This week was Canada’s arguably premiere J-music event, Next Music from Tokyo. Since I don’t Canada, reading up on it was pretty new to me and it only happened because in its latest tour, NMFT invited a couple underground idol groups, and some folks went to see them from my circle of internet people.

For people who don’t know, Next Music From Tokyo is a tour where a rich doctor in Toronto single handedly produces a tour. He hand picks 4-5 indie JP bands, throw them into a 3-stop Canadian tour, all out of his own wallet. You can read about it in this article from a few years ago. This week was the 9th iteration of NMFT.

It’s notable because this is the first time the guy (Steve) invited some idol groups. He explains why here. I quote:

The main reason I’m holding the tour twice this year is because I really liked Maison book girl’s music and I had a hunch they would blow up in popularity fairly soon. So if I waited until next May it would probably already be too late and sure enough 2 weeks ago Maison book girl went from underground idol group to signing with a major label. Their major label debut concert is in November, a month after NMFT9. It’s a one-man show (no opening acts) that sold out within hours of tickets being released. A couple years ago I was close to adding Suiyoubi no Campanella (Wednesday Campanella) to the NMFT7 line-up and had talked with Komuai back when the group was still relatively unknown. But I chose Atlantis Airport instead and figured I could just bring WedCamp on the next tour. But after a few months WedCamp exploded in popularity and later signed with Warner Music. Similar thing happened the year before with Oomori Seiko. So even though holding the next tour six months early has been a huge pain in the ass to organize, Maison book girl has vindicated my decision and I feel like a genius. LOL.

Mind you, I don’t go to Japan six times a year trying to discover the next big thing. I don’t give a shit about who’s going to be hot or popular because in general I can’t stand popular mainstream music. I try to find artists and bands whose music I love or at least thoroughly enjoy watching perform live. Most of the bands I like are way too eccentric and not physically attractive enough (LOL) so they have a snowball’s chance in hell of signing a major label deal. But a few underground bands I really like have potential to crossover to the mainstream and I try to get them to Canada before they do because after they sign with a major label they become way too expensive to invite… AND… their music frequently changes for the worse (watered down) to appeal to a greater number of people (eg Kinoko Teikoku, Akai Koen, Ame no Parade). (note: I still like KT, AK and AnP’s music but greatly prefer their earlier works)

If the Steven Tanaka from three years ago built a time machine and traveled to the present I’m sure he would gladly risk the temporal paradox to kick my ass because three years ago I totally despised all aspects of Japanese idol culture. I hated the fact idol groups like AKB48, Momoiro Clover Z, C-ute, Morning Musume etc were dominating the music scene with their senseless and shallow, cookie-cutter, bubblegum dance pop. The fact they’d release CDs with 12 different album covers to try and rake in as much cash from the fans who were stupid enough to buy all 12 versions of the same album. Idol culture was totally commercial, symbolized style over substance and pandered to middle-aged men’s fantasies of illicit teenage romance.

Even underground live houses that specialized in punk/HC/noise had to surrender and start booking amateur idol acts in order to survive financially. But as time went on the cross-pollination of amateur idol groups with the underground music scene led to the development of increasingly more creative and interesting idol acts.
So with that long-ass-winded intro finally over, here are three underground idol acts I secretly like. LOL

Point is, this hardcore indie guy is now importing some underground idols on his own dime, putting money where his mouth is. As an aside, this Steve guy is awesome. He deserves a medal or some such. You can read about his NMFT exploits on the site’s blog.

PS. This is how I feel about F2P gaming in a nutshell. The parallel is there–there is no reason why just because some companies like Zynga screwed it up for the rest of us and the (gaming) public have this very negative image of this model, doesn’t mean good things can’t come from it.

I’m back to the States after attending Anisama 2016! The 3-day festival/concert at the Saitama Super Arena was a blast and frankly a pretty heavy-duty experience on both mind and body. I made it even worse by adding a side trip to Chara-hobby Expo Tokyo, now rebranded as C3 Tokyo, before the live on day 3, as there was a Million Live stage event there in the morning. What turned out was even worse because of stuff unexpected. At least now I can cross out going go Mogra on my bucket list.

I have been following Anisama since the beginning. Now that I have visited for the first time I can say it’s basically the anison wota equivalent to comiket, as far as a collective, cultural experience goes. The outdoor stage that was added some years back made it even more so a celebration of young people going nuts during the Japanese summer break, with these somewhat 2.5D idol up-and-coming acts. The main shows themselves are 5+ hours long, with a smattering of old and new performers. Some acts are one-shot things (B.B. Queens??), some are super mainstream (like Tamaki Nami this year), some have been here since the start (Minami, Angela), and some came on a time machine (Ayukawa Maya, Matsumoto Ricca). There are the usual gearing-up promo acts like TrySail and AOP, but also someone who’s never publicly performed as a solo artist until now (Numakura Manami). If anything, it’s hard to complain about Anisama 2016’s diversity, at least on paper.

Anisama is different than the other festival-style lives I’ve been to. The energy and expectation are through the roof. Many of the attendees there are yakkai as F. Most are pretty normal. Some people sat down more than they stood up. Granted I’ve yet to attend Animax Musix or Lisani, where in recent years they’ve been upping their games, especially in the collaborations, but Anisama as a whole feels just that much more epic compared to the ones I’ve been to thus far (P’s Live 02, Nendo 10th). Three hot summer nights are a long time and a lot of cheering for anybody.

This year, thanks to typhoon Lionrock, we enjoyed mild, if slightly damp, weather for days 2 and 3. It rained on and off in Saitama but the Tokyo region was cool, compared to day 1, when heat and humidity were at their usual form. Standing in the sun was not recommended. This was also my third time going to Japan during summer, and I like it as much as getting a punch to the gut. Only for you (and IM@S and Yoko Kanno), Anisama!

A lot of that is what’s special about Anisama, I think. The crowds and the energy and passion is much stronger, better. Maybe yeah, there are those people who whip out their custom umaibou penlights during Calorie Queen, or those digging into their gyudons during Rice to Meat You. How can you blame them I mean that’s awesome I would too?

I mean look at this (outdoor stage):

Q&A???????????? in ????? #??? #?????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/qK8zIqCvgY

— ????? (@Lohengramm_007) August 28, 2016

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— ???? (@rnrfar) August 28, 2016

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I’ve been going to Otakon since 1998 and I have still never visited the Aquarium. I’m thinking Makino Yui did on her first visit…

I also have never had blue crabs in Baltimore until this year, so at least I’m trying, OK?

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It’s the last year the con is going to be in Baltimore.

Uh, not much is going on for me at the con, which means I’ll line up for Makinon’s show, her autograph session, and attend her panel. I’ll probably also go see the Matsuri concerts and ALL OFF’s show on Sunday. Really going to just take it easy when possible. Going as attendee should make that easy.

There are some neat guests at Otakon this year as usual. Yamamoto Kazutomi is really a top get for dude seiyuu of that variety. The PA Works guys are coming again, with a little more reinforcement. LeSean Thomas is kind of interesting to see in this context, but he’s showing a kickstarted thing, as with the UTD guys. Akane Kazuki is a long-timer that’ll definitely draw a crowd. Lots of other people.

There’s also this thing, which is kind of amusing because that music lineup is more hype than the con’s proper lineup. Well, ALL OFF sounds like they would belong here more as well…

There is an Idolm@ster panel. And this is where I kek’d hard.

So while blogging has more or less taken the eternal waterslide to the depths unpopularity of a medium meant for a very specific use from the heights of everyone-had-one, these vloggers are gaining momentum, partly thanks to the format, medium and ecosystem around it, but also there is a lot of incentive for these folks to approach and walk the same walk, but reinterpreting the material fit for consumption in that way. The popular vloggers are like TV and radio personalities, and that’s kind of what they are. A vlogger/featured panelist is doing said IM@S panel. Check out this sample. Well, maybe that’s stretching things a bit, but it’s definitely a thing.

Otherwise, yeah. It’s a low note to the last year at Baltimore. Considering what’s in my immediate horizon Otakon feels like just a bump on the road, but hopefully it’ll be a fun hang-out time nonetheless.