July 2011

Borders Bookstore Chain to Shut Down

Liquidation of remaining stores could start on Friday, will completely close by end of September The Wall Street Journal is reporting on Monday that the U.S. bookstore chain Borders will liquidate after receiving no other bids to buy out the company. Borders currently has 399 stores still open, and employs approximately 10,700 people. According to the article, liquidation of the stores could start on Friday. Borders Group Inc. said it expects to be completely out of business by the end of September.

Borders Group President Mike Edwards said in a statement, "we were all working hard toward a different outcome, but the head winds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now."

Publishers Weekly had reported earlier on Monday that the company did not receive any other bids by the Sunday deadline, leaving only a consortium of liquidators likely to bid on the company on the originally scheduled auction on Tuesday. Borders Group Inc. canceled the Tuesday auction, and will ask a judge on Thursday to approve the sale to the liquidators, which are led by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers.

On Wednesday Borders removed the offer made by BB Brands (owned by Najafi Companies) and replaced it with a rival bid by the liquidators. Borders was the nation's second-largest bookstore chain.

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Azumi Actor Yoshio Harada Passes Away at 71

Also appeared in Say Hello to Black Jack, Lady Snowblood, Oishinbo, Dororo The actor Yoshio Harada passed away from pneumonia on Tuesday, July 19 in Tokyo. He was 71. In the 2003 live-action film of Azumi, he played the character of Gessai. He also had roles in the live-action manga adaptations of Say Hello to Black Jack, Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, Oishinbo, and Dororo.

On screen, Harada was known for his appearances in television dramas such as the historical Juichibanme no Shishi in 1968 and Koukousei Restaurant, which ended this month in Japan. He also appeared in films such as Hangyaku no Melody, Ryouma Ansatsu, Zigeunerweisen, and Utsukushii Natsu Kirishima. His final film was Oshika-mura Sōdōki which opened on Saturday, three days before his death

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Saki Manga Goes on 3-Week Hiatus

Ritz Kobayashi, artist and writer of the Saki mahjong manga, announced on Wednesday that the series would go on a three-week hiatus as of this past week's issue of Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine. Kobayashi stated that the hiatus was not necessarily due to illness but due to the manga's slow, painstaking progress.

The manga has been running in Young Gangan since 2006, and Kobayashi went on a similar hiatus in 2009. It was adapted into a 25-episode television series in 2009, and a new television anime project is launching. The story follows Saki Miyanaga, a mahjong player who develops a technique that allows her to play without winning or losing.

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Battle Spirits Heroes Anime to Premiere This Fall

4th TV anime series based on Bandai's Battle Spirits card game revealed The broadcaster Nagoya TV confirmed on its website that Battle Spirits: Heroes, the latest television anime series based on Bandai's Battle Spirits card game, will premiere in Japan this fall.

The Japanese online retailer Amiami had listed three card game releases that will be tied to a "new anime lead character of Battle Spirits" in mid-September. Battle Spirits: Brave, the third Battle Spirits television anime series, premiered in Japan last September.

The Battle Spirits anime franchise launched with the 50-episode Battle Spirits: Shōnen Toppa Bashin series on September 7, 2008. The Battle Spirits: Shōnen Gekiha Dan follow-up series premiered on September 13, 2009. The anime projects adapt the original trading card game, in which cards represent dragons, demons, birds, insects, and other spirits that the players can control in battles. Bandai imported the game to America in 2009.

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Former X Japan/Loudness Bassist Taiji Sawada Passes Away

Musician removed from life support on Sunday after incurring self-sustained injuries

Taiji Sawada, a former bassist of the rock bands X Japan (then known as X) and Loudness, passed away at the Commonwealth Health Center on the island of Saipan on Saturday, July 17 at around 11:00 a.m. He was 45.

Sawada, who is known by his given name Taiji onstage, was taken to the hospital due to self-sustained injuries on Thursday evening. He was in the intensive care unit until his family decided to remove him from life support after he became brain-dead.

According to the local media, Sawada was traveling business class on Delta Flight 298 from Japan to Saipan. A incident with female passenger and a female flight attendant ensued in flight, and Sawada was restrained aboard the airplane and later arrested by the local police upon arrival.

Sawada formally joined X in 1986 (three years before the band's major debut in 1989), and then left the band in 1992. After X, he performed in Loudness, D.T.R., Taiji with Heaven's, and other bands. He participated in X Japan's concerts as a guest last August.

Source: Anime News Network