One recent sweltering summer’s day, a tour bus from Tokyo pulled up at a sun-kissed beach at Atami, a Pacific coast resort southwest of the metropolis, and disgorged more than a dozen excited, iPhone-clutching young men.

The determined youngsters, paying scant attention to the bikini-clad girls frolicking on the sand, instead headed straight for a bronze statue that depicts Kanichi and Omiya, a couple from an old love story set in Atami.

The focus of the men’s attention—and of their smartphone cameras—was a tiny black and white square, a two-dimensional barcode that, thanks to "augmented reality" (AR) software, brought to life the object of their desire.

"Look, it’s like I’m in a snapshot with her," said Shu Watanabe, 23, as he showed off his iPhone display, featuring himself next to the image of a doe-eyed cartoon character named Rinko, a smiling high school girl.

Read the rest of the story: Japan resort a hot spot for men with virtual girlfriends.

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These images are from the first day of racing of Run’a Entertainment’s “Evangelion RT-01 apr Corolla” team in the Super GT300-class grand touring championship series.

The Team’s Toyota Corolla Axio was painted in homage to the anime’s Evangelion EVA-01 unit and the uniforms of drivers Koki Saga and Kosuke Matsuura were designed after the plug suit of the anime’s main character Shinji Ikari. The “race queen” models Noa Mizutani and Yuuna Chiba wore outfits inspired by the characters Rei and Asuka.

On this day of racing the Evangelion RT-01 apr Corolla team finished the Fuji Speedway round in 9th place. Another Corolla Axio apr GT team won the race.

Images © Khara
© 2010 RUN’A Entertainment, Inc.

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The renowned and awed anime director Satoshi Kon passed away from pancreatic cancer the day before yesterday at the age of 46 just short of his 47th birthday.

Kon started his career as a manga artist and editor at Young Magazine, and then made his screenwriting debut with “Magnetic Rose”, a section of the anthology film Memories.
Kon though is most known for his work as a film director. He made his directorial debut film, Perfect Blue, in 1997, followed by Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika and the television series Paranoia Agent.

His next to be film, The Dream Machine, is in production. All of his works as a director were produced by Studio Madhouse, where he was a staff director along with Rintaro and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. He also was a founder and partner of the 15-member steering committee of the Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) labor group.

Kon’s work often dealt with a vast range of themes, mostly emphasizing the psychological well-being of his characters.

Both Paprika and Millennium Actress draw great attention to some of these themes by blurring the boundaries of reality and fantasy in the story.

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An 18-meter-tall "life-size" statue of Gundam, a giant robot featured in the classic Japanese sci-fi animation series, made a fresh appearance Saturday at an event in Shizuoka City to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Gundam plastic model kit.

The statue was erected at the Shizuoka Hobby Fair outside JR Higashi- Shizuoka Station in the city’s Aoi Ward after first appearing in the Odaiba waterfront area in Tokyo last year to mark the 30th anniversary of the broadcasting of the "Mobile Suit Gundam" TV series, which started in April 1979.

Read the rest of the story: 18-meter-tall Gundam statue makes appearance in Shizuoka fair.

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The Toronto Star has released a new series focusing on the G20 and the world’s problems and most interestingly the World Bank’s focus for a solution. With a stronger banking system, the European debt crisis and maternal health will all be tackled by the G20 in Toronto. But devoting resources to one group — girls — could lead to gains in all three areas. So suggests the World Bank, among others, observing that countries that don’t invest in girls have slower growth and reduced income. It’s not just the developing world where girls get shortchanged: This week, the Troonto Star will tell the stories of girls from G20 countries struggling with sex, sexism and cruelty and happen to be starting with the girls of Harajuku and Shibuya.

They’ve mesmerized every tourist who has done Tokyo: young girls in big pink hair, huge frilly dresses and theatrical makeup.

On the pedestrian malls at Harajuku and Shibuya subway stations, they move among the crowds like animated cartoon characters — which is precisely the point. The girls have modelled themselves on them, after all.

It’s all part of the extended manga (comics) and anime (animation) culture that continues to captivate Japanese youth, especially girls.

Showing up in anime guise is a social activity, something to do with friends.

But it can also be a powerful means of self-expression and even defiance for girls, especially in a conservative society that has tightly drawn expectations of them.

Read the rest of the story: G20 Girls: Japan’s girls break out of the mould

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It has been officially announced, the Giant RX-78 Gundam Statue/Model will make a comeback this year, but this time it will be located in Shizuoka City, 125 miles west of Tokyo. A Bandai spokesperson said Gundam will come to life once more in June, at the East Higashi-Shizuoka Station near the local Bandai factory in which there is a guided tour(with previous reservation) that could complete a touristic itinerary.

Originally this incredible real scale statue was erected in Tokyo’s artificial island Odaiba, to commemorate the 30th aniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam. The statue was dismantled last September, but it was so successful (4 million visitors approximately) that the people from Bandai decided to bring it back to life again.

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Anime Expo 2010 recently announced another musical guest of honor. Singer MELL will perform in concert on July 2 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, as well as participate in panels and autograph sessions.

Known for being the vocalist of the I’ve Sound collective, she launched her solo career in 2006, and has since then continued singing songs for multiple animated series.

Anime Expo is being held on July 1-4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The convention previously announced that SOPHIA and AKB48 will also be performing concerts this year.

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Model and actress Karina has been cast as the heroine in the upcoming “Ashita no Joe” movie adaptation, starring NEWS member Tomohisa Yamashita as the boxer Joe Yabuki.

Karina will play the character of Yoko Shiraki, the daughter of the head of a wealthy corporate group who backs Yabuki’s rival, Tohru Rikiishi (Yusuke Iseya). The cast also includes Teruyuki Kagawa as Joe’s mentor, Danpei Tange.

“Ashita no Joe” is scheduled for release in spring 2011.

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About 200 people lined up on Saturday for the early-morning opening of the first official “Gundam”-themed cafe, based on the popular sci-fi animation series. Female staff members dressed as characters from the series greeted customers to the cafe in Tokyo’s Akihabara district when its doors opened at 8.30 a.m on Saturday.

Accessible from the JR Station at the “Denkigai Exit” and just below the Yamanote line, Bandai Gundam Café is the ultimate stop for Gundam fans. The cafe is filled with Gundam memorabilia, TVs showing Gundam episodes, and even serves Gundam-shaped cookies, commonly called Taiyaki (waffle-like pastries often filled with red bean paste).

Check out the official website.

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Seishiro Kato

The long-running anime series “Nintama Rantaro” is being adapted as a live-action film, directed by Takashi Miike. This will be the first lead role for child actor Seishiro Kato (8), who plays the titular young ninja.

“Nintama Rantaro” is based on the gag manga “Rakudai Ninja Rantaro” by Soubee Amako. Set during the Sengoku era, the story follows the adventures of a young boy named Rantaro, who is born into a ninja family. He enrolls in the elite ninja school Ninjutsu Gakuen, where the young apprentices are known as “nintamas” (derived from “ninja” and “tamago”).

Although Miike was once best known for ultra-violent films such as “Ichi the Killer,” he has also directed more mainstream hits such as the spaghetti western “Sukiyaki Western Django” and the live-action “Yatterman” movie.

The anime has been on the air since 1993. An animated film was released in 1996. No release date has been announced yet for the live-action film.

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