By Tomohiro OsakiAgence France-PresseKUMAMOTO, Japan Inside Koichi Miyatsu’s blue, child-sized backpack are neatly folded cartoon-print sweatshirts and a pair of white sneakers all he has from before he was left at Japan’s only “baby hatch”. He was only a toddler when he was placed in the hatch at a hospital in southern Japan’s Kumamoto, where children can be left
'Life after is more important': A child of Japan's 'baby hatch' remembers jordantimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jordantimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mayu Iizuka sheds her soft-spoken personality and starts cackling, screaming and waving wildly in a makeshift studio in Tokyo as her avatar appears on a livestream before hundreds of fans.
Virtual YouTubers such as Iizuka, who voices and animates a character called Yume Kotobuki, have transformed a niche Japanese subculture into a thriving industry where top accounts can rake in more than US$1 million a year.
The videos are designed to make fans feel they are interacting directly with their favorite animated idols with viewers sometimes paying hundreds of US dollars to have a single comment highlighted on a livestream.
“When I’m