11 minute read
Nightlife
Music
She’s not real. Or is she?
Patrick St Michel explores the rise of virtual pop stars in Japan
People pack the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on a crisp autumn weekend to watch one of the most famous pop stars in Japan. Thousands of fans wait for the show to start, as a dozen workers on stage check the instruments of the band that’s backing tonight’s show. Several hundred visitors have expressed their love for the headliner by dressing like her, complete with wigs.
The lights dim, and the crowd erupts. A sea of glowsticks – the same colour as the singer’s hair, a blue-green that turns the floor into a bed of neon seaweed – lights up. Then she materialises on stage. Hatsune Miku, Japan’s premier virtual pop star, is ready to shine in real life.
Hatsune Miku is a singing voice synthesizer developed by Sapporo-based software company Crypton Future Media, utilising the Yamaha-built VOCALOID™ voice engine. The singing synthesizer programme allows users to generate a voice on their computer and manipulate it to make it sound how they’d like. In recent years we’ve seen many virtual singers being developed, but Miku has retained her place as the most famous avatar on the scene. Originally envisioned as a marketing tool, Miku has gone from a glorified advertisement to one of the most recognisable performers in Japan today. And she’s attracted global attention, with the ‘Hatsune Miku Expo’ being held in Los Angeles and New York, and an appearance on ‘Late Show With David Letterman’ as the show’s first virtual performer ever.
‘It’s like being on Willie Nelson’s tour bus,’ the late-night host joked following the surreal performance.
The first VOCALOID™ prototype emerged in 2002, and soon Yamaha licensed the technology off to third-party groups, who could create their own versions. The first retail copy arrived on shelves two years later, but sales were slow. Well, almost all sales. In 2004, Crypton Future Media saw success in the Desktop Music (DTM) market by sticking a cartoon character – a brownhaired woman named MEIKO, followed by a male counterpart called KAITO in 2006 – on the package. Hardly massive numbers, but far ahead of the competition.
Crypton kept with this idea in 2007, when Yamaha developed VOCALOID™ 2 technology, an improved software. The Hokkaido company created a new character – one featuring vocal samples courtesy of anime voice actress Saki Fujita – to paste on the box, named Hatsune Miku (in Japanese, the name means ‘The First Sound of the Future’).
Miku became an instant hit. Stores couldn’t keep the software featuring her visage in stock, and she gained attention from the Japanese mainstream media. Crypton – and later also other companies – have continued using the
VOCALOID™ music has turned into big business in Japan. This April, Shikoku
University Junior College started a new twoyear course focused around VOCALOID™.
In the first year, students will study the animated avatar approach, creating dozens of new characters (see sidebar). Miku, though, still towers over the field, and ushered in a unique digital era.
‘The technology was an important issue, but VOCALOID™ created a new culture on the internet, especially on [Japanese video sharing site] Nico Nico Douga,’ says Keisuke Ito, a marketing and product planner for VOCALOID™ at Yamaha. Thanks in part to Crypton’s ‘Piapro Character licence’, which allows users to manipulate their character’s image and voice (within reason of course – it’s not for commercial use and mustn’t violate basic morality), musicians and creators went wild with the virtual blank canvas that was Hatsune Miku (Crypton, wisely, included minimal details about who Miku was – they listed her height, weight and age, but the rest was left to the users’ imagination). And thanks to the Web, they had a way to share their work with one another.
‘Original characters are attractive to creators. It makes you feel like you became a producer for popular idols,’ says Ito. ‘And this character can connect musicians, graphic artists, 3D movie creators, and so on.’
Artists such as livetune, Hachioji-P and supercell captured attention from the music world thanks to their VOCALOID™-utilising songs. Club nights in Tokyo sprung up, and are still going strong today – one monthly event held at Akihabara’s club Mogra, called VOCALOID™ ManiaX, finds DJs spinning VOCALOID™ tracks while a crowd stuffed with cosplayers bounces along to them.
Eventually, Crypton held their own characters’ concerts, where Miku and her virtual squad performed live to arenas full of rabid fans. Initially, footage of these events caught bewildered glances from Western media, though it inspired the resurrection of rapper Tupac Shakur at the 2012 Coachella Music Festival in California. Miku made it over to America soon after, and has only seen her stock grow since. She opened for Lady Gaga on a stretch of her 2014 North American tour, and then made her US television debut on Letterman.
While she remains somewhat a curiosity abroad, in Japan she’s graduated to national prominence. Besides music, she’s also appeared in ads for Toyota, Family Mart and Domino’s Pizza. A spot she appeared in for Google gained more views than a similar one starring Canadian pop star Justin Bieber. For a 2013 musical called ‘The End’, Miku modelled exclusive clothes designed by Marc Jacobs. Pretty good for a virtual performer.
‘VOCALOID™ culture has became one of the more unique elements of Japanese culture, like anime,’ says Ito. ‘We are excited about sharing this culture around the world.’
VOCALOID™ is a registered trademark of Yamaha
BECOME A PRO!
Corporation. Visit the webshop: net.vocaloid.com basics of the Yamaha software, and in the second year of study will compose their own VOCALOID™ music. Those enrolled can also take supplementary courses on various topics, including how to promote their creations.
O U R F A V O U R I T E DIGI-STARS Miku’s got company
HATSUNE MIKU The top dog on the scene and the character responsible for turning the singing synthesizer software into a pop culture force. The blue-green-haired singer has starred in car commercials, modelled Marc Jacobs-designed clothes in a futuristic opera, and performed live on ‘Late Show With David Letterman’.
KAGAMINE RIN AND LEN Technically two characters but sold as one software package, the blond twins Kagamine Rin and Len are now among the most beloved VOCALOID™ characters in Japan. They are also two of the most imitated – go to a VOCALOID™ event or convention, and you’ll spot almost as many people cosplaying these guys as Miku.
MEGURINE LUKA Boasting a more ‘mysterious’ vocal delivery than the perpetually upbeat Miku, Luka earned a large following all her own in the VOCALOID™ world.
KAITO Female vocalists tend to get the most shine in the VOCALOID™ realm, but there are plenty of digitised men out there too. The blue-haired KAITO, released in 2006 (before Miku), is the most recognisable fellow out there, often performing live with Miku at arena shows.
AKIKOLOID-CHAN The commercial success of VOCALOID™ – and the avatars representing it – has caught the eye of many Japanese companies. Convenience store chain Lawson created their own character, Akikoloid-chan, featuring her own voice bank and a get-up patterned after the store’s design.
Nightlife
The happiest hours
When the ambience is rich but the drinks are cheap(er)
Drinking in Tokyo isn’t cheap – that’s a fact we all have to accept. What we don’t have to accept, however, are regular-price drinks, extortive entrance fees, and tricky ‘nomihodai’ (all-you-can drink offers; see sidebar) that are only affordable for the 15-year veteran alcoholic. The way to dodge all these bullets is knowing where to find a decent happy hour – ones that include drinking establishments that are usually way beyond our meagre budgets. Here, we’ve picked five favourites, from fancy hotel bars to standard pubs to microbrew havens. GOODBEER FAUCETS Happy hour: Mon-Thu 5-8pm, Sun 4-7pm The deal: ¥200 discount on any of their 40 types of microbrews on tap from Japan and around the globe – usually priced at around ¥1,000 per pint.
One of the boldest ventures in Tokyo’s current craft beer boom, this spacious, chrome-andconcrete bar occupies a prime slice of real estate just across the street from the Bunkamura in central Shibuya. Thanks to
Goodbeer Faucets, Peter: The Bar (right), Union Square Tokyo (above)
their experience of running online PETER: THE BAR retailer Goodbeer, they’ve built Happy hour: Sun-Thu 5-8pm up an impressive selection of The deal: ¥800 per drink or craft beers at the appetiser (plus 15% bar – they offer over service charge) 40 different beers on tap, predominantly Japanese and American Glorious Don’t let the glorious 24th-floor views scare microbrews. Also, the calibre of the menu has improved a lot since views and a special you off – this bar at the Peninsula Tokyo isn’t as stuck up as you might they first opened. Keep an eye on their Twitter menu think. Make the trip during happy hour account if and you’ll you want be greeted to catch by a special some of the menu with more unusual food and drink offerings, as they available for ¥800 tend to go quickly. a pop. Give the cajun 2F Shibuya fried potatoes a try for Crossroad Bldg, a down-to-earth dish 1-29-1 Shoto, that won’t leave you Shibuya (Shibuya hungry – or go all-out Station). tinyurl. with some of the more com/TOTgoodbeer. luxurious selections. Mon-Thu 5pm1-8-1 Yurakucho, 12am, Fri & Sat Chiyoda (Hibiya Station). 5pm-3am, Sun 03 6270 2763. tinyurl. 4pm-11pm, closed com/TOTpeter. 12pm4th & 5th Mon of 12am (Fri & Sat until the month. 1am).
Havana Café
HAVANA CAFÉ Happy hour: Mon-Sat 5pm-7pm The deal: Drinks from ¥200-¥500
One of Roppongi’s more enduring expat hotspots, Havana Cafe serves good mojitos and decent Tex-Mex grub, with a kitchen that stays open until 4am. The ground-floor standing bar is usually the livelier option, but those in search of a quiet meal can retreat to the basement. Best of all is the happy hour from 5pm-7pm, when you can get a gin & tonic or a Moscow mule for ¥200, wine and beer for ¥300, and a frozen margarita for ¥500. It’d be good value wherever you were – but in the middle of one of Tokyo’s pricier nightlife districts, it’s an absolute steal. 1F-B1F, 4-12- 2 Roppongi, Minato (Roppongi Station). 03 3423 3500. tinyurl. com/TOThavana. 11.30am-5am.
UNION SQUARE TOKYO Happy hour: Daily 5pm-7pm The deal: Drinks from ¥500
The Tokyo version of New York’s Union Square Cafe has a spacious terrace with gorgeous views of the nearby park areas, and the atmosphere is altogether very relaxed. The menu is heavy on NYCstyle fare, including giant salads, fresh pasta, burgers and smoked steaks. During happy hour you’ll have your pick of drinks with prices starting from a very reasonable ¥500. B1F Galleria Garden Terrace, Tokyo Midtown, 9-7-4 Akasaka, Minato (Roppongi Station). 03 5413 7780. tinyurl.com/TOTunionsquare. Mon-Fri 11am-3pm, 5pm-11pm (Sat & Sun 11am-4pm, 5pm-11pm).
THE PEAK BAR Happy hour: Daily 5pm-9pm The deal: ¥3,500 for unlimited drinks and canapés
Granted, this is still a little pricey but you’ll be sipping cocktails to your heart’s content and helping yourself to buffet-style snacks on the 41st floor of the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Four hours of this kind of luxury would usually set you back at least triple this amount – one draught beer usually costs ¥1,200 and a small portion of toasted ciabatta with herbed chicken, bacon and tomatoes usually goes for ¥1,700. If you’re visiting Tokyo for the first time and you’re a fan of ‘Lost in Translation’, this hotel is undoubtedly on your must-visit list, so taking advantage of their ‘Twilight Time’ deal kills two birds with one stone. Visit on any night from Wednesday to Saturday and you’ll get the added bonus of a live DJ. 41 Park Hyatt Tokyo, 3-7-1-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku (Shinjuku Station). 03 5323 3461. tinyurl.com/TOTpeakbar. 5pm-11.30pm.
The Peak Bar
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH NOMIHODAI?
These ‘all you can drink’ plans offered at Japan’s local izakaya (pubs) sound like a good idea in theory: basically, for prices ranging from ¥1,500 to ¥3,000, you can refill your glass as many times as you want over a certain time period, usually about 90 minutes to two hours. If you Google the term, you’ll find several excitable blog posts by tourists and nomihodai newbies detailing a night spent ruining expensive coats with spilled wine and other ‘accidental spills’ as a result.
But, ruined coats aside, there are a few things you need to consider. Firstly, Japan is probably the only country in the world where this kind of offer doesn’t regularly end in debauchery. So you should strive not to become debaucherous either. Which leads us to the next point: if you’re drinking like a civilised person, then paying ¥3,000 for 90 minutes might not actually end up earning you any savings on beer at all.
What about the cheaper plans? Watch out for hidden costs like table charge and an obligatory food order (where the food is drastically overpriced). There are, of course, some places that offer all-night nomihodai, but if you’re hunting down one of these then you probably don’t own an expensive coat in the first place.
Kobuchizawa Country Club Kobuchizawa Country Club in HOKUTOin HOKUTO Enjoy a nature-filled tee time to unwind. It’s just a train ride away.
