Event: J-POP SUMMIT Festival 2013

Updated Aug. 5, 2013

Event: J-POP SUMMIT Festival 2013

The 5th annual J-POP SUMMIT Festival in San Francisco was held on July 27 and 28. The associated Japan Film Festival of San Francisco continued until August 4 with Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo, Wolf Children, Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower and more.

In addition to two days of events in Japantown, it expanded with a live music concert in Union Square. Harajuku style had a big presence with fashion designer Sebastian Masuda, founder of 6%DOKIDOKI, a Harajuku Kawaii Fashion Show and singer/fashion model Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. KKP gained world-wide attention from her music video for PONPONPON which has been played over 50 million times on YouTube.

"TOYOTA x STUDIO4C meets ANA" sponsored two musical groups, each performing live twice. LoVendoR is a band led by Reina Tanaka. She is a graduate of the Hello! Project idol group Morning Musume. Her popularity was sufficient to draw 4,000 candidates to the audition for being in a band with her. Vocalists Marina Okada and guitar players Yuki Uozumi and Marin Miyazawa were selected to form the band. While most of the festival was still being set up, there were many Reina Tanaka fans politely lined up with the hope of getting an autograph. The group SWEETY consists of three voice actresses: Yui Hasegawa (nicknamed Yui Yui), Sayaka Takenouchi (nicknamed Sat-chan) and Yurika Takagi (nicknamed Yuripon). They sang the ending theme song for the anime Sengoku Collection which was produced by OSTER project.

Other music included Sony artist Kylee with a full band. She is an American who is now in college at Stanford. She has been performing in Japan for many years. DAICHI is a human beat-box. Without using any instruments or machines, DAICHI can make more than 50 different sounds using his voice, and can play rhythm beat and sing a melody at the same time. DJ Coco, wearing her trademark Pikachu kigurumi, provided music including some well known songs from anime between the live performances at the main stage in Japantown.

This year, the Vocaloid Dance Contest was split into a solo competition on Saturday and a group competition on Sunday. There was also an idol singing contest and a Cosplay Masquerade. A group of fans did wotagei (cheering/dancing) with lightsticks.

Vocaloid Dance Contest contestants and judges

One booth had the world premiere of the English version of the upcoming SEGA rhythm video game Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F. This game has 38 different Vocaloid songs. The booth was also gave out collectible Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F lanyards.

Have a comment for us? Don't want your picture online? Want us to pass a message to the guys who do wotagei? Contact us with a subject of "J-POP SUMMIT 2013" at

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu at Union Square
		LoVendoR	Morning Musume graduate Reina Tanaka of LoVendoR
		Sweety
	Florence, Vocaloid Dance Contest Champion 2012 and judge 2013	Vocaloid Dance Contest contestant AoiKatori	Vocaloid Dance Contest contestant Axe
Vocaloid Dance Contest contestant Inv3rse	Vocaloid Dance Contest contestant Friskie	Vocaloid Dance Contest contestant Charmmy Kittie	Vocaloid Dance Contest contestant and runner up Hinamori
Vocaloid Dance Contest contestant and winner Butters
DJ Coco	super cute Tiffany Fujii, Vocaloid Dance Contest Champion 2011 and judge 2012-2013, about to annouce a winner	Vocaloid Dance Contest contestants and judges	human beat box phenomenon DAICHI
		breaking open the sake barrel to start the festival	guys doing wotagai (dancing/cheering)
promoting the AnimeiCon convention in Monterey in October	the Japantown stage	the Union Square stage	The live at Union Square in San Francisco was right next to the cable car line