By TAKEHIKO KAJITA
Kyodo News

WASHINGTON — A resolution urging Japan to apologize for the World War II sexual mistreatment of Asian women by Japanese soldiers may not turn out to be just another one of those nonbinding resolutions that U.S. lawmakers regularly pass which tend to be taken with a touch of indifference.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Endowment for the Arts announced on June 29 Salinas, Calif.-based haiku poet Violet de Cristoforo as one of the 2007 recipients of the NEA National Heritage Fellowships, the country’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

By DEB AOKI
Special to the Nichi Bei Times

If you break it down, manga is essentially "whimsical pictures" or comics — but what is and isn’t "manga style" is a subject that’s hotly debated lately.

If it has big eyes and speed lines is it automatically manga? If it’s not from a Japanese artist, is it not manga? If it’s published by a publisher who puts out other manga titles, is it manga?

By DEB AOKI
Special to the Nichi Bei Times

Kodomo manga — Kids manga is designed to appeal to young readers age 6 to 10. While it may include some scenes of potty humor, there shouldn’t be anything there to offend or frighten young children. Popular titles include "Kingdom Hearts," "Zatch Bell," "Doraemon" and "Pokemon."

By TOMO HIRAI
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

Every year thousands of fans as well as members of the industry converge on Memorial Day weekend to the San Jose McEnery Convention center for FanimeCon, the largest anime convention in Northern California. Although the number of attendees this year have yet to be released, according to AnimeCons.com, Fanime had an estimated 10,000 attendees in 2006, and it is presumed to have grown since then by staff and attendees alike.

By Akiko Minaga
Nichi Bei Times Contributor

Outsiders often think of it as dress-up. A fusion of the words "Costume" and "Play," Cosplay can simply be defined as dressing up as an anime, manga or video game character, although many will add that these characters can also extend out to sci-fi or horror characters as well.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

Sequential art, more popularly known as comics, has taken great strides towards mainstream respectability in recent years. Graphic novels by artists like Adrian Tomine are being discussed as literature. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s "Watchmen" was even included in Time Magazine’s list of the "100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present." Still, much of the country views comics largely as "kids stuff," unworthy of deep examination.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

Readers of the Nichi Bei Times and other Asian American publications have long been familiar with Tak Toyoshima’s "Secret Asian Man." As a weekly comic it appeared in ours and other publications to offer some perspective on, and some jokes at the expense of, current issues.

By KENT WONG
Nichi Bei Times Columnist

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (PS2 Version)

Here comes another installation of the Budokai series, and like all the rest this one boasts more. More of what, you may ask, I am asking the same question.

By JEFF ASAI
Nichi Bei Times Columnist

Have you ever dreamed of maids, nurses, dolls or anime characters? I sure haven’t. But if you have, Osaka’s Den-Den town has some places that are sure to interest you. It is all a part of the cosplay culture, which is famous in Japan, particularly among anime fans.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

Ken Watanabe has risen to become one of, if not the most, recognizable Japanese actors in working in Hollywood today. He has portrayed proud, noble types in films such as "The Last Samurai," "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Letters From Iwo Jima." In his new film, "Memories of Tomorrow," Watanabe plays a much more vulnerable character, a husband and father suffering an early onset of Alzheimer’s. The story is based on a novel that Watanabe read while shooting "Memoirs." He was so touched by the novel that he wrote to the author personally and began trying to obtain the rights to make the book into a feature film.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 11 (Kyodo) — Ichiro Suzuki let something unpredictable happen and etched his named in the All-Star record books.

Suzuki became the first Japanese All-Star MVP winner after lifting the American League to a 5-4 victory over the National League on July 10, highlighting a 3-for-3 evening with the first-ever inside-the-park homer in All-Star Game history.