In an effort to help support of the restoration efforts in Kumamoto after the 2016 earthquake devastated the prefecture, the Nohara family from the popular manga and anime series Crayon Shin-chan have been appointed official Kumamoto Restoration Supporters. This begins with a PR campaign to help promote tourism in Kumamoto’s city of Aso. To celebrate, Shin-chan himself visited the Kumamoto Prefectural Government on July 15.

Shin-chan’s mother, Misae, was born and raised in Aso, Kumamoto, while himself and his father Hiroshi were both born in Akira Prefecture. Shin-chan considers Aso his second home, and all of this the reason behind the family’s appointment as supporters. The manga series has raised money for Kumamoto numerous times in the past, including for the Crayon Shin-chan 25th Anniversary Exhibition which saw money raised for charity products donated towards relief efforts of the earthquake disaster. This year, the series joins hands with the prefecture once more.

The 2021 summer campaign is being carried with the slogan “I’m fine! ASO.” The Nohara family will serve as PR characters to spread the word about Aso. This will include a digital stamp rally that will have people travelling around the prefecture on their smartphones. The app will be released in August, followed by campaign posters, pamphlets, and other promotional material rolling out.

When Shin-chan visited the local government office for his appointment as a supporter, he played the Nintendo Switch game Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi – Owaranai Nanokakan no Tabi with officials, which also released on the same day. In the game you can visit lots of spots around Kumamoto such as Kumamoto Station, Kusasenri Observatory, Tsujun Bridge, Aso Station, and more.

©臼井儀人／双葉社・シンエイ・テレビ朝日・ADK
©2010熊本くまモン

 ⒸNeos Corporation
Nintendo Switchのロゴ・Nintendo Switchは任天堂の商標です。

Digital content enterprise Cocone has made Sanrio’s popular character dress-up game Hello Sweet Days available in the US, Canada, and South Korea. The app hit the overseas countries on June 10, allowing for fans outside Japan to enjoy dressing their avatars up like their favourite Sanrio characters.

Hello Sweet Days first launched in Japan back in August 2017 and has since amassed over 2 million downloads. It rolled out to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao in 2020, and now an English version has finally been made available. There are plans to release the app to even more countries in the future.

Pre-registration opened early in South Korea on May 24 when it garnered 60,000 advance sign-ups. Those who registered early even received K-pop idol-style fashion items. Since releasing last Thursday, it is now being used by over 300,000 fans in South Korea.

Head on over to the App Store or Google Play and enjoy Hello Sweet Days in English now!

© 2021 SANRIO CO., LTD. TOKYO, JAPAN Ⓗ. APPROVAL NO. S620438 ©cocone corp.

TSUBASA+, a ‘real world’ mobile game developed by MIRAIRE that’s based on the popular football manga series Captain Tsubasa, is set to begin rolling out worldwide this autumn.

TSUBASA+ is a collaboration between football players throughout the world and Captain Tsubasa’s players, bringing them together in real world locations using GPS and Google Maps Platform. Development of the game was supervised by video game designer Yoshiki Okamoto (Monster Strike; Street Fighter II; Red Dead Revolver).

TSUBASA+ in-game image

Players walk around real world locations and battle with Captain Tsubasa characters and real-life FIFPro football players at stadiums found around the game.

Stadium check-in

Example of a team formation

Players can create their own unique teams and play 1-on-1 with 3 players around the world.

Playing a match

Match Results screen

Players must pick a stadium in-game which will be registered as their home stadium where they can level up by playing with others. As your stadium levels up, it becomes easier to recruit more famous and high level football players. Players can also receive a variety of items at their stadium.

The map

The game can be played indoors too using the map system, so you don’t have to worry about having to go outdoors to play during the pandemic. Players can also warp to other users they follow too.

The soundtrack for TSUBASA+, including the background music and sound effects, is composed and produced by Taku Takahashi.

☆Taku Takahashi (m-flo) | Comment

“I’m really proud to have had the opportunity to be involved for this game which is based on a series popular worldwide. I have become a football lover, supporter, and rival supporter through this game. I was conscious when making the music for it to be a way for people who love football to quickly connect to one another. I’m really looking forward to playing too.”

©Yoichi Takahashi/SHUEISHA
©”The use of images and names of the football players in this game is under license from FIFPro Commercial Enterprises BV. FIFPro is a registered trademark of FIFPro Commercial Enterprises BV”
©LICENSED BY JAPAN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
©miraire Inc.

Tipsys, a social app for women in Japan, has expanded its reach to the whole of Japan on March 17, 2020. It was previously only usable in major cities throughout the country.

Tipsys is an app aimed at women who are at a turning point in their livesーwhether it be going to university, looking for work, changing jobsーand helps them make friends with other women to hang out with so they can go going shopping, get a drink at a bar, and so on.

The app launched its service in Tokyo in March 2017, and subsequently rolled out at surrounding major cities. It has over 60,000 users, and that number is set to grow as the app now caters for the entire country.

The app allows you to customise your profile with tags and details, like hobbies, where you want to meet up with people, if you drink and what you like to drink, your outing budget, and so on. Tipsys aims to introduce more functions that cater to the needs of its users and their matchmaking needs too.

“Safety Tips” is an app for foreign travellers in Japan that was developed by the Japan Tourism Agency. The app has added three new languagesーKhmer, Burmese, and Mongolianーbringing the total number up to 14. The languages were added together with the new 3.4.0 version of the app on March 17, which is available on iOS and Android.

Safety Tips was launched in October 2014 and enables push notifications and alerts for sudden earthquakes, tsunamis, breaking news, volcano eruptions, virus outbreaks, civil protection news, evacuation announcements, and more. It also displays flow charts that showcases the spread of the particular disaster, links on where to get important and helpful information at the time of disaster, and more.

Compatible languages include: English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Tagalog, Nepali, Khmer, Burmese, and Mongolian.

If you’re worried about natural disasters when travelling to Japan, arm yourself by downloading Safety Tips for all the necessary information.

My Melody’s birthday was yesterday (January 18), and in the run up to it, Sanrio released a new smartphone app on Friday named “Itsudemo Issho ni My Melody” (Together Always With My Melody). Described as a “healing app,” the app is My Melody’s way of cheering on those who are working hard every day; it continues her support of healing people on Twitter and radio with her personality.

This app was developed together with fans, with 300 of them participating in a questionnaire for it. It has three major functions including “Text Chat,” “Schedule,” and “Alarm,” all of which incorporate everybody’s favourite bunny.

Receive texts from My Melody with Talk Chat

The Talk Chat function enables you to chat with My Melody via text messages. Replies are given 24 hours a day, so you can send her a text at any time, whether it’s idle chit-chat or telling her a secret you can’t tell anyone else. Whatever it is you want to talk to her about, her words are sure to leave you feeling warm and fluffy.

The messaging service has 12 special stamps which can only be used on the app. If you send a certain stamp, you’ll even receive a call from My Melody. You can also customise the chat backgrounds as you please.

My Melody keeps your days organised with the Schedule

Using the app’s cute calendar, you can enter your schedule for each month.

My Melody will even send you reminders of upcoming plans in the chat too, even if the app is closed, so you won’t miss a thing.

There are 10 “Schedule Seals” you can use depending on what kind of reminder you are setting. Depending on which seal you use, My Melody will send you a different message. Setting a schedule has never been so much fun!

Look forward to waking up to My Melody’s voice with the Alarm

The Alarm function makes use of My Melody’s voice, which is sure to support you during your busy days. There are six voice functions you can set, from waking up in the morning to break time and more.

Additional convenient functions to be released in the future

More functions are set to be released in the future, including the Weather function in March which will have My Melody informing you what the weather will be like outside. If you ask her about the weather in the chat room, she’ll tell you the weather type, temperature, and more to help you prep for each day.

Download the My Melody app and make your days even more fun♡

©’76,’20 SANRIO

On July 23, 2019, Tokyo Disney Resort will launch a new Tokyo Disney Resort App for smartphones which allows you to obtain FASTPASS tickets for rides from any location in the park.

After entering the park, you can download your FASTPASS tickets using the app. This allows visitors to fully immerse themselves in the magical atmosphere of the park, giving them more time to enjoy the delicious food and discover the shops without having to rush to the other side of the park to get to the machines selling the FASTPASS tickets. 

You can use the app to get FASTPASS tickets at a total of 18 park attractions at the resort. This even includes tickets for the brand new DisneySea® attraction Soaring: Fantastic Flight, which will open on July 23, 2019. 

Downloading the Tokyo Disney Resort App is sure to save a lot of time and energy so you and your friends and family can focus on having a good time and discovering this enchanted world. 

©️Disney

A mobile app called SakeWiz used for finding information on Japanese sake was released on May 8, 2018 and is available on iOS and Android in Japan, the US, Canada and Singapore.

There’s been a boom recently amongst young females in Japan for local sake. SakeWiz was developed to play a role in helping spread the boom of Japanese sake even more through the internet.

The app was officially endorsed by Sake Service Institute (SSI), a Japanese sake service that authorises the Kikisake, or Master of Sake course.

Using artificial intelligence, the app has label scanning software to search for Japanese sake brands and names which can be difficult to remember. Additionally, you can save your favourite brands on the app to share and recommend with friends.

Sake has a tendency to mostly be enjoyed by males and females in their 30s. The polyphenol effect, which became the impetus for the first wine boom in Japan, also played a role in lighting a fire amongst young women who are consistently the leaders consumption in this area.

There are plans to implement more functions such as to enable users to be able to comment on sake and food they like, as well as introduce coupons. The app is also available in multiple languages, including Chinese and Korean.

If you love Japanese sake or someone who wants to try out all the sake that Japan has to offer, then consider downloading SakeWiz.

The camera app, SNOW is known for its cute and fun processing features. For fashion conscience girls, the creating of instant camera-like photos using SNOW is gaining popularity. Here, we will explain what kind of processes are possible with SNOW.

First, start up SNOW and choose your selfie filter. Choose one of the camera icons from the icons enclosed in the red box. Next, choose the filter of your choice. For this example, we have chosen the Andriod version of SNOW．Try using the 3 filters enclosed in the blue box, starting from the one on the left.

For an iPhone use the camera filter.

Here is the first filter. It creates a faint-looking photo. The photo has a transient-feel to it.

The second filter creates a more austere-feeling image. This filter is recommended for taking cool landscape photos.

The last filter creates a photo where the center of the photo is clear and focused but the surroundings are a bit blurred. This makes for a retro-looking photo. Orange colors are highlighted so it is just right for taking café food items. For all filters the date appears automatically in the right corner of the photo so when you use a smartphone it is recommended that you take a photo with your smartphone on its side.

Another filter that is highly recommended is this one.

Choose the “collage” icon from the icons enclosed in the red box. Next, choose the filter of your choice from the filters enclosed in the blue box.

When you take a photo using this filter it looks similar to the frame of a film camera. It makes for a very unique photo, one you will want to upload on your SNS.

Better than having to carry a bulky film camera, why not just use SNOW to get a similar quality photo. If you get bored with the same style photos, why not try using SNOW and create film camera style photos.

Source：HARAJUKU KAWAII STYLE