The 7th annual Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) was held on March 28-30 at Tokyo Big Site. TAF is the one of the largest animation fairs in the world with the participation of around 290 animation related businesses and more than 100,000 visitors this year.
The 2nd Asian Film Awards (AFA) were presented on March 17 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in conjunction with the 32nd Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Korean movie “Secret Sunshine” (밀양; Milyang) is the biggest winner with 3 major awards (complete list). Below are some pics from the event…
An estimated 20,000 girls attended the Tokyo Girls Collection, a biannual fashion event organised by Girls’ Walker magazine, on Saturday (Mar 15) at Yoyogi National Stadium.
Contrary to most of the fashion shows which only invite celebrity guests, TGC is opened to public with an affordable fee (¥3,000-10,000; ~USD30-100). [Hat tip to KN]
Make no mistake though, despite the cheap entrance fee, the show is still as glamourous as other top fashion shows, albeit more casual, with participation of top brands & models, and performances by popular artists (TVXQ, Leah Dizon, DJ Ozma etc).
A slideshow featuring flight attendants from some Korean airlines, i.e. Korean Air, Asiana Airline, Jeju Air and Hansung Airlines.
The first song is “Sweet Dream” by Korean girls group Redsox; and the second song is “If U Wanna” by another girls group Kara [Hat tip to Hopeisnear@Youtube].
If you are patient enough, you would spot Korean actor Jang Dong-gun in one of the picture with some stewardess. Korean actresses Han Ga-in and Nam Sang-mi also feature in the video too, as spokespersons for Asiana and Jeju respectively.
The 2nd Seiyu Awards (声優アワード; Seiyū Awādo) were presented at the UDX Theater in Akihabara, Tokyo, on March 8, 2008. The awards are presented for recognition of the voice acting talents in anime (and other media) in Japan.
Mamoru Miyano won the best lead actor award, while Aya Hirano claimed the best lead actress award. Complete list of winners available on Wikipedia.
Wonder Festival is an biannual event in Tokyo which showcases figurines and miniatures which attracts thousands of Otakus each time. The 2008 winter fest was held in late February.
You can view more pictures at Akibana, Akiba-Ch, Akibablog, Heisei and Dengeki. Mind that some of the pics are not safe for work.
A weird, cute and fun Japanese video with 3D computer graphics (and animations)…
The main character (with turquoise hair) of the video is Hatsune Miku (初音ミク), a character from Vocaloid, a singing synthesizer application software developed by the Yamaha Corporation that enables users to synthesize singing by just typing in lyrics and melody.
The first song is titled “Kurutto, Mawatte, Ikkaiten”, adapted from the ending theme of anime “Sgt Frog” (ケロロ軍曹; Keroro Gunsō). I am guessing that the voice is how the software (or Hatsune Miku) should sound like.
The 2nd song is “Caramell Dansen” by Swedish group Caramell. (Hat tip to reader Brighty)
Japanese toy maker Sanrio unveiled the world’s largest Hello Kitty statue (2.5 metres tall) at its flagship store in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district on Feb 1… [Mainichi]
