The Japan Times has an article on Saki Matsuzawa, a 12-year-old girl whose work, Meron Pan no Ichi Nichi (A Day of the Melon Bread), is going to be released as a manga after serializing online as a interactive online storybook (available in Japanese, English or Korean):

Matsuzawa created the "Meron Pan" story last year, and was soon discovered by Sakyou Takaishi, founder and executive editor of publisher JPS (Japan Publication Service).

From Asahi Shimbun comes an article titled "Cashing in on Over-the-Counter Culture," which looks at the history of VIZ Media and its co-chairman Seiji Horibuchi.

From AoD's Matthew Alexander comes an interview with Eijiro Shimada, Editor-in-Chief of Morning and its sister magazine Morning 2, and Yukari Shiina of world-manga.com (specialized in non-Japanese manga), who talk about Kodansha's 2nd Morning International Manga Competition (M.I.M.C.).

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan Economic Times), one of the most respected economics newspaper in Japan, recently published a column from an otaku who claims (without source) that in Japan over 1 million men are obsessed with Neon Genesis Evangelion's Rei Ayanami.

Below is a brief translation of the column:

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theOtaku announced that their myOtaku blogs have become 100% ad free:

On behalf of our 60,000+ myOtaku bloggers, thanks to: Fullmetal Alchemist, Mushi-shi, Witchblade, School Rumble, Tenchi Muyo, and Glass Fleet. It's rare for advertisers to actually sponsor the taking away of advertising and is a much appreciated gesture.

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Recently, a college student bragged in his diary on Mixi (a JP social networking site) about his cheating the subway fare and then arguing with the authorities, or impregnating a junior-high school girl. As a result, the student was criticized and attacked by many internet users, and was later kicked out of school due to the diary entries.

The story, which caught a lot of attention, was adapted into a short manga by a website called "Paint Manga Hokanko" (Manga Preservation House), which creates manga based on stories from around the internet.

The first 26 pages of the manga adaptation of Mushi-Uta has been made available on line by Kadokawa Shoten. The preview can be found here.

Source: Active Anime

The winners of this year's Seoul Drama Awards have been announced, and the live-action adaptation of Nodame Cantabile won three awards: Best mini-series, director (Takeuchi Hideki) and best music.

Source: ANN

Kadokawa Shoten has announced the winners of its 2007 Light Novel Awards as voted by its readers. ANN has a translated report:

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Japanese doujinshi shop Toranoana has launched a new webzine called Comic Holic (ComiHoli). Manga from this web manga magazine will be published in tankoubon form by Fox Shuppan under the Fox Comics imprint.

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