SU Update - Japan in Photos, Tokyo Anime Fair...

Hello everyone! I'm home now, on my Spring Break vacation. My two goals for the website during the week are:

1) Get the drawing board flip book working and updated with new art. (Yes I have received a bunch of cool drawings in the email. Thanks for sending them in!).

2) Make more blog updates :D.

3) Bring back the polls!

And so we start with #2 and 3 !

In this blog entry:
- "This past week of Japan in Photos"
- Tokyo Anime Fair 2006
- Pocky's random anime MP3

This past week of Japan in Photos

A woman who identified herself only as Chika, visiting from Tokyo, reaches up to touch a Cherry Blossom along the Tidal Basin in Washington, USA. Organizers of the National Cherry Blossom Festival are trying to make the annual celebration more welcoming for visitors -- especially guests from Japan, the country that first donated the trees. (AP)

Reader Kamisori writes:

When spring is approaching people try and predict when the "Sakura" or Cherry Blossoms will bloom. They agree on a day and go to enjoy their "ohanami" or cherry blossom viewing :)
The parties usually involve many drinks and lots of singing... GooD Times :)


Team Japan player Ichiro Suzuki (R) has champagne poured on his head by teammates after defeating Cuba in the final game of the World Baseball Classic in San Diego. Japan won 10-6. (REUTERS)


Japan holds the championship trophy for the World Baseball Classic aloft after winning the final against Cuba in San Diego, March 20, 2006. Japan won by a score of 10-6. (Reuters)


Subway staff members offer a silent prayer at Kasumigaseki subway station in Tokyo on Monday, March 20, marking the 11th anniversary of sarin nerve gassing by the Aum Shinrikyo cult. Members of the doomsday cult released the lethal sarin nerve gas on subway trains converging in central Tokyo in 1995 that killed 12 people, sending thousands to hospitals and paralyzing the center of the capital. (AP)



A Japanese girl displays a new phone called 'Kids mobile', jointly developed by Japanese mobile operator Willcom and toy maker Bandai Co. during an unveiling in Tokyo March 16, 2006. The new children's handset will go on sale in Japan in June priced at around 15,000 yen. (REUTERS)Japanese girls display "kids' keitai", or mobile phone for children, jointly developed by Japanese mobile operator Willcom and toymaker Bandai Co., at an unveiling in Tokyo, March 16, 2006. (REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao)

Reader Kamisori writes:

Cell phones in Japan are more used then house phones...Even "Homeless" people in Japan have cell phones. Imagine the conversations "You're coner or mine?" :P

Even on a "Tourist" Visa, you can rent a cell phone from several of the major mobile phone companies (Vodafone, Docomo, and AU).

...and features:...

The phone includes features such as a location pinpointing technology known as GPS and a panic switch that triggers a loud alarm. When the alarm is set off, the phone automatically dials a pre-programmed emergency number, such as that of a parent, and transmits the phone's last known location. (Yahoo News Asia)

I think those phones are looking pretty cool. Some cell phone company should design units with "clear pockets" so you can slip in stuff you print from your computer. I'm not sure if the phones show above are doing that or they just have cute prints on em already.





Architect Kyohei Sakaguchi jumps off from a home built by a homeless man named Shoji under a bridge spanning over Tokyo's Tama River. "I have a sturdy house and I'm free to do what I like," Shoji said of his hand-erected, cubic home, perched on 1.5-meter (4.9-foot) high stilts to prevent flooding. A multitude of tools and other belongings hang from the ceiling to his home. "It's much better than going to a shelter," he said. (AP)


Takahiko Kozuka, who won the gold in the men's program at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships, and Mao Asada who came in second in the women's event, show off their medals. (Mainichi)


NHK and five commercial TV broadcasters in the Tokyo area have decided to build a new radio and TV transmitter dubbed New Tokyo Tower, in Sumida Ward by 2010, sources familiar with the project said Saturday. (JapanTimes)

Tokyo Anime Fair 2006!

The Tokyo Anime Fair, currently on its 5th year in a row, is taking place in the biggest venue it's ever been in, and some 250 companies from anime production and broadcasting to video game makers are assembled together. Cosplayers and life-size figures fill the halls of the venue, with characters from from old and new anime including Z Gundam, One Piece, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. (Akadot, Read more)

Pocky's Random Anime MP3 pick

"Loosey" (TV Size) [Download]
from: Bakuretsu Tenshi

Pocky over and out!