![]() Tezuka Moderno is a recent revival in Japan of some of Tezuka Osamu's most popular characters, done in a cute new style. Play Set Products has created most of the items, which range from pencil cases to Christmas ornaments. The most well-known items are perhaps the Tezuka Modern Labo figure series and the original picture books which tell a story while teaching young children basic concepts. Within Japan, you can pick these items up from the Tezuka Osamu Memorial Hall or an Osamu Tezuka World shop such as the one in JR Kyoto Station. They can also be found at some MONO COMME ÇA stores and at special temporary exhibitions such as Kyoto/Tokyo Atom. Outside of Japan, Tezuka exhibitions happen often so keep an eye out. As of yet, Sharaku is the only Mittsume character to be Moderno-ized, though he does not feature prominently in the merchandise. At least one figure has been produced and a bandaged Sharaku features in the books. (It seems unlikely that Three-Eyed Sharaku will appear at any point). ![]() There are also mobile websites (Japanese only) on the major phone carriers that let you download images and templates such as the one above for your phone at a small cost. Check out the gateway site here. If you have a Japanese cell phone, scan the barcode on the gateway or you can access the sites through your keitai menu using the following patterns:
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