Miku Expo Osaka 2016

(Austin)

March 31, 2016

    In the years before I came to Japan there had been concert tours for a set of Vocaloids that I really enjoy and I always told myself that if I got the chance I would go. A Vocaloid (literally: Vocal Robot) is a computer program that a lyricist can use to take the lyrics they've written and turn it into a singing voice. It allowed song writers to have their own lead singers and produce their own work.. without having to sing themselves. Vocaloids have become incredibly popular not only in Japan, but around the world. As such, in 2016 there was not just 1, but 2 tours for the vocaloid tour named "Miku Expo". It is a concert tour based around the Vocaloids owned by Crypton, the most popular vocaloids.  1 tour took place in Japan this year and 1 will also tour in America.

    When the concert tour was announced I bought tickets the next day for the Osaka showing. I was so excited. The concert wasn't until march, but I bought my tickets in November! I didn't capture any footage and very few pictures, so here is an example of one of the previous concerts from 2014 in New York.

    I think when most people view that video they will come to the conclusion of "it is just a TV screen, she isn't real. Why did you pay to go watch a TV?". I don't think that sentiment is completely wrong, however, for me it is more of the experience of connecting with all these other people around you who love this just as much as you similarly to why you would go to a concert normally. It is just enjoyable. Plus, they often show off unreleased songs at these concerts. I bought the concert CD because of that.

    In total the concert was about 2 hours long. It was a standing concert in Zepp Namba. The concert hall was INCREDIBLY packed, especially since I was almost late due to issues with my concert ticket. When I got there, it was basically full, so I slipped down the side of the hall and got almost all the way to the from along the side. I was even lucky enough to have a railing to lean on the entire time.

    After the concert I left and just outside the venue there were many cars that had been painted with various vocaloid costumes and characters on them. I took a few pictures before the guards came and told us to move along because everyone taking pictures was blocking the flow of traffic as people were exiting.

It was an incredible experience and I would love to do it again.

Hokkaido Trip: Miku Snow Town

Day 3, Part 3

(Austin)

    We headed to the airport to fly back towards Osaka. We arrived with excess time so Elijah and Ryosuke went to look for souvenirs to buy burn I went to a special store at the top floor of the New Chitose airport: Miku Snow Town.

    Miku Snow Town is a store that specializes in the Snow Miku theme of Hatsune Miku. They have the store, which has a huge range of products, but they also have a small cafe and a Snow Miku museum. The level of dedication oh this "town" was actually quite impressive and enjoyable to see.

I purchased...way more than I want to admit, however I actually took no pictures of the inside of the store or cafe. My mistake. I bought a phone case for my sister, Emily, a lot of postcards, and many other collectible items. While doing this... I lost track of time..

    Elijah and Ryosuke started to blow up my phone with messages, requesting that I make my way back downstairs to the security line. I still hadn't gone into the museum yet, so I hurried into it and took all the pictures attached to this post. I was certainly pressing my luck. I hurried down stairs, through the massive crowd and made my way to the security line. The line was so long that we were afraid that we were going to miss our plane. They split the security line so that people who had flights leaving soon could get through sooner. After passing through security we ran to the gaye which was already boarding. Incredibly close

    We made it on the plane and settled in for the flight back to Osaka.

Hokkaido Trip: Sapporo Factory

Day 2, Part 2.

(Austin)

    After buying stuff, taking pictures and freezing my hands off at the Yuki Matsuri Odor Site, we headed towards a mall called Sapporo Factory. I wanted to go to Sapporo Factory because I read on the internet that there was a special event being held there related to Snow Miku stuff. Snow Miku is my favorite Hatsune Miku variant, so I was excited to go.

    After taking a train and walking through the snow covered sidewalk we finally arrived at the mall. Good thing too because I was FREEZING. We went inside and started looking

for the event. The mall was huge and had many different shops. We briefly stopped in a puzzle shop to look around. I really want to get an anime puzzle however I Dont think it will look good hanging up. The ridges between thepieces make it look...kinda bad.

    After exploring the puzzle shop we continued our search. We looked through a lot of the mall before I decided that maybe it was in the building beside the mall. We walked over there and DID find something similar but it wasnt what we were looking for. The event we found was an anniversary party for a company called Shaft; They make high quality anime.

    Not to be detered we wandered back to the mall. In the middle of the mall was a wide open space with a few restaurants and shrubbery. Sadly I didn't really get any pictures but I've not really seen anything like it in the US. Ryosuke called the Mall help line to see where the event was and that is when we were told... the event was over. It had ended the previous day before we had even arrived in Hokkaido. "Well.. that sucks" is basically all I could say. 

    Luckily some of the restaurants were still doing their Snow Miku themed promotions so we went and had a small snack at one. I got a delicious drink that came with a free drink coaster. Something is better than nothing, right?

    It was starting to get late so we decided to head back, but before we left a small singing talent show started on a little stage. We were on the top floor above it, so we could only barely see it but we listened the whole time. Two girls sang Romeo and Cinderella, one of my favorite Miku songs. The people in Japan are really good at singing.

    We headed back towards our hotel. On the way there we stopped at a tiny ramen shop. It could only hold about 7 people in the whole shop. I had miso ramen again. It was extremely good. We parted ways with Ryosuke after dinner but agreed to meet at the McDonalds in the morning.

    Finally back at the hotel we relaxed and settled in. I finally took some pictures of my capsule. These capsules were much nicer than the ones in Tokyo. They had a TV, headphones, a radio and Elijah's favorite part: cushion. While I didn't have any problems with the beds in the pods in Tokyo, Elijah said they were really uncomfortable to sleep on. Suffice to say these were much better.