While this year's annual Kohaku (Kouhaku) Uta Gassen is just around the corner, we take a step back to look at last year's show when our very own Alysa McWilliams was fortunate enough to cover the event at the NHK Broadcasting Center with performances by some of Japan's top artists such as Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Perfume, EXILE, Arashi, AKB48, Nana Mizuki, T.M. Revolution, SMAP, Ayumi Hamasaki, Porno Graffitti, Kana Nishino, and more.
By now, you’ve probably heard of Perfume, the Japanese techno-pop trio turned international sensation. Their music has been featured in Pixar’s Cars 2, and they even made a cameo in OK Go’s music video, "I Won’t Let You Down". On November 9, 2014, after two “World Tours” (that somehow skipped North America), I found myself writing this very article as Perfume took the stage at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.
Yoshiki is best known to the world as the founder of the Japan’s most successful and well known rock band that started the whole visual kei genre that many of today’s artists have followed. What some fans outside of Japan might not know is that he is also a classically trained composer and musician with over thirty million singles and albums sold under his belt. This was reflected in the Classical tour he had just concluded this year, which was what the Otakon Sunday Concert was based on.
J-Pop Summit Festival 2014 took place on July 19-20. This was the sixth rendition of the event and by all accounts the biggest. Just a few weeks ago it seemed hard to surpass last year's event which had Kyary Pamyu Pamyu headlining it but J-Pop Summit Festival seems to have done it. Fans of Japanese music were treated to the sights and sounds of performers like Tomomi Itano (newly graduated from AKB48) and the fresh faces of Tokyo Girls Style. The event may have formally closed at 6PM in Japantown but those willing to hang around were able to see singer extraordinaire May'n and end J-Pop Summit with a bang.
Read more: May'n SF Dots and Lines 10th Anniversary Tour Impressions
My Sunday began at the San Diego Comic Con. By nightfall it ended at the feet of Babymetal. These idols turned metal princesses are some of the youngest that you will see on stage and have gained plenty of attention in the last year where they went from a national act to an international one in no time flat. They've sold out the Budokan, played festivals like Japan's Summer Sonic and UK's Sonisphere, and now they're on US soil; the invasion has begun.
Read more: BABYMETAL at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood Impressions
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