure that large objects are hollowed out or it becomes prohibitively expensive - there is no point paying for resin thats not needed inside the model anyway. This can easily be done in 3D Max using the Boolean Subtract Command - the video below explains how this is done.
Torso with support structure...
...and after the support structures have been snapped off by hand - the rest need to be snipped of and the surface sanded down. Using some techniques from my old Gundam tutorial, the surface will be made babyskin smooth.
Support structures are usually added by whoever is doing the printing for you. Even though many of the 3D printers are developed outside of Japan, Japan has many 3D printing services as you can see from this search result.
Most places also state the price too. All these parts cost me about 100,000 yen to print.
I had a look at printing services outside of Japan and most of them are "contact us for a quote" and never state the price.
The support structures inside the torso turned out to be thicker than I imagined.
When removing support structures, always be careful when snipping as they fly all over the place.
I designed the oppai to cover up the split between the torso so that it would look good in a bikini. This type of joint also allows for dynamic poses too.
And this is Mirai-chan's head - very light sanding needed.
Coming along nicely ^o^
Now to place all the parts together to see if everything fits.
If I wanted to make different bust sizes, all I need to do is model them in ZBrush and convert to STL format then print.
Sitting pose. Designing a doll is a challenge to strike a balance between articulation and aesthetics. Which is more important to you?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
Disassembled and time to sand down the surface and apply a primer.
Messy workspace ><
And this is what my Mirai looks like after sanding down, priming and a few cans of spray paint. The surface looks a bit blotchy due to some dodgy sanding work though ><
The eyes were made by a friend out of resin - I just passed her the illustration of the eye. The Face Up done by another friend too.
At this stage, I think you can tell that I'm being slightly mum's the word about the nitty gritty. I will give you more details when the bird lime is right.
And this post outlines the other type of rapid prototyping that is available to us - was made for me when filming Culture Japan season 1.
While we are on the subject of 3D, I thought I'd dig up some of my old 3D Max projects. This image is my first ever render after studying the basics of modelling, shadows, lighting and reflections. Kinda embarrassing piece of work to look at now but we all got to start somewhere ^^;
I took Japanese and Korean language at university so didn't have the chance to learn computing academically. Luckily I had the help of search engines to help me learn 3D Max from the internets ^o^
I played with 3D Max for quite a bit and my skills slowly started to improve over time.
This is one of my jet fighters - the 4 onboard engines enable it to travel into deep space. Here it is in liquify mode out running the explosion of some nebula or something - one of the engine ruptures as it tries to escape ^^;
I called this piece "V-Clone" as it was based on my favorite ship design being the Vic Viper from the Gradius series.
At this time, I got a bit better at rendering explosions - as you can see, I like the ship-trying-to-out-run-exploding-something-and-engine-ruptures theme ^^;
Not to scale ^^;
I liked the V Clone so much that I would use it to travel back to the UK.
I called this piece "slipstream" referring to the tunnel of light that the V Clone is passing through - I remember it taking me absolutely ages to do! Then one day it turned out just the way I wanted - the sense of achievement turned out to be one that I still remember this day - a sunny Saturday morning just before wifey called me over to the living room for lunch ^^;
I posted my 3D work back on this site many moons ago and also rendered some of the UI in 3D too. It was this work that got me a job at Job Dragon which lead me to get a job as Website Manager for Amazon. If I didn't learn 3D Max or share my work online, then my life path may have been very different indeed.
I always encourage folks to spend time learning in their own time from the Internets and sharing their work online - it always always leads to new friendship and opportunity.
At that time I also shared the model data for my 3D max work - and I think I should share the data for my Mirai-chan doll too ^o^
As for the other thumbnails - many of them are cheesy composites of my wife and I in movie style photos - but working on them helped me learn the ropes of photoshop.
Here is another example of some 3D renders I done that I used in the UI of the website. After a while, the content started to increase meaning that this layout became unscalable ><
Anyway, what I wanted to convey in this post is that it does not matter what line of work or schooling you are in - you have absolutely no excuse not to start learning additional skills and you can do so easily from the Internets. Once you have gained new learnings, make sure you share them with others on and offline as it always brings about new opportunities.
This post mainly covered 3D design and rapid prototyping - now that you know what tools available to you, why not try your dab hand at making something that could maybe change the world. Dont rely on anybody making it for you - go and make it yourself!
If you want to mass produce then as long as you have the data then you can easily make moulds - be it injection moulding, cast, slush or whatever.
If you need cash, then maybe try crowd funding on Kickstarter - or go and get yourself a job in a restaurant as a waiter just like I did to make cash.
Here again you can see some of my dodgy sanding work around the back of the head ><
As I mentioned earlier - I'm a newbie when it comes to developing dolls but am learning new things every day so that I can continue to improve her joints and wot not.
Its taken us 4 months to get up to this stage which is a pretty short development cycle - all thanks to technology and an amazing Art Director onboard ^o^
But there is also another ingredient - passion. If you are passionate about something, you can make it happen because once you make it a need - you *will* make it happen.
It does not matter if nobody around you believes in what you do - just as long as you truly believe in yourself.
Anyway, I'll keep you in the loop with progress on my Mirai-chan doll and hopefully will be able to introduce you to her at the next anime event that I attend ^o^
If you doll owners have any feedback on design or pose-ability then drop a note below ^o^
Now that you know what tools are available to you - what do you want to try making?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>
Here is the latest instalment of Akihabara Shops where we take a look at the inside of some of the popular stores to see what the latest trends are in the otaku and anime world.
To get to Akihabara, all you need to do is to get off at Akihabara station on the JR Yamanote line and get off at the Electric Town exit.
[gmap=35.69855, 139.77259]
All previous installments of Akihabara Shops is tagged "akihabarashops" and listed up below.
This is the Electric Town exit at Akihabara. If it does not look like this when you get out then it means you are on the wrong side - that other side has the Gundam and AKB48 Cafe.
Yodobashi Camera Akihabara - the one stop for all your electronic and otaku needs - drop by if you dont have a lot of time on your hands to go around. Tis located at the map below.
[gmap=35.69878, 139.77473]
METAL GEAR RISING - who's getting it?
Evangelion eye drops.
This shop has sold the most Tenga in the whole of Japan.
Sega Arcade Center - filled with not only games but UFO Catchers which have a load of exclusive figures. Have you managed to get anything decent from these machines?
In Akihabara you will also find food that is too cute to eat.
Taito Station Game Center - filled with more UFO Catcher goodies.
Dont forget to look down the back streets of Akihabara too.
How are you enjoying the series of Senran Kagura?
Moe-fied wine...
...and Moe-fied snacks.
Trader3 - the used game and DVD store located on the map below.
[gmap=35.70138, 139.77193]
In any one of these places, a maid, cutie girls or school girls will give you a massage or do mimikaki (ear cleaning) for you...
I personally would suggest that you spend the money on some 2D material which will keep you company at home instead.
Stairs in Japan are cooler.
Cute girls everywhere in Akihabara!
New title from Koku-sensei - Hapymaher due out Feb 28th. Girls very cute and very ecchi.
128GB SSD's for 11,980 yen. Hows does that compare to your neck of the woods? I swapped out old HDD's for SSD's and the difference is astounding - feels like completely new machines!
New feng title - Chisana Kanojyo no Sayokyoku [ちいさな彼女の小夜曲].
Sofmap Akihabara - cute girl overload of both 2D and 3D variety ^^
A load of up n coming eroge including Lovely Cation 2 by Iizuki Tasuku-sensei.
Ultimate Madoka by GSC.
Another stop for your doujin needs - Comic Zin.
And thats it for today - next one either next week or the week after ^o^
Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>
Up until now, through postings on this site and introductions that I've personally made, I've placed readers and comrades at companies in Japan such as Amazon Japan, Apple Japan, AmiAmi, Good Smile Company, Rinkya, J-List and more.
Today we got another job opening for yet another lucky person to join the ranks at J-List who are forever expanding their operations.
J-List was founded in 1996 and has been an extremely successful venture, serving over 500,000 customers and bringing unique products to people outside of Japan. We strive to promote understanding of Japan through popular culture.
The company is based in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, a small city of 200,000 located on the edge of the Kanto Plain near Tokyo (about 2 hours away by slow train, 45 minutes by Shinkansen). It is a nice city with many cultural points of interest, one of the lowest cost-of-living ratings in Japan, and fast access to mountains for many fun activities including hot springs.
This is Peter Payne - the big boss of J-list. A comrade who lives in Japan who I have been working with for many moons now. I previously placed a reader at his company and now he needs your help again. The opening is for a product description copywriter and customer support assistant. Your work will also involve various tasks using Photoshop, such as preparing product images and creating simple web banners for advertisement.
Base salary is initially 240,000 yen-260,000 yen per month depending on experience, plus twice-annual bonuses based on personal and overall company performance, with annual raises and flexible vacation time. Additionally, a company car will be provided (gasoline and related expenses are not covered), along with assistance in acquiring an apartment.
Download this application form and once filled in, send it along with your resume directly to Peter at peterpayne[att]gmail[dott]com.
And as for that resume - I've uploaded my previous resume for you to use for free - you can download it from this post.
There are many resume templates that you can download from the Internets but I thought I'd share a tried and tested resume format that got me jobs at companies like Amazon and Microsoft and interview/job offers from Google and Apple - which I turned down to go to Microsoft ^^;
Anyway, the word file for the my CV is in this post - feel free to use it.
Going to leave you with some photos taken around the fun environment at the J-List offices.
If you are applying for the postion then good luck! Buy me a Cafe Mocha from Starbucks if you get the job ^^
Just wondering though - what sort of job would be your dream job?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>
Its that time of year again - happy Chinese New Year! 新年好！恭喜發財！새해 복 많이 받으세요！Its also a happy Korean New Year for those who celebrate.
I'm currently in Malaysia right now - tis my first time ever to spend CNY here and its great to be with family.
Yuki-chan is having a good time too as you can see from her ang bao (red packets) and golden bullion that she managed to find.
Do you celebrate Chinese New Year? Did you get lots of Moolah?
I'll be in Kuala Lumpur until the 15th where I travel to Singapore to attend the Manga Festival - Hatsune Miku's father (boss of Crypton) will be there and I will be MC'ing for him on the 16th at Kinokuniya - will give more details later. Then its back to Tokyo after that.
Up until I leave, I'll be spending time with family and engaging in meetings so no reader meetup this time round. But looks like I'll be back again soon ^^;
And I thought I'd post photos from last years CNY back in Japan - the photos in this post.
Hope you have a great CNY no matter which part of the world you are in!
The worlds biggest garage kit and figure event - the Wonder Festival took place yesterday at Tokyo Big Sight. As you know, I'm in my second year of Ninja training at Edo Wonderland which has enabled me to teleport back to Japan to take these photos for you ^o^
First up we have the coverage of the Good Smile Company booth - be warned though - wallet damage guaranteed after viewing.
If you are prepared for wallet damage then tell us what you are going for.
More wonfes here!
Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>
Following on from the Good Smile Company booth at the Wonder Festival, we now take a look at the Kotobukiya booth which was also filled to the brim with goodies - the Cu Poche series looks good and cant wait to get my nitty gritty on them!
All Wonfes coverage listed up below.
Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>
Here are the details of the Hatsune Miku related event that I announced on my Twitter and Facebook a few weeks ago.
This weekend, there will be an event in Singapore called Manga Festival Singapore which has been organised by METI (Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). The main purpose is to spread awareness of Japanese manga to the locals.
My responsibilities after being assigned as a Creative Director for the Japanese government have broadened and I'll be looking after more events like this from now.
Anyway, on the 15th there will be a load of B2B (Business To Business) meetings and lectures while on the 16th, there will be fan event at Kinokuniya (Main Store - 391 Orchard Road, #03-10/15 Takashimaya Shopping Centre, Singapore 238872).
So how is this Hatsune Miku related? Well Miku's dad will be there - Itoh Hiroyuki President of Crypton will be there to give a talk and I will be the panel moderator. He will also be signing along with Yoshizaki Mine - Keroro sensei! If you want me to deface your property then I'll also be available to do so.
The full schedule for the 16th is here. I'll only be attending the event on the 16th - need to skip the 15th as I will be traveling from Kuala Lumpur on that day. I'll probably be there from 3PM this Saturday.
So what is this Moekana card then? Its an exclusive Dakimakura card which I will be giving away free to all folks who show up to the event this Saturday 16th wearing a Moekana T-shirt. The card features Haruka hugging a dakimakura of Mirai Suenaga ^^
If you dont have a Moekana T-shirt, then you still get one of my new business cards - but only if you ask for it. I only brought with me a hundred though.
Folks wearing a Moekana T-shirt will not only get the Dakimakura card but also my new business card too.
Look forward to seeing you on the 16th - dont forget to wear your Moekana T-shirt! Can be any one of the 4 designs that we have released so far.
Details about the whole event at the following resource - comes complete with some Engrish ><
http://www.mangafestival2013.com/
Once the event has taken place, I'll update this post with photos and bump the post to the top.
How are your Valentines festivities coming along? Got plans? Sent that Valentines day card yet? Did you receive any cards? If not then no need to feel all sad and ronery - because here is a card just for you for Valentines Day from our lovely Mirai-chan who is asking you to untie her.
This is also available as a 2560px x 1600px wallpaper and lives here. Illustration by our resident illustrator Ikkyuu-sensei.
You can also get the raw photoshop file here! Use it to make your own Valentine's day cards, e-cards, mobile wallpapers, or print it on customised gifts too! Feel free to use it for any non-commercial purposes.
Maybe you can make some wallpapers and upload to devientart or pixiv!
Would be great if some folks can make some Android, iPhone, iPad and other wallpapers too! If you do then just provide a link to http://mirai.fm when uploading - then leave a link in the comments below to your work. Cookies available for folks who come up with exceptional designs!
More photoshop files of Mirai and our other characters listed up below.
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 ^^;
Asked these questions last year but churn means that we have a load of new users who can chip in.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
Coverage continues of the worlds largest figure event - the Wonder Festival. Today we take a lookie at corporate booths from folks such as Ami Ami, Volks, MegaHouse, Max Factory Museum, Sega, Plum, Griffon Enterprises, Alter, Hobby Stock and Cospa. Good Smile Company and Kotobukiya have their own posts and are listed up below with the rest of the coverage.
More wonfes coverage listed up below!
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In a recent survey, Japanese folks were asked why they were glad to be born in Japan - top 20 results ranked as follows.
1st：Has four distinct seasons
2nd：Tap water is drinkable
3rd：Has tasty food
4th：Has tasty rice
5th：Has entertaining anime and manga
6th：Safe society because of the strict gun control
7th：Pickpocketing aren't as frequent as overseas
8th：Trains are punctual (apology given even with a few minutes delay)
9th：No military conscription
10th：Is economically wealthy
11th：Toilet technology
12th：Love the Japanese language which allows a wide range of expression with wordplay and onomatopoeia
13th：Has amazing convenience food technology
14th：The otaku culture is entertaining
15th：Can see cherry blossoms in spring
16th：Convenience stores are everywhere
17th：Has good fish because the country is surrounded by sea
18th：Contributed to the video game culture
19th：Has a wide variety of culture
20th：Has big cities, countryside and cities like Kyoto
I may not have been born here in Japan (have permanent residence now though) but there is a lot that I love about the Land of the Rising Sun - some of which I covered in the How Discovering Japan Changed My Life post. This first photo is of Mount Fuji - one of my fave things about Japan.
One of my fave things about living in Japan is that everyday is a new discovery which I try to capture in photos as much as possible - check out the Japan category for more.
Ranked in at first place is "Has four distinct seasons" - one of my fave things too. Summer is boiling hot and Winter is bitterly cold leaving Spring and Autumn just right - although Spring does come with hay fever though ><
You can see more of Japan in the Winter in the photo posts below.
Ranked in at 5th place is "Has entertaining anime and manga" - is also one of the reasons how I discovered Japan. This photo taken at the studios of an Anime production house called Production IG - more in the How Anime is Made post.
Ranked in at 8th place is "Trains are punctual (Will apologize even with a few minutes delay)" - trains over here are so punctual that you can set your watch by them. When they are late, they will make an apology and issue you with a certificate so that you can show to your boss proving that your lateness was because of the train and not because you was up watching anime all night.
The trains also from time to time come with very tired salary men like this one.
More photos like this in the A Week in Tokyo category where I cover life in Japan.
Ranked in at 11th place is "Toilet technology" - I'm presuming in particular the type where you dont need to smear the brown stuff all over your bottom to make skid marks. This is our toilet at home fitted with a washlet - many homes in Japan come with toilets like this meaning that you can wash your bottom with the press of a few buttons.
More photos taken around my house in this post. And if you are thinking of buying a house then check out this post - needs updating though.
Ranked in at 12th place is "Love the Japanese language which allows a wide range of expression with wordplay and onomatopoeia" - I learned Japanese from scratch on my own without any knowledge of Chinese characters and if you constantly remained focus then there is no reason why you cant too. But I think that the reason why it was easy to pick up is because Japanese is truly such a fun language to learn and speak.
I developed this product called Moekana - a set of cards that help folks learn the basic Japanese syllabary called Hiragana - we sold tens of thousands of packs worldwide and are in the middle of developing more.
Ranked in at 14th is "The otaku culture is entertaining" - it certainly is and you can see more photo coverage of the Japanese Pop Culture world in this category.
Ranked in at 15th place is "Can see cherry blossoms in spring" - this photo was taken at Naka Meguro - more Sakura Cherry Blossom photos here.
Ranked in at 16th place is "Convenience stores are everywhere" - filled to the brim with stuff that you actually want to buy. I've been to quite a few convenient stores around the world and some of them are kinda sad ><
Ranked in at 18th is "Contributed to the video game culture" - I love games and have been trying to find more time of late to get back into gaming.
This photo taken at Tokyo's leading retro game store Super Potato - photos here.
Beyond the top 20 are answers such as "Japanese girls are cute" - and indeed they are just like this one here - this is Mimori Suzuko who often appears on my TV Show Culture Japan. This particular photo was taken when we were in Hong Kong together - more photos here.
And the episode of Culture Japan below is where we went round cutting folks in Osaka with an invisible katana.
The "Japanese girls are cute" answer usually includes 2D girls like the Mirai Millennium girls - read more about them here.
Also included outside of the top 20 is "Fastest internet speeds in the world" - 1GB Optic fibre connections are the norm over here at reasonable prices too. This chap is installing some optics in our house and you can read more about high speed Internet connections in Japan in this post.
What are your favorite things about the Land Of The Rising Sun?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
While we are at it - may as well ask what you dislike most about Japan.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
And how about the country you were born in? What are you most glad about?
More (more?) Wonder Festival coverage - next up are figures and garage kits that were found in the dealer booth area filled not only with inspiring work but also 3D rapid prototyping machines to help you make your own stuff as we talked the other day.
Do remember that most of the work in this post is created not by companies - but by folks who have a day job or are schooling.
What are you going to make in your free time?
And the rest of the Wonfes coverage is listed up below.
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Time to look at all the doll related stuff at the Wonder Festival - looks like the popularity of dolls is on the increase going by the amount of dolls and accessories on sale. Are you thinking of adopting or already have?
The Wonder Festival coverage continues. Everything up until now listed up below.
As for the doll I'm making of Mirai-chan - maybe will be able to display at the next Wonfes?
Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>
After each Wonder Festival, Good Smile Company host an event called the Hobby Maker Show where a load of figure manufacturers gather to display their up n coming figures.
Went along to the Good Smile Cafe in Akihabara to snap some of the figures on display which included figures by Wing, Wave, AmiAmi, Gift, GSC, Cospa, Daiki Kogyo, Freeing, Max Factory, Phat, Penguin Parade, Hobby Stock, Mega House, Medicom Toy and Union Creative.
Rest of the Wonfest coverage listed up below.
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To let you know that we just announced the new Yuzusoft game Amairo Islenauts.
The main guy in the game (you) gets asked to work in a girls school which just happens to be located on an island called Lyserg that is located in the sky. The setting is in a city which resembles a mid century European town and there he meets many cute girlies...
And here are some of the cuties which you can see on the character page. This is Shirley Warwick - A bright an honest girl who gets top grades. Secretly she actually does some doujin work and often fantasises various doujin situations.
This is Yune Amagiri - a gentle kind girl who is good at looking after household chores. Speaks in polite form all the time and often asks people close to her to be her Goshujin Sama.
This is Airi Shiraga - A shy girl who always finds it difficult to express her feelings and often acts like a small girl.
Masaki Gaillard - A bright girl who lives in the same house that the main character (you) is lodging in. She works in a bar and is also the mascot character for the business. Some folks think that she's childish at times but has an unexpected maturity about her which she uses to manage various situations. Also loves donuts.
So which is your fave girl?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
This is the top page of the site which runs on Mirai Gaia. The last time we announced Dracuriot, the site just buckled under the weight of traffic - lets hope she holds together today ><
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