4.07.2016

Buddhahoods became handsome guys in Japanese mobile game at last

April 7 is a birthday of Gautama Buddha, the initiator of the Buddhism. This topic is just good for this day.

Japan personifies everything, and they usually become handsome men, cute boy and girl. Japanese personification movement targeted Buddhism at last. This is not April Fool. Because it was released in March 15.


This "Namuamidabutsu!(なみあみだ仏っ!)" - this title comes from one of the Nianfo. It's a term commonly seen in Pure Land Buddhism - is a browser game for smartphones offered in Japanese mobile game platform Ameba. Players meet 13 Buddhahoods, fight against worldly desires spread over the world with them, and aim at purifying the world. Anyway, a important point of this is that all Buddhahoods are handsome guys.

For example...

He is Acala, the dharmapala primarily revered in Vajrayana Buddhism, particularly in Tangmi in Japan, China and other Asia. In Japan, Acala is revered in the Shingon Buddhism, Tendai, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism and in Shugendō.

仏像 不動明王坐像 黄銅製/お不動さん◆怨敵調伏、勝負必勝、立身出世、商売繁盛 ご利益
Acala in Japanese general statues.

He is Guanyin, the East Asian spiritual figure of mercy, and a bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by Mahayana Buddhists.

JapaNice 観音菩薩像 木製 約14cm BA626
Western people think him to be a goddess. However the first place, Buddhahoods are asexual condition.

He is Bhaisajyaguru, the buddha of healing and medicine in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Commonly referred to as the "Medicine Buddha", he is described as a doctor who cures dukkha (suffering) using the medicine of his teachings.

極小仏像 薬師如来立像(大) 61320 897298

He is Kshitigarbha, the bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk. His name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb".

エコステーション 備長炭で出来た仏像の置物 地蔵菩薩(台板付) 20cm
You can see his figure everywhere in Japan. He is in not only temples but also graves, sides of the way, towns, villages, mountains and forests.

He is Manjushri, the bodhisattva associated with prajñā (transcendent wisdom) in Mahayana Buddhism.

十二支 お守り本尊 卯年 文殊菩薩(もんじゅぼさつ) 【純銀・7㎝】【BZ-013-SV】

The temples dedicated to him are popular among students because he manage wisdom.

He is Vairocana, the celestial buddha who is often interpreted, in texts like the Flower Garland Sutra, as the Dharma Body of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of Emptiness.

開運・魔除けの守り本尊。大日如来 像


All characters can check it here(All texts are only Japanese).



The rule of the game is a simple card battle game. Profiles of original Buddhahoods are placed in cards, and we can study Buddhism through a game.


How do we get cards of new characters? Of course it is Gacha!

Illustrations of the normal cards which are not rare are chibi(The design which was deformed small)-style. Cute!

The beginning of the story, Gautama Buddha came up suddenly. Of course he is also handsome.

The bird which there is next to him is Karura. Originally he was Garuda which was one of Indian mythical Gods, but he came to Japan, and became a member of the Buddhism world. n this game, he is a mascot character. He eats too much worldly desires and suffers.

Boss enemies in this game are various worldly desires. The new stories are shown by overcoming these.


You may think this to be J-style dating sim for women, but backgrounds of original Buddhahoods are reflected for characteres and lines of 13 Buddhahoods. The motif of this is Thirteen Buddhas faith born in Japan in the Edo era.

It has not yet passed one month from released, but the sale of various goods was decided(Of course they are not Buddhist altar fittings).


Key rings...

Button badges...

Tapestries...

and more!

If this becomes popular among women, worshipers to temples may increase.

4.06.2016

Japanese travel agency sells tour plans of Ingress for Tōhoku


Japanese travel agency WILLER TRAVEL cooperated with Niantic and started the sale of tour plans of Ingress to the Tōhoku(Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Akita, Yamagata) district "Tōhoku Ingress Plan". Virtual items are included in travel expenses.


For a reconstruction aid of Tōhoku from 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Niantic brings back portal submissions of the coastal place area of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima in April ~ May, and hold an portal submissions event "Ingress: Initio Tōhoku Mission" on April 24. WILLER TRAVEL supports agents by selling tour plans. They will open a special page of the English version on April 12 and sell these tours to agents visited from the foreign countries.

Niantic held an event last year in Tōhoku, and more than 6800 agents gathered. This year, Niantic CEO John Hanke participates in "Ingress: Initio Tōhoku Mission".

The first Japanese board game which utilized VR

Japanese board game company Gift 10 Industry released the first Japanese board game which utilized VR "Anyubis no Kamen(アニュビスの仮面: The Mask of Anyubis)". The price is 3,980 yen(about 36USD).

Anyubis no Kamen is a game of the cooperation type to play with 2-7 people. As can be seen, a motif of this is Anubis which is one of ancient Egyptian God, and the simple VR goggles(Mask of Anyubis) which designed his head are included in this set.


This is a treasure hunt game to search for in dungeon. Players search for dungeon in the virtual world with Mask of Anyubis in turn, cooperate, and make a map.





Only one Mask of Anyubis, one player can see dungeon only one minute, and players must tell structure of the dungeon which oneself saw to other players exactly. It may be said that this is "Chinese whispers" game.

They let 500 sets for the reservation already sold out. Now, they sell this in board game shops.

InfoLens sells VR HMD in family friendly department store in Japan

Toy sales company InfoLens started sale of Accessories 4 Technology's VR Head Mount Display "STEALTH VR" in Japanese family friendly department store AEON.


AEON is one of the Japanese main retail stores. there is it in the  what kind of country town in Japan(Rather it is useful like a lifeline in the country , because the country has little entertainment). Consumers can buy all things necessary for life and can finish all business if they come here. There is a handy amusement place of families of the countries. VR is one of the hottest topic in Japan, but it's only early adopters of the urban area still now. InfoLens is going to spread VR movement to families of the countries.

STEALTH VR is VR HMD using smartphones. If the size of the screen of smartphones are 4 - 6 inches, what kind of smartphones are available. Even any countrymen use smartphones now, and this is the good gadget for simple VR experience. The price of this is 9,800 yen(about 88USD).

Supercell's new mobile game Clash Royale holds a fan meeting event in Tokyo

Supercell does promotion activity well in Japan. They got the popularity in cooperation with Japanese advertising agencies, media and partners. As a result, they gathered many fans in Tokyo Game Show 2015.

See Also:
Supercell exhibits the decent booth and It was supported by fans in Tokyo Game Show 2015

Next, they hold a fan meeting event of their new mobile game Clash Royale in Akihabara, Tokyo on April 16 in cooperation with game community Lobi.


Lobi is the game community and chat service that Japanese Web service / contents production company Kayac runs. They started the offer of the fan meeting event held service for game developers in Lobi. Developers can announce the fan meeting event of their games in community of Lobi. Kayac supports developers, in charge of the administration of the event, live streaming, the writing of the event report article in Lobi.

Supercell's Clash Royale is the first example of this service. They invite only 80 participants by lot in Lobi. The entrance fee is free, but it is a fierce battle! The event is carried out in e- sports form and shown in Youtube Lobi channel.

event info
https://web.lobi.co/blog/news/42ff7c090327b1da67f7c9fbad6d2635c27ae6cc