So yesterday, I visited my friends at Anime Export for no particular reason (well, there was an incident which involved a woman and a laser hair removal clinic which I needed to talk about–but that’s a different story). It turns out they were about to have a meeting with two writers from Akibanana, and they asked me if I wanted to join.

This was completely unplanned for me, but, luckily, I had exactly two business cards in my wallet. So I go through the tradition of exchanging business cards in true Japanese fashion awkwardly saying “hajime mashite [nice to meet you]” because I had thought Kiki was Japanese.

Simona & Kiki: self-proclaimed aliens

The conversation was consisted of some normal otaku talk: anime and manga, figures and toys, cosplay and fashion; and also, some deeper talk: psychology,  further internationalizing the anime industry, life in Japan as a foreigner, and of course business (however informal this seemed to be, it was, after all, a business meeting). We were still talking five hours and four coffees later.

Kiki is from Singapore and has been living in Japan for about 5 years. She’s a writer, translator and language enthusiast. Talking to her made me realize that she’s not only a hardcore otaku, but also an expert in the anime industry.

Simona is an Italian writer and translator with a strong interest in psychology and astrology. Her astrological analysis of me was very interesting and pretty much true–although a bit emasculating… T_T

Akibanana.com is a website about Akihabara, the otaku capital of the world! Check out their many exclusive articles and videos!

Did you know? There’s a cosplay tv program being broadcasted in Japan!

Its name, CosCosPlayPlay; and it delivers the latest cosplay info and tips to answer all the needs of the cosplayers out there. We were invited to the public filming on August 10th. Normally, the filmings are done in private studios, but, this time, they rented out half an elementary school (not used as a school anymore), let regular cosplayers come in freely in their favorite costume, and filmed the program inside the school!

The actual broadcast date for this will be on September 1st at 9pm (Japan time, of course) on Fuji Satellite Television channel 721. Have your friend in Japan tape it for you!

First, here is the main cast posing in front of (more…)

So, I went to the Tokyo Wonder Festival Summer 2008 (Wonfes) last Sunday. Well… I’ve been living in Tokyo for 5 years and right in Akihabara for the past year, so I don’t get surprised much. However, my first Wonfes was a bit shocking.

Most of the otaku are waiting right when it opens and dash to their favorite booth to get the toys. Takashi went there from the start, so check out his post information on the Wonfes early morning lines (actually, some people wait in line since the day before). A lot of the toy companies produce Wonfes exclusive stuff which can be resold for double, triple or, I’ve even heard, 5 times the retail price. Anyway, here’s my little report on the Tokyo Wonder Festival Summer 2008!

I took the monorail from Shimbashi Station to Tokyo Big Sight Exhibition Center. The monorail is fully (more…)

Hey everyone! Ted from OverDrive went over to Nagoya for the World Cosplay Summit.  So here it is:

World Cosplay Summit 2008 Day 1 Event Report

If you didn’t know, this is the competition which determines who the world’s best cosplayers are! This would be the 6th time for this yearly event and, this time, cosplayers from 13 different countries attended. Each nation had preliminary contests which the cosplayers had to win through and, finally, gathered in Nagoya to see who is the best of the best.

The World Cosplay Summit (WCS) is a 2-day event: the first day being a cosplay parade and the second, the World Cosplay Championships. The cosplay parade took place in Osu, also known as the Akihabara of (more…)

For those of you who went to the Anime Expo, I hope you had a great time - I sure did.  I’m going to start posting on the blog for real - not just for announcements like I did before - so let me first introduce myself.

I’m Philip; I turned 23 during AX on July 3rd; I was born in New York and raised in Hawaii; it’s my 5th year living in Japan. At the moment, I work for OverDrive Inc. translating, digitizing, editing and marketing COSMODE Online - as well as update the website/blog. (Yes, I know it’s not a one man job)

Day -1
I arrived on July 1st in LA 2 days before the event; I needed a little time to assimilate back to American culture and brush up my driving skills.

It was pretty much an eventless day - except I was lost for about an hour after renting my car. ^_^;;

Day 0

This was the setup day. But first, I had to pick the OverDrive crew up from LAX. As I was waiting for them at (more…)