Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has found himself a new job… as a voice actor for an upcoming live-action Ultraman movie.
The full title of the film is Giant Monster Battle: Ultra Galactic Legend The Movie, to be precise lol.
Koizumi will lend his voice as the Ultraman King, an ancient Legendary Hero in the Ultra family. The film will open in Japan on December 12.
Koizumi is one of the most of popular postwar Prime Ministers in Japan. He retired in 2006, and the political arena has been in chaos ever since. The current PM Yukio Hatoyama, amazingly, is Koizumi’s 4th successor in just over three years.
[via Animenewsnetwork and Japanprobe]
After the highly popular life-size 18-metre Gundam model in Tokyo, another giant Japanese robot statue, the Tetsujin 28-go (lit. Iron Man #28), is set to welcome its visitors in Kobe following its completion earlier this week.
Tetsujin 28 was created in 1956 by Kobe-born Mitsuteru Yokoyama; it was one of the earliest giant robot characters in Japanese manga. The comic was later adapted into anime series and was aired in US as well, retitled as the Gigantor.
The Tetsujin 28 statue is located at Kobe’s Wakamatsu Park. It’s similar in height with the Gundam statue, but doesn’t have moving parts like the Tokyo counterpart. The Kobe robot is built as a permanent structure though, whereas the Gundam was disassembled after two months of exhibition.
If the trend keeps going, we might be seeing dozens of giant robot models across Japan in future… pretty fitting tourist attraction for the #1 robotic nation lol.
[image from the project's official website [Jp]]
Popular otaku celebrity Shoko Nakagawa, popularly known as Shokotan, will be performing at Anime Festival Asia (AFA) in Singapore on November 21-22, 2009.
AFA is one of the the biggest anime-comic-game conventions in South East Asia; first held in 2008, the event is back again in 2009 following last year’s success.
Besides Shokotan, other celebs that will be performing at the I Love Anisong concert are May’N, Aniki and Yoshiki Fukuyama. Other sections of AFA09 include cosplay, toys & games exhibits, and maid cafe etc.
The organisers held a press conference on September 1 to officiate the 2009 event; check out the coverage by blogger Darkmirage, Alafista and Double.
More details and updates on AFA09’s official website or Facebook.
Anime Festival Asia
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American actress Kirsten Dunst shot a video in Tokyo’s Akihabara otaku district in a seriously-too-colourful-and-wicked sailor costume on August 27.
The video will be used for an exhibition later this year at Tate Modern in London.
[more images][via Japanprobe and 3yen]
Guinness World Records have officially recognised Yu-Gi-Oh! as the top selling trading card game of all time with more than 22.5 billion cards sold since its introduction a decade ago.
Yu-Gi-Oh! was first created as a manga by Kazuki Takahashi in 1996 before spawning into a huge franchise, which includes anime series, video & online games, and trading card games etc.
The collectible card game is developed and published by Konami since 1999; more about the game on Wiki [image from Yugioh-card]
Korean model Gu Ji-sung in cosplay costume while hosting the Dungeon Fighter Festival, a promotional event for the multiplayer online game on July 19…
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Two Toyama based animation studios, P.A. Works and The Berich have created some short animes to promote Toyama tourism, based on the theme “Tear Bringing Toyama Prefecture”.
Sharing here are videos from P.A. Works; three short stories about love, friendship and family; with Mt Tateyama, Toyama Bay, and Gokayama as backdrop.
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A life-sized 18m Gundam model was assembled at Odaiba Island in Tokyo to mark the 30th anniversary of “Mobile Suit Gundam”, the very first Gundam anime series which evolved into a highly successful franchise over the years…
The real scale Gundam can do a few simple tricks, no big deal… but the details of the model itself is still pretty impressive.
The Gundam is going to be displayed for only two months unfortunately, it could turn to be Tokyo’s new tourist attraction if it’s kept for a much longer period.
Video via Akibahobby; check out some of their pics [Jp] as well.
