Culture Japan - Your portal to Japan

Attack on Titan

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:16:00 +0900

Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) [進撃の巨人] - one of the most awesome anime series I've seen so far that I simply must babble about!

Its a story about man eating giants who have been kept separate from humans for many moons by tall walls - until those walls are destroyed. We then start to see the struggle against the giants as friends and family get om nommed for brekkie and dindins.
Check out the trailers below.

There is a poll embedded in this article.

The anime is based on the popular manga series of the same name. Now that the anime has come out - many folks (including me) have been wanting to get the entire set of manga only to find that its pretty much sold out everywhere until they can print more.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

The series is so popular that apparel maker UNIQLO made Shingeki T-shirts too. This belongs to my comrade at Yuzusoft.

When I forget to record/watch Shingeki every Sunday at 11:30PM, I get to catch up on Crunchyroll using Apple TV to steam to my TV ^o^

This is one of the heroines in the show - Mikasa who is such a cool cutie.

I've been posting a load of Shingeki stuff on my facebook of late too ^^;
By the way - do you refer to the show as "Shingeki no Kyojin" or "Attack on Titan" ?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

This is my comrade Wada-san who just happens to be the producer of the anime series Attack on Titan. He also produced Guilty Crown, Robotics Notes and Psycho Pass.

He is also the big boss of WIT Studio which is a subsidiary company of Production IG. I have regular meetings at Production IG and caught up with him yesterday to see if he was free to come over to Anime Expo 2013 which takes place next month. I've also asked if he can bring some exclusive Shigeki footage to AX too.

I'll let AX give the official announcement ^o^

Shingeki no Mirai - made by a Twitter user who I lost track of who used the MMD Mirai Suenaga data.

Kaiyodo Office Tour

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:48:00 +0900

One of my agenda items during my visit to Kansai this week was to meetup with Shuichi Miyawaki [宮脇修一] - the boss of Kaiyodo which is one of the longest standing hobby makers in Japan who produce the Revoltech series and also own the worlds biggest figure and garage kit event Wonder Festival.

Before we settle down to talk and visit their office, we go for some nom noms Osaka style.

The Kaiyodo office is located in Osaka which we headed to straight after meeting up with Volks in Kyoto. The exterior of the Kaiyodo headquarters is a mixture of modern and the past with the brick walls which is not so common in Japan.

Greeted by a huge sculpt at the entrance.

One of Kaiyodo's major hit products - Revoltech Danbo.

Miyawaki-san is really into military stuf and owns a few vehicles used in past World Wars.

Yep - he owns a few anti aircraft vehicles too ^^

...and a few cannons ^^

A peak around the Kaiyodo warehouse.

Ton O figures ready to hit the shelves.

Huge Ah My Goddess figurines.

A look around the main meeting/show room.

Now taking a gander at the sculptors studio.

Got to meet sculptor BOME! He made my first ever figure of Aya Natsume that I got back in 2005.

Taking a look at the workspaces of the other sculptors.

The design of ED209 is classic.

My precioussssssss.

Airbrush booths.

I need more practice if I want to paint my own doll faces one day.

Name that thingy.

Still my most fave ship from Star Wars.

Now its time to take a lookie at Miyawaki-sans model collection - certainly the biggest in Japan and possibly the world?

Time to sit down and talk about this and that and a new collaboration ^o^

I should have got one of these way back then ><

Bottle caps in Japan are most coolsome.

The Yotsuba Danbo has seen many collaborations so far with companies like Amazon, 7/11, Tamiya, Pepsi and Calbee.

I think you can guess what comes next ^o^
Check out more office tours of other Japanese companies in the anime industry listed up below.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Volks

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:20:00 +0900

Had the pleasure of being invited by the Managing Director of Volks (pictured here to my right) to Kyoto a while ago but only just managed to make the trip this week ><

Volks is one of the major players in the Japanese hobby world. They have a long history of manufacturing injection moulded kits and also bring us the Super Dollfie and Dollfie Dream line of dolls.

Today Volks gave us a tour of their Tenshi no Sato museum in Kyoto and after we had a long lunch meeting to discuss this n that ^o^

Yuki-chan is my fave Dollfie Dream who got to go with me to Tenshi no Sato.

While I do have some comrades who work at Volks, I've never really had the chance to hook up with the top management but now that I have, I can tell you that they are one of the nicest family run businesses that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. The Managing Director is such a sweet lady too who is also the wife of the big boss.

I've always loved their Dollfie Dream line of dolls which have really had an impact on my life - not only are they so cute and great to have around - they have also enabled me to connect with other Dollfie Dream owners around the world. My first Dollfie Dream I got was Saber back in 2008.

The Dollfie Dream line of dolls is also one of the factors that has influenced my decision to produce my own doll of my mascot Mirai Suenaga too.

I'll talk about it when the time is right but Volks and I will be working together on some really cool stuff in the very near future - keep em peeled ^o^

The last few photos in this post with Yuki-chan taken at Arashiyama in Kyoto which is very near the Volks Tenshi no Sato.

Just spent a week in Kansai (Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe) going through back to back meetings - will post photos of my trip soon.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

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

Flumpool

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:55:00 +0900

Spent time with the pop rock band flumpool on one of their previous tours - if you watched Season 1 of my other TV show Japan Mode then the following photos will seem familiar.
Flumpool is an immensely popular band in Japan - their music and posters are all over the place. Since their first single Hana ni Nare back in 2008, they have released a ton of singles and albums which you can check out in their Discography.

Check them out in action below.

For the flumpool special, I spent time with the folks who manage the sound, lighting, equipment and visuals. They especially put a lot of effort into the visuals which are quite stunning and really compliment the music and atmosphere in the hall.

When I was younger, artists that I would go see perform include Kylie Minogue and Nishida Hikaru. These days, the only time I get to peek at concerts are the ones at Anime Festival Asia and Anime Expo while I'm back stage ><

As for music - most of the stuff I listen too these days is jazz internet radio stations like Jazz.fm.

What concerts have you been attending of late and what music are you listening to of late that you recommend to your comrades?

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Akihabara Shops 7

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:05:00 +0900

Its that time again where we go for a photo walk around my most fave place on Earth - Akihabara ^o^
Today we visit places such as Hobby Tengoku, Sega Game center, Toranoana, Animate, Don Quijote, Melon Books (newly opened 2号店), Sofmap, Kotobukiya, Yodobashi, Culture Zone Akihabara, other small stores and the Yanagimori Shrine. We also bump into the Kanda Matsuri festival too.

As for the first photo - will talk more about the shenanigans that I got up to in a separate post ^o^

To get to Akihabara, just get off at JR Akihabara station and get out at the Electronic Town exit - this is what will greet your mince pies.

How many of you watching Uta no Prince Sama and who is your fave dude?

The Volks Hobby Tengoku store - get off at the Electronic Town Exit but turn right after the ticket barrier to get here.

Hobby Stock Asuna goodies.

The Love Live cuties.

Say sayonara to roneriness - pick up a 2D girlie of your choice with these dakimakura and pillow cases.

K-ON force still strong.

I want more Valkyria games!

Kos Mos and her big...guns.

Looking forward to the Girls Und Panzer movie. How many of you enjoyed the series?

Who is your fave Dollfie out of this bunch? Mine is Aoi-chan.

Sonico gets the Ichiban Kuji treatment.

The lovely ladies of Momoclo.

Sailor Moon gets the S.H.Figarts treatment.

Hatsune Miku Carnavi.

Bakuman Boys.

Mixed bunch O figures.

Cuties from the eroge Ojonana [お嬢様はご機嫌ナナメ]

Hentai Ouji on your watch list?

Fate Saber.

Idolmaster goodies.

Meruru Curry.

Anime tapestries - Oreimo, Madoka and Aimasu.

1/1 scale Asuka.

Now in Don Quijote.

When in Don Quijote - make sure you look up at the ceiling too.

Asuka eye patch.

Asuka shaves it seems.

Eroge cuties.

Load of Nendoroids.

Stack O figures at the Kotobukiya store.

Knight Sword Umbrella.

It says "Free Entry"

Melon Books - for all your doujin needs.

Rilakkuma glasses stand.

Moe cuties now employed to sell you broadband.

Voice actress magazines available too.

So many cuties in Akihabara ^o^

Lovely X Cation 2 illustrated by Iizuki Tasuku-sensei ^o^

Gundam Galore

PSP still very strong.

Anime magazines.

Whats up Shinji?

More 1/1 scale Evangelion figures - which do you choose to have at your entrance?

Sakura Miku.

More dakimakura covers to keep you company at night.

Akihabara by night - gorgeous.

Yanagimori Shrine [柳森神社] located below.
[gmap=35.696811, 139.773490]

Catching some of the Kanda Matsuri.

Right outside the doll store DOLK.

Check out more from Akihabara in the photo posts listed up below.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Amairo Clock

Sun, 12 May 2013 12:11:00 +0900

So you got Moekana and have pre-ordered Moekanji but you want your Japanese learning to be even more fun? I've got just the thing!

I've just released Amairo Clock [天色＊時計] (Amairo*Clock) for iOS which features the cuties from the eroge Amairo Islenauts. Just like the other app we made called DRACLOCK, you can interact with the characters through touch communication and depending on which part of their body you are communicating with, they will say something different.

Tap on the time and the characters will read out the time to you in Japanese. You can also set the clock so that the characters read out the time to you at intervals - can be every 30 mins, hour or even every minute - you will be able to tell the time in Japanese in a jiffy! All voices are by the original voice actresses too.

This time, Apple approved the bikini versions too - but in order to do so we had to set the app rating as 18+ ><
Check out the video below to see the clock in action which was developed together with Ken Lee.

We added a new feature in the clock which enables you to use any background of your choice from your photo library or even take a new one on the spot - you can even take a photo with one of our lovely heroines ^o^

Unfortunately, there is no Android version at the moment and I'm not in charge of developing one for a simple reason - I dont have any Android developers! If you think you are a dab hand at making Android apps then leave links to your previous apps on Google Play. You need to at least be able to program apps to the same spec as DRACLOCK.
Or send me mail at [jobs at mirai dot fm] with links to your apps. We can discuss renumeration depending on project spec.

In the meantime you can still download the Android version of DRACLOCK from the Yuzusoft website - it has all the Japanese learning functions of Amairo Clock but was developed by another team.

Anyway - get the app for free!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amairo*clock/id625672662?ls=1&mt=8

I do have an app for Android folks called MiraiClock3 featuring my mascot character Mirai Suenaga which was developed by Cybernoids. While she does not teach you Japanese - she is a great companion to keep you company while you learn Japanese ^o^
MiraiClock3 is available for the Android and iOS below.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.culturejapan.mirai
https://itunes.apple.com/app/miraiclock3/id484980828?mt=8

Mitaka

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:16:00 +0900

Mitaka [三鷹] - an area located in the West of Tokyo which is home to Kichijoji, the Ghibli Museum and a load of anime studios.
92% of all Japanese anime production studios are located within Tokyo and a large % of that is located in West Tokyo in the Mitaka and immediate surrounding area along the Chuo-line.

42% of that are small studios with less than 10 employees and 10,000,000 yen of capital - many of them were started up by employees who previously worked at other animation studios.
Some of these studios specialise in just some of the processes involved in anime production like the animation between key frames or background coloring.

Many moons ago, anime studios used to hire animators full time but due to the costs of keeping them onboard and the fact that they could not afford to remunerate them based on their performance, most animators are now paid based on how much they can do (ie number of frames they can draw) - for this reason, freelance animators float between various studios based on when they are needed for work.

These days, full time staff at anime studios are usually comprised of managerial, Producers, Directors and general admin - hardly any animators are hired full time. While Production IG has many full time employees, only about 10% of the warm bodies in most anime studios are full time employees.

One of the reason why anime studios are concentrated in the same area is that they often loan thier staff to help each other out - this is the reason why when you see the credits of an anime which was produced by lets say Mad House, you may see "with help from Production IG."
Staff from each studio can easily get to another studio by hopping on the chuo line and be at another studio in less than 30 mins.

I've always loved anime since the Macross Super Dimension Fortress era and am fortunate to work in the anime field which is why I'm in Mitaka so often. Some of the people I work with there are JC Staff, Production IG, and Sato Dai (click on links to see photos and details of my work ^o^)

Mitaka is largely a residential district and if you want to catch a slice of life in Japan then you will enjoy a relaxing stroll around the area absorbing the sights and sounds of daily life.

To get to Mitaka just get off on the JR Chuo or Sobu lines at Mitaka station.

Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Mirai Suenaga Doll

Sun, 05 May 2013 22:09:00 +0900

A month ago, I wrote an article on how to mass produce your own products. The post was rather popular and was picked up on many sites and social networks around the world - could have been because I posted it on April the 1st and folks didn't know whether it was true or not.
Well as we say in these neck of the woods - "April Fools come true" ^o^
I also learned through the traffic that that Taiwan, China and Russia are big markets for this type of doll.

Today I want to talk about the progress I've made on the soft vinyl doll that I'm modelling after my mascot character Mirai Suenaga and share with you my learnings in the hope that you can avoid the mistakes that I made during my first ever attempt to design and manufacture a product for the masses.

This is how Mirai looks so far ^o^

She's not perfect but for a first attempt to make a doll I would say that she's pretty cute ^^;

I love her kira kira eyes ^o^

And for those who thought that the robotics part was an April Fools - well you was right back then but you are wrong now ^^; Read on and I'll explain more about the project.

Mirai Ver 1.0 is modeled after an illustration of Mirai by Japanese illustrator Iizuki Tasuku-sensei. While some doll manufacturers go for printed eyes when creating a doll rendition of a 2D character, I decided to do my best using resin eyes. While the result is not perfect - I feel that its not bad at all.

Before you read on, you may get confused if you have not read the previous post on mass production where I explain how we used 3D software to model the body and how 3D printers were used to print parts which were then duplicated to generate a wax clones. The wax clones were then copper plated using a process called electroforming.

Going to start off by talking about the production of the head. Here are soft vinyl parts which have been freshly pulled from the molds.

I called upon a comrade of mine who goes by the name RONRONSHUKA to help me do the make up for Mirai.
This is one of the tools that she uses to sand down the inside of the eye hole after it has been cut.

The eye holes are really difficult to cut but the handy drill bit sands down the rough edges.

The drill bit is specifically for doll eyes and can be obtained from doll accessory shops like DOLK and Parabox.

Time for the airbrush job to give Mirai cute blushing cheeks ^o^

Here are some of the acrylic paints used for the makeup.

There is a science behind designing a doll face and while I have not quite worked out what it is yet, what I can share with you is that the whole expression can change due to slight variations of make up - even though the head is the same shape. Combinations of the angles of the eyebrows, design of the eye edges, amount of blush and lip color can generate completely different faces. This is why its very important to try out different combinations like we did.

And then there is the placement and size of the nose, shape of the lips, eye hole shape and position to consider too. Its important to make sure that both sides of the face are *not* the same. Many 3D modelers tend to just mirror the face - but just as a human with a mirrored face will look alien - so will a doll.

The final thing is taste - while my 3D modeler may think a face sculpt looks good - I may not necessarily feel the same. The vital thing here is to have the face match the producers taste as s/he will be the one to make everything a reality - it is key that the producer believes in the project and in order to do so, s/he needs to be 110% satisfied with the look and feel of the product.

One thing I get my illustrators to do is to add the "////" lines on the cheek - no exception for the doll version.

Initially we prepare 3 variations of makeup - each giving a slightly different look and feel after placed on the body with eyes and wig. Next step is to make paint masks which are like stencils - one mask for each layer of paint. Paint masks are called "Tosou Masuku" [塗装マスク] and are needed for mass production as it would not be practical to hand paint each one.
I'm visiting the mask factory this week and will take photos to show you the process.

Once I'm happy with the makeup, Top Coat is sprayed over the face to protect the makeup and make sure it does not rub off. Until Top Coat is sprayed, we still got room to do alterations.

Now its time to make the eyes. I'm still thinking whether to do Acrylic or Resign eyes. Acrylic eyes are cheaper for mass production. Resin eyes cost more but are more shiny and seem to look better and more lifelike.
The black domes you see here are the sculpt for the eyes which are placed on some plasticine. The can pictured here is filled with silicon rubber.

A hardening agent is poured into the silicon rubber. Its red but after mixing you hardly notice any redness at all.

Then its time to mix the hardening agent and silicon rubber together. When thats done, its poured into the tub that contains the eye sculpt and plasticine.

Once the silicon has cured, the plasticine and eye sculpts are removed from the tub to leave behind the silicon mold. Due to the nature of silicon, it can only be used a certain number of times (5-ish) before the material starts to degrade.

The design of doll eyes are actually printed on paper - make sure you use photo paper and print using a high DPI setting. The eye design is another important factor for a dolls face and we need to consider the darkness of the gradient and size of the highlight. Its important to have decent sized highlights or your doll eye will end up looking like a yandere - which is fine if thats what you want ^^;

Crystal Resin Super Clear is then poured in each pit and the printed eye is placed facedown on top.

And here are the different variations of the eye design. One thing about resin eyes however is that there is a high chance that air bubbles will form in the resin as its poured from the can. The air bubbles could be removed using a deaerator but they are huge and not really practical to have around the house ^^;

10 sets of Mirai just arrived freshly pulled from my molds.

And here are some oppai parts which I need to do a lot of experimenting on ^^
Slush Molding (casting) Soft Vinyl is one of the cheapest form of toy production with costs low enough so that many individual folks can afford to make their own stuff.
Good Smile Company has been making some really detailed products of late using this form of molding and you can see the high amount of details that soft vinyl can yield.

Anyway, as I mentioned previously, I didn't design the oppai to have the spout attached which is why it ended up looking like this. The problem is that no matter how you cut it...

...you are going to end up with a visible cut like this. The reason is that the cutting surface is the same as the surface of the oppai. When you are designing your own products, make sure you take into consideration the moulding method too which dictates where join lines or flash will end up - design your product so that they are hidden out of view.
I'm not happy with this mold so its back to the drawing board.

Luckily we done everything in 3D. We use ZBrush to modify the oppai part so that the edges that will be cut are behind the oppai. This is then re-printed in 3D where a wax copy of it is made via its silicon mold.

And here is the wax copy with the spout attached - next step is to polish this down. This oppai will be melted after it has been copper plated to make the final production molds.

Now to talk about the Smart Doll feature. I didn't have the resources to make it in time for April the first so whipped this together in 3D - nice rendering eh? ^^
The reason why it looks so real is because we used the HDRi Light Probe technique. I had to buy two huge christmas tree balls for this project ^^;

News of the Smart Doll generated a lot of buzz in the robotics scene in Japan and as a result I got to meet a few robotics experts who I hooked up with - we are now working to make this a reality ^o^

Here are some of the smallest servo motors that exist on the market. These ones fit into the limbs but what we have also been able to do is make our own hybrid servo motors by mixing and matching the gears and motors.

The Smart Doll will have about 24 servo motors, a CPU board, bluetooth and touch sensors. We are currently designing her so that she can dance to existing MMD sequences and move using Kinect - but that may not be ready in Firmware Ver 1.0.
Power source will initially be external with a Ghost-in-the-Shell-like socket that fits in the back of her neck using an L plug. There will also be touch sensors in the head so that she will give a cute reaction when she is given a pat. I'm not going to attempt to muffle the motor sounds as I kinda like the whirring sound ^^

You will be able to plug her into the mains where she will just do her own thing in Idle Mode (looking around the room, shifting body etc) keeping you company as you work - a bit like the animations in MiraiClock3.
For mobility, I want her to be able to be charged via a USB mobile battery but depending on the power consumption, she may end up having to use one of those heavy duty laptop mobile batteries.

Apart from Idle Mode where she does her own thing, there will be other presets too which she will perform at the press of a button as well as being able to control her via your Android phone (iOS comes later).

We are currently designing her so that you can remove the arms and head too. The first version should be ready during of June.

The Smart Doll version is looking to cost quite a bit but still cheaper than the price of standard dolls that can be found on auction sites.
We are also developing a much more affordable standard frame version too and we've done that using a tool called Solid Works which enables us to do collision detection.

Parts of the frame are also printed using a 3D printer. Once I'm satisfied with the frame, we need to make the parts using a process called injection molding which does end up costing a considerable amount more than slush molding ><

Most of the frame however is made up of existing parts on the market meaning that we can reduce our development costs by buying in bulk as OEM parts. The skeleton you see here is made out of Polyoxymethylene (POM) - its properties are high strength, hardness and rigidity and strong enough to maintain various poses. The final version will be the same color as the skin.

And then there is the wig - so many things to consider for one product ^^;

I've currently taken an existing wig and am cutting it to my fancy. I'll either buy wigs in bulk as OEM or work with a wig factory to develop my own depending on costs.

Going to take a closer look at the body now. The oppai part you see here is the old version - the new one will have toned down "rose buds" ^^;

After the production process and line is fixed for Mirai Ver 1.0 - we will make a smaller oppai part. Some folks ask me why the oppai is so big but its only just a tad bigger than the L Bust on a Dollfie ><

Clothes designed for 60cm dolls should fit Mirai well but not if they are specifically designed for a Dollfie as my Mirai has bigger oppai ^^;

I didn't bother to censor any of the photos as its important for doll owners to check out the whole body - just as you can view them nekkid on other doll product websites.

The next few photos of Mirai in her birthday suit.

And this is what Mirai looks like with her clothes on ^^;

This set of clothes that fit DD Yuki fits Mirai quite well though.

And these last set photos are of Mirai in her Mori Girl gear done by doll steamstress Chun from Canada.

I'm currently aiming to have both the Smart Doll and standard frame version up for pre-order within the year. If I had more staff then it would be quicker but I'm managing all aspects of production on my own at the moment ><

Mirai together with the other girls.

As mentioned the other day, one of my agenda items as a member of the Japanese governments Creative Industries Internationalization Committee is to revitalize the "Machikoba" [町工場[まちこうば]] which are small factories dotted around Japan who specialise in a certain craft or technique - it can be anything from making moulds, slush casting, making gears, leather goods and so on. In some cases, these small factories have been around for many generations where technology and know how is passed down the blood line.
In some cases however, many of these small factories have shutdown either due to lack of people to pass on the know how to or due to the lack of new orders - many of which is being channeled to factories overseas.

This is a slide from one of my decks. It shows how I'm going to pair up Japanese creators and the small factories together - the work of Japanese creators can then be developed with the help of the small factories. I will showcase the resulting products to folks overseas and in doing so I meet the goal of promoting Japanese technology and creativity to the rest of the world.

There are many creators in Japan who just dont know which factories to use - many of which are not even listed on the Internets so you need to know somebody who does.

Most Japanese figures and dolls are licensed from anime or games which is one of the reason why these products are kept in Japan - because of the previously mentioned licensing issues.
If more individual creators made their own original character dolls or figures then these products should not have any of the said licensing issues and it will be easier to spread the Japanese technology and craftsmanship that goes into these products around the world.
There is the issue of shipping but I'll hook creators up with my comrades at companies such as Tenso.com who specialise in shipping overseas.

I've documented the doll production process up until now in the following posts - while they are specific to dolls, you can apply the knowledge to make your own figures and wot not.
#Rapid Prototyping and You
#How To Mass Produce Your Own Products

For those who cant be bothered to go through those posts, here is a very very rough breakdown (skipping a few processes) of what you need to make your own dolls (or other products).

Use Google Sensei to learn how to use 3D software like I did - if you cant afford the price tag of 3D software then there are free decent solutions like Blender.
In our case, we used ZBrush for the modeling and tweaking using 3D Max.
Prep data for 3D printing.
Print 3D Data.
Make silicon molds from 3D printed data.
Make wax clone from silicone mold.
Electroform the wax clone to make the copper mold for mass production.
Pour soft vinyl into the molds to make the doll parts.
Cut off flash and assemble doll.
Make optical eyes.
Do the makeup.
Play with Mirai.
Goal unlocked - proceed to boss level.

If you want to make your own products then start consulting with Google Sensei - its free. Then once you are armed with knowledge, you can use that to start implementing your ideas.
If you want to produce your products in Japan then I will hook you up with the people that you need to know who can oversee the production for you. If you are confident in your language skills and know enough about the production processes then I'll introduce the factories to you.
If you dont have the cash to cover production then start off with what I did and work in a restaurant to save up. Stop giving yourself excuses and just do it.

The line of Mirai Suenaga products continues to grow ^o^

And this is Mirai in her Mori Girl gear. Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>

Golden Week Japan

Sun, 05 May 2013 21:03:00 +0900

Golden Week refers to a series of public holidays on April 29 (Showa Day), May 3 (Constitution Memorial Day), May 4 (Greenery Day), and May 5 (Children's Day). Many companies close down completely to give their employees a full week off, and many Japanese take the opportunity to travel abroad - but not this year as the strength of the yen is pretty low at the moment - not good for the Japanese but great for foreigners visiting Japan.

As the majority of folks have decided to stay in Japan, the Golden Week has seen more people than usual in Tokyo - its usually much quieter. Every year we decide not to go anywhere for a very good reason as you can see from the report on the TV - the queues for everything are horrendous. 45 kilo tailbacks are the norm. Most folks who want to travel domestically can expect to spend a good % of their holiday queuing up ><

Then when Golden Week is over, there is whats called the "U Turn Rush" where folks queue up again to get back into their home city.

When living back in the UK, I never saw any news of huge masses of people moving about due to any holiday seasons - anything similar exist in your neck of the woods and for what occasion?

Sorry for being late with the May calendar - here it is.
And the previous months Moe Calendar wallpapers in the posts below.

Roppongi Photowalk

Sat, 04 May 2013 11:20:00 +0900

Today we go on a photowalk around the Roppongi [六本木] area in Tokyo. Folks who have been to Roppongi will have noticed large numbers of foreigners in the area which is mainly due to the many foreign embassies and foreign capital companies in the area.

Roppongi is also well known for its night life that florishes in the many clubs, bars, restaurants, hostess bars and other places that one can seek some hanky panky. This first photo is of the main crossing in Roppongi. I've only been past this corner at night a few times but whenever I do pass it I see shady foreigners standing on the street corners trying to sell some white powdery stuff ><

Roppongi is also home to spots like Roppongi Hills, Keyaki Saka Dori, Mori Tower, West Walk, Midtown Galleria, National Art Center Tokyo and the Asahi Building. At the top of Roppongi Hills is the Sky Deck where you can catch a great view of Tokyo metropolis in the open air.

To get to Roppongi just get off at Roppongi Station.

A construction notice board that also let's you do a quick eyesight check.

This is the big spider located outside Roppongi Hills - popular meeting spot.

More places to visit in and outside of Tokyo listed up below.

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