Besides appearing in Sabra (think Maxim for Japan), she’s also getting her own boob mouse pad. Once again, the 32-year-old is claiming to be 23. Lies!

この人どこへ向かおうとしてるんだ・・・自称23歳”エロカワ声優”たかはし智秋のおっぱいマウスパッドが発売決定 [はちま起稿]

“I’ll giving away a set of Xbox 360 games I haven’t played yet,” the idol blogged. The games she gave away were Lost Odyssey, Fable II, Gears of War, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Forza 2 and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

“The game set landed with a guy who doesn’t own an Xbox 360,” she blogged about the event giveaway, adding, “lololololololololololololololol.” LOL indeed.

Earlier this year, Shokotan announced that she had purchased an Xbox 360. According to her gamer card, three of the four games she still owns look largely untouched.

ギラティナ and グングニル [中川翔子 オフィシャルブログ via チラシの裏でゲーム鈍報]

But her buddies did! Hipster musician Meg Rock and transgender fashion model Ayana Tsubaki bought a surprised Shokotan a “Cloud Black” PS3 bundle.

Those two surprised me!! …They secretly got me a present… Waaaaaaaahaaahaaaaa It’s so expensive, I shrieked!! …Those two are really busy, but they were able to find time to decide to get me… a surprise present!!

Shoko Nakagawa turned 24 on May 5. Her getting the Cloud Black PS3 makes sense as she’s a huge FFVII fan. When asked previously who she wanted to marry, her reply was “Sephiroth”.

As of February 2008, Japanese daily newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported that her blog, which opened in 2004, had been accessed one billion times. The blog queen holds the record for single-day-updates on a celebrity blog with 70 updates alone on January 28, 2006. A book version of her blog called Shokotan * Blog was released in 2005. Lesson learned: Blog about things you want so your famous friends can buy them for you.

We’re thinking about getting a pony. Our birthday is coming up, but maybe we can save up enough money to buy a pony by then. Ponies are so expensive.

Too subtle? Now all we need are famous friends.

りつ [Shokotan Blog]

Prolific Japanese music producer Mitsuo Terada (aka “Tsunku”) is best known for producing idol J poppppp group Morning Musume and helping to launch the career of singers like Aya Matsuura. He also created Rhythm Heaven.

How did candy pop wizard Tsunku add smash-hit game designer to his already impressive resume? Terada tells Wired that it all started with an unsolicited game submission to Nintendo. “In Japan, with games that use rhythm and sound, it’s long been the case that the placement of accents and the timing of button-presses has had nothing to do with music,” the producer says. “For someone like myself, whose work revolves around music, this has never seemed right, and I wrote up my proposal in hopes of doing away with this.” For Tsunku, he needed Nintendo’s help to bring his game to life: “I also felt that without Nintendo’s expertise, realising my idea for a rhythm game would be impossible.”

But his submission was out of the blue! “It wasn’t like I really knew anyone with Nintendo, either,” he continues. “It was a bit risky, but my staff just took our proposal and approached them directly.” After meetings (and several dance classes), he was able to get his idea across to Nintendo, and the game got green-lit. And now it’s making loads of money. Funny how that works.

J-Pop Producer Tsunku Perfects Music Games With Rhythm Heaven [Wired]

…though, calling idol Haruna Anno simply a “pin-up model” isn’t entirely accurate. She’s a gaming idol and not by accident.

Last month, Haruna posted her Street Fighter IV online stats. She had fought in 214 fights, won 178 of them and lost 36. Her winning percentage was an impressive 83.13 percent.

Haruna is hardly a casual player. Her room is a gaming shrine, filled with retro game hardware, an arcade cabinet and games — lots of games. She’s dead serious about playing, too. She claims to have once played Chrono Trigger for 36 hours straight and has whizzed through Super Mario Bros. so many times that she can clear World 1-1 without looking at the screen.

Since her specialty is retro gaming, the HD Spelunker remake for the PS3 is right up her alley. She came, she saw and, yes, she has already conquered. She blogs this about Minna de Spelunker:

Now, it’s 3 o’clock. Finally, I’m in first place!! Number one nationwide! It’s currently 3am on March 27. I can totally keep going. I should be able to even for the next three weeks.

This isn’t totally unexpected as Anno was involved in the game’s promotion. Still, she’ll pwn you proper.

みんなでスペランカー　一位になった。寝る [杏野はるなの日常 via チラシの裏でゲーム鈍報] Pic]

Popular geek idol Shoko Nakagawa is a singer, a model, TV personality, co-host of kiddy morning show Pokémon Sunday and now an Xbox 360 owner.

Earlier this week, she posted on her blog that she has purchased an Xbox 360 and a couple games (Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5, Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean 4). She then posted her Avatar as well as her LIVE name, shokommts.

Later that same day, she blogged:

It looks as like I’m a LIVE free Silver member (゜ω゜) Let’s duke it out online (゜∀゜)(゜∀゜)――！！ Im getting like so many friend requests (・ω・;)(;・ω・)

Wow, you think? We’re shocked.

As of February 2008, Japanese daily newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported that her blog, which opened in 2004, had been accessed one billion times. The blog queen holds the record for single-day-updates on a celebrity blog with 70 updates alone on January 28, 2006.

A book version of her blog called Shokotan * Blog was released in 2005.

ねり [Shokotan Blog]

Maya Miyamae from Japanese idol pop group CoCo released on solo single. This is it.

Yume e no Position (Chun-Li’s Theme) was released in December 1992 as Street Fighter II mania swept Japan. Catchy, no?

No, sadly.

歌詞ついてたんだ [はちま起稿]

This weekend, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li opens in movie theatres. This calls for a Japanese pop group to dress up like Chun-Li!

Ten members of 48 member idol group AKB48 showed up at a Tokyo press event today dressed up in Chun-Li garb and wearing shiny black tights.

For those keeping score: The ten AKB48 singers in attendance were Nanmi Takashi, Amina Satoh, Minami Minegi, Yukari Satoh, Natsumi Satoh, Tomomi Kasai, Ayaka Umeda, Megumi Ohori, Sayaka Akimoto and Natsumi Matsubara.

The girls posed for pictures and did an original dance created just for this Street Fighter movie press event. “We practiced an hour before the press event,” Umeda told reporters.

AKB48 went on to talk about their experience with the Street Fighter movie, while members of the Japanese press went on to think how much better watching this press conference was than the actual film.

AKB48、春麗コスプレで「ストリートファイター」を応援 [natalie]

Haruna Anno is not just a gravure idol, but a video game gravure idol, taking names in Street Fighter IV.

Haruna is hardcore. The pin-up model’s room is a gaming shrine, filled with retro game hardware, an arcade cabinet and games — lots of games. She’s dead serious about playing, too. She claims to have once played Chrono Trigger for 36 hours straight and has whizzed through Super Mario Bros. so many times that she can clear World 1-1 without looking at the screen.

Earlier this week, Haruna posted her Street Fighter IV online stats, which was release last Thursday in Japan. She had fought in 214 fights, won 178 of them and lost 36. Her winning percentage was an impressive 83.13 percent. So if you see “annoharuna” on the PS3 version, watch out! She’ll kick your ass.

This brings us full circle. We first met the pin-up model when she was 18 years-old and putting her SNES Street Fighter II cartridges in the refrigerator as an experiment.

ギリギリし勝率８０パーセント！ [杏野はるな　毎週土曜日配信 via マクセル Thanks, Cheapy!] [Pic]

Popular Japanese idol Shoko Nakagawa has varied tastes: Playing Final Fantasy VII, cosplaying Super Robot Taisen and putting her cat’s head in her mouth. She’s an otaku, but is she an otaku’s otaku?

In an interview with Otaku USA’s Patrick Macias, Nakagawa says she might not be considered an otaku by the hardcore. “I play video games and enjoy anime until the early morning,” admits the idol. “Normal people might think I’m an otaku just because I’m into anime and video games,” she says. “But hardcore otaku, who might know much more about anime and manga than me, could say, ‘No, she’s not really an otaku.’”

Oh, but you are otaku, Shoko-tan! Don’t sell yourself short. Case in point:

“We only have a limited life. You don’t know how many more pictures you can draw. You don’t know how many more songs you can sing. You don’t know how many more times you can play with your cat,” says Nakagawa. “You don’t know how many video games you can complete while you’re alive… I’m constantly thinking about playing Final Fantasy VII.” Deep.

Otaku star Shokotan offers a little fan service [The Japan Times] [Pic]