Main Feature: Japanese Internet Idol / Creator's interview: Tomoko Fuyukawa Japanese Manga Artists

Main Feature: Japanese Internet Idol

So much Japanese culture emanates from Tokyo's Akihabara district! Widely recognized AKB48, the idols you can meet for real, started out here and have now added THE JAPAN RECORD AWARD 2011 to their list of major Japanese music honors. They have also been doing live shows in such countries as the United States and France as the international interest grows. The rise of idols you can draw closer to is represented, too, by the virtual idol Hatsune Miku and net idols whose popularity grows via Internet video sites. Then there are the blogs as well, some with an average 100,000 hits per day! One "underground idol" has even notched up 300 live concerts in a year and broken into the ORICON chart by selling her recordings herself. The idols are getting close to home.
We visit some of the latest Akihabara spots to see the spring sights of the Japanese idol kingdom 2012 and find out what is happening now!! 

Creator's interview: Tomoko Fuyukawa Japanese Manga Artists 

Manga author Tomoko Fuyukawa's works go out as digital comics via Sony Digital ENTERTAINMENT. She tries various ways to match her cartoons to the screens of ever smaller digital phones. Mustard Chocolate, a freshly depicted story of the loves, friendships and growth of a third year senior school girl who just can't fit into society, earned her the best newcomer's award at the 2011 Japan Media Arts Festival. She is 33 years old and a graduate of the Musashino Art University Junior College of Art and Design.