It appears Disney's mobile efforts in Japan are going pretty well, and with the help of carrier NTT DoCoMo they're expanding under the joint "Disney Mobile on DoCoMo" brand name. The partnership is kicking off with two new Android-powered handsets launching over the next couple of months that pack in access to exclusive content from Disney like full-length animations, games, wallpapers and more.

First up is the F-08D (pink), a "luxury smartphone" that features silhouettes of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, a 4.3-inch HD (720x1280) LCD display, dual cameras and 1.2Ghz dual-core OMAP4430 CPU available in pink or white next month with preorders opening up February 17th. Next up is the P-05D (black), which has a slim 7.8mm thick frame, rear camera and 4.3-inch 540x960 res OLED screen all powered by a dual-core 1Ghz CPU that will launch at some point in March. Check out the press releases after the break for a few more details on each of these Japan-only cellphones, or hit the source link for even more specs -- no word yet on pricetags or which version of Android these will end up launching with.

Read the offical Press Release text here:
NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today the first two Android™ smartphones under the "Disney Mobile on docomo" brand that it is launching in cooperation with The Walt Disney Company (Japan) Ltd. The "Disney Mobile on docomo F-08D" model will go on sale in the end of February and the "Disney Mobile on docomo P-05D" model will launch in March. Both models will be sold in Japan only.

The magical world of Disney is featured throughout the two smartphones, from their outer designs to user interfaces, including main displays and screen icons. Both models are waterproof and compatible with popular DOCOMO services, such as Osaifu-Keitai® mobile-wallet services. 

Users will enjoy free access (excluding packet-data charges) with their smartphones to movie services, original live wallpapers, puzzle and music game applications for children and family-entertainment. Special customer benefits also will be offered from this spring in cooperation with Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, where DOCOMO is an official corporate sponsor.

Pre-orders for the "Disney Mobile on docomo F-08D" model scheduled for release in late February will be accepted at docomo shops from February 17. Pre-orders for the Disney Mobile on docomo P-05D model scheduled for release in March will be announced later.

Specifities of the 2 models:
Disney Mobile on docomo: F-08D

Luxury smartphone with sparkling silhouettes of Mickey and Minnie.
Tabletop holder featuring the world-famous Mickey Head Design.
4.3-inch high-resolution HD display with 1.2 GHz dual core CPU to experience dynamic Disney video content.
Waterproof/dustproof design and compatible with Osaifu-Keitai mobile-wallet service and one-seg services. 

Disney Mobile on docomo: P-05D

Stylish smartphone designed to fit comfortably in the palm of one's hand.
Two customizable Disney jackets for personalized styling.
Slim 7.8 mm body combined with large 4.3-inch Organic EL display for full enjoyment of Disney content.
Waterproof/dustproof design and compatible with Osaifu-Keitai mobile-wallet services.
(Engagdet)

_The first arcades in Japan weren't video arcades, and they weren't even in game centres. In the decades following the second world war, gamers played electro-magnetic games in bowling alleys and on department store rooftops. Families would take shopping breaks, playing carnival-style shooting games or riding rinky-dink kiddy trains.

_Gradually, early analogue arcade games began popping up – driving games in which the road was on a rotating belt, and players had to steer a small car through obstacles. Companies like Namco and Sega started joining in, releasing magnet-powered cabinets that were the forerunners of the modern arcade game.

In 1978, everything changed as Space Invaders enthralled the country – and the rest of the western world – spawning a slew of arcades and players dedicated solely to the new game.

The game's release came just as Star Wars was hitting Japanese cinemas – and the timing could not have been better. Thanks to Space Invaders, for more than a decade Japanese arcades were dominated by shooting games, something that would not change until the release of Street Fighter II in 1991. Like Space Invaders, Street Fighter II, with its colourful characters and engaging gameplay, set the theme for the decade: if the 80s was about shooting, the 90s were for fighting.

_In the second half of the 90s, and for the bulk of the noughties, arcades opened up to an even wider audience thanks to female-aimed sticker picture machines, and rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution. The rhythm games unleashed a new type of spectacle in Japanese arcades – this wasn't about gameplay any more, but the act of playing.

Complex dance performances were performed on DDR machines, and arcades started to feel more like dance clubs. In Shibuya, Tokyo's teens line up for blocks just to squeeze into clusters of photobooths with their friends – the images can be digitally customised after they're taken, like a touch-screen Photoshop. Japanese arcades are constantly evolving as the games change.

Guardian's Tokyo City Guide proudly presents you here: the most influential games in the history of Japanese arcades – click on the links below to play them.

_Space Invaders (1978)

The game that started it all. Space Invaders wasn't the first ever arcade game, but it was the first to capture Japan's imagination, as dedicated arcades, called "Invader House", sprang up all over the country. It was so successful that it triggered a national shortage of ¥100 coins as kids queued up to slot money into the new machines. Space Invaders inspired games like Galaxian and Galaga. Play Space Invaders here.

Pac-Man (1980)

_The 1980s were dominated by shooting games, mostly set in space, the exception to the rule being Pac-Man, which became the biggest grossing arcade game ever. The circular character became a global icon that shifted millions of bits of yellow merchandise, inspired an animated television series and even cheesy top-ten single. The pellet popping character, famously inspired by a pizza, was originally named Puckman after "paku paku", the Japanese onomatopoeic phrase for eating. But it was changed because of the English word that puck unfortunately rhymes with, and the ease of vandalising a P into an F.  Play Pac-Man here.

__Donkey Kong (1981)

The game that made Nintendo a gaming giant, featuring, among other innovations, the first appearance of Mario, then dubbed Jumpman. While other game companies were feverishly trying to emulate Space Invaders or clone Pac-Man, Nintendo released something totally different – even if Universal Studios unsuccessfully tried to sue for ripping off King Kong! This is the first video game to feature a story, movie-style cut scenes, and the subsequently much-imitated "rescue the girl" motif.  Play Donkey Kong here.

_Contra (1987)

Sure, this classic run-and-gun game (you run, you shoot) aimed to capitalise on Hollywood action flicks like Commando, but it did it so well. Notoriously difficult, the game allowed two players to play co-op together, ushering in a wave of multi-player shooting games that currently dominate computer consoles. The Nintendo home console version had the infamous Konami Code, a secret code that could be entered to give players much-needed extra lives. Play Contra here.

Street Fighter II (1991)

_What Space Invaders was to shooting games, Street Fighter II was to fighting games. Taking inspiration from Hong Kong kung-fu flicks, Street Fighter II featured colourful characters and cool, complicated moves that made it a game of skill, speed and strategy. The game's success meant that arcades were dominated by fighting games throughout the 1990s, and rival studios made exciting brawlers of their own (such as SNK's The King of Fighters). Street Fighter II was so popular that Nintendo designed the Super Nintendo Controller with enough buttons to play the game's home version. Play Street Fighter II here.

Brian Ashcroft for The Guardian's Tokyo City Guide

Toshiba kicked off CEATEC 2011 with a highly entertaining press conference where it officially announced to Japan the Toshiba Regza AT700 - "the world's thinnest and lightest tablet". The 10.1-inch tab weighs just 558g and is 7.7mm thin. It has a touch display and is powered by the Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system. _

_Regza AT700 has a 1.2 GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor and 1GB RAM. It offers an internal memory of 32 GB. Users can expect sharp images with a resolution of 1280 x 800p on its display. Resolution+, audio enhancer and noise equaliser promise clear pictures and sounds. The tablet has a 2MP camera in the front, making video calls convenient. The rear camera is as usual sharper at 5 mega pixel.

The device also sports a digital compass, a GPS, a gyroscope and an accelerometer. It offers support for micro HDMI and micro USB too. A microSD memory card slot allows for memory expansion. Toshiba's Regza link share technology lets users share content between their other Toshiba devices and the tablet over Wi-Fi. In fact, the company has made it child's play to stream content from Tosh Blue Ray and its computers to the tablet.

_The Regza AT700 is similar in a lot of ways to Toshiba’s previous tablet, the AT200. The price of the Regza is yet unknown but the device will hit the Japanese markets in December. It will probably roll out in the rest of the world a little later.

Toshiba has its hopes pinned on the new and improved AT7OO, since it hasn’t been able to complete with players like Apple and Samsung in the past with its previous innovations. Maybe the Regza AT 700 will be able to carve a niche for Toshiba in the tablet world after all. Only December will tell.
(Pocket Lint)

_Locally produced foodstuffs also have been "rediscovered" by Japanese and this has helped people regain the confidence they lost in the face of the devastation caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, many non-Japanese are knocking on Japan's door to learn the skills of local chefs.

_Derek Wilcox, a 35-year-old American, is one of 20 chefs at Kikunoi Honten, a Kyoto restaurant founded in 1912 that serves such seasonal delicacies as sashimi made from tilefish and crab meat. He has worked at the restaurant for five years.

Wilcox, who arrived in Japan after graduating from a cooking school in New York State, decided to seek work at Kikunoi Honten after tasting "amadai no kabura-mushi"--a steamed dish of tilefish with grated kabu radish--one winter at the restaurant.

Wilcox said: "The dish extracted the gentle sweetness and complex taste from the radish. The dish was not only tasty but warmed my heart. "I felt shocked, rather than impressed. In the United States, sophisticated dishes like this don't exist."

Since then, he has learned to cook food very carefully, making sure it is arranged on dishes properly. He pays particular attention to seasonal elements. "In the future, I want to open my own restaurant in the United States and introduce the cooking skills and hospitality of the Japanese," he said. Kikunoi Honten owner Yoshihiro Murata, 60, said his restaurant has received an increasing number of inquiries from non-Japanese who want to learn Japanese cooking. In the past two or three years, about 10 cooks from Italy, Spain and other countries have visited Kikunoi Honten.

__"Japanese words such as 'umami' and 'dashi' have become commonplace among cooks in Western countries," Murata said. "As an increasing number of people have become more health-conscious, the greater the chef's skills, the more enthusiastically they study low-calorie Japanese cuisine using dashi of dried kelp and katsuobushi [bonito fish flakes]."

Many students from other Asian countries learn Japanese cooking at Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka. The number has soared from five in fiscal 2007 to 54 in fiscal 2011. Lin Iku-shu, a 27-year-old from Taiwan, said:

"Taiwan people are extremely interested in Japanese culture. Japanese restaurants and izakaya pubs are popular." More people overseas are coming to love Japanese food. According to a Japan External Trade Organization survey, there are 14,129 Japanese restaurants in the United States--a twofold increase in 10 years--and about 1,000 restaurants in France and more than 500 in Britain.

Mika Hanada, chief of JETRO's agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food planning division, said, "Japanese cuisine is considered a life culture particular to Japan." Efforts will be made this year to promote Japanese cuisine overseas as a national "brand." In March, the government plans to apply to UNESCO to register Japanese food culture as an intangible cultural heritage.

__This World Heritage category covers social customs, festivals and other forms of intangible cultural elements. "The gastronomic food of the French" and "traditional Mexican cuisine" are included on the list.

In an effort to gain recognition next year, an Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry official said: "We want to demonstrate that the basic Japanese meal comprises a bowl of soup and three dishes with rice as the main staple. We will also emphasize its excellent nutritional balance, and our sophisticated cooking skills in which we use fresh foodstuffs suited to Japan's nature."

Some foodstuffs do not have a high profile in Japanese cuisine, but they have been praised overseas and eventually exported. One of them is Unzen kobu takana, a variety of takana mustard greens that have galls on the surface of leaf stalks. It is a traditional vegetable in Unzen City, Nagasaki Prefecture.

_Setsue Baba, 61, a local producer of the vegetable in the city, displayed the salt-preserved vegetable at a food fair in Italy in October 2006. Local chefs said her product was suitable for use with pasta and all 1,000 packages on sale were snapped up. "I was pleased that the taste of my hometown was praised," Baba said. "At the same time, I feel responsible in preserving local foodstuffs."

She continues to participate in the biennial fair and now exports the vegetable to not only Italy but also Britain, Denmark and other countries. Chieko Mukasa, a food culture researcher, said, "Like a kaleidoscope, Japanese cuisine is attractive on many levels. "It has been praised overseas and prompted the Japanese to rediscover the joys of a Japanese lifestyle. I hope people introduce the excellent points [of cuisine] to the rest of the world."

Efforts to foster local brands have already started. The Japan Food Industry Center, an incorporated foundation, has launched a system that gives a stamp of approval to "real and genuine" products that meet quality and production criteria. The system is modeled on those in Europe in which food products are labeled with geographic names to preserve traditional foodstuffs. The government also plans to create a certification system for local foodstuffs by the end of fiscal 2016.
(Yomiuri Shimbun)

A kimono designer is attempting to save the endangered art by introducing it to today's gadget-loving younger generation. Nobuaki Tomita has created cases for Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computers made of fabric for kimono sashes worn by "maiko" apprentice geisha. "I want to save the true tradition in one way or another while it is still alive," Tomita said.

What sets his iPad cases apart is the quality of kimono fabric coupled with durability, a typical feature of maiko obi. The cases come in 12 designs, including ones featuring Japanese apricots and bamboo set against a vermilion background, and a spinning wheel and cherry flowers against a black background.

The cases will be available online in February. Tomita has also designed bathing suits made of kimono fabric using a variation of the Kyo Yuzen dyeing technique, which has come under threat of vanishing due to a dearth of young artisans. Tomita has been struggling to breathe new life into the industry in the face of declining kimono popularity and an aging pool of artisans with necessary skills.

In Kyoto's Nishijin district, renowned for its namesake fabric, more than 1,500 weaving mills were turning out kimono fabric in the peak year of 1975. Now, that number has plummeted to less than 500. Only a few mills produce fabric for maiko obi, just one of which requires the skills and expertise of around 20 artisans.

"If nothing is done, the number of weaving mills in Nishijin will be reduced to a tenth of the present level in less than a decade," said Takashi Adachi, Tomita's partner in the iPad case venture who weaves kimono fabric for kabuki players as well as kimono sash fabric.

Tomita, who has contributed to the production of over 2,000 movies and TV programs as a kimono stylist, has organized kimono shows abroad and has attempted to put the spotlight on kimono in other, unorthodox ways.

In 2009, Tomita, while clad in a kimono, threw the opening pitch in a Major League baseball game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Among his other stunts was putting a kimono on a champion Matsuzaka cow, a celebrity of sorts as the region is known for quality beef.

Tomita is also trying to involve young people in his efforts to keep the kimono tradition alive. At Kyushu Sangyo University, where he served as a lecturer, Tomita and his students made new obi, with designs featuring famous landscapes and specialty goods of Kyushu, that were displayed in an exhibition in Shanghai on Dec. 2. "True tradition never fails to attract people," Tomita said. "I'm hoping to reinvigorate the kimono industry by increasing young people's exposure."
(The Japan Times)


As the Tomita cases are not yet available, the pictures accompanying this article are just random examples of kimono styled iPad cases and do not feature the actual Tomita collection.

Sales of alcohol-free beverages that taste like beer and wine remain on an upward trajectory as an increasing number of people are abstaining from drinking for health reasons or forgoing purchases of alcoholic drinks amid weakening consumer sentiment since the March 11 disasters. Beverage makers have introduced a number of new products, while also seeking to expand into overseas markets.

Sales of beerlike drinks with no alcoholic content began taking off in 2009, with their sales expected to total an equivalent of some 29 million cases in 2011, marking a nearly 12-fold jump from 2008, according to Suntory Liquors Ltd. One case holds 24 250-ml bottles.

Suntory's new nonalcoholic product called Non-aru Kibun hit the market in October. Purchases have been so brisk that Suntory raised its sales target for the October to December period to 1 million cases, up 70 percent from the initial projection. Asahi Breweries Ltd. has revised upward its sales target for its cocktail-like drink by 70 percent to 1.7 million cases for 2011.

Wine producer Mercian Corp. launched a new sparkling winelike product last month. Also crowding into the new market segment are drinks that taste like plum wine and "shochu" distilled spirits. Kirin Brewery Co. began selling its beerlike Kirin Free on a trial basis in the U.S. in October.

Since cars are an indispensable part of everyday life in the United States, there should be solid demand for Kirin Free, particularly among drivers, a Kirin official said.Sapporo Breweries Ltd. is seeing strong sales of its Premium Alcohol Free, touted to be made with higher-quality ingredients.

As a wider variety of products have become available, Ito-Yokado Co., among the nation's major retailers, has set aside more shelf space for nonalcoholic drinks.Sales of such beverages surged 40 percent between March and November compared with the same period last year, according to the company.

Major electronic IT manufacturers including Hitachi, Ltd., Fujitsu Ltd. and NEC Corp., plan to jointly develop next-generation semiconductors that will operate with one-tenth of the power consumed by present-day devices, it has been learned. Next-generation semiconductors will allow the transfer of greater amounts of data while at the same time enable a reduction in the size of IT-equipment and their power use.

The manufacturers hope to have the semiconductors available in fiscal 2019 and they anticipate the devices will be used widely at businesses including call centers that offer cloud computing services, as well as in products such as personal computers.

These devices are expected to reduce the power consumption of servers at data centers by about 30 percent and should also minimize the power consumed by air-conditioning units as the semiconductors will suppress heat generation.

The devices will use less power while providing extremely high data transfer speeds, enabling manufacturers to equip smartphones with the same central processing units typically found in personal computers. Experts say it will also be possible to create smartphones with battery lives that last twice as long as those available in the marketplace.

Manufacturers are competing to make semiconductors smaller and more efficient. To reduce their size, the wiring of lines on the circuit boards of these devices must be narrowed.

Experts agree that the width between these lines must be at least one millimeter. But a group of companies including Hitachi are attempting to reduce the width to 0.1 millimeter by replacing the circuit board lines with optical interconnectivity typically found in products such as digital cameras. Optical technology will enable manufacturers to produce semiconductors that are one hundred times smaller than their current size.

Japan's power consumption from information technology products is expected to increase by about 5.2 times between 2006 and 2025 due to the expansion of cloud computing services through the Internet. Therefore, there is a growing need to develop next-generation semiconductors that will significantly reduce this power consumption.

If next-generation semiconductors are developed, experts say they are expected to reduce power consumption by 130 billion kilowatts per hour in 2030. This is about 13 percent of the electricity generated by 10 Japanese power companies in fiscal 2009, which was about 1 trillion kilowatts per hour.

There is increasing global competition between manufacturers developing optical technology as they believe it is key to producing next-generation semiconductors. IBM Corp. of the United States has announced it will have next-generation semiconductors in IT equipment in 2020.

Japanese companies such as Hitachi plan to produce trial products by completing the required technological developments by fiscal 2019. They aim to utilize optical technology to revive the Japanese semiconductor industry, which has been faring badly against South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. To support domestic research and development, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry will offer subsidies of about 30 billion yen over 10 years starting in fiscal 2012. (Daily Yomiuri Online)

Japanese drinks giant Asahi has decided to put its thousands of vending machines to better use by turning them into Wi-Fi hotspots, a move which should prove popular in a country where such hotspots are few and far between. In a country where vending machines can be found not only on every street corner, but in between every street corner, across from every street corner and beside every street corner, the idea of turning them into Wi-Fi hotspots is a stroke of genius.

The new machines are being introduced in Japan by drinks company Asahi over the next 12 months, with plans for more in the coming years. The Wi-Fi signal from the machines should cover a distance of around 50 meters and will be available for free. Users won’t even have to buy something from the machine to get onto the network.

The signal will be available for 30 minutes before it cuts out, though in the oppressively hot and humid Japanese summers it’s unlikely anyone will be hanging around outside for that long. Asahi will be hoping they might even buy a cold drink when they’re done.

The drinks company, which currently has around a quarter of a million vending machines stationed around Japan, will initially set up 1,000 of the Wi-Fi-enabled machines in major conurbations across the country, with the aim of having some 10,000 machines up and running by 2017.

Whereas in the US free Wi-Fi can be found in the majority of restaurants, cafes and hotels, it may come as a surprise to some that in a tech-loving country like Japan such a service is still rare – and unless that changes, we might soon begin seeing large crowds of people huddled around vending machines doing something besides buying drinks from it.
(DigitalTrends)

Sony's long-awaited PlayStation Vita portable game machine hit stores in Japan on Saturday as thousands of game enthusiasts lined up early in the morning to be among the first to buy it. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is predicting brisk sales, even though the launch may have missed some holiday shoppers. A successful debut would help the company offset the rest of its struggling business. Sony projects a loss of more than $1 billion for the fiscal year through March 2012, which would be its fourth straight annual loss.

In Tokyo's Ikebukuro shopping district, some 300 game enthusiasts lined up outside a major electronics chain that opened a few hours earlier than usual for the event. Many of the purchasers had made advance orders on the Internet so they could start playing immediately. The device is a touch-interface and motion-sensitive handheld seen as a successor to the PlayStation Portable. 

Gamers can connect over cellphone networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and use GPS location-tracking technology. Television footage showed some shoppers unwrapping their new purchases and starting to try them out at the store. "I'm so happy to see so many people lining up for PS Vita so early in the morning," Sony Computer Entertainment Japan President Hiroshi Kono wrote in his official blog after touring several Tokyo stores. 

"I can tell they had anxiously waited for today's launch." For the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant, the Vita is the biggest product launch since the PlayStation 3 console five years ago. It's also accompanied by two dozen software products — the largest number of launch titles in PlayStation history. The Vita has front and back cameras, a touchscreen in front, a touch pad on the back and two knob-like joysticks. It will enable gamers to play against each other using PlayStation 3 consoles over the Internet-based PlayStation Network, a system that was hit with a massive hacking attack earlier this year.

Vita's launch will heat up competition with rival Nintendo Co.'s 3DS. Nintendo Co.'s 3DS had a disappointing start despite the company's efforts to market its 3-D technology, with critics complaining about a lack of interesting games. 

Nintendo ended up slashing prices on the 3DS within six months. The companies are challenged by the rise of smartphones and tablets, through which casual gamers play inexpensive and simple games like the mega-hit "Angry Birds."  According to gaming magazine publisher Enterbrain Inc., the market for home-use video game consoles, including both handheld devices and standalones, fell by about 30 percent in 2010 from 2007, when sales peaked at about 688 billion yen. 

In contrast, the market for online games for mobile phones hit about 320 billion yen in 2010, double what it was four years previously. Along with the proliferation of smartphones, which have larger display screens than cell phones, a growing number of people are playing games on social networking sites, with most titles exclusive to mobile phones. In Social Networking Site (SNS) games, people who have never met can play games in match or cooperative mode. Sony's older PSP models had no function to access networks via mobile phone lines, and consequently their online features were lacking. While the Vita device has the telecommunication function, only 24 game titles were available at the time of its release.

Though Sony plans to add titles to its lineup of games for the Vita device, it cannot compete with the 100,000 or more titles available on the iPhone smartphone by the U.S. company Apple Inc. Enterbrain President Hirokazu Hamamura said the Vita's success will "depend on how many new, exciting and easy-to-play games will be provided." Competition to procure talented game developers is thus intensifying.


Yohei Yoshimuta, a 23-year-old software developer, graduated from Keio University's graduate school this past spring. He was recruited by game developer Gree Inc., signing a contract that could see him earning a salary as high as 10 million yen. Yoshimuta said that because the programming of SNS game software is relatively simple, "developers can easily demonstrate their skills by, for example, refining an SNS game, even after its release." This past spring, a famous software developer who worked on the popular video game series Final Fantasy left major game producer Square Enix Co. for Gree. A key factor in regaining the former glory of video game consoles will be whether the software producers can mitigate the flow of talented developers to the makers of the popular SNS games.

The PS Vita goes on sale in North America and Europe on Feb. 22.

(The Daily Yomiuri Online)

Sanrio Co. has bought the rights to the Mr. Men animated characters from Chorion Ltd., looking to cut its reliance on Hello Kitty, which generates 80 percent of the company's overseas licensing revenue. Sanrio will acquire all shares of the Mr. Men animated film development and production unit from London-based Chorion, the company said in a statement that didn't include the terms of the deal.

Mr. Men will be the first character set at Sanrio not created by the company itself, which was founded by President Shintaro Tsuji in 1960. Sanrio has licensed the images of Hello Kitty and other characters it developed for use on about 50,000 items, including Zara Hello Kitty T-shirts sold in more than 70 countries.

Sanrio "should be able to increase sales of Mr. Men," said Takashi Oka, a Tokyo-based analyst at TIW Inc. "Sanrio won't stop here and will carry on acquiring global characters." Sanrio's stock has more than doubled this year, making it the eighth-biggest gainer among 1,662 stocks in the Topix index, which has declined 18 percent.

Mr. Men is a series of 49 children's books by Roger Hargreaves commencing in 1971. Two of these books were not published in English. The series features characters with names such as Mr. Tickle and Mr. Happy who have personalities based on their names. From 1981, an accompanying series of 42 Little Miss books by the same author, but with female characters, were published, although nine of them were not published in English. After Hargreaves's death in 1988, his son Adam Hargreaves began writing and illustrating new stories, including four characters that R. Hargreaves had developed before his death. (The Japan Times)