For years, gamers have developed feelings for characters that don't exist in the traditionally tangible world. They might look real, but the characters are a composition of art and reality. They are virtual.

In the West, when someone says Pokémon, you think about your favorite Pocket Monster, the cartoons, or the games themselves. The same goes for Japan, but there's something else that comes to mind. Make that, someone else.

There's a good reason this gentleman is covering his face. If you just spent a hundred thousand bucks on girly pop music, would you show yours?

After one of Japan's most beloved gaming mascots Takahashi Meijin revealed that he was leaving Hudson Soft, 23-year-old pin-up model Haruna Anno took to Twitter and her blog. She knew that he was leaving beforehand and talked to Takahashi about his decision, revealing that the conversation made her weep. But there's…

At the Taipei Game Show earlier this year, event areas had girls on stage dancing to pop tunes. But that's not where the real action was.

In Japan, pin-up model Aki Higashihara's blog is notorious. It's called the "Death Blog", after manga Death Note. In the popular comic, writing people's names in the "Death Note" notebook leads to their demise. On the Japanese internet, the same is said about Higashihara's blog.

When voice actress Rie Tanaka isn't capturing the hearts of otaku, she's snuggling up next to them vicariously through her hug pillow. One Rie Tanaka hug pillow has been available for purchase. Until now.

When Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima isn't dressing up as girls from bullet hell shooters, he's kicking people's ass. He's a professional K-1 kick boxer. But is he any good at fighting games?

Back in 2008, before the stabbings, Akihabara was a carefree place. Otaku ("geeks") roamed from shop to shop, maids passed out fliers and cosplayers posed up a storm. The Akihabara Massacre changed all that, but things are normalizing. Want proof? The area's most famous flasher is ready to hit the streets of Akiba…

Since she was 15 years of age, Minako Komukai worked as a pin-up model. Somewhere along the line she got into Metal Gear Solid and drugs.

This past weekend, collectible figurine event Wonder Festival was held in Chiba, Japan. Collectors and cosplayers gathered for the festivities. Voice actress Haruna Ikezawa was in attendance, and she ended up having a rotten time.

The Nintendo 3DS is poised to take glasses-free 3D to the great unwashed. That's not all, it seems.

Sola Aoi, star of adult films like Oral Infection and Perverted Neighbor, has already captured the imagination of China with her ample talents, but is looking to do the same with her singing voice.

Night of Sacrifice is an upcoming horror game for the Wii. A melodramatic, alarming teaser trailer of bikini model Saya Hikita playing through it showed the 21-year-old ending up in tears. But the game can't be that scary, can it?

Making decisions by yourself on who to hire is hard. It's easier when you have 3,000 people do it for you, which is exactly what happened for this Mega Man Legends voice actress!

During the last decade, Japanese singer Maki Goto was a big pop star. Now, she's a big gamer. That is, a big gamer apparently without a PS3.

In Japan, there are idols for everything, whether it be trains, personal computers or, of course, video games. They have one thing in common: they're all smiley and cute. But what about an idol that never showed her face?

Usually Saya Hikita is smiling. Not today. Today, she is crying.

When Kinect went on sale in Japan, there was a big promotional event at a retailer in Akihabara. Over a hundred people lined up, and roughly half of them are now in possession of a very valuable collectible.

To promote the PlayStation Move, Sony dressed two idols in Santa suits and gave them Move controllers. Ready to lose 12 minutes of your life? No, seriously.