 Date: February 14, 2016 Time: 2:00-3:30 PM Location: Live Events 3 Are you a fan of Morning Musume '15, Juice=Juice or ANGERME? Or were you a fan of Aya Matsuura, Mini Moni or W many years ago? Well, join A-To-J Connections as they examine one of the most popular collections of Idols in Japan, Hello! Project! From Morning Musume's formation during the Sharam Q Asayan auditions to the formation of recent groups like ANGERME and Juice=Juice, we will cover it all! Expect an opening performance from some of our talented panelists, lots of fun and information, and more than a few surprises! Perfect for both fans and newcomers alike! Panel will take place on Sunday February 14 at 2:00 in Live Events 3 Hosts: Manuel, Tiffany, Heidi, and Marjorie  J-POP Summit Day 2 started off in a similar fashion to Day 1 (A recap of which can be found HERE) with the high-energy workout song "Domobics" courtesy of Tokyo Performance Domo! (A special unit made up of Tokyo Performance Doll and NHK mascot Domo.) By this point attendees would have heard this song both on the main stage and several times from the NHK booth and I am not ashamed to admit that it had grown on me and both myself and many in the audience had memorized most of the call-and-repeat parts to the song. Check it out HERE if you're interested in seeing what the fuss was about.
 J-POP Summit returns to San Francisco's Fort Mason for another year of entertainment, music, and more!
 Date: Saturday January 30, 2016 Time: 1:00-2:30 PM Location: CCP2 (Ballroom B) Japanese Idols have been a constant presence on the Japanese pop music scene ever since their appearance in the 70s/80s. Over the years Idols have experienced varied levels of popularity and today idol music is arguably the most popular genre in Japan. Whether you're a fan of groups like AKB48 and Morning Musume '15 or idol anime such as Love Live and IDOLM@STER you are more than likely familiar with the colorful world of Japanese Idols. The music might be catchy and the idols' personalities might be infectious, but there are certain elements that might not be as accessible to Western audiences. Why are Idols so popular? Why do they graduate as they get older? What is the deal with the audition system? Why do some Idol careers end in scandal? All these questions and more will be answered in A-To-J Connections' new panel focusing on J-Pop Idols within the context of Japanese Culture. We follow an imaginary idol from audition to graduation and closely examine just what it means to be an idol. This panel is the perfect introduction to the world of idols and is a continuation of our popular "IDOL 101" series of panels. This panel will also feature live performances from A-To-J's own idols marisuga and Tiffany Fujii! Panel will take place on Saturday January 30, 2016 from 1:00-2:30 PM at CCP2 (Ballroom B)! Hosts: Tiffany, Molly, and Manuel  Date: Saturday April 23, 2016 Time: 8:45-10:15 PM Location: Room 201 Since the appearance of X JAPAN in the 80s, Visual Kei has entranced fans the world over. Some call it a genre, some say it's just a style, all agree that it is amazing music! Join A-To-J Connections as they dissect the ins and outs of the Visual Kei scene both in the US, in Japan and beyond! From BUCK-TICK, Luna Sea, and MALICE MIZER to Mejibray, DIAURA, and Dir en grey, we will cover it all and everything in between! J-Fashion, hair, make-up, the fandom and awesome music, you'll get it all at this panel! Expect information, videos, and lots of surprises! Hosted by many experts in the field both as fans and as industry professionals, this panel will have something for everyone, fan and newcomer alike! Panel will take place on Saturday April 23 from 8:45 to 10:15 PM in Room 201!  Recently, I had the opportunity to attend one of Washington's biggest anime convention; Sakura Con! Two lovely ladies, Ku and Ysa, hosted an "Intro to Visual Kei" panel and it was a great learning experience, or re-learning experience, on the history of visual kei and other cool facts involved with the scene. Here's a bit of what was covered in the panel with a dash of information I have in the back of my mind. They began with a collage filled with all kinds of Visual Kei bands, which they also used as a background for their presentation. The audience was allowed to shout out any bands they saw and recognized. Of course, my friend and I got to the edge of our seats and immediately named out the obvious Gackt, the GazettE, An Cafe, Nightmare, Miyavi, Larc~en~Ciel, Malice Mizer, and hide. The two proceeded to show a series of music video clips from the grandfather VK band, Deep End, leading up to today's modern offspring of Visual Kei bands. Ku and Ysa then began explaining the history of VK by giving us a timeline of the short 30 year history. It began in the early 1980's with Japa-metal bands like Buck-Tick, followed by Nu Japa-metal in the mid 1980's, then the X Japan era in 1989. It's common to think that X Japan was the first VK band but they blew up the scene because their crazy, western influenced rock n roll lifestyle, and of course Yoshiki's Extasy Records. Within the timeline there was a list of band eras from oldest to most recent; Japa-metal, Golden Age, Ice Age, and Neo Visual Kei.
A surprising fact I learned from this panel was the original meaning of Visual Kei back when it first began. Literally every band that appeared in SHOXX magazine was labeled and seen as Visual Kei. To this day, that view has changed and Visual Kei has many definitions depending on the person but it generally stays around the same idea; crazy makeup, hair, and costumes. But Visual Kei itself has many sub-genres which were described during this panel. A few sub-genres that were mentioned were kotekote, osare or oshare, iryou, soft-v, and Nagoya. However, the terms mainly used in this newer modern era would just be "kirakira" or "arbare". After discussing about the history, Ku began presenting on what fans do during lives, VK related events, and other "cool stuff" related to VK. She began by explaining the ever popular furitsuke, something most foreign fans might not be familiar with. In Japan, furitsuke are specific moves that you do during a specific part of a song during a live show. There are multiple types of furi and the basic ones that are also done in the states are head-banging and the wall of death. Head-banging is pretty much self-explanatory, but the wall of death is when the audience splits to two sides and on the vocalist's mark, the fans run into each other and go crazy. Some Japan specific furi that were explained are futon, circle mosh, and saku. Futon is when the fans in front row literally hang over the barricade and they're in a shape of a futon when place over the balcony to hang dry after being washed, hence the name. Other fans behind them will run up and get the chance of being closer to the band before running back to their spot. Circle mosh and mosh is not at all like the moshing overseas in the states. Circle mosh is when the fans literally just run around in a circle. Both circle mosh and mosh in Japan for Visual Kei is basically less crazy and less violent, or not violent at all. Lastly, saku is a nice and calm furi where you extend both arms towards a member and call out their name. It's also done when a band member is doing a solo. Though there are many other types of furi, these are the most common ones. If the song requires a more complex furi, the band will usually make a video of them performing the furi
Another thing that was explained during the VK 101 panel was "Anatomy of VK Lives" which includes tickets, entering rules, irimachi/demachi, and encores. Tickets for lives will have numbers on them determining where you will be in a live, whether it's seated or not. This is because when entering a venue, a staff member calls out each ticket number individually and fans go in by that number, therefore there's no need to arrive 8 hours early to line up for a live. Because of this ticketing and entering system, it's best to have a low number and often you can find fans trading or selling tickets, it gets pretty intense. Besides that, there is the option of irimachi which is when fans arrive early to the venue and wait for the band to arrive in hopes of meeting them. Demachi is the same concept except it's when fans wait outside after a live has ended. Both terms irimachi and demachi come from the Japanese words for arriving and leaving. Some venues and bands do not allow these things so it's best to research on what is and isn't allowed. Then there's the encore. In Japan, the encores are always expected and so bands are always planning ahead for them. During this time the band members will change, freshen up, and do whatever they have to do before playing another song or two. The last category Ku and Ysa discussed with us were events and activities that VK fans have outside of lives. These "Other Cool Stuff" consisted of shop events, in-store events, stamp rallies, and guerilla lives. Shop events are where a band member wears the shop's apron and work as the cashier to ring up items for fans, usually for around an hour. Shop events normally happen when a band releases new albums or singles. Next are the more common in-store events, which can be either an acoustic live, a hand shake event, a Q&A, or 1 shots/6 shots. 1 shots or 6 shots are when you get your photo taken with either 1 band member ( 1 shot) or all band members (6 shots) and it will be taken by a Polaroid so you get your own personal little cheki. Stamp rallies are where fans are running around the city going to select locations to get a special stamp on a stamp card and they will receive a special reward when they fill up the stamp card. Lastly, there are guerilla lives which are secret lives. Band members will often post very discreet clues in social media directing fans to a location in Japan where they will hold a pop up live. Some bands who have done this are the GazettE, SuG, Alice Nine, and Ensokou. Though if the live gets too big and populated, the Japanese police force will come shut it down quickly *cough* the GazettE *cough*  And that was all we learned at this awesome panel! I also want to mention that throughout the panel they would ask for the audience to engage in activities or answer questions and give away awards for them. The first one they did was where they asked the audience to define Visual Kei in our own words. I shot up my hand immediately along with another person and we were able to go up to their table to choose any free magazine they laid out for us (CLUB Zy, Zeal Link, etc). I decided to go for a Zeal Link magazine with Mejibray and Born on the front and back covers. The other activity they did, which was quite fun, was a pop quiz game of "Find the chick". Pictures of VK bands were shown and one person per photo had to pick out who they thought was the female in the band. All female VK band Danger Gang was placed in the slides as a trick question and gave us all a good laugh since technically they weren't wrong but weren't 100% right either.
Overall I had an amazing time at this panel and Ku and Ysa did a wonderful job. They explained the history of Visual Kei in an easy way to understand and included all aspects of the scene. I'm sure that everyone that attended has learned a lot and I hope you did too from this overview! You can view the photos above for their resources. I would gladly attend another one of their panels. -Reida  Silicon Valley Comic Con had its debut at the San Jose Convention Center recently (March 18th - 20th). Residents in Northern California haven’t really had large-scale comic book conventions ever since WonderCon left San Francisco 2011. Silicon Valley Comic Con had a huge list of celebrity guests (Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Stan Lee, Jeremy Renner, Adam Savage, William Shatner, and many more). The con will be returning in 2017; so if you missed it and are considering going to next years, below is a little recap of what the con was like.   RFID Tech In Work Silicon Valley Comic Con, being a tech-themed convention, incorporated RFID embedded wristbands that could be scanned for entrance to the convention. This was a really nice way for staff to prevent counterfeit badges and track the numbers of attendees and their frequency of going in and out. Based on ticket sales, the con had an estimated attendance of around 30,000 on Saturday. The con also had a free app to help you manage your schedule, set reminders for scheduled events of interest, and purchase celebrity photo ops and autographs.  Examples of Pricing The experience at a large comic convention is a bit different than the anime conventions typically held at the San Jose Convention Center. The first noticeable difference about a con so heavily focused on famous celebrities was the higher price of the con; $50 dollars a day for general admission, and that does not include celebrity meets. A photo with Stan Lee cost an additional $100. A fan in line said to me, “this is way more money than I should be spending, but Stan Lee is 93 and I’m not sure how many more cons he will be going to. This is a now or never situation, so I really had to!” But since the main appeal of the event was the celebs, the lines for the celebrity photos were extremely long. One of my friends said he was in line for a photo with Stan Lee for over 2 hours and was rather upset that he spent over $150 to sit in line for so long. But overall, he was incredibly happy he got to meet Stan Lee and understood that long lines are to be expected with celebrities as big as Stan Lee.  On Sunday morning at around 9 a.m., the Silicon Valley Comic Con official Instagram account posted that there was a surprise free autograph session by Adam Savage of Mythbusters from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. This was a nice surprise for Adam Savage fans who didn’t want to spend money but were also already at the Con for the 10 a.m. opening and able to get in line in time before the cut off.  w/ Adam Savage There were lots of really awesome cosplays at the convention, but nowhere near as many as seen at anime cons. The crowd was mostly families who came to see the celebrities. There were a handful of cosplayers and photographers just “ghosting” (attending the public areas without purchasing a badge) the con. A few of the cosplayers were just hanging out in the front lobby of the convention center having photo shoots, since the RFID check-ins were upstairs. Some of the cosplayers who didn’t buy badges said that they were mostly interested in meeting up for photos and hanging out with friends/making new friends and that $50 a day was too much for a con. Cosplay At SVCC 2016 Overall, Silicon Valley Comic Con is an excellent time for fans in the San Jose area to meet some of their favorite celebrities and ask them questions at Q&A panels. As long as you have a couple hundred dollars of spending money and understand that the majority of your day will be spent sitting in lines. There really aren’t too many other chances for fans to get opportunities like this outside of cons, so it is definitely worth it if that’s something you really value. However, if you are looking for a con with lots of fun activities to do on a budget, this con is worth skipping. -Tom Kiryu Other Photos From SVCC 2016  Date: Friday February 26, 2016 Time: 10:00-11:30 PM Location: General Assembly Are you a fan of Morning Musume '15, Juice=Juice or ANGERME? Or were you a fan of Aya Matsuura, Mini Moni or W many years ago? Well, join A-To-J Connections as they examine one of the most popular collections of Idols in Japan, Hello! Project! From Morning Musume's formation during the Sharam Q Asayan auditions to the formation of recent groups like ANGERME and Juice=Juice, we will cover it all! Expect an opening performance from the talented Tiffany Fujii, lots of fun and information, and more than a few surprises! Perfect for both fans and newcomers alike! Panel will take place on Friday February 27th from 10:00-11:30 PM in General Assembly!  While at Japan Expo LA 2015, we were able to interview Japanese singer, Ayaka Mononobe. She opened up the Expo with a performance of the Japanese national anthem and lit up the main stage with several performances over the weekend. Thanks for your time! For starters, how are you enjoying your time in America? Yes, definitely! Have you been here before? Yes, I have. I used to live in New York for four years. Can you tell us what music styles influence your sound? I like jazz, hip-hop and gospel. I love gospel. A lot of soul and funk. That's a varied mix. Who are some of your favorite music artists? Dianne Reeves, of course Michael Jackson and I love Beyonce. Following along that same line, is there any artist you would like to do a collaboration with? Maybe Pharell, because he's so handsome! (Laughter) There is a reason! Have you performed overseas before? Here? No this is actually my first time. I was living in New York before though and I had a recording session there. It was just music business though. What are the biggest differences, you think, between the US and Japan? It is more huge. Everything is so big, Japan is just a small island. People here are all so open and I like that. They all have open minds. Have you had time to go anywhere fun or interesting since you've been here? We went to Santa Monica Beach two days ago. We had king crab with butter sauce. It was amazing! I want to go big falls, you know like Niagara Falls, but some that are closer to here. You know, like waterfalls, I'd love to go and see them. Wow, that's great, I've never thought about seeing waterfalls. Have you eaten any foods here that might be different than what you'd have back in Japan? Yes! I love Mexican Food. Well there's a lot of that here in LA! Yes! Actually, you know what? I sung the Mexican national anthem in Japan, at an embassy party. Really? That's interesting. You probably know more Spanish than us! Do you have any funny stories to share from performing? You know, I'm always very serious so there aren't too many funny stories...but there was one time when I was going on stage and I was wearing heels and I fell. It was terrible, but a little funny. (Laughs) What are some of your upcoming plans for your music? I'm working on my original songs right now. I'm going to release my new album next year. I'll also be working on my music videos. Where can we find out more about you? Maybe my Facebook and website. Both under Ayaka Mononobe. Do you have any closing words you want to add? I love you guys and I want to see you guys from all over the world! You can find out more about Ayaka Mononobe on her social media. Facebook: facebook.com/ahya.otomizu Blog: ameblo.jp/ayaka-otomizu-01 The above interview was conducted by Manuel Figueroa with assistance and filming by Eunice Wang.   Recently A-To-J NorCal Correspondent, Tom Kiryu, stopped by Fall Kraken Con 2015 in Alameda California. What makes this con unique from other anime cons around the country is that this one is on a boat! That's right, Fall Kraken Con 2015 took place on the USS Hornet Museum! It was a unique experience for all and we can only hope to see more exciting things from this con in the future! Like all anime conventions, this one featured the standards such as vendors, an artists' market and a video space. It also featured many amazing talented guests of honor. Sarah Williams (Jinx the Loose Cannon from League of Legends, Sayaka Miki from Madoka Magica, etc), Zach Callison (Steven from Steven Universe), Tiffany Grant (Asuka in NEON GENESIS EVANGELION), and Christy Carlson Romano (Yuffie Kisaragi in Kingdom Hearts, Kim Possible, etc.) lead the way and hosted some amazing events. The con also featured cosplay gatherings and the event closed with a costume contest that showed off the attendees' wonderful cosplay. Below are a few pictures taken by Tom and these just scratch the surface at the sheer level of fun present at this convention. Keep an eye out for Kraken Con Spring which returns to the Oakland Convention Center April 23-24, 2016! Hope to see you there! For More Information Visit: krakencon.com |
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