July 24, 2008

Cosplay "Guidols" serve as Akihabara Tour Guides

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Akibanana is a Japanese tour company that employs young women in cosplay attire to guide foreign tourists around the otaku-heaven district of Akihabara in Tokyo. Cosplay Akihabara Tours (via Tokyo Mango)

 

 

Akibanana will start the Akihabara AOA Tours from 25th July onwards. The tours will be conducted in English, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Cherry is our poster girl and main Japanese and Chinese guide. A Chinese and Japanese version of Akibanana is on it's way, but until then, Cherry will start blogging in Japanese for her Japanese fans on Akibanana. We hope you'll welcome her Japanese presence! Cherry is not so well-versed in English but she is learning. Please support her!

Akibanana's guides are also idols, therefore we created a new category called guidols. Kinda like the maidols.

About CHERRY
Cherry is a passionate fan of manga and anime who overflows with sweetness. She has worked in a maid cafĂ© in Akihabara and loves to dress up (her favorite accessory is eyeglasses). A self-described sweet tooth, she was born in a candy shop and worked in a candy factory before becoming a maid in Akiba. Cherry’s most charming feature? Her super-sweet smile, of course!

 

 

Sources: boingboing and Akibanana

July 10, 2008

China warns Sarkozy not to see Dalai Lama

By Steven Erlanger

PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who is expected to announce on Wednesday that he will after all attend the opening ceremonies of Beijing's Olympic Games, was warned by China on Tuesday not to meet with the Dalai Lama in France next month.

China's ambassador to France, Kong Quan, told reporters there would be "serious consequences" for Chinese-French relations if Sarkozy meets the Dalai Lama, asserting that it "would be contrary to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs."

Sarkozy has been vague on whether he will meet personally with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader in exile of Tibet, regarded by China as a renegade "splittist" who has advocated resistance to China's sovereignty.

China has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama and his subordinates of instigating anti-Chinese riots in Tibet three months ago and encouraging a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, which the Dalai Lama has denied. Representatives of both sides recently resumed suspended reconciliation talks.

France holds the presidency of the European Union, and Sarkozy has said that his attendance at the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies will depend on progress in those talks. The Dalai Lama's visit to France, for a conference on Buddhism, comes after the opening of the Olympics.

 

Sarkozy is scheduled to meet President Hu Jintao of China in Japan during the Group of 8 summit conference under way there, and Sarkozy is expected to say that he will be in Beijing for the opening ceremonies.

French protests in April of the Chinese crackdown on Tibetan unrest caused fury in Beijing, creating political problems for Sarkozy and complications for French companies, which some angry Chinese, encouraged at first by their government, have boycotted.

 

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