What Are Anime Smart Dolls?

WHAT IS SMART DOLL?
Smart Doll is a new standard in fashion dolls that not only enable fashion designers, artists and photographers to enhance their creativity, but to also enrich the lives of folks who not only appreciate Japanese culture - but cute things too.

Designed by Danny Choo (pictured above), Smart Doll encompasses Japanese cultural elements such as design philosophy, the Anime (Japanese animation) look and feel through to the traditional casting methods used in the manufacturing process found in Japan.


SMART DOLL APPAREL
Smart Doll was designed to be taken outdoors - with this in mind, the range of street apparel designed by Danny Choo reflects this vision and also provides his customers with the freedom to customize the look and feel of their Smart Doll.
Check out our line of Smart Doll apparel >
A NEW STANDARD FOR THE FASHION INDUSTRY
Smart Doll comes in a size (about 60CM tall/ 2 feet/ 23.6 inches) that enables fashion designers to create apparel in a scale that closely matches designs made for humans. The distinct model look of Smart Doll has been recognized by the human fashion scene and has already walked the catwalk of international fashion shows.

A designer can travel abroad for business meetings or fashion shows and rather than show her apparel designs on an iPad, she can now show a physical miniature version which her Smart Doll is wearing. Clients and buyers can now not only see the outfit from various angles but also feel the material too.

The cost efficiencies and practicality now means that the Designer does not need to hire models (or makeup artists) just to show case their work. There able to carry multiple outfits in their carry-on rather than in check-in luggage. This aids in showcasing their collection of apparel at events for a fraction of the cost of land due to the smaller scale. And finally material costs for samples can be made at a fraction of the cost of human sized outfits.

CUSTOMIZATION - COLORS FOR EVERYBODY
Smart Doll comes with many customization options - the eyes, hair style, makeup design and skin color. Just as some folks prefer Starbucks in Grande or Venti, Danny Choo provides large cup sizes too.
Check out our customization options for Smart Doll >

FULLY ARTICULATE AND POSABLE DESIGN
Housing an internal frame, Smart Doll strikes a balance between aesthetics and pose-ability. Conventional dolls have a parting line located in the middle of the waist but Smart Doll was designed with the parting line located behind the bust line which provides a more natural look.

Smart Doll was also designed to stand on its own without support but for situations where more stability is required - the Smart Support Socket located at the back means that the Telescopic Stand (included with all Smart Dolls) can be discreetly placed without hindering the aesthetic form of the doll or designers apparel.
Learn more about Smart Doll body design >

EVEN SMARTER WITH EXTENSIBILITY
Smart Doll already looks smart but if you want the functionality too then look no further - the torso was designed to hold a variety of gadgets. Insert a Stick PC or Android to instantly turn Smart Doll into a desktop PC or a mobile battery to have the smartest and cutest looking charging station for your mobile phone. Or how about having the cutest USB Hub on your desk?

If that's not enough then Mirai Pulse will enable you to make phone calls too.

NO NEED TO BREAK VASES
Not only was Smart Doll designed as an inspiration to be taken outdoors, Danny's vision was also to create a piece of art that would look great as an interior item too. A vase can't change it's appearance (unless you drop and break it) but with Smart Doll's wide variety of apparel, you can now have something that will look great at anytime of the year - in any part of the house - in any style that you want.

DESIGNED AND MADE IN JAPAN
Smart Doll is designed and manufactured in Japan utilizing modern 3D prototyping technologies together with traditional casting techniques. Danny Choo has documented the manufacture processes extensively - and folks interested in any form of product manufacture can apply the ideas and knowledge to their own creative projects too.

Learn more about the manufacture process of Smart Doll >

SMART DOLL IN EDUCATION, BUSINESS & ENTERTAINMENT
Not only is Smart doll appreciated as a form of art, Smart Doll compliments various Educational institutes and businesses. Sony uses Smart Doll as a photo subject for their Alpha series of cameras and their Xperia mobile phones too. The vibrant colors of the apparel available for Smart Doll makes it a perfect photo subject to test the abilities of Sony's hardware.

Incorporating the Anime (Japanese animation) look and feel, the Smart Doll body is also used as a reference in Kadokawa's Anime & Manga schools. Starting with the design and fashion college Equator in Penang, Smart Doll is also being introduced into the curriculum to enable their fashion students to gain a new skill set in creating apparel for Smart Doll. Smart Doll has also starred in a Japanese TV drama called "Doesu Deka" - screened on prime time TV across Japan, Doesu Deka even reached record viewership.

COLLABORATION PARTNER
Smart Doll makes a great collaboration partner. So much so that the Japanese department store Isetan decided to collaborate so they could roll out an exclusive version of Smart Doll wearing their store uniform and even made a commercial for the event.

Read more about Isetan X Mirai Suenaga >

WHO IS SMART DOLL FOR?
Smart Doll is designed for all races, ages and genders. Owners are from all walks of life from a variety of backgrounds such as tech, advertising, design, etc who are notably creative which can be seen in the way they customize the look and feel of their Smart Doll.

So far Smart Doll has shipped Smart Dolls to thousands of customers to more than 55 regions around the world which include the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, France, Malaysia, Germany, Belgium, Thailand, South Korea, Russia, Indonesia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Spain, Philippines, Finland, China, Italy, Vietnam, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, Kuwait, Switzerland, South Africa, Brunei, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Peru, Uruguay, Mauritius, Hungary, Ghana, Portugal, Bahrain, Panama, Greece, Jordan, Romania, Slovakia, Ireland, Estonia and Croatia.

You can see some of their customers photos on the Smart Doll Pinterest Board which we look for on Social Media using the tag #SmartDoll.

ABOUT CULTURE JAPAN
Established in Tokyo by Danny Choo and his wife in 2007, Culture Japan is an umbrella brand formed under the company Mirai Kabushiki Gaisha [MIRAI株式会社] - the brand is associated with 3 consumer facing businesses which are TV Production, Character Development and the development of Smart Doll.

Their clientele include the Japanese Cabinet Secretariat, Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, Japanese Ministry of Land Infrastructure Transport and Tourism, KONAMI, KADOKAWA, Sony Computer Entertainment, Dentsu, Good Smile Company, Bushiroad, Disney Japan, King Records, Production IG and Isetan.

ABOUT DANNY CHOO
Born and raised in the UK, Danny discovered Japanese culture in the early 90's through gaming machines such as the Sega Megadrive and anime such as Super Dimension Fortress Macross.
Danny decided that he wanted more of Japan so he began to self study Japanese and started off his working career in a Japanese restaurant called Benihana. There he met his wife and started to go to London University to polish up his Japanese speaking skills which got him a job offer at Japan Airlines in London.

The job at Japan Airlines was Danny's entry into the world of technology which eventually landed him a job in Japan where he stayed in IT for a few years working for the likes of Amazon as Website Manager and Microsoft as a Product Manager. Danny decided that he wanted to spread Japanese culture around the world full time so he cut off his steady paycheck and quit corporate life to start up Mirai Inc in 2007. It took him 9 years to come up with a sustainable business which involved him nearly having to file for bankruptcy multiple times.

In order to help Danny on his journey to spread Japanese culture, he created a character called Mirai Suenaga who went on to be an official mascot for Japanese Tourism. Danny wanted his creation to be more than just a 2 dimensional illustration so he decided to create a fashion doll modeled after her and thus Smart Doll was born.

Danny's work to share Japanese culture has been recognized by the Japanese government who has appointed him as a member of various committees that are involved in a national movement known as "Cool Japan."
Learn more about Danny >

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Not only only are Smart Doll's made in Japan, they also employ Japanese design principles in its creation. There are 7 zen aesthetic design principles known as Wabi-Sabi of which they focus on three.

FUKINSEI (不均整) Imbalanced. Beauty in imperfection, asymmetry.
SHIZEN (自然) Naturalness. Absence of pretense or artificiality.
DATSUZOKU (脱俗) Unworldly. Unconventional.

Wabi-Sabi (no not Wasabi!) states that beauty can only be achieved if there is a correlate amount of imperfection. Smart Doll is beautiful because it has imperfections which have been factored into the design not only on the 3D modeling level but also because we decided to use a traditional casting method called Slush Casting which by its nature introduces imperfections.

If you are working in design then understanding these values may inspire some of the work you do.
Learn more about our design philosophy >

DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT
Smart Doll is changing the world not only through business and design philosophy but also through customer-centric support too. But don't take their word for it - check out the retweets from their Twitter Account or connect with folks who already have a Smart Doll through posts on their Pinterest account too.

YouTube also has quite a few unboxing videos that you can check out as well.

MIRAI STORE TOKYO
Mirai Store Tokyo is our flagship store located in Gotanda Tokyo. Here you can pick up any of Smart Doll's Smart Dolls which they always make sure to have in stock. The also do a workshop where you can make your own Smart Doll and because they don't have to make it for you, you get it for a touch cheaper.
You can also check out their official retailers located in various parts of the world.
Visit Mirai Store Tokyo >

Well friends that's the end of the line. I hope you learned a lot & maybe gained a appreciation that goes into the work to produce Smart Dolls.
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