HYPER JAPAN Festival is an annual festival that celebrates Japanese culture, food, fashion, music, and entertainment. This year, the event will take place from Friday 21 July to Sunday 23 Juli at Olympia London. Last year, we highlighted the many artists performing at HYPER Live, this year we will present our selection of music artists that we think you should not miss out on.
It looks like the programme is once again quite full, so should you be looking forward to something specific, make sure you know in advance where you need to be and at what time! Our list is a list of suggestions, there is so much more to do at HYPER JAPAN, be sure to check out the website for more information and inspiration.
Naomi Suzuki
With a new single under her belt, titled Find someone better, Naomi Suzuki returns to the HYPER JAPAN stage. The vocalist (among many other things) has been based in the UK since the late 90s and quite accomplished in the entertainment industry, unfortunately not everything can be named in this small piece of text and really should be the subject of another article about this multi-talented artist. It is nice to point out that Naomi Suzuki will also be hosting HYPER JAPAN Festival this year. — Recommended by Francisca
VOCAFEST UK & Ireland
A long time staple in anime culture are the songs made with the software called Vocaloid with the most famous voice being Hatsune Miku. There are many different voices among the different versions of the software but at VOCAFEST UK & Ireland the characters/voices they feature are: Hatsune Miku, Yuzuki Yukari, MEGPOID GUMI, IA, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka & MEIKO. All these characters are virtual idols that fans have made songs, dances and animations for and the team behind VOCAFEST UK & Ireland has spent worked hard to use to prepare dance routines and other little tidbits to turn this into a whole set of songs where you get the feeling that these digital characters are actually performing a show. So if you are curious to a concert done by virtual idols or if you have an interest in Vocaloid songs come by and check them out. — Recommended by Lecros
R I N C H
Behind the project R I N C H is French vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Rindra. Influenced by the music he grew up with, from 80s pop music and Japanese rock, he decided to pursue self-education in music. After his debut album in 2014, he took the chance to compose music to celebrate the re-release of GUNNM (Battle Angel Alita), in collaboration with publisher Glénat. This inspired him to create his first musical manga, called Understella, in collaboration with illustrator Wilsa Sepriedi, in which the musician presents musical narration as the manga panels are projected behind him. — Recommended by Francisca
Ready Singer One
The name of this choir might remind you of old arcade games/home console games that would display the text: “Ready Player One” before the game started or it might remind you of the 2018 film also named after the same text that was full of references to 80s and 90s geek culture. If it did that already sets the tone for what you can expect from them as they focus on songs that you may recognize from films, games and tv shows. Some examples of the IPs they have covered songs from include Pokémon, Super Mario & Star Wars but for their performance at HYPER JAPAN they have announced to perform songs from Attack on Titan, Princess Mononoke & Final Fantasy so they’re definitely trying to bring songs more suited to the audience at HYPER JAPAN. Feel free to join this jolly crowd of people that are excited about geeky culture and come enjoy how they bring their vocal chords together to create some nice renditions from songs you’ve come to know and love. — Recommended by Lecros
Yuko Tsubame
London-based singer and musician Yuko Tsubame plays a traditional instrument from Okinawa, called the Sanshin, and makes songs with a strong connection with the Ryukyu (Okinawan) and Japanese culture. Over the years that Tsubame has been active as a musician, she developed an extensive song repertoire and style ranging from min’yo, to Japanese folk, vintage pop to jazz and rock. Yuko will be performing Saturday at HYPER JAPAN with Stephane Bourquin aka Boom La Tete on guitar to bring some extra music genres into the mix. — Recommended by Francisca
FEMM
When RiRi and LuLa from the duo FEMM come on stage somewhere you can find them in impressive matching costumes that give you a futuristic feeling. They used to limit their movements to seem like mannequins on stage but since their update to FEMM 2.0 they moved on to a more expressionistic dance. Thanks to the mix of classic pop sounds, modern effects and the dance movements they turn their perfomance into something artistic. After 10 years of producing music and performances they have decided to quit after one last tour through different countries to say one final goodbye to their fans so if you want to see them live be sure to grab your chance! — Recommended by Lecros
Colorpointe
Formed in 2011, Colorpointe, a ballet-themed dance-vocal group, is led by choreographer, director and lyricist HINK, and combines alternative music with striking fashion depicting a different fantasy world. We recently highlighted Colorpointe’s latest music video in an article, as they have just released a new single. And recently they added a new member, named Soran. Colorpointe will perform at HYPER JAPAN on Sunday afternoon, the group’s first performance in the United Kingdom. — Recommended by Francisca
Miura Ayme
If you’ve ever played the well-known otome game Obey Me you may be familiar with one or more of his songs since Sinful Indulgence and Celestial Ray have been used as theme songs for the game. His songs have a dark vibe and energetic choruses that remind you of visual kei bands. If you like this vibe go check him out on friday evening. Aside from music Miura Ayme likes to engage in many different creative things such as cosplaying or vtubing so if you like these things you can also check out his youtube channel. After his performance at HYPER JAPAN, you can catch him at O2 Academy on the 25th of July and AnimagiC on 4th till 6th of August. — Recommended by Lecros
Isiliel
Just last year, NECRONOMIDOL took the stage at HYPER JAPAN and this year Himari Tsukishiro will take the stage on Friday for a performance with her solo project Isiliel, where she manages to combine musical genres like atmospheric metal, black and doom metal with pop. Earlier this year, she released her debut album Moonbow Genesis. Isiliel’s performance is part of a world tour that started in June. The performer has already completed several shows in a number of European countries, the United States and, of course, Japan. Now the United Kingdom will be added to that list with the performance at HYPER JAPAN. — Recommended by Francisca
Akari Mochizuki and DENSHONEN
Akari Mochizuki is the only Japanese Enka singer in the United Kingdom, she started singing at the age of three and started working as a professional singer in 2009. With her performances where she performs enka and min’yo, she is sometimes joined by Hibiki Ichikawa with his Tsugaru Shamisen, but for this performance at HYPER JAPAN, she is joined by a duo that is produced by Hibiki Ichikawa, Tsugaru Shamisen duo DENSHONEN consisting of Joshua Green and Luke Burns. — Recommended by Francisca
