While at Japan Expo A-To-J Connections was lucky enough to sit down with Linkstar's at Japan Expo LA and talk about their experiences in the US and their unique take on the idol music genre. Linkstar's is an idol group that debuted in 2013 and currently has four members. They specialize in strong performances that get their crowds hyped with their high energy singing and dancing!! Besides their activities as music artists, they also participate in various projects such as TV, film, and magazine appearances, both as a group and as individuals. Their performances at Japan Expo LA mark their first overseas debut. Their recent single "Linkstar" is available through various outlets in two versions. More links can be found at the end of the article. A-To-J: Thank you for the opportunity for the interview! Please introduce yourselves. Haru: I’m Linkstar’s oldest member, Haru Ootomo and my emblem is a ribbon! Nice to meet you. Arisa: I’m Arisa Matsunaga and my emblem is a star! Nice to meet you. Hinano: I’m Linkstar’s leader, Hinano Ayakawa. My emblem is a strawberry! My throat is a little hoarse but nice to meet you! Mana: My emblem is wings and I’m the youngest of the group, Mana Haneda! Nice to meet you. Linkstar's: We are Linkstar's! A-To-J: How are you liking it in America so far? Hinano: It's really cool! Haru: We've been enjoying ourselves! A-To-J: What did you like most about it here? Hinano: Everything! Haru: The food was really big! All of it was really tasty and yummy too! A-To-J: What is your favorite food here? Haru: We really liked the candy! A-To-J: Are there any music artists, Japanese or otherwise, you would like to collaborate with? Hinano: Taylor Swift! A-To-J: Can you tell us a little bit about your name “Linkstar’s” and the theme of Linkstar’s? Arisa: Its very free! Hinano: “Freestyle”! Arisa: Yes, “Freestyle”! (Nods) A-To-J: Can you tell us about your most recent work, music-wise? Such as your recent single or song? Arisa: We released our new single, “Linkstar” in June! Our group name is “Linkstar’s” and the CD title is “Linkstar” Hinano: A-type and B-type… theres two types! A-To-J: What is your favorite song in “Linkstar”? Hinano: “Linkstar”! (the title song) Arisa: It’s a masterpiece! The lyrics are great and you get happy and get positive power listening to this song. A-To-J: What are your thoughts about performing here in the US? Haru: We were worried at first because of the language barrier… but we used body language and our smiles. It was very fun! Arisa: Everyone gets hyped easily, so if she say “fuu~!” everyone also says “fuu~!” It was a very fun first overseas live. Linkstar’s: Thank you very much! [For the fun live] A-To-J: Can you tell us how all of you came to become Linkstar’s? Haru: We formed 3 years ago… and she (Mana) is the newest member! Arisa: She joined in March and we kind of ended up together… yea! (Laughs) Hinano: We were brought together [by others]. We’re the chosen ones! (Points finger to the sky) A-To-J: Are you guys fans of anime? Hinano: (Raises hand) “Me”! A-To-J: Whats your favorite anime? Hinano: Rozen Maiden! A-To-J: Can you tell us more about your time here in LA? Arisa: Since the language is here is very different from Japan, we gesture a lot and it’s kind of exciting! A-To-J: What about the fans? How are they different than those in Japan? Haru: They are all very friendly! Hinano: Yes! They also all had a lot of energy and moved a lot! Haru: Yeah, in general all the US fans were very nice and we hope to be able to come back! A-To-J: Are you fans of any other idol groups? Arisa: Yea! A-To-J: Which ones? Arisa: Momoiro Clover Z! Haru: I like Passpo. Hinano: Me? I like myself! (Gestures a thumbs up) Mana: I like Morning Musume. A-To-J: Do you have any funny stories of when you were performing? Hinano: I was trying to do a somersault like move but… Haru: But she tripped! Bam! Hinano: Not really tripped, but I fell on my butt! Haru: We’ve also had times where we bumped into each other. A-To-J: Were you still able to perform okay after falling? Hinano: It hurt a lot! Arisa: Also, when we were performing, my mic flew out of my hands! Haru: And then her shoe flew off too! Arisa: It did! A-To-J: Have you performed in other countries? Linkstar’s: No! A-To-J: Where would you like to perform overseas? Haru: France! Hinano: Yes! Haru: And… world tour!! Linkstar’s: Fuuu!! A-To-J: Where can we find more information about Linkstar’s? Hinano: Twitter! Arisa: We have an official Twitter account, please “follow me”! Hinano: @LINKS_OnAir! We also have LINE account, so you can message us! A-To-J: Can we message you and you’ll reply back? Haru: Yes! A-To-J: What are you plans after this? Haru: Since we'll still be here, we plan to go shopping and other fun things! Arisa: We'll also eat! A-To-J: Lastly, can you please give us a closing message. Haru: I’m very happy we were able to come to LA for the first time. We’re going to try hard to be able to come back, so please keep an eye on us! Arisa: We’ve never done lives outside of Japan but we were able to perform overseas for the first time. I’m very happy that we were able to come here to LA and do our first overseas live, it was fun! Thank you! Hinano: This was our first overseas live and we got to do it in LA! I was excited before we came here but I ended up with this voice (from her hoarse throat) and I’m disappointed! However, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed it here! “Very happy!” Thank you very much! Mana: We got to do our first overseas live in LA and I now love LA! Thank you very much! To find out more about Linstar's visit them at: Website: linkstar-s.com Twitter: twitter.com/LINKS_OnAir Blog: lineblog.me/linkstars The above interview was conducted by Manuel Figueroa with assistance by Molly Ring and filming by Eunice Wang. Post translation by Tiffany Fujii. Linkstar 's- Linkstar Recently A-To-J Connections was lucky enough to stop by Japan Expo LA and interview Cheeky Parade who performed both days of the Expo and at the pre-party in Hollywood. Cheeky Parade is an idol group formed in 2012 under the iDOL Street label on avex. They were the second group to debut on this label (Following SUPER GIRLS) and recently made headlines as the first Japanese group ever to perform at the CBGB Music & Film Festival in New York. Their style of up-beat idol music matched with unparalleled energy has earned them fans all over the world and they have become one of the most rapidly rising idol groups in Japan. A-To-J: Please introduce yourself! Cheeky Parade: We are Cheeky Parade! Yuna: My name is Yuna Sekine, nice to meet you! Mariya: My name is Suzuki Mariya, nice to meet you! Marin: My name is Marin Yamamoto, nice to meet you! Yuriya: My name is Yuriya Suzuki, nice to meet you! Asami: My name is Asami Watanabe, nice to meet you! Hina: My name is Hina Nagai, nice to meet you! Seran: My name is Seran Mizorogi, nice to meet you! Rino: My name is Rino Shimazaki, nice to meet you! Momoka: My name is Momoka Kodakari, nice to meet you! A-To-J: Thank you for your time! How are you enjoying your time in the US? Yuna: Sekine Yuna, the leader here! Its our 3rd day in Los Angeles today and we’ve been doing lives yesterday and the day before, but we were able to go to places like Hollywood before the lives and were able to enjoy sightseeing. We got to go to tourist attractions that are recommended so we’ve been spending every day to the fullest. A-To-J: That sounds like fun! How was it like performing in front of your US fans? Yuriya: I’m Suzuki Yuriya! Since we cannot communicate by words with the fans, we needed to use expressions or performances as communication so we concentrated more and thought of some English phrases to hype up the crowd as well. A-To-J: I'm sure that the US fans can feel what your communicating easily enough judging by their reactions at your performances. Have you had time to visit anywhere interesting while you've been here? Rino: Shimazaki Rino here! Today we went to Hollywood, the Chinese Theater, and the Hollywood Sign. We got to all stand in front of the Hollywood Sign and take a photo. We’re going to cherish the photo! Yuna: We want to be successful in Hollywood too! Yuriya: Where all the famous people’s hand prints were, there was an open spot so we all put our hands there and said we want our hand prints to be there someday! A-To-J: Hopefully one day we can see Cheeky Parade's hand prints amongst the greats of Hollywood! Can you tell us something about how did you prepare for this live? Mariya: Suzuki Mariya here! Since this live wasn’t in Japan, we wanted to be able to speak English. The leader and everyone practiced a lot of English to be able to hype up the crowd. Yuriya: These outfits are actually not what we have been promoting with recently since we’ve been wearing our outfits from our latest single. However, we wanted to promote Japanese culture so we came with Japanese Kimono-like outfits instead. Each person has things like embroidery and famous Japanese art on the back so I hope they pay attention to that too. A-To-J: Moving to your recent live, where there any songs last night that you especially enjoyed performing live? Cheeky Parade: Hmm.. I wonder which song… Hina: From yesterday’s live, there was a song called “Colorful Starlight” at the end where the audience danced with us during the chorus. (Everyone in Cheeky Parade starts doing hand gestures of the dance) Hina: It’s a upbeat song so it got really hype! A-To-J: What kind of challenges do you experience performing overseas? Asami: Watanabe Asami here! The language barrier was the biggest challenge so we wondered how we can communicate. We thought facial expressions were best so when the lyrics were cheeky, we made very cheeky faces and when the lyrics were cute, we showed cute smiles. We wanted to express the image of the songs as much as possible so we cared about our expressions the most. A-To-J: That's a lot to think about while performing, but I'm sure your fans take note of all those little touches. Well, you've been to the US, where would you like your next overseas live to be? Cheeky Parade: Oh~!! (everyone starts whispering to each other) Seran: *raises hand* Australia!! Cheeky Parade: Yeah!! We’ll dance with the kangaroos! Seran: Australia is right below Japan right?? Its also similar since Australia is also an island! I’ve gone to Austraila before and it’s a great place so I would love to go with the members as well. A-To-J: I'm sure those in Australia would love to have you! As a group, what are some of your musical inspirations? Mariya: There's someone I really respect and that’s Michael Jackson! We, Cheeky Parade, are aiming for number one in the universe and in my mind, Michael Jackson is the current number one of the universe so I want to try our best to go past Michael Jackson! A-To-J: Along that same line up thought, is there any music artist you want to collaborate with? Rino: As Cheeky Parade I want to collaborate with Aerosmith! I think Aerosmith’s performance is aggressive and cool so if we can collaborate that kind of performance and our “cheeky” performance together, that would be great. A-To-J: That would be a really interesting combination that I'm sure everyone would want to hear! Also, I noticed that Solidemo was cheering you on at the live yesterday, are you friends? Yuriya: Since we’re in the same company, we are friendly with each other. We even saw them today a couple of times while we were sightseeing. A-To-J: What are you plans after this overseas performance? Yuna: In Japan, from November we are having periodic lives. For each one of these lives, we’re basing the theme on movie titles so we want to successfully perform those lives. As for plans after that for Cheeky Parade, as we gained more fans around the world, we want to now perform in more places overseas. Of course we want to be successful in Japan but we also want to become a group that would be successful overseas as well. Therefore we want to grow as a group and become a bigger, more popular group! A-To-J: We at A-To-J Connections hope so too! Thank you for your time! Cheeky Parade: Thank you! The above interview was conducted by Manuel Figueroa and Eunice Wang with post translation by Tiffany Fujii. Cheeky Parade Are: ★Watanabe Asami (渡辺亜紗美) ★Sekine Yuna (関根優那) ★Shimazaki Rino (島崎莉乃) ★Suzuki Yuriya (鈴木友梨耶) ★Mizorogi Seran (溝呂木世蘭) ★Yamamoto Marin (山本真凜) ★Nagai Hina (永井日菜) ★Kodakari Momoka (小鷹狩百花) ★Suzuki Mariya (鈴木真梨耶) For More Information: ★Official Website ⇒ www.cheekyparade.jp ★Blog ⇒ ameblo.jp/cheekyparade ★Facebook ⇒ facebook.com/cheekyparade ★Twitter ⇒ @CP_official_CP ★Itunes ⇒ itunes.apple.com/us/artist/cheeky-parade/id533336733 ★Instagram ⇒ instagram.com/cheekyparade_official M.O.N.ST@R PV -DOWN THE ROAD Ver- 「カラフルスターライト」 Colorful Starlight Hiiragi Rio put on three amazing shows at Japan Expo LA and got the crowds that came to see her very hyped up! We were able to catch up to her after her final performance and she was able to pull herself away from her legions of fans to grant us an interview. We hope to see more of her here in the US and hope that this isn't our last chance to sit down and talk with her! Hiiragi Rio is a Japanese idol and J-Pop singer known by her nickname "Riorio" and her catchphrase "Takama Riorio!". She debuted solo in 2011 and was also a member of the group, Heart&Cupid. She released her first solo single in 2013 and it was followed by four more over the next two years. She has performed abroad in Taiwan, France and in the UK with Japan Expo LA marking her first performance in the US. A-To-J: Please introduce yourself. Rio: Yes! Everyone, raise your hands up! Ready… shimmer, shimmer, shimmer, super big smile! I’m Hiiragi Rio, also known as Riorio! Everyone together… “Takama… Riorio!” (Translator’s Note: “Takamaru” is the word she’s using to combine with her name, it means to get hype) Nice to meet you! A-To-J: How do you like L.A.? Have you gone sightseeing? Rio: L.A. is very friendly! If I wave “hi”, they say “hi” back! The food is also great! I love eating a lot so I’m happy that the portions are big here. Yay! A-to-J: What food do you like the most here? Rio: Hmm… Hamburgers! A-to-J: From where? Rio: There was a place near the convention center that is supposed to be fourth most popular in America. It was tasty, “juicy!” (English) A-To-J: What is the difference of Japanese fans and American fans? Rio: There’s a lot of people that haven’t seen me before so they don’t really know what to do seeing my lives but as the live went on, everyone cheered along and it was heated up and very fun! A-To-J: What is your inspiration? Rio: I really love anime and I get influenced by anime singers. There’s no one person but I’ve been inspired by many “anisong” singers. A-To-J: What is your favorite “anisong”? Rio: I really like Code Geass so I really love the song “Mosaic Kakera”. A-To-J: Please tell us your goals for next year. Rio: I want to come back to LA! Also since the US is big, I want to go to other places like NY or Seattle. In Japan, I want to become big and a star! A-To-J: Is it hard to always perform with such energy? Rio: I’ve never thought of it as hard. I get a lot of energy from the fans so we exchange a lot of heat and make it a great time which is why I’ve never felt like it was tough. A-To-J: Have you had any funny happenings during lives? Rio: For my 19th birthday, I had a one-man live. I tripped during the first song… During the first part of the song, I told the fans “Let’s get hype!” and then I tripped. It was embarrassing but I do trip during my lives sometimes A-To-J: Can you tell us something about your fashion style? Rio: Harajuku style! I really like this style and I know overseas people enjoy it so I wear this style to overseas. When I’m in Japan, I wear Japanese style or more mature or cute styles… I wear many different things! A-To-J: Can you give us the detail on what you’re wearing right now? Rio: There’s a lot of badges attached [to my skirt]. There’s also a pocket with a doll in it. A-To-J: What brand is it from? Rio: This one is Nile Perch! There’s also a wallet attached. A-To-J: Was it sold separately from the dress? Rio: Yes, I attached all these things myself! And these are… (Lifts up yellow paw shaped gloves) pockets! Then my backpack, Darko-chan! I also have these shiny headphones. A-To-J: Did you decorate the headphones yourself? Rio: This is a brand, yes! (Laughs) A-To-J: Where do you go shopping? Rio: This is all Harajuku! Except for the yellow paws, these are from Shinjuku. A-To-J: What is a store that you recommend? Rio: Nile Perch! They sell a lot of pastel colored goods. A-To-J: Have you performed at any other overseas countries? Rio: Other than America, I’ve performed at Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, France and the UK. A-To-J: Where in Taiwan? Rio: I went to Taipei and Takao! A-To-J: What food did you like in Taiwan? Rio: Tapioca! It was chewy. A-To-J: Did you go to the night market while in Taiwan? Rio: Yes I did! Everything was delicious! A-To-J: Where can we get updates and information about you? Rio: You can find it on Twitter, Facebook, Ameba Blog, as well as everyday broadcasts such as Nico Nico Broadcast, Twitcasting, SHOWROOM, AfreecaTV and Youtube. I also do LINE as well (@hiiragirio1220). My twitter id is @hiiragirio. A-To-J: Please send a message to your US fans. Rio: I was happy to be able to come to America for the first time! If you’ve seen me for the first time and you became my fan, I will come back to see you again. I will go to LA and other parts of America in the future! With the broadcasts, you can see me every day! Please come see me! “I love you!” (blows kiss) Bye! The above interview was conducted by Darice Chang with assistance by Stephanie and Ellen, all of whom provided on-site translation. It was directed by Manuel Figueroa with filming by Eunice Wang and post translation by Tiffany Fujii We recently caught up with rock-idol group “564” (Also known as “Goho Lolita Syndrome”) at Japan Expo LA and talked to them about their shows in the US!
564 is made up of Hiro and Halu and are actually second generation members of the group. They have a very unique sound that is both rocking and cute! Their fans get more than a little wild at their shows too and this was witnessed first-hand by the A-To-J members who were present! A-To-J: Please introduce yourself. Hiro: Hi I’m Hiro. Halu: Hi I’m Halu. A-To-J: How are you enjoying your time in America? Hiro: Am I enjoying it here? Yes! Halu: How should I say this? Hiro: Well first the cityscape… Halu: The cityscape is like what you would see in a movie. We look at the buildings and think: “Ah, we’ve come to America, we’ve come to Los Angeles!” Hiro: Next would be… Halu: The food! There are a lot of kinds of food that is different from Japan. Things we haven’t even seen before… Hiro: The convenience store sells very different things as well so it’s fun! A-To-J: Have you eaten something very different from back home? Hiro: Oh! There were strawberries in the salad! Halu: Yea! You don’t see that in Japan. It was surprising to see strawberries in a salad… Also I bought a sandwich that has cranberry and chicken in it from 7 Eleven, which I’ve never seen before either. I haven’t eaten it yet but that was a surprising combination to see! Hiro: Putting… “fruits in….” (In English) Halu: You don’t have to try to say it in English (Laughs) Hiro: I want to say, why would you put fruits in there?? Halu: In Japan they don’t put much fruits so it was quite surprising… A-To-J: What was some of the differences performing in front of the US fans? Halu: The main thing was the language… Since we don’t do MCs, we usually tell the audience “be louder” or things like that during the instrumental parts of the songs but we had a difficult time trying to think of ways to communicate that to the people here. We had to brace ourselves to use English… Hiro: But if say “wai wai!” the audience will do it with us! Halu: I think even if it was a little bit, they understood us. A-To-J: If you had to describe the genre of music you do to someone that has never heard of you before, how would you describe it to them? Halu: We’re cool and intense, but we would tell them that we’re still Japanese idols! Hiro: We’re idols that mix the “emotional” style and “moe” or cute Japanese style. A-To-J: What are your favorite musical artists? Halu: Since I like bands… I don’t listen to many bands overseas but for Japanese bands, I like a lot of intense bands. I go to lives and watch their live videos as well. A-To-J: Out of the songs you performed, which one was your favorite song? Hiro: “Kaika Sensen” JAWEYE-san, the person that was with us, made this song for us. It goes from intense to cute tones so it’s fun. A-To-J: Where in the world would you like to perform the most? 564: Anywhere?? I wonder where we would want to go… Hiro: This is actually my second time overseas… Halu: Maybe a place that we’ve never seen before… Then we can have the people of that place listen to our music so we can see their reactions to it. A developing country maybe… Hiro: With tribal people or something? Halu: Yeah! I would like to go to those kinds of places with a completely different culture and perform in front of them. I want to see if they still think we are enjoyable or if they would be surprised. A-To-J: Do you have any funny stories from any of your performances? Hiro: Like the time someone broke their bone? Halu: The audience is intense as well so they like to mosh so sometimes they end up with nosebleeds or broken teeth and glasses as well… But it happens often with audiences of artists in our genre. Hiro: Yes, quite often. For us it would be… Halu: We almost fell off the stage one time… actually we did fell… twice. (Laughs) Hiro: We get too excited! Halu: And when we get too excited we don’t see clearly and we fell off because of it. A-To-J: What are your next immediate plans for your music? Halu: Since we’ve gotten an opportunity to perform overseas so we want more overseas fans to know us. Hiro: We want to do lives in many different places. A-To-J: Please send a final message to your fans. Halu: We’re very happy that we were able to come to LA for the first time as 564! Since we met a lot of people that heard us for the first time, we hope we can use this chance for them to know us. We’re looking forward to the next time we can meet again! Thank you very much! For more information on 564/Goho Lolita Syndrome: Official Website: lolisyn564.com Twitter: @lolisyn The above interview was conducted by Manuel Figueroa with assistance by Molly Ring, filming by Eunice Wang, and translation by Tiffany Fujii. Interview With Voice Actress/Anisong Singer/Character Designer Amatsu Uni At Japan Expo LA 201510/24/2015 Recently at Japan Expo LA, we were lucky enough to stop by the Best Jeanist booth where Amatsu Uni was promoting her upcoming anime "Tokyo Senhi". Amatsu Uni is a popular anime song singer, voice actress and recently worked on the character designs for Toyko Senhi. Hello! Thank you for your time with this interview. Let's get started. Well, you're in the US now promoting your upcoming anime, Toyko Senhi, how are you liking it here? It is such a nice place! I love American very much? What's your day-to-day life in Japan like? I like going to Akihabara very much. I usually go to Akihabara three times a week. Really? That's a lot! I'm sure you like anime then. What is your favorite anime? Sword Art Online! It is my favorite anime! Well, you're here to promote Tokyo Senhi. What can you tell us about it? It's a fighting girls anime and I made this anime with three main characters. I am also doing the voice acting for the three characters and I am singing the theme song. What are some of the challenges doing so many different things at once? Being a character designer, voice actress, singer, etc. It's actually my dream to be able to do everyhing. I want to be able to do all of it. I want to make anime, do voice acting, sing; everything. You've been in the US before. What are some of your favorite places? I love New York very much. I went to New York before and I want to go to New York Comic Con very much! I plan to go to Comic Con next year with this anime! So you have plans to come back to the US? Yes! I want to go to New York and perform! I want to perform this song [Tokyo Senhi opening theme] there! That's awesome! I'm sure it will be well-received! Maybe we'll see you there. Can you tell us about your favorite musical artists? I love the music of Motown. The Motown style is very awesome. So you mentioned you worked on the character design for Tokyo Senhi. Yes! I made this character. I also did all three of the main character designs. What were some of your inspirations behind the character designs? I really like Absolute Duo and Sword Art Online. The character designs from there are really cute. So are my characters. What are some of your upcoming goals in your music and anime? Hmmm...I don't know yet. Oh? You're still planning? Yes. I have plans. There is this anime of course and I have music, but other than that I am not sure. When will Tokyo Senhi be released? It's still in development. Maybe it will be released next year. Where would we go to find out more about you? I have a website where you can find out more about the anime, listen to my music and hear my voice acting. It's on PC only though. Your English is really good. Where did you study? Really? My English is not that good.... I went to New York though and I spent half a year studying singing and learning English in New York. Do you have any closing words to your fans? Yes! I have an Instagram account [@amatsuuni]. My followers are all my fans! My biggest fans! You can find out more about Amatsu Uni via her social media. Instragram: instagram.com/amatsuuni Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCnnbVmZYTXGPQ9zfu1Gkc4w And Tokyo Senhi at: makuake.com/en/project/amatsuuni The above interview was conducted by Manuel Figueroa with assistance and filming by Eunice Wang. |
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