News On Japan via animenewsnetwork.com.au -- Aug 05
An audience of about 18,000 attended the World Cosplay Summit 2012 finals in Nagoya, Japan on Saturday. 40 representatives from 20 countries, including the United States, competed for the top spot.
Japanese cosplayers Yukari Shimotsuki and Kaito won this year's grand prize as the characters Hijikata Toshizō and Kazama Chikage (family name first) from Hakuōki Shinsengumi Kitan. The duo won the ANA Prize and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Prize. This is Japan's second win in four years, having won in 2009.
Saitama and Okayama prefectural police last week arrested the manager of an online porn DVD operation that specialized in films featuring children. (Tokyo Reporter)
A 24-year-old woman was in a serious condition Friday after being stabbed by a man whom she reported to police for stalking her in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (Japan Today )
China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. (Reuters )
Police said Friday they have found four dead bodies in an apartment in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in what is believed to have been a family murder-suicide. (Japan Today )
Shukan Post (May 24) conveys the difficulties experienced by other parts of the adult-entertainment biz in servicing customers from the communist nation.
A deri heru (“delivery health”) call-girl tells the tabloid that she is often requested to arrive at major hotels in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro entertainment areas of Tokyo by Chinese visitors. (Tokyo Reporter)