Archive for 'Akihabara' Category

The 2nd “MOE GUEEN” Grand Prix

The 2nd “Moe Queen” contest final was held in Akihabara, the mecca of “Moe”(sprouting passion or stimulus attractiveness of a character) culture on this Jan. 7th.  Among the 13 finalists who performed singing, dancing, or other kinds of performances, the Grand Prix was given to “Chiu”, a popular “maid” of  Furatto Maid, a Akihabara guide shop. http://f-maid.com/

The primary of the contest whose purpose is to choose “Moe-type cute or beauiful girls” started on Sep.1st 2011 and Chiu says, she is so happy to have achieved such a glorious goal because she had started making intensive efforts for the contest for about two years since the last contest, having been supported by a lot of her fans. Chiu says, “Though I look innocent but actually I like Japanese sake and have tastes of those of middle-age men”.

Chiu was awarded sub-prize money of 100,000 yen and  a right to debut as a singer to produce CDs.  Takuro Morinaga, a currently famous and popular TV commentator who is known as a enthusiastic figures collector as well, made a remark about her, saying, she is overwhelmingly Akiba-like, and so, she  has successfully caught the heart of  Akiba-type geeks”.

The 53rd Japan Record Award given to “Flying Get” of AKB48

The 53rd Japan Record Awards ceremony was held by  JACOMPA in New National Theatre in Tokyo  on 30th. http://www.tbs.co.jp/recordaward/

The Japan Record Award (Grand Prix) was conferred on “Flying Get” of AKB48, which has sold more than 1587,000 cds and No.1 hit of  all of the five AKB’s songs that sold more than one million this year, namely, “Everyday Katyusha” ,”Kaze wa Fuiteiru”, “Uekara Mariko”,and “Sakura no Kini Narou”.

AKB48 has received the Japan Record Award for the first time since their debut in 2005.  Minami Takahashi, the captian of the group says in her speech “We are so happy now  we have done our best for whole of one year since  last time here “, Atsuko Maeda, No.1 winner of the AKB48 election this year said, “I want to say thank you very much to everyone”, and Yuko Oshima, the captain of TeamK said, “Flying Get is sung by the selected members of the election, therefore, this award given by all of our fans ”.

AKB is one of thge most popular idol groups at the moment and Exile, the winner of the Grand Prix three years in a row 2008-2010 had given up the nomination of their song this year showing fairness and appreciation to fans , AKB was thought to be the leading candidate.

“AKB Project” including AKB48, SKE48,NMB48,HKT48, JKT48, and SDN48 is going to perform at the NHK “Kouhaku Utagassen” on the new year’s eve (tomorrow !) ,whose total number is  210 on the stage that is the record high of the population of a group of performers of Kouhaku Utagassen in history.

Other award receivers are as follows;

Best New Performer/  Fairies

Excellent Works/ “Esperanza” (Kana Nishino), “Go Go Summer!”(KARA), “CALL” (AAA), “Kono Yoru wo Tometeyo” (JUJU), “Shounai Hiya Kaze no Naka” ( Kaori Mizumori),  “Jounetsu no Mariachi”(Kiyoshi Hikawa ), “Soredemo Shjinjiteru” (FUNKY MONKEY BABYS), “Flying Get”(AKB48), “Why?(Keep Your Head Down)”(Toho Sinki), and “Waratte Tainda”(Ikimonogakari).

And all other awards and the receivers’ names are annnounced  on the above mentioned official website of The Japan Record Awards.

The first cosplay nationwide contest in Russia held

The first nationwide contest of cosplay of Japanese subculture in Russia was held  on Nov. 20-21 and a girl group of 23-year-old girl and 25-year-old girl won the grand prix.  This event was a program of  “J-FEST”, a promotion event of  various aspects of contemporary popculture of Japan, such as music, anime, fashion,and so forth hosted by the Japan Embassy in Russia.http://www.j-fest.org/

More than enrusiastic 800 people visited the J-FEST ,which was beyond the capacity of the venue in Moscow. At the cosplay event , 30 groups that had passed the preliminary contest out of 80 groups showed their Japanese popculture-related costumes. The winners were given tickets to take a travel to Japan, which made them quite happy and excited as they are interested in the anime and its related  cosplay culture’s “mecca” in Japan.

AKB48 CAFE & SHOP AKIHABARA open,and the second “out of Japan” sister group of AKB48, “TPE48″ is launching

A new and the second “AKB48 CAFE & SHOP” opened just in front of  Akihabara station Tokyo on Sep. 29th. http://akb48cafeshops.com/wp/akihabara/

At the cafe consists of four sections, namely “Theater”,”Cafe”,”Private room”,and “Shop”.  At “Theater”, you can enjoy buffet style meals with movies of AKB’s concerts on a large screen. At “Cafe”, you can enjoy special dishes created by AKB’s members ,which are to change from month to month. And “Private Room” whose capacity is 16 people is equipped with DVDs of AKB.  In addition, at “Shop” you can buy original items related to AKB.

Sometimes AKB’ members make “surprise” visits to the Cafe& Shop, which  makes customers amazingly happy.

And here is another new information concerning AKB48 project. On this Oct. 1st,  AKB’s management announced it is going to launch a project of a new sister group of AKB48. The new group is “TPE48″,  which is to be based in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.  Further details of the project will be noticed to public at the end of this year, and the new group is expected to start theatrical performances around the summer in 2012.

TPE48 is to be the second sister group of AKB48 out of Japan, following JKT48 which I wrote about here before.http://www.tenkai-japan.com/2011/09/12/jkt48-project-launched/

Nadeshiko Sushi celebrating its first anniversary

“Nadeshiko Sushi” that I wrote about here before (http://www.tenkai-japan.com/author/kawamura/page/4/)  hosted its one year anniversary party on the Oct. 1st.

Nadeshiko Sushi(http://www.nadeshico-sushi.com/) was visited by about 40 attendees to the party at that night, all of whom had bought a special ticket to join it in advance…including myself !     

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Uchimizu event in Akihabara

On Sunday an Uchimizu event was held by girls dressed as maids in Akihabara,Tokyo.

Uchimizu is an old custom which involves sprinkling or pouring ladelfuls of water (rainwater or used bathwater is generally used rather than tap water), onto the walks and gardens outside homes or shops to keep down dust or ease the heat, and encourage community interaction.

When it gets really hot in Tokyo, the locals like to sprinkle water on the street in front of the house or shop. It’s an old tradition that has become popular again here. In the heat, water on the streets evaporates naturally and during this process, a small amount of energy (0.58kcal/1g water) is absorbed from the surrounding air. When many people perform uchimizu the difference can be quite noticeable.

Website Let’s Uchumizu details how to perform uchimizu in step-by-step detail, and also provides the following guidelines, a uchimizu etiquette guide:

・Be aware of passers-by and other participants.
・Refrain yourself from watering on busy streets.
・Sprinkle water in a quiet and safe place.
・DO NOT WATER at curves, crossroads, or over manhole covers.
・It makes the street highly slippery.
・ Car drivers and bike riders: Please be careful when entering watered areas.

Akihabara district reopens pedestrian zone

The Akihabara district in Tokyo, popular with shoppers and tourists for its cluster of shops selling electronics gadgets, anime and pop culture items, reopened Sunday part of a vehicle-free pedestrian zone on January 23 for the first time since a fatal rampage in June 2008.The town opened a 570-meter section on its main street, Chuo-dori, to pedestrians. It will be open on Sundays from 1 p.m. on a trial basis until June.

The street was flooded with waiting shoppers and tourists when it reopened to pedestrians at 1 p.m.It will be open to 5 p.m. through March and 6 p.m. through June. If no problems are reported, it will remain open from July.

The street had been a car-free zone since 1973 on Sundays and holidays as it drew large crowds of shoppers.
But the local authorities decided to close the pedestrian zone after a man drove a truck into Chuo-dori just past noon on a Sunday in June 2008, hitting and killing three men before fatally stabbing four people and leaving 10 others injured.

A post manned by local residents, firefighters and police officers has been erected to ensure safety in the area. Signposts have also been put up around the area, urging people not to engage in antisocial activities, which were occasionally reported when the pedestrian zone was open.

Gundam Cafe Opens in Akihabara‎

Gundam Cafe Akihabara has opened its doors on Apr.24.About 200 people lined up in Akihabara waiting for the official start of Gundam Cafe at 8:30. Read the rest of this entry »

Gundam Cafe to be opened in Akihabara

Bandai is set to open Gundam Cafe Akihabara on April 24,in commemoration with the animation series’ 30th anniversary.
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Edreaming (Edo＋Dreaming)

When the tower called “Tokyo Sky Tree” is completed, it will be 634 meters tall and become the tallest among antenna towers in the world. http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/english/

● Why 634 meters?

That’s partly because they want to build a higher tower than the TV tower, which is scheduled for completion at the end of this year in Guangzhou, China. It will be 610 meters tall. Read the rest of this entry »

Chara-ben!

There are so many businesspersons who bring hand-made “obentoes” or “bentoes” (lunch boxes) in Japan. It’s really good for them to do it because it saves their money and is beneficial to their health.
And some of them take more time and use their ingenuities to make their original bentoes called “Chara-ben”.

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Akihabara ni oide yo! (Come on to Akihabara!)

The sacred place for anime & game fans called “Akihabara” or “Akiba”, the Japan’s largest electronics quarter. Surveys show the increasing number of foreign tourists who visit there, as the interest in Japanese pop culture grows worldwide. 

We are the organization called “Akibaland Tours” who gives guided tours to you, Akiba lovers from abroad. 
We give you trilingual tours in English, Chinese and Japanese. No other tours will do that.
Moreover, our guides are all COSPLAYERS!! 

Akihabara is the 3D wonderland where popped up from Anime or manga to the real world. 
You can gather cutting-edge informations there. 

So let’s enjoy Akihabara together! Akihabara ni oide yo! 

*For more details, please look at our website; http://www.akiba-tour.com