A new desert named after Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso was recently sold in Akihabara. The desert, "Taro's Milk Castella," first appeared in Akihabara near the end of 2006. The cake sold at 525 yen a piece, and was said to be inspired by Aso's love of milk cake.

Taro Aso is famous for being an anime and manga fan. Due to his love for PEACH-PIT's Rozen Maiden, he received the nickname "Rozen Aso" (ローゼン麻生). Last September Aso's campaign speech at Akihabara received great response from the otaku audience.

Read More »

From ANS:

An update on those Kara no Kyoukai illustrated paper shopping bags that were being passed out for free in limited quantities at Comiket 71. The items are now fetching 5,000 Yen apiece on Yahoo Auctions Japan. Other Kara no Kyoukai merchandise is also commanding premium prices with the news of the new movie.

Apparel, costume and character merchandise manufacturer COSPA has announced new Dr. Slump (based on the manga by Akira Toriyama) themed t-shirts. The release of the t-shirt is part of the promotional effort for the release of the DVD-BOX "Dr.SLUMP Ararechan Nn-cha series" on March 23, 2007.

Epoch will be releasing a limited edition Doraemon Air Cannon on March 3rd for 3,000 yen.

Read More »

Pinafore, the maid cafe that appeared in Densha Otoko, announced a second branch in Bangkok, Thailand. Currently the Thailand cafe has 10 employees, and most of the maid are native Thailand residents.

Pinefore was established in 2004, and is currently one of the more popular maid cafe in Akihabara.

MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking in Japan (12/02) according to Toranoana Akihabara, compiled by Akiba Blog (NSFW).

MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking in Japan (12/02) according to Toranoana Akihabara, compiled by Akiba Blog (NSFW).

In Genshiken, Kanako Ohno once declared that "Homo-hating girls don't exist!!" While the validity of the statement could be contested, yaoi-loving females, otherwise know as fujoshi, have since used it to defend their hobby.

Read More »

Akiba Blog reports that recently telephone cards from Akihabara shops, which featured Rena and other characters from the new PS2 adaption of the visual novel Higurashi no Naku koro ni, were toned down due to inappropriate images.

However, there has been no official statements from the creator of the game regarding the edits, and any questions were met with the vague response: "Due to reasons that can't be made public." According to leaked info, the edits were related to recent government effort of keeping inappropriate content away from children.

Read More »

12/28 Update: The official website of Kara no Kyoukai has opened at www.karanokyoukai.com, and the new adaption will be a feature film (as oppposed to an ainme TV series) titled Kara no Kyoukai ~Garden of Sinners~.

According to rumors in Japan, Type-Moon's novel Kara no Kyoukai (空の境界) will be adapted into an anime TV series.

The rumor began earlier this month when Ryogi Shiki, the main character of Kara no Kyoukai, appeared in the 2007 Illustration Calendar of the anime magazine Newtype. It was also announced that a Kara no Kyoukai pin-up poster will appear in next month's issue of Newtype.

Read More »