Takehiko Inoue's Slam Dunk is one of the most popular manga in the world. In 2004 Shueisha announced that it has sold over 100 million copies of Slam Dunk, which shows that the series is still being enjoyed by fans around the world 10 years after it ended in Weekly Shonen Jump.

A month ago Takehiko Inoue established a new scholarship called Slam Dunk Scholarship. In response to the news, Shueisha interviewed Inoue, who talks about the purpose of the scholarship as well as his passion with basketball in Japan.

Original Slam Dunk Scholarship report from November:

A new scholarship from Inoue Takehiko, called Slam Dunk Scholarship, was established for aspiring Japanese students planning on attending South Kent School in Connecticut "to learn English, play basketball ball, and try to get into an NCAA team." The scholarship is open to people attending 2nd-year highschool as of this October 06, loves b-ball, is born after April 2nd '89, and has parental consent. Application forms will be availalbe in January 2007.

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Manga top 10 according to Tohan.

1. One Piece vol.44
2. Bleach vol.25
3. Eyeshield 21 vol.22
4. 20th Century Boys vol.22
5. WORST vol.16
6. Red Diamonds Eleven
7. Rurouni Kenshin Perfect Edition vol.11+12
8. Bokura ga Ita vol.11
9. Fullmetal Alchemist vol.15
10. Initial D vol.34

Amazon.co.jp has released a list of the top 10 best-selling manga in 2006:

1. Nodame Cantabile vol.14
2. Manga Ken Kan Ryu vol.2
3. Death Note vol.10
4. Neon Genesis Evangelion vol.10
5. The Five Star Stories vol.12
6. Yotsuba&! vol.5
7. Kyo no Nekomura-san vol.2
8. Shoujo Sect vol.2
9. Pluto vol.3
10. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 7-Vol Box Set (Wideban)

Celebrate Takumi-kun Series' 15th anniversary, series author Shinobu Goto and artist Kazumi Ooya held an autograph session on December 3rd at Animate Yokohama.

Only those who bought or reserved both "Takumi-kun series Bara no Shita de - Natsu no Zanzou vol.3" (released on November 30th) and "Takumi-kun series Hana Chiru Yoru ni Kimi wo Omoeba" (released on December 1st) at Animate Ikebukuro or Animate Yokohama were allowed to attend on a first-come-first-ser

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Ichiko Ima's shojo manga Hyakki Yakou Shou, currently serialized in Asahi Sonorama's in Nemurenu Yoru no Kimyou na Hanashi, will be adapted into a TV drama in February 2007.

ANS reports that according to Tohan, Gin Tamashii 3 Nen Z Gumi Gin Hachi Sensei was the best-selling novel in Japan between December 2005 and November 2006:

Japanese publishing industry watcher Tohan has declared the best-selling new novel in Japan for the period between December, 2005 and November, 2006) as "Gin Tamashii 3 Nen Z Gumi Gin Hachi Sensei". Transcribed by Oosaki Tomohito, the novel is an adaptation of the popular Sorachi Eiaki / Shueisha manga. In third place is the Katsura Hoshino manga based D Greyman: Reverse (2) novel written by Kizaki Kaya.

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MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking in Japan (12/02) according to Toranoana Akihabara, compiled by Akiba Blog (NSFW).

Spiral - Suiri no Kizuna, also known as Spiral - Bonds of Reasoning, is a popular detective manga by Kyou Shirodaira (writer) and Eita Mizuno (art) that was published in Square Enix's Monthly Shounen Gangan (the manga ended its run in September 2005), and later adapted into a 25 episode anime series, which aired on TV every Tuesday.

The hero in Spiral is Ayumu Narumi, a genius detective high school boy who uses his powers of reasoning to solve—with ease—problems that seem unbelievably difficult. In the story this hero goes around trying to find his long-lost brother by solving riddles that his brother has left behind... but wait a minute, there seem to be many deductions and actions in this manga that will never happen in the real world. Tsuredure Thoughts has written an article on the science found in Spiral, below is a translation of the article, so un-suspend your suspended disbelief as we tease out the make-believe science that is shown in Spiral - Bonds of Reasoning.

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On December 6th, Yoyogi Live Animation Co., Ltd. (Yoyogi, Shibuya Ward, President - Ryoich Ishikawa, Capital - 40 million yen, 40 employees) petitioned for the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, and on the same day received the Preservation of Assets Order from the Tokyo District Court.

Established in May of 1978, Yoyogi Live Animation managed the anime school Yoyogi Animation Gakuin (代々木アニメーション学院), which had over 6000 students in its 13 different branches of study. Yoyogi Animation Gakuin, one of the largest anime schools in Japan, has earned great recognition for its honorable history, positive scores, and the large number of graduates. The animation school has raised numerous anime creators within its Anime department, as the Imaging, Game Creation, and Show Business departments. The revenue of the school was reported to be approximately 7,700 million yen in April 1998.

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An interesting video from YouTube of professional manga reading in Japan.