Talents & Special Guests
Talent is what makes our Festival. More talents will be announced very shortly.
Musicians | DJ | Chairman | MCs | Artists | Event Hosts
Appearing @ PAGODA STAGE
9/18 at 1:45pm
J-POP SUMMIT FESTIVAL has once again teamed up with Japan Nite to bring an energetic band from Japan!
Jinny Oops! is an all girl trio from Sakai City, Osaka. (Sakai City is now sister cities of Berkeley, CA!) The drummer Hitomi formed the band when she was sixteen with her high school class mates in 2002. Mitsuyo’s roaring guitar sound and the amazing skillful heavy bass player Chihiro and Hitomi’s tight drums express both impulse and pain of the generation. They released their 1st album “Eat Your Brain” in Feb. 2010 and played at SXSW Music Festival 2010 and followed Japan Nite US tour (NY/Chicago/Cambridge/Seattle/ SF/ LA). They have their own radio show at Kansai Community FM FM station, SENSHU JOLLY FM82.6MHz. Members are: MITSUYO ISHIBASHI (Guitar, Vox), CHIHIRO ISHIDA (Bass, backup vox) & HITOMI FUTEMMA (Drums, backup vox).
Jinny Oops’s Myspace
Appearing @ PAGODA STAGE
9/18 at 12:15pm
Hopie Spitshard is not your average rapper. No, really.
First, she independently released her debut album, The Diamond Dame, in July 2008, immediately garnering national attention and a nomination for URB’s Next 1000. Then, Hopie did a 180 & took a short hiatus to earn her doctorate from U.C. Hastings, emerging only to release 2 music videos & a T-shirt series w/ Adapt Clothing, & to perform at Paid Dues in April 2010. Now, as the ink on her law degree dries, Hopie is again returning to the music scene with an eclectic body of work, her second full-length album, Raw Gems. Hopie Spitshard’s website
Appearing @ PAGODA STAGE
9/18 festival day: 1:00pm
You can say Soulit’s music is the only one of it’s kind in the world. Their live performance is sophisticated and quality of their music is refined.You will be an instant fan once you see them live!! Ever since the Soulit band formed and began playing shows,all tickets were sold-out for their events and they have become quite famous in Japan.Their album have sold extremely well and they have packed to capacity crowds at every live show they have played to date.Now,soulit has a huge international fan base! You must not miss the Soulit!! http://www.myspace.com/soulitgroove
Appearing @ PAGODA STAGE
9/18 at 5:30pm
DJ Amaya will be representing J-POP music bringing in the superstars and top Japanese hits into his mixes!
DJ Amaya has been DJing, producing his own original tracks, and remixes since 2002. Most known for his underground remixes of the Japanese Superstar Ayumi Hamasaki, and his podcast “Hitsuzen Radio” that features the best in Japanese remixes, and dance music from around the world. His 3rd original CD titled “Angel at Dawn” is available now. www.djamaya.com
Appearing @ PAGODA STAGE
9/18 at 4:30pm
Excuses For Skipping play old school space age new wave using absolutely no synthetic materials or artificial colors. Organically grown the old fashioned way on the streets of San Francisco’s Mission District, these four women infuse their live performances with sheet metal banging, bike frame clanging and volcanic guitar explosions that send your heart galloping with your hands flying over several hundred horses fleeing the scene of of a shotgun fireworks bonanza. You wont know what hit ya!. Listen to the words. excusesforskipping.com/
Appearing @ VIZ Cinema
9/18 festival day: 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Miku is a virtual idol and character born from Yamaha Corporation’s Vocaloid synthesizing technology. Hatsune Miku is a singing synthesizer application and its female character developed by Crypton Future Media. By inputting melodies and lyrics, users are able to synthesize singing for the lead vocalist as well as back chorus. CDs comprised of music featuring the voice of Hatsune Miku have began showing up on music charts and is becoming a phenomenon centered around the Akiba-kei (otaku) culture. Become Miku’s friend on Facebook >>>
© Crypton Future Media, Inc.
VOCALOID is a registered trademarkof Yamaha Corporation, Japan.
Appearing Everywhere!
Our festival mascot and chairman in 2009 was the cute and sweet Hello Kitty! For festival 2010, we have a special guest…a little scary…he is coming to endorse his new film premiere at the J-POP SUMMIT 2010. Who can it be? http://www.dmcthemovie.com/
Appearing @ NEW PEOPLE STAGE
All day
Foxxee really brought the crowd together last year for the NEW PEOPLE grand opening as well as throughout the first annual J-POP SUMMIT FESTIVAL. We look forward to him again on Post Street’s NEW PEOPLE stage.
Foxxee has been a tireless face on the San Francisco House Music scene since it’s inception in the late 1980’s. The name Foxxee, first established as a moniker during his seminal stint as journalist for URB Magazine, where he then moved on to a 8 year gig as Producer/DJ and Host of the Bay-Areas #1 electronic dance music mix show “Your Mama’s House” and became the voice of a club generation. Above all, starting his career in 1992, he was the first openly Gay on-air personality in the history of broadcasting in the US.
He continues to MC, host and DJ events throughout the Bay-Area such as The J-POP SUMMIT FESTIVAL, San Francisco Pride and Oakland Pride including numerous other events in major cities across the United States. www.myspace.com/lawrencefoxxeepetty
Appearing @ PAGODA STAGE
All day
The beautiful face of 360VM has been a mainstay of MYX since its
inception. As a former hostess of MyMYX, Loveable, and several other
MYX events, Olivia has no problems getting comfortable in front of the
camera. Olivia has hosted, written, produced, and did
some of her own camera work for another international television
network, VJIAM TV. Her strong writing skills have won her a state wide
JACC award and a scholarship through the honors society to study/teach
abroad in South Korea at Soonchunhyang University. One of her most
proud accomplishments while in Korea was winning first place in a
marathon, grand prize: laptop computer; which she sold and bought a
ticket to Vietnam where she then lived for a month. Her ultimate goal
is to work on-air as a host/journalist, writing and producing her own
content. She also hopes to exclusively produce on-air content.
Exhibiting @ SUPERFROG Gallery – 11am – 6pm
Appearing @ NEW PEOPLE Stage
9/18 at 12:00pm
Live Performance @ Post Street x Buchanan Mall
9/18 at 1:00pm
With his shaved head, red body paint, and red costumes, Ken Hamazaki is known in Osaka’s Minami Senba district as “The Red Man.”
When he was twenty years old, Hamazaki traveled to England and after returning to Japan, opened a gallery to display his artwork in 1992 in Osaka’s Higashi Shinsaibashi area. In 1997, he moved the gallery to Minami Senba, painted the exterior and interior completely red and named it the Ken Hamazaki Museum of Contemporary Art, a title that, in Japanese, has the aggrandizing secondary meaning of the Hamazaki Prefectural Museum of Contemporary Art. In addition to holding exhibitions, his gallery sells interior decorative items and accessories, suggesting a fusion of art and lifestyle. www.kenhamazaki.jp/e/index.htm
Appearing @ NEW PEOPLE STAGE
9/18 at 1:00pm
NEW PEOPLE the Store Autograph Session from 2:00pm
Born in 1973 in Osaka, Japan.
With 5 years of cartoonist and career illustrator experience under his belt, Mori Chack leaped into launching his own cute and often satiric character series “Chax” in year 2000. After some grass root marketing efforts caught media attention, his best-known figure “Gloomy Bear” takes off nationally and internationally. The artist currently resides in Tokyo.
http://www.chax.cc
Appearing @ Peace Plaza
All day
“There is an aspect of graffiti that is reverse colonization.
I look at it as the people’s media.” – Estria
Estria has been spray painting for over 26 years, and is recognized around the world as a graffiti living legend, valued historian, and leader on graffiti’s social and political impact. Hailing from San Francisco’s “Golden Age” of graffiti in the 80’s, Estria is a pioneer in painting techniques, and the originator of the stencil tip. Through graffiti Estria has become an educator, entrepreneur, and social activist, working with numerous non-profits, and high profile corporations. In 2007, Estria founded the “Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle”, a nationwide urban art competition that honors and advances creativity in the Hip Hop arts. Originally from Hawaii, Estria has called the Bay Area home for half of his life. His murals are known to be whimsical, cultural, political, and vibrant, with a focus and dedication to uplift the communities they serve. http://estria.net/
Editor, Otaku USA
Host: Monthly Talk event: TokyoScope: The wild and crazy world of Japanese cult films
J-POP SUMMIT WEEK Special Event: TokyoScope Deluxe
“Bad Girls & Wild Women”
Appearing @ VIZ Cinema
Monday, 9/13 @ 6pm
Patrick macias who has been hosting the ToykoScope Talk Series at VIZ Cinema is gearing up for the “DELUXE” night with a special movie feature! Don’t miss the chance to meet him.
Writer, editor, and Japanese pop culture aficionado PATRICK MACIAS was born in Sacramento, California in 1972. He is the co-owner of jaPRESS, a company that creates media content and performs consulting services for a variety of clients in the US and Japan including Viz Media, Chronicle Books, Last Gasp, Marui, Nippon TV, NHK-TV, and many others. www.patrickmacias.blogs.com.
6%DOKIDOKI Special Event: Harajuku Kawaii Experience 2010
Appearing @ VIZ Cinema
Monday, 9/15 @ 6pm
& NEW PEOPLE Stage on festival day
Sebastian Masuda
Multi-Creator / Artist
Director, 6%DOKIDOKI
Tokyo, Japan
Spending years in the performance and modern art world, Sebastian Masuda opens 6%DOKIDOKI in Harajuku in 1995. In 2005, Masuda started producing “visual shows” that are expressive and kawaii-centric and representative of the latest in Japanese pop culture. In 2009, as their first overseas outreach, Masuda and his 6%DOKIDOKI staff join NEW PEOPLE’s grand opening to bring Harajuku and Kawaii to San Francisco and to the USA. 6%DOKIDOKI held a 1 month shop in NEW PEOPLE’s Fashion Floor and reached out to many Harajuku and kawaii-curious youth during their stay. www.dokidoki6.com/
