Faces of Cosplayers

Blog's back in action with an Otakon 2012 video!

Real Kanojo

IS OUT
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5376529/Real_Kanojo
REAL GIRLS ARE FINISHED

2 mouses support
Face tracking
3D glasses support
Photo scanning

Loneliness - the driving force behind technological advancements

More Microsoft Mascots

Microsoft Japan was having a campaign where if enough people use the Japanese Bing by Jan. 18, then they would release some new official OS-Tan to complement Nanami.

[English Description of the Themes]

-Efficient Secretary Nanae
-Cute Little Sister Nana
-Childhood Friend Nanako
-PC AI Nanami
-Manly Close Friend Nanao

[Voice Samples]

Apparently they had no problem suckering rabid fans into using Bing..
so here we have it:

[Style 1 Download Page]
[Style 2 Download Page]

 personally.. purple haired AI chick all the way..!

Marriage. According to Google

Google’s search auto-suggest feature provides some despair inducing insights into the nature of Japanese and Chinese matrimony, seemingly encapsulating the institution in disturbing detail…

Firstly, the English language results for Google.com by way of comparison:

----------------------------------------------------
The suggestions for Google Japan in translation:

For “husband” (夫 / otto):

[I want my] husband to die
[I hate my] husband
Husband average pocket money
Husband verbal violence
Husband pocket money
[How to address] husband
Husband death procedure
Husband depression
Husband unemployed
Husband death pension

Very similar results can be found for “danna,” a word typically used by wives to address their husbands.
For “wife” (妻 / tsuma):

Wife birthday present
Wife birthday present ranking
Wife present
Wife hysteria
[How to address] wife
Wife depression
Wife present ranking
Wife kenjougo (a type of humble speech, traditionally used by wives to address husbands)
Wife common law marriage
Wife shochu (a type of rice liquor)

Anyone thinking about marrying a Japanese woman might be well advised to think long and hard about these results…

---------------------------------------------
Now let's try this on Google China ...

For husband (丈夫）:

Husband's responsibility
This 'husband' thing

Husband hepatitis B pregnant
Write husband in English
Husband drinking alcohol's effect on pregnancy
Husband smoking pregnancy
Ways to call husband
Husband of XXX (celebrity?)
Husband of YYY (celebrity?)

Say husband in English

Not bad eh.  The desirability of Chinese man with strong family sense and economical status might catch on in 20-30 years maybe.. 
Surprisingly(?) most of the common terms used to refer to wife (妻/妻子/太太) all have their suggestions censored ... The only one that returned anything was the informal form (老婆）:

Mrs. Wife (TV drama name?)
Wife cake
Mrs. Wife episode guide
Mrs. Wife 2
Mrs. Wife summary
Wife, lover, soul mate and the difference
Wife without marriage
Wife lyrics

Yep. Smells censored indeed.  I guess they didn't want people to put in wife and clicking "I'm feeling lucky" all day.

Glowstick Gundam

still slightly disturbed at how they put this thing together in a month..


[video]

Gundam, Ikemas!

Ghazilla, we're onto you

Piece by piece, an 18-meter tall, 35-ton full-scale Gundam statue is being assembled in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate 30 years of Mobile Suit Gundam. When finished in mid-July, the enormous figure will entertain onlookers by moving its head and shooting light and mist from 50 points on its body. Until then, we have these photos of its magnificent legs and assorted parts.

More photos at Mainichi.

Marriage-Hunting Bra

Nothing says “marriage or bust” quite like the Marriage-Hunting Bra (Konkatsu Bra), a new concept lingerie by Triumph International designed to help the marriage-minded woman find a husband by displaying how much time remains until she hopes to tie the knot. (Watch video.)

In addition to the easy-to-read LED display that shows the number of days until the wearer’s ideal wedding date, the white lace bra — which has the look and feel of a wedding dress — features a ring holder and convenient pockets for a pen and official stamp seal, which will be needed when filling out the marriage license application.

Triumph, which unveils a new concept bra every six months, hopes the Marriage-Hunting Bra will encourage more people to get hitched, even though it is not for sale. The creators were inspired by Konkatsu-Jidai (”The Times of Marriage-Hunting”), a recent best-seller by Toko Shirakawa that looks at Japan’s declining marriage rate and the growing difficulty that people in their 30s and 40s face when seeking marriage partners.

Recent statistics indicate that 47 percent of men and 32 percent of women in their early 30s are unmarried. These figures appear to be on the rise as people focus more on career than on family, and as people increasingly view marriage as a personal preference, not an essential part of life.

[Source: Sankei]

More concept bras by Triumph:
- Shopping Bag Bra
- Solar Power Bra
- My Chopsticks Bra
- Voter Turnout Bra

Stim Pack for the Elevens

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's manga-loving prime minister, Taro Aso, has long touted the importance of "soft power" content such as comics and anime to boost Japan's global diplomatic status.

Now he's targeting pop culture's economic potential.

Included in a giant stimulus package he unveiled on Friday was a target of raising exports from the "content" sector to about 18 percent of exports from less than 2 percent now.

Explaining his strategy for long-term growth at a news conference the day before, Aso waved glossy magazines from China and Taiwan featuring Japanese pop stars on their covers.

"Japanese content, such as anime and video games, and fashion draw attention from consumers around the world," he said.

"Unfortunately, this 'soft power' is not being linked to business overseas ... By linking the popularity of Japan's 'soft power' to business, I want to create a 20-30 trillion yen ($200-300 billion) market by 2020 and create 500,000 new jobs."

At least one government agency is already eyeing a cultural project using funds from the stimulus package -- Japan's biggest ever and aimed at rescuing the economy from its worst recession in 60 years.

The Cultural Affairs Agency wants nearly 12 billion yen to build a "National Comprehensive Centre for Media Art" that would showcase contemporary Japanese culture such as manga, anime and video games, the Asahi newspaper reported.

"We are thinking of making a request for the funds for such a facility, but the amount is still being worked out," an agency official said.

As it is China and Taiwan can reproduce almost anything that is mass produced in Japan/US. What they cannot produce is culture. So why not promote something that cannot be copied and can be exported easily with almost no requirements for production like steel or oil.

Economic stimulus of cultural and artistic areas has worked before in Japan, especially in the post WWII rebuild. Taiko Drumming, for instance, became so popular because of government grants.

Since the corn syrup isn't really doing the trick anymore for us, maybe the US government should step in and force Hollywood studios to stop making crappy pr0n movies.

Bandai Building 18M Tall Life-Size RX-78-2 Gundam

http://www.dannychoo.com/detail/mac/eng/image/15830/Life-Size+Gundam.html

Bandai has declared its intent to create a freestanding, full scale Gundam for the Gundam 30th anniversary celebrations. The giant robot will stand 18m tall, and is set to be publically exhibited in July...

Donald on horse riding machine

Super Mario meets Western Show

ohama? in my animu?

Of course it wouldn't be japan if he didn't get trapped inside a school girl...