The Japan Foundation was formed to foster a better understanding of Eastern culture here in the West. This year, the group will be participating in the New York Comic Con to bring a little Eastern flavor to the show.
"We're very, very excited to see the Japan Foundation expand its
participation in New York Comic Con," notes Lance Fensterman, Group
Vice President for ReedPOP and Show Manager for NYCC. "For three years
now, the Japan Foundation has brought a little bit of Tokyo to New
York City, and each year, attendees have only wanted more. We know fans
will be very pleased to meet Ms. Asakawa, Mr. Choo and the staff at
Crypton, and we hope that the Japan Foundation's panels will inspire
our attendees to read more about Japan, learn its language, and
ultimately visit the land that's given the world Hatsune Miku and so
much more."
Get ready for some very cool guests and a fun dose of Japanese culture!
Ms. Yu Asakawa is a popular seiyuu (voice actress) and singer from Tokyo. Her list of credits includes Love Hina (Motoko Aoyama), School Rumble (Itoko Osakabe), Vandread (Jura Basil Elden), Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (Priss S. Asagiri), Azumanga Daioh (Sakaki), Gravion (Mizuki Tachibana), Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (Shalua) and Final Fantasy XIII
(Lebreau). She also provided the voice of Crypton Future Media's
Vocaloid virtual singer Megurine Luka, and she will be speaking at New
York Comic Con on Friday about her career, becoming the voice of a
Vocaloid and singing as Luka in both Japanese and English. For more on
Ms. Asakawa, follow her on Twitter at @Julia320, where she tweets in English to her international fans.
Mr. Danny Choo resides in Tokyo and runs a media production company where he produces Culture Japan,
a portal including a website, television show and products that
focus on spreading information on Japan around the world. Danny speaks
at conferences and universities worldwide on Japanese pop culture and
consumer generated media and his activities are regularly featured in
web, print and media outlets worldwide such as CNN, BBC, NHK and G4TV.
Danny has also been known to dance around Tokyo dressed as a
Stormtrooper. Danny will be speaking at NYCC on Saturday about
discovering Japanese culture, moving to Tokyo and spreading Japanese
pop culture to the world. Danny will also share his tips for studying
Japanese for those wishing to follow his path.
On Sunday at NYCC, Crypton Future Media, the creators
of Vocaloid singers Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka, will speak about
the Vocaloid software's success and bringing the Vocaloids to the USA.
This panel will feature the behind-the-scenes story of virtual singer
Hatsune Miku with Kanae Muraki, Director of Global Development for Crypton Future Media, and
Tara Knight, producer of Mikumentary
-- an upcoming series of short documentaries focusing on the Hatsune
Miku phenomenon. Crypton will make a special announcement as part of
this panel.
The New York Comic Con will be held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center (as always) and will run from October 11th through the 14th. It's a great show (we're there every year) and in many ways has started to get right up there with the San Diego event in it's magnitude and sheer amount of things to do- don't miss it!
