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JPOP_SUMMIT

                                                              July 28, 2014

       This year's J-Pop Summit was
       insanely crowded-- last year's
       attendence was ~80k, I would
       guess it broke ~100k this year.

       There were people standing on line
       in Ramen Alley for *hours* to buy            I mean... back in
       small, somewhat expensive bowls of           Oakland's Chinatown
       (I would expect) somewhat sub-standard       there's a place that has
       Ramen...  I really don't understand          superb Ramen.  I've got
       my fellow humans sometimes.                  some curiousity about
                                                    other versions from
                                                    different places, but how
                                                    much better could they be?

    Dangerbaby looked at the crowds
    and began cursing: "I hate the           She also comments
    internet."                               that it's funny
                                             constantly being a
    The most common overheard comment:       few years ahead of
    "This is *craazzzzzy*."                  the trends.  All of
                                             a sudden, everyone
         We started using our J-town         catches up, just
         knowledge to sneak around the       when we expect
         edges of this scene-- we have       they're never going
         lunch in the one un-crowded,        to get there.
         restaurant, and watch the
         stage in Peace Plaza from an
         odd angle off to the side.


                The act that caught our attention
                this year was HanaKiku -- this is
                a deceptively simple form: a pair
                of singer-dancers in the style of
                "Pink Lady".  They do silly,
                lightweight songs with funny poses
                and off-kilter choreography, featuring      They wear a
                an unusual sense of fashion.                style they call
                                                            "kimono-cos",
                                                            i.e. "cosplay
                                                            kimonos", e.g.
            There was a punkish-trio whose                  very short
            name I didn't get that was quite                mini-skirt
            impressive-- once the zombie on                 Kimonos, in
            the sound board figured out how                 clashing colors
            to turn up their mics.                          and patterns
                                                            that border on
            Regrettably, we didn't make it                  op-art.
            back on Sunday and ended-up skipping
            out on "Pinky Poodle Doodle"...




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