Okay, so I haven't been interested in the news lately. Here's an extra-special apology to Batou and Tim for leaving them high and dry: the news! Thanks for being such troopers, guys!
Manga CVN73 USS George Washington Now Distributed
A followup from a previous news post.
The manga commissioned by the United States Navy is being distributed in Japan on the US naval base in Yokosuka and online. The manga is to prepare the Japanese citizens for the arrival of the USS George Washington CVN 73, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The Navy wanted an alternative approach to reaching the Japanese people than a regular pamphlet, and for good reason. Since the whole Nagasaki and Hiroshima thing, nuclear-powered weapons have been a predominant motif in anime and manga as horribly despised weapons.
The story explains the carrier's mission through a fictional Japanese-American sailor. There are pdf formats available online in both English and Japanese.
Source
Anime News Network
At Least Seven Dead in Akiba Attack
A twenty-five year old male suspect has been arrested for repeatedly attacking others with a knife. This is far beyond the otaku muggings we have heard about previously, where only money was stolen.
Tomohiro KatÅ, a Susono City resident, came barrelling into the street shortly after noon. He hit people with his rented truck and afterwards, got out and began stabbing people. So far, roughly seventeen people have been hit in some way and seven have died. The victims range in age from nineteen to seventy-four and include one woman.
Authorities (and the newspapers) have now taken notice of a message that was posted on a cell phone forum that said "I Will Kill People in Akihabara". It was posted seven hours before the Sunday afternoon event that ended up closing down stores in the immiediate vicinity, including the Akiba branches of Sofmap and Mandarake.
My source has updated the news article nine times already and any more news will be updated accordingly.
UPDATE: Already? Yes. JapanProbe has oodles of extra side-bits. I'm not quite sure yet how they can be incorporated, but I'll try to shove it all in an extra post later.
Source
Anime News Network
