Artinfo reports that the International Asian Art Fair, which takes place March 15–19, is featuring a contemporary gallery called Art Miya that dedicated its entire booth to manga sculptor Yabuuchi Satoshi.

Also, AkibaBlog has a report on "Raku-Job," an event where fans attend to look for a job in the anime, manga and game business.

Finally, BBC News looks at this year's China Comics Now exhibition in "When Manga meets communism."

According to ICv2, Tokyopop will be releasing the first volume of Speed Grapher by Tomozo and Yusuke Kozaki, based on the anime of the same name from Gonzo, this September. Also, the second volume of the manga will be released in December along with "a 248-page novelization of the anime series by Minoru Niki."

Canned Dogs is reporting that PEACH-PIT's Rozen Maiden made a brief re-appearance in the latest issue of Shueisha's Young Jump:

Peach-Pit has made a surprise appearance in Young Jump in this week's issue with a one-shot comic called Shoujo no tsukurikata (How to make a girl) about how Shinku was made. [...] It isn't officially serialized in the magazine yet, but there is a note at the end of the comic that says that they will be having a big announcement in next week's issue.

Read More »

According to an announcement from BL publisher Yaoi Underground, Yaoi Underground LLC is now terminated, while Yaoi House LLC's future is still uncertain:

Yaoi Underground LLC will be terminated and the shareholders returned their investments. As for Yaoi House LLC, I leave it to the shareholders to decide how they wish to proceed with the company. I surrender my shares and my stories, all artwork, website, and the Yaoi House trademark. Those who wish to part at this time will have their shares returned to them, and those that decide to take over the organization of the company can determine how my shares are to be divided among them.

Giapet.net has more.

Manly Manga and More... reports that German manga publisher Carlsen has posted its top 20 best-selling manga for 2007. Below are the top 10:

1. Naruto
2. One Piece
3. DAISUKI
4. Luxus
5. Vampire Knight
6. Futari Ecchi
7. Desire
8. Junjo Romantica
9. Fairy Cube
10. Drachenschnee (Dragon Snow)

According to a listing on Monster.com, DMP is currently looking for an Entry Level Sales & Marketing Admin:

Digital Manga is looking for an energetic and organized individual to assist with sales, and marketing for our company. Candidate would be responsible for helping to generate sales reports on a weekly basis from data provided by our distributor along with other various market reports that our company may need from time to time.

The latest issue of Shounen Sunday came with a free Sakuya (a character from Kenjiro Hata's Hayate the Combat Butler) card that can be used in Hayate the Combat Butler TCG. New Akiba is reporting that a Hayate fan bought 398 copies of Shounen Sunday in order to get 398 copies of the Sakuya card.

Canned Dogs has more:

He had to travel to 82 different branches of 7-Eleven buying several copies of Shounen Sunday from each branch to complete the task (leaving a few copies so others can get their own copy) [...] 398 is a wordplay on the name "Sakuya", which is why he bought 398 copies.

According to its latest blog post, BL imprint 801 Media is currently looking for some new reviewers:

Got a blog or website dedicated to yaoi or manga in general? 801 Media Inc. has a couple of open slots on our advanced copy mailing list.

Go here for the rules.

Anime! Anime! reports that the nominees for the 12th Tezuka Cultural Awards have been announced in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. Ten manga have been nominated for the award, they are:

• Umimachi Diary (1) Semishigure no Yamugoro by Akimi Yoshida [ Shogakukan ]
• Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga [ Hakusensha ]
• Kaijuu no Kodomo by Daisuke Igarashi [ Shogakukan ]
• Nana by Ai Yazawa [ Shueisha ]
• 81diver by Yokusaru Shibata [ Shueisha ]
• Moyashimon (Tales of Agriculture) by Masayuki Ishikawa [ Kodansha ]
• Ushijima the Loan Shark by Shohei Manabe [ Shogakukan ]
• Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma [ MediaWorks ]
• Lucu Lucu by Yoshitoo Asari [ Kodansha ]
• Red by Naoki Yamamoto [ Kodansha ]

The winners will be announced in early May. Go here for last year's winner.

According to ICv2, Tokyopop will be releasing Otsu-ichi's novel Goth, as well as its manga adaptation of the same name by Kendi Ohishi (artist of Welcome to the N.H.K.) this fall. The Goth manga will be released in September, while the novel will be released a month later in October.