According to .Anime, Koge-Donbo's name has been changed to Koge-Donbo* "for copyright use."

Source: MangaBlog

MangaBlog points out that Viz Media is currently hiring for a number of positions.

From Daily Yomiuri comes an article on how Daisaku Tsuru, an assistant cultural anthropology professor at Toyama University, is creating a manga titled Nacun that focuses on the "mystery of life, with the sea in Okinawa Prefecture as its background.":

Tsuru debuted as a mangaka in 2006 with Nacun, a series that has been carried in Afternoon, a monthly magazine published by Kodansha Ltd. Nacun is based on Tsuru's own experience of having researched fishing culture on an isolated island in Okinawa Prefecture for a total of six months while at graduate school.

From Canned Dogs comes an story about the troubles of Wakaki Tamiki, a Shounen Sunday manga artist responsible for series like Seikesshou Albatross. According Tamiki's latest blog post, he is extremely short on money at the moment, with less than 10,000 yen in his bank account:

He would have no money to pay the utilities bills, but he managed to get an advance from Shounen Sunday for the manga that's starting serialization in the next issue.

Recently the head editor of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump, Masahiko Ibaraki, published a column on Nihon Keizai Shimbun called "25 Years of Me and Shonen Jump." In the column, Ibaraki talks about his life for 25 years as the editor-in-chief of Shonen Jump.

The Reminiscence of My 25 Years with Shonen Jump
- by Masahiko Ibaraki: Editor-in-Chief of Shonen Jump

I joined Shueisha in 1982 and was appointed to the Shonen Jump editorial department. Shonen Jump is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and I've been spending 25 years in the same place.

Read More »

According to a listing on Monster.com, DMP is currently looking for an Entry Level Sales & Marketing Admin:

Digital Manga is looking for an energetic and organized individual to assist with sales, and marketing for our company. Candidate would be responsible for helping to generate sales reports on a weekly basis from data provided by our distributor along with other various market reports that our company may need from time to time.

Shoujo mangaka Toshiyuki Suzuki, who draws under the name Kenichirou Suzuhara, has died of ischemic heart disease on February 9th. Suzuhara was an active shoujo mangaka in the 1960s whose manga were serialized in Shueisha's Margaret and other shoujo magazines.

Source: Asahi Shimbun

Popular mangaka Moyoco Anno (Hataraki Man, Happy Mania) announced on her blog that she will be taking a rest from work due to health problems, and that all of her work other than Ochibisan will be put on hiatus. According to this Mainichi report:

Moyoco Anno has been in poor health for the past few years, and confessed her feelings in her blog: "during cases when my health failed, I tried to restart my work after a brief rest, but now even that has become difficult for me. Let me take a rest for a longer period of time, so I don't have to go over the same trouble again." [...] "although I can't say when I'll be back, I want to draw manga again. I want to be back so I can do it."

Source: Mainichi Shimbun

Mainichi Daily News has an article on how a 66-year-old doctor who served as the inspiration for the manga Dr. Koto Shinryojo will "carry on working after spring this year, despite reaching retirement age, thanks to support from local residents."

The Guardian has an article on how manga is influencing a wave of new Chinese designers.

The Star Online reports that eateries in Japan where customers and waiters role play themes from manga, particularly BL manga, are becoming increasingly popular.

Canned Dogs reports that the manga Kare to kanojo no kyoukaisen, which is currently serialized in Ichijinsha's Comic REX, ended unexpectedly due to the death of its mangaka, Yorishiro Tomoyuki:

The latest issue of Comic REX has revealed the saddening news that author Yorishiro Tomoyuki who had just started serialisation on Comic REX has passed away unexpectedly while he was working the 3rd chapter of his manga Kare to kanojo no kyoukaisen.