In a recent column for “Through Otaku Eyes” for the Daily Yomiuri, Kanta Ishida wrote:

For the first time, I have worked my way through a so-called keitai-shosetsu, or cell phone novel, in one sitting. The novel was Atashi Kanojo (I, Girlfriend), by the author known as Kiki. She won the third cell phone novel award with this work in September. The novel is available for reading at the award’s official Web site (nkst.jp/pc/index.php). A printed version of Atashi Kanojo will soon be published, but I think the novel will lose half its appeal when actually printed.

The charm of this novel lies in its writing style. Cell phone novels are generally written in truncated sentences, with each clause given its own line, which are often double-spaced. Atashi Kanojo is an extreme example of such a writing style:

I’m/

Aki/

Age?

23/

Well, 24 this year/

Have a boyfriend?/

Well/

Just like everybody/

Yes/

Or/

Kind of/

No way you don’t have a boyfriend/

The protagonist’s monologue consists mostly of double-spaced phrases. At first, it’s hard to read. But once you get used to it, you begin to feel almost intoxicated, thanks to the rhythm of the piecemeal phrases. This imaginative style is unique to mobile phone displays.

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In a recent column of “Through Otaku Eyes”, Kanta Ishida wrote about the worldwide popularity of Rumiko Takahashi.

Ishida wrote, “Who is the artist who played the greatest role in the “globalization” of Japanese manga?”

“It might be Akira Toriyama, whose Dragon Ball became synonymous with manga. Or it might be Katsuhiro Otomo, who showed his skill at precise description in Akira, or Naoko Takeuchi, who excited enthusiasm among girls across Europe and the United States with her Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Or maybe it’s Fujio F. Fujiko, as there can hardly be a child in Asia who doesn’t know Doraemon.”

“All these names are necessary when talking about Japanese manga’s foreign expansion.”

“But I’m beginning to think it may be the works of Rumiko Takahashi that showed the world the essence of manga more widely and deeply in and after the 1980s.”

“I am sometimes surprised by how widely her works are known while talking with people in the manga industry abroad. Pascal Lafine, editor in chief of Tonkam, a publishing company in France, told me about his considerable feeling for Takahashi’s hit manga series, Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku. Lau Wan Kit, a Hong Kong cartoonist who won the top prize in the second annual International Manga Award contest hosted by the Japanese Foreign Ministry for artists based overseas last month, said Takahashi is one of the mangaka he respects. Russian Japanologist Ivan Sergeevich Logachov loved Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2 so much that he finally translated it into Russian.”

“There may be mangaka who have sold more copies abroad than Takahashi has, but in many cases a certain title or artist is especially popular in one area and not so much so in others. Takahashi is a rare case in that her works are evenly popular over many parts of the world.”

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In a recent column by Ishida Kanta for the Daily Yomiuri, Ishida wrote, “Japanese pop culture, manga in particular, is enjoying a boom in France. A recent event showed how much young people in France are learning about Japanese culture through manga and developing a longing for their “dream country.”

“The ninth Japan Expo was held July 3-6 at Paris-Nord Villepinte Convention and Exhibition Center. The venue, more than twice as big as Tokyo Dome, was packed with a variety of manga and related items and thronged with cosplayers, as if to reflect the strong yearnings for Japan among manga lovers in France.”

“The bulk of the exhibition was given over to booths operated by publishers dealing with French editions of Japanese manga. But I was more amazed by other booths handling a great variety of items, ranging from kimono, swords and character figures to calligraphy items, round-headed kokeshi dolls and origami.”

“As I walked among the exhibition visitors, most of whom were participating in cosplay, I felt a mild culture shock at the chaotic and extraordinary space.”

“Two middle school girls, clad in “Gosu-rori” outfits–a colloquial abbreviation of the terms Gothic and Lolita–they bought from a Japanese mail-order company, told me they like One Piece most among Japanese manga. The also said they find Japanese culture very interesting as it is “modern.”

“Through this event we hope to introduce Japanese lifestyles into our own through manga culture,” said event staffer Thomas Sirdey, 28

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In a recent column for “Through Otaku Eyes”, Ishida Kanta of the Daily Yomiuri wrote, “Just two years ago, two 16-year-old girls from France were found and taken into protective custody in Poland. They had left their home in the suburbs of Paris and set out for the “land of dreams”–Japan. They were great fans of the manga Naruto and Japanese image-based “visual-kei” rock bands. They are said to have liked everything about Japan, ranging from the culture to the lifestyle.”

“When I read the news, I didn’t think anything more about it than that there are some strange girls in France. But now I have to change my perception. Visiting the Ninth Japan Expo held July 3-6 in Paris, I learned that “Japan fever” among young people in France is not a trifling matter.”

“The Japanese media tend to regard the event, which drew as many as 130,000 people this year–it was 88,000 last year–as something weird, no different from a cosplay festival. But it is becoming a full-scale exhibition handling an amazingly wide range of Japanese cultural offerings.”

“Expo staff and visitors alike, however, are mostly young people in their teens and 20s. Few among them have actually been to Japan. So the prime sources of their image of Japan are manga, animation, video games and the like.”

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In the latest column for “Through Otaku Eyes” for the Daily Yomiuri, Ishida Kanta writes, “Although it will end Sunday, Inoue Takehiko: The Last Manga Exhibition, which is being held at the Ueno Royal Museum in Ueno, Tokyo, is an unprecedented event in the study of the relationship between museum and manga.”

“Museum exhibitions of work by mangaka are now somewhat commonplace, but they do not have a long history. Until about 20 years ago, there were few people in the world of art who considered postwar manga “art.” It might have been possible to hold such a show at a department store gallery, but displaying manga at an art museum was out of the question.”

“The exhibition of the works of Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astroboy, in 1990 at the National Museum of Modern Art in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, was a turning point for such perceptions. The event, held about one year after the death of the manga giant, was a large-scale retrospective with about 1,500 original drawings. The event drew headlines along the lines of, “Public museum opens its doors to manga.”

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In a recent “THROUGH THE OTAKU EYES” column by Ishida Kanta for the Daily Yomiuri, Ishida wrote, “Atom-kun,” SoftBank’s new cell phone, may prove a bit of a shock for long-time fans of Astro Boy, as the character on it looks nothing like the original artist’s Mighty Atom.”

“Osamu Tezuka’s character has been reenvisioned by popular illustrator Lily Franky with a big belly, thick lips and tiny eyes. While Astro Boy is known for having “Juman-bariki” (100,000 horsepower), Atom-kun looks run-down and laid-back.”

“But Atom-kun has been authorized by Tezuka Production Co. In fact, it was the company that asked Franky to make the new version of Astro Boy. “We are aware Lily is paying his respects to Mr. Tezuka. We asked him to create Astro Boy in his own style,” said Yoshihiro Shimizu, the head of the copyright and operation division.”

“Yawaraka Sensha (fragile tank) creator Rareko has released to the Web Yawaraka Atom, a merging of the Web animator’s series with the anime classic. The anime, which can be seen by clicking on anime.livedoor.com/yawaraka atom/, is another example of the characters being restyled in completely new ways. “Sure, we get complaints from old Tezuka fans,” Shimizu says.”

“Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Tezuka’s death. A decade ago, Shimizu began introducing new products based on Tezuka’s creation under what he has dubbed the “avocali system,” whose name is an amalgamation of avocado and California Roll.”

“For Edo-style sushi to take off internationally, chefs had to incorporate local foods [such as avocado],” Shimizu says. “In the same sense, we felt the best way to disseminate Osamu Tezuka’s DNA was to have artists from around the world ‘cook’ his characters–even if it meant changing their look.”

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In a recent column of “Through Otaku Eyes” for the Daily Yomiuri, Ishida Kanta wrote, “For action figure collectors like myself, it’s always a thrill to be able to pose the models in any position we choose.”

“The market seems to have been dominated by the “Revoltech” series by Kaiyodo Co., a figure manufacturer based in Monma, Osaka Prefecture.”

“Recently, however, Max Factory, a toymaker in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, has entered the market with its brand new “Figma” series, which is available for about the same price.”

“Revoltech was launched in 2006 as the signature line for Kaiyodo, the firm behind the miniature “shokugan” (food toys) included in the Choco Egg produced by Furuta Confectionery Co.”

“The appeal of the Revoltech series is its specially developed revolving joints that feature a distinctive clicking sound whenever they are moved. Many of the robots in the successful series were designed by Katsuhisa Yamaguchi, a toy designer known for his aesthetic style.”