Top 10 manga (5/14) according to Tohan:

1. Naruto (42)
2. Claymore (14)
3. Worst (20)
4. To Love-Ru (9)
5. Kaichou wa Maid-sama! (5)
6. Steel Ball Run (15)
7. Faster than a Kiss (3)
8. Angel Heart (26)
9. Initial D (37)
10. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (3)

Additional Rankings:

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IGN has published an extensive article on Tokyo's Akihabara district titled "Next Stop: Tokyo's Akihabara District."

From otaku blog Akibanana comes an interview with Okura Atsuhisa:

Okura Atsuhisa, 39, a Kodansha Award laureate known for his work in the November 2007 edition of Wired. With the second volume of Moe USA in stores now, we decided to sit down with Okura to get to the bottom of the global move to educate otaku and experience Akihabara.

Top 10 manga (4/30) according to Tohan:

1. Hayate the Combat Butler (15)
2. Koukou Debut (11)
3. Kekkaishi (20)
4. Mahou Sensei Negima! (22)
5. Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu (11)
6. Otomen (5)
7. Inuyasha (53)
8. Kamen Rider Spirits (14)
9. Cat Street (8)
10. Emma (10)

Additional Rankings:

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Jiji Press reports that UNIQLO, a Japanese casual clothing store chain, is planning on bringing its manga and anime T-shirts overseas:

Fast Retailing hopes to boost sales of the manga and anime T-shirts by luring more overseas customers who seek after Japanese pop culture as "Japan Cool." [...] In France, Fast Retailing on Monday opened a time-limited T-shirt shop at Galeries Lafayette, a major department store in central Paris. [...] UNIQLO's adult-size T-shirts are priced between 1,500 yen and 1,900 yen in Japan. [...] In 2008, the company aims at selling more than 12 million T-shirts worldwide. It operates UNIQLO shops in Britain, France, Hong Kong, mainland China, South Korea and the United States in addition to Japan.

Source: MangaCast

According to Canned Dogs, artist Ishii Meguru was arrested in Yokohama for committing "indecent acts with a 15 year old girl through November and December last year for a total of 4 times.":

The article reports that Ishii Meguru was an artist for the novelized version of Higurashi no naku koro ni (though he only did some art for Ichijinsha's novel anthologies, the artist for the official higurashi novels is Tomohi), and that he was also popular among fans of gothic lolita.

Top 10 manga (3/26) according to Tohan:

1. Nodame Cantabile (20)
2. Fullmetal Alchemist (19)
3. Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (23)
4. Ahiru no Sora (19)
5. Fairy Tale (9)
6. Hajime no Ippo (83)
7. Konjiki no Gash!! (32)
8. Air Gear (20)
9. Minami-ke (5)
10. History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi (28)

Additional Rankings:

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The first Anime Blog Awards is now underway:

The Anime Blog Awards is a bridge to highlight the best blogs in their various genres. We hope that the awards can celebrate the excellence of great anime blogs within the anime blogosphere. We also believe that this award will fulfill its desire to promote new or excellent blogs that should be given more attention.

To vote for your favorite blog, you need to own or contribute to a blog yourself. Nominations will end on April 22nd. Included in the award is a category for manga blogs. Go here for more rules.

Top 10 manga (3/19) according to Tohan:

1. Nodame Cantabile (20)
2. One Piece (49)
3. Aria (12)
4. Hunter x Hunter (25)
5. D.Gray-man (14)
6. Fist of the Blue Sky (18)
7. The Prince of Tennis (41)
8. To Love-Ru (8)
9. Highschool of the Dead (4)
10. Seito Shokun! Kyoshi-hen (14)

Additional Rankings:

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Artinfo reports that the International Asian Art Fair, which takes place March 15–19, is featuring a contemporary gallery called Art Miya that dedicated its entire booth to manga sculptor Yabuuchi Satoshi.

Also, AkibaBlog has a report on "Raku-Job," an event where fans attend to look for a job in the anime, manga and game business.

Finally, BBC News looks at this year's China Comics Now exhibition in "When Manga meets communism."