Otakon 2000

Again, Kitakubo was supposed to attend this year; however due to his illness, he had to cancel his flight at the very last minute.  He really had fun last year, and was truly looking forward to coming back this year, but he's caught a terrible cold, which developed into something even more terrible (according to our staff at IG), and we all decided that it's better to cancel his flight than spreading his deadly virus around the city of Baltimore.  At any rate, we were able to introduce Hiroaki Sakurai, the director of "Cyber Team in Akihabara," and "Digi Charat."  It was his first visit to an anime convention, and he was extremely delighted to discover many outrageous fans outside of Japan!  He was also appalled by the amount of food they serve at the restaurants, though he had managed to eat it all.  His big appetite must be where his energy comes from.  He is a successful director, and also a talented Ukulele player and a lyricist.  Before the screening of "Cyber Team in Akihabara," he performed his cute, little gig in front of a crowd of fans.  He sang a song from the movie, which he wrote, composed, and played in the movie.  He is currently working hard on the "Digi Charat" series and hopes that the series will travel well to North America.   

	Production IG Panel
	Production IG Panel (part 2)
	(From Left) Maki Terashima, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Hiroaki Sakurai
	(Guests of Honor) Producer Ueda, Character Designer Abe, Hong Kong Actor Simon, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Character Designer Hasegawa, Hiroaki Sakurai, Director Ikuhara
	Mr. Sakurai's pet "Creature"