Akihabara Tours with Akibanana

Our friends over at Akibanana have really been expanding since their debut this year. Much like with our own tours focused on business and innovations, Akibanana has built their reputation on knowing the geek paradise of Akihabara inside and out, and are working closely with many Akiba insiders.

While the Electric Town can be fun to visit, the large buildings and maid cafes are intimidating when you don’t know what’s inside and you’ll end up walking around aimlessly (believe me). Akibanana’s Akihabara Tours are an easy way for visitors to Tokyo to find out what’s really going on in Akihabara and otaku culture, and make the best use of limited time as well. Their multilingual, cosplaying guides take you around for 2.5 hours for 3,000 yen ($30) per person.

Also on the Japanese language tour is the Akibanana “Guidol” (guide + idol) Cherry who is said to have been (and we have no doubt) born in a candy shop and worked in a candy factory. Below is a video of Cherry on her blog.

For more information on the latest news in geeky Japan, or to check out the tours, check out Akibanana.com.

Tags: akibanana, akihabara, anime, Maid Cafes, otaku

Hatarakiman skin care line for the working girl

If salarymen have Kosaku Shima to idolize then the current generation of young career women have Hiroko Matsukata to look up to. Matsukata, a hard-working magazine editor, is the protagonist from the manga Hatarakiman, which literally means “working man” and describes Matsukata’s work-oriented life style.

Not to be outdone in the product tie-in department, the Hatarakiman hero is the face for a new line-up of skin care products from PDC called “Skin Power Plus.”

The series of skin products are designed to keep skin looking soft and supple for an extended 24-hour stretch, for women, like Matsukata, who need a quick long-lasting beauty fix appropriate for their hectic schedules.

Despite the clever marketing, the products use much of the same ingredients found in skin care products these days, namely collagen, hyaluronic acid, and ceramide, plus a host of natural extracts (30+ ranging from rosemary to lime to royal jelly) intended to boast the effectiveness of the product.

The timing of the product release comes six months after the end of the popular TV live action mini-series staring popular actress Miho Kanno.

Tags: anime, beauty, Hatarakiman, Skin Care

Summer it-character Gegege Kitaro tie-in products

If there was any question as to whether the latest (and deemed the most authentic) TV anime adaptation of the classic manga series Gegege Kitaro has struck a chord with audiences, then the release of several products featuring the spirit-monsters ought to be proof enough.

NEC is releasing a notebook PC with the Gegege characters, as redesigned by Devil Robots, laser-engraved on the top.

Two versions, the LaVie G type L standard (in berry blue or sugar pink) and the LaVie G type C are available in limited numbers from ¥82,908 and ¥162,645 respectively. Fans can choose from all or just one of their favorite characters.

On the other end of the price spectrum, Family Mart has announced a limited edition bento for the release of a full-length live action Gegege feature, “The 1000-year Cursed Song.” The “Ghost Rice Ball” lunch box features dishes inspired by the main characters and will be available, along with other assorted character products, from July 21 to August 4 for ¥1000.

Other Gegege products we’ve come across lately include this eyeball beach ball and ghost shaped floating device.

The manga series, originally called Hakaba Kitaro, by Shigeru Mizuki, debuted in 1959 and has been adapted for anime both on TV and the big screen numerous times, usually under the name Gegege Kitaro. With the beloved story just shy of its 50 year anniversary, Kitaro has a multi-generational fan base that means product tie-ins for every age group.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Gegege, here’s what the live version looks like.

And a clip of the classic opening sequence from a 1960’s animated version.

Tags: anime, computers, Family Mart, FMCG, Gegege Kitaro, manga, NEC

Tsundere lottery game is mean to you for fun

We noticed Tsundere among other otaku female icons like the maid and the faithful little sister in the Puchi Moe unlimited bubble wrap—in fact, hers was the first to sell out. We hear she even has her own café.

Now a new lottery game features her tough but sweet visage and the voice of famous anime voice artist Rie Kugimiya.

The slots-like game, from game rental company Techno Top, is a standing machine of the kind that shows up at events and festivals. The gist of the game is to line up the animated spinning dials by pressing the buttons below each one, which we’re pretty sure has much more to do with randomness than good timing. But that’s beside the point, the appeal is in the character tie-in.

When the player misses the Tsundere character becomes tsuntsun and when the player hits the mark she becomes deredere.

In case this is new to you, to be tsuntsun means to be cold and aloof and to be deredere means to be affectionate. Someone who is tsundere is often hot and cold, and these are just the qualities that the character embodies, which is thought to be moe (cute in an otaku kind of way).

Just in case you were wondering what the next big thing is after maids!

Tags: anime, moe, otaku, tsundere

Akibanana launched for growing global otaku

The new bilingual otaku (geek) culture media site Akibanana was launched by G.I. Jane Inc. in February, and has thus-far provided extremely good content about the ever-changing Akihabara scene.

In addition to having lots of great information about the Akihabara area (detailed shop maps, guides, etc) and its main highlights (anime, manga, games, gadgets, and more), Akibanana is also writing features about events and important happenings, and putting a focus on educating the world about the real Akihabara that exists in the alleys and nondescript shops. The Hibaritei cross-dressing maid cafe event is a unique example in itself.

In our experience, most first-time foreign visitors to Akihabara are a bit disappointed because it can’t possibly live up to the hype it receives in the media. When they don’t see robot maids, moving sidewalks, and people flying around on jetpacks they wonder what the big deal is (They also think the point of Akihabara is just to get cheap electronics). The real Akihabara, like the rest of Tokyo, is behind the facades and hidden away.

Tags: akibanana, akihabara, anime, cscout, otaku