Desk Diary 2010/02/20

POSTED BY DANNY CHOO On Sat 2010/02/20 18:00 JST in Desk Diary
Crikey. Am supposed to do these more often but its been nearly a month since the last entry ToT.
Has certainly been another busy few weeks and will update you in detail in the next A Week in Tokyo.
Photos in this post have been taken over the past few weeks which is why things appear n disappear.
Since we last spoke, we launched a portal site about Tokyo with the Japan Times called Tokyo.JapanTimes and have been working on 3 other sites - one of them to launch next week hopefully. Also planning an overhaul of Figure.fm where you get a proper profile page with customizable background and banner too.
Also been working on the production of the Mirai-chan dakimakura (at last!), Mirai-chan pokens and I just heard that the Mirai-chan figma is lurking in the factory somewhere @.@
Also been spending time trying to clear up some confusion about OTACOOL 2 - many seem to think that I do the selection, design and printing but only manage the data submission process - Kotobukiya do the rest!
Also had a most most awesome Tokyo CGM Night where Big Boss of GSC came along together with illustrator Huke (Back Rock Shooter). Members of the British Council also came along too - am honored to be able to work for the Queen of England!
Been watching Eve no Jikan of late. Tis about a society where human and robots live together. Love the atmosphere of the show.
The head of Tokyo MX TV has given me my own TV show ^^; The show will feature videos submitted by dannychoo.com readers sharing their passion for all things otaku. I'm thinking that the first show should feature you introducing your otaku room - no need for a high production entry - shoddy cam will work just fine. Are thinking of making it look District 9 style.
In the show I will be also taking you behind the scenes of various figure, anime and game manufacturers in Japan.
We also plan to show you aspects of Japanese culture. In the first show, we hope to bring you coverage of a high school and show you what its like in 3D - thought it would interest you seeing as you always see school settings in anime.
The plan is to also have the show broadcasted on terrestrial TV across the world too.
Will update you with more details once we know who the special guests are. The project is tentatively being called "Danny TV" but need a better sounding name that does not sound like cheese. Any recommendations? The subtitle is "Your Portal to Japan."
Also had a great time at Wonder Festival and a Tamashii Features.
Over the past few weeks, more lovely relatives have been staying at our house and it looks like they will be coming back regularly (lovely).
Have also been organizing my trip to Hong Kong in March and another trip to France and the UK in April. Looks like my early Singapore trip has to be postponed but hope to get back there before AFA X (AFA 2010).
Will be in HK from mid March and will also be getting together with many of the Hong Kong doll owners like Steps Walker - they is being arranging a gathering for my visit ^^;
Come to think of it, I guess that's one good thing about the relatives who come over to stay - they look after the house and feed my daughters when I'm away ^^;
Am also working on some interesting Black Rock Shooter stuff too. Very exciting and most unexpected ^^;
The past week has been filled with a few downers.
I discovered that one of the companies that we made a pitch to for Mirai Gaia had no intention of choosing new vendors to renew their website. The company in question rejected the proposals presented by all 4 companies and apparently only asked for vetting to please their employees who were asking their boss to invest in renewing their website.
We spent many months with the potential client with multiple visits to their office. Being turned down is completely fine but it was the fact that they had no intention of choosing any vendor at all that miffed me ><
The downers however are an essential part of life and even though it may seem like everything is going against you, that "everything" is actually a gift to help you grow stronger. Just imagine life was pure plain sailing from beginning to end - boring huh?
Tried a new layout with the MacBook Pro in the middle of the table. I liked this because it frees up the back where the girls can gather together and talk.
But one thing I didn't like about this layout was the cables...
I wish they made some sort of hub thingy which could just trail to the back of the table - and then have all the other wires attached to that hub. How do you deal with this mess?
Over the next week I'm focusing on two website launches, production on my TV slot, a few interviews with TBS, the launch party for Tokyo.JapanTimes, and a very interesting collaboration with an anime maker.
Also need to start filing trademarks for some products that we are working on - need to cram in more study about Japanese (and international) trademark law though.
The fellow below explains whats a trademark (logo, company name, service) and that it costs between 100000 yen and 150000 yen to register one. The registration process usually takes between 6 months and a year and can be renewed every 5 years.
Dont tell Chris but when hes not in the office, his desk ends up with a load of stuff on it.
Fave figures of late are BRS by Good Smile Company, figma Yui+ Reimu and Kotobukiya Lynette Bishop.
Going to leave you to wander around the office as I nip off to work on the next A Week in Tokyo.