Welcome To The “Tokyo Idol Festival!”

I wanted to share a musical performance phenomenon underway in Tokyo – one that we happened upon!

First, according to wikipedia:

“in Japanese pop culture, “idol” is a term typically used to refer to young manufactured stars/starlets marketed to be admired for their cuteness.”

That “cuteness” is a cultural phenomenon in Tokyo – look at the crowd at this recent Tokyo Idol festival!

Here is a YouTube video from “The Tokyo Idol Project” – and gives you an idea of what this phenomenon looks like up close:

The Making Of A “Pop Idol!”

These young women are terrific dancers, great performers, and upbeat entertainers.

As wikipedia points out:

“Idols are intended to be role models. They are supposed to have a good public image and be good examples to young people. Idols aim to play a wide range of roles as media personalities (tarento), e.g. pop singers, panelists of variety programs, bit-part actors, models for magazines and advertisements.”

My wife Alex and I came across auditions for female “Pop Idols” at a park in Tokyo…it all began when we were wandering in Ueno park and found an amazing water lily pond:

The best part of this pond is when I took a panorama shot on my iPhone – and asked Alex to stand on one side of the pool until she was out of camera shot, then jump to the other side…this is what we ended up with:

At one end of the pond was an outdoor amphitheater, and we heard some very energetic pop music inside:

Our view was partially blocked, but signs were everywhere that there was a TV audition underway, and the stage held a number of excited young contestants as they rehearsed for their live show that was scheduled for later that day.

Apologies for the uneven quality of my filming, but I wanted to capture it on the fly with, as you will see, unpleasant stagehands watching:

The biggest annual idol concert festival is the “Tokyo Idol Festival”, which has been held since 2010. More than 300 idol groups, totaling 1,500 idols performed – to an audience of more than 80,000!

I found something similar when I was in Seoul Soth Korea…watch this video I shot of us walking down a Seoul street at night. I turned a corner and came across this:

Here is a look at that trip to Seoul, including my G4 Host Morgan Webb standing on the infamous “Bridge Of No Return” at the North Korea border:

https://johnrieber.com/2013/07/10/seoul-food-bacon-hot-dogs-hanging-fish-a-delicious-korean-adventure/

Tokyo was an incredible adventure as well, especially sitting in the iconic “Lost In Translation” bar:

This was the scene where Bill Murray talks to Scarlet Johansson in “Lost In Translation” – see more of the hotel here:

https://johnrieber.com/2016/08/28/tokyos-iconic-park-hyatt-hotel-lost-in-the-translation-bar-views-of-tokyo-2016/

That was just one of many great musical adventures to tokyo, like our night singing along with a golden gai bartender/musician:

My son Jeff found this great bar, and the bartender/musician sang an original song for us!

See more of that fun night here:

https://johnrieber.com/2016/07/22/late-night-tokyo-live-music-potatoes-and-bacon-a-golden-gai-tokyo-adventure/

Let me know what you think of the “Tokyo Idol” phenomenon!

Categories: Art, Awards, Books / Media, Exotic Travel, Japan, Memoirs, Music, Obscure Music, Talent/Celebrities, Tokyo!, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, TV Show, Uncategorized

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