Broccoli Books has updated its website with three of its recent new acquisitions:

• Nui! by Natsumi Mukai
• Koi Cupid by Mia Ikumi
• sola by Naoki Hisaya (story) and Chaco Abeno (art)

The updated pages include information on release dates, creators, characters, as well as sneak previews (currently unavailable).

Via: ANN

In "Comic inspires classical concert," The Star Online looks at how manga like Nodame Cantabile are helping keep classical music alive:

But on the Eastern front, new methods are being brought into play to shake off those stereotypes and bring new audiences to classical music. Starting with a Japanese comic book, Nodame Cantabile, and continuing with a 2006 Japanese television drama of the same name, the latest offensive is a series of classical concerts in South Korea.

The Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture festival will be taking place at the Kennedy Center from February 7th to 17th. Events planned including the Manga Café and Reading Lounge:

In this casual space, visitors can enjoy a bite to eat while flipping through some of Japan's most popular manga provided by VIZ Media, watching anime trailers, and viewing Matt Alt's vintage robot toy collection. Throughout the festival, famed manga-ka (manga author) Robin Nishi will be on hand to capture festival happenings in a "Daily Manga" drawing. Nishi will conduct a free public workshop for ages 10 and up, Feb. 16 at 11 a.m.

Source: ComicsDC

Anime! Anime! reports that the "Shojo Manga! Girls' Power!" tour will be traveling to four locations in Japan in 2008, including the Kawasaki City Museum between February 16 and March 30, and the Kyoto International Manga Museum from July 19 to August 31.

Source: ANN

According to a blog post by Doujin Work creator Hiroyuki, Doujin Work will be coming to an ending in the February issue (2/9) of Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara. However, a spin off series will start in the April issue of Manga Time Kirara.

Source: Canned Dogs

Manga news, review and scanlation website Manga Jouhou is celebrating its 5th anniversary. Hooray.

BL publisher Iris Print has posted an extensive blog post on how the company is running out of fundings, and is currently struggling to survive in the manga market:

The short story is, Iris Print ran out of funding. Orders for in-stock books are still shipping, and refunds for BL Twist are being issued, slowly but surely. But there hasn't been enough money coming in to support this venture for a long time, and to be honest, the plug was pulled a lot later than it should have been.

Go to Yaoi for more info.

Asahi Shimbun has a cover story titled "Manga-fied," which looks at how Japanese manga is attracting a "growing legion of French people" to Japan:

Thanks to Japanese pop culture, people overseas have a readily accessible window into Japan and its traditions. [...] For French people in particular, this window has created an appeal that is proving hard to resist.

Arab News has published an article on how for the first time, Saudi comics artists are invited to participate in Japan's Second International Manga Award, which will be held in Tokyo in the summer of 2008:

"We hope to see some Saudi artists in this year's contest," said Katsunobu Takada, head of the cultural section of the Japanese Embassy in Riyadh.

From Weekly Jump Readers' Journal comes an article feature titled "WSJ Illustrated Guide: pt. 6 (2000-present)," the final installment of a 6-part series of articles that look at important Shonen Jump serializations, with a focus on titles that were adapted into anime.