An adult matter for comics: Manga sales down NHK reports on a 9.4% drop in manga magazine sales over the last year, blaming manga cafes and consumer disinterest A wall of manga at a Japanese bookstore. Will these books always be orphans or will they ...

Manga from Gene Simmons' son accused of 'Bleach' plagiarism Amid reports of Nick Simmons' manga publisher pulling his work, "Bleach" author Tite Kubo tweets his surprise at hearing Gene Simmons' son is a manga artist Nick Simmons performing at the ...

Maid cafes get even less realistic For one day only, kigurumi "doller" maid café Aokazetei will feature women dressed in anime character facial masks Cute, friendly (and a little freaky), but the guys shouldn't get too flirty; there's a good chance ...

'30 Rock' plays with the Japanese body pillow meme The award-winning NBC comedy show pulls from the pages of the "New York Times" to give James Franco the rare Japanese otaku affliction of lusting after a body pillow These particular body pillows ...

Daily Hitlist: "Lucky Star" female manga artist is actually a man Fans are stunned to learn that Kagami Yoshimizu is not a woman reminiscing about her adolescent years in comic form Two Japanese women cosplay characters Konata Izumi and Kagami ...

cross dressers Japan A Japanese blogger explores changing attitudes towards male cross-dressers Kenty is one of an increasing number of young Japanese men choosing to spend their time as women. off In response to an article by Japan's Sankei News ...

A decade of anime Matt Alt asks, how did Japan's national artistic treasure -- animation -- go from boom to bust during the first decade of the 21st century? We may be projecting, but there seems to be a hint of frustration in those giant eyes. I ...

Japanese toy expert Matt Alt gives us his list of Tokyo's top four stores that offer tin robots, plastic monsters and bootleg rarities Micronaut "Biotron" variations on parade at Toy Cats Showcase in Kichijoji. Stacks of "Microman" and "Diaclone" ...

Hatoyama and his government plan a new stimulus effort to jump start the sluggish economy Hatoyama's approval rating has dipped under 60% but just wait until the stimulus plan makes the economy go gangbusters. Must know: After a cabinet huddle, PM ...

Men's fashion faux-pas: Beware the backpack? Business Media Makoto polls women on men's worst accessory habits, and the backpack takes the dreaded #1 spot The irony is, each of these "wrong" outfit accessories looks painful in isolation, but when ...