ROCKET NEWS
Pixiv now gives users the option of turning their artwork into fully-illustrated doujinshi (fan-made comics) with just a few mouse clicks.
If you’ve ever thought about trying to self-publish your own manga, pixiv, the social networking site for illustrators, is here to help with its n...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Amazon Japan has started offering a monk dispatch service, where a Buddhist holy man is sent to conduct memorial services for you.
The service starts at a flat ¥35,000 (about $285) anywhere in Japan and started December 8th.
The service works by placing an order through the Amazon st...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Japan continues to negotiate its relationship with drones. Just fun toys or dangerous tools?
Until spring this year, drones were perhaps most famous in Japan as a way to get cool aerial shots, such as OK Go’s Japan-inspired “I Won’t Let You Down” music video.
The rest of 2015, though...

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JAPAN TODAY
NEW DELHI — Japan will build India’s first bullet train under a sweeping tally of agreements made following talks in New Delhi Saturday, deepening a partnership Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would “shape the course of Asia”.
The Indian premier spoke warmly of his friendship with J...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Sanrio, the people behind of Japan’s most successful character franchises like Hello Kitty and My Melody, have started a new digital character creation service called Chanrio Maker.
Chanrio Maker allows you to build and customize a cute 2D avatar in the style of Chanrio, a character ...

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JAPAN TODAY
TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday Japan intends to balance efforts to fight global warming with its focus on economic growth, in the wake of a landmark international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’ll achieve (the goal) without sacrificing economic growth,” ...

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JAKARTA POST
The government has announced its aim to attract one million Japanese tourists to Indonesia by 2019 on the back of revamped tourism policies.
I Gde Pitana, deputy of overseas tourism development at the Tourism Ministry, said that the number of Japanese tourists arrivals have begun to ...

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JAPAN TRENDS
“Schoolgirl Animals” is an exhibition currently running at BAMI Gallery in Kyoto until May 31st, featuring an array of beguiling images of female school students in their uniforms and other schoolgirl paraphernalia, but with incongruous animal heads.
The solo exhibition showcases the...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Back in 2012, Yusuke Oono was one of the winners of the You Face contest with a palm-sized, fan-style 3D picture book.
Now Loftwork, the agency behind the original awards, has got together with publisher Seigensha to offer Oono’s design as two “360-degree” picture books.
One retells ...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Almost no sight says “Tokyo” more than Shibuya’s “scramble crossing”, the immense intersection in front of the Hachiko exit of the station in which multiple banks of pedestrians converge on each other like a battle scene from a movie.
Trying to weave through the crowds can be tricky,...

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