Shanghai Legoland to open July 5 with Monkey King-themed area
One area will be inspired by "Journey to the West" -- a story known for main character Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. There will also be a re-creation of Shanghai scenery with Lego blocks.
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Japan Today
a day ago
- Japan Today
Japanese underground idol culture booming in China
Members of the Chinese underground idol group Transparent Classroom and Parallel Girls perform onstage in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, on May 18. By Maya Kaneko At a club in Shanghai, dozens of young people are jumping and waving glow sticks as they dance to the music, leaning in as if to touch the performers on stage. They're Chinese amateur girl groups singing in Japanese, and this is Japan's globalized idol culture. About 20 Chinese idol groups wearing colorful frilly dresses and Lolita-style outfits performed at a recent weekend music event. The emcees sometimes called out to the crowd in Japanese, with shouts of "se-no" ("All together now!") or "arigato-gozaimashita" ("Thank you very much!"). After the show, fans lined up to chat with the idols at the venue's booths. These meet-and-greet sessions are called "perks meetings." The paid service lets fans take pictures with the idols, get autographs, and chat with the girls for a few minutes. An autographed photo and a two-minute chat costs 100 yuan ($14). According to Chinese media, the number of underground idol groups in the country has skyrocketed since the end of pandemic restrictions, from about 40 in 2023 to over 250 in March this year. A male fan of the idol group "Affloret" gave his favorite group member, Rhythm, a flower bouquet for her birthday. "I really love her and have been watching her grow. I hope she becomes the No. 1 idol in China," said the man, who wore a black vest with the Chinese message: "I only watch Rhythm." The producers of Affloret, which was set up in China's biggest business hub in June last year, include people who worked at AKB48 Team SH, the Shanghai branch of Japan's famous all-girl idol group AKB48. Since AKB48 started in 2005, it has operated under the concept of "idols that fans can casually meet" through "handshake" meet-and-greet paid events at venues including a Tokyo theater dedicated to the group. Of the six women in Affloret, only Nayuyu is a full-time idol. The others are either college students or work part-time in the entertainment industry aside from their main jobs. Rhythm said in an interview that she feels "very happy and blessed" on stage and that it is great to be able to share her emotions with fans who often reciprocate with a feeling "full of energy" after watching her performances. The group members, who were chosen from about 100 candidates, sing in both Japanese and Chinese, even though Nayuyu says Japanese pronunciation is hard since most of the members have not really studied the language. Being passionate and enthusiastic about becoming an idol is more important than talent, an Affloret producer said. Even though Affloret has over 100,000 fans who follow their online content and social media, the group's main source of revenue is offline -- event tickets and meet-ups. The Affloret members said they look up to Japanese underground idol groups like AIBECK and iLIFE as role models and hope to perform with them in Japan. A Japanese man in his 40s who lives in Shanghai and follows Chinese idols said he thinks the biggest difference between Japanese and Chinese entertainment cultures is the physical distance between the fans and performers. "In Japan, there are strict rules and fans must keep a certain distance from idols, but here the atmosphere is more relaxed, allowing fans to chat with the performers more intimately," he said. Unlike a lot of Japanese groups that are made up of teenagers, most of the Chinese idols are adults who get into show business for a limited time, according to the Japanese fan. A lot of members "graduate" or quit after a year or so, presumably because Chinese youth are under more pressure to find stable jobs. The man said he got into Chinese underground idols after seeing a live performance by a group called Transparent Classroom and Parallel Girls from Changsha, Hunan Province, in 2019. The six members of the Changsha idol group are unique. They sing original songs in various genres, including rock and punk, in Chinese. This is different from the groups classified as mainstream idols, which try to evoke feelings of "moe," or enchantment with cute and innocent characters. Zhao Beichen, 31, the producer of Transparent Classroom, is known in the Chinese media as the "godmother of Chinese underground idols." After a live performance in Changsha in May, she explained that she wants to nurture "alternative" performers who are "not perfect" and can be seen as "unsophisticated." Zhao researched Japanese underground idols for her thesis at Meiji University in Tokyo, attended concerts by amateur groups and worked at an idol talent agency while she was in Japan. "China's got a huge population base, so no matter how niche the genre is, there'll always be a market as long as there are people who like it," Zhao said. "I think it'll be easier to get underground idol groups together in China than in Japan because the culture here isn't as developed." Zhao said she has never thought about having her group sing Japanese songs because the members cannot speak the language. "Underground idols should be diverse and inclusive, like a hodgepodge," she said, adding that the industry is "fun because it is based on grassroots." © KYODO
SoraNews24
a day ago
- SoraNews24
Live-action Luffy Inaki Godoy made the voyager to Tokyo for a surprise-filled One Piece Day 2025
Try to say 'real-life Luffy' five times fast. As has become tradition in the month of August, fleets of Straw Hat Pirates descend upon Tokyo Big Sight to celebrate all things One Piece for two days. This year, One Piece Day 2025 was held on 9 and 10 August and marked the fourth such celebration held in Japan. Attendees were all given Fav cards along with their passes, where they could show off their favorite characters either by writing their name or drawing a picture of them in the space provided. As usual, the venue was fully loaded with One Piece exhibits. A booth was set up to watch anime episodes in full 3D Dolby sound, and people could get their pictures taken with yuru-kyara mascot versions of Luffy and Chopper in between sessions of One Piece Bounty Rush that could also be played on-site. Some of the standout booths included one by the One Piece Base Shop, offering a sneak peek at some of the merchandise that will be sold once the exclusive One Piece store has its grand opening this winter in Tokyo's Shinjuku neighborhood. Another was the Lego One Piece booth, which was set up in the shape of the Going Merry and featured Lego statues of Shanks, a transponder snail, and more. Guests could also help complete a mosaic mural using Lego bricks. On the main stage, the special guest this year was none other than Inaki Godoy, who stars as Luffy in the live-action One Piece series on Netflix. After first appearing on video, the crowd was stunned when Godoy actually walked out on stage to greet them, present a debut of season two, and share his excitement for the confirmed third season of the show. Then, several key voice actors from the Egghead arc gathered on stage to do a live read and share behind-the-scenes stories from their time working on the episodes. The event came to a close with the announcement that One Piece Novel Heroines would be adapted into an anime. In addition, the One Piece Knowledge King trivia contest finals were held on One Piece Day for the first time ever. After perennial frontrunner Kyan finally earned his first Knowledge King crown, there was a surprise premier screening of One Piece in Love: Festival Eve Special , an anime adaptation of a manga that appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump+ only weeks earlier. There were also musical performances by Muque, who played their ending theme 'The 1,' and Chameleon Lime Whoopiepie, who performed their upcoming ending theme 'Punks' live for the first time ever. As always, the grand finale included a medley of theme songs, this time by Hiroshi Kitadani, who even did a cover of 'Angel & Devil' by GRe4N Boyz because they were out on tour at the time of the event. All of the other guests took the stage to join the capacity crowd in singing 'We Are' together to close out the show. And if this somehow still wasn't enough One Piece fun for fans, there was also a scavenger hunt where attendees were challenged to find as many of the 1,400 characters scattered throughout the venue as they could. With another One Piece Day in the books, it's becoming increasingly clear that even after the main manga and anime eventually do come to an end, the vast One Piece universe of shows, games, and more can keep this event going well into the future. ©Eiichiro Oda/SHUEISHA ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation For assets related to LEGO®: LEGO, the LEGO logo and the Minifigure are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2025 The LEGO Group. For assets related to Netflix live action series: ©Eiichiro Oda/SHUEISHA ©Netflix/Tomorrow ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
The Mainichi
3 days ago
- The Mainichi
Japanese underground idol culture booming in China
SHANGHAI (Kyodo) -- At a club in Shanghai, dozens of young people are jumping and waving glow sticks as they dance to the music, leaning in as if to touch the performers on stage. They're Chinese amateur girl groups singing in Japanese, and this is Japan's globalized idol culture. About 20 Chinese idol groups wearing colorful frilly dresses and Lolita-style outfits performed at a recent weekend music event. The emcees sometimes called out to the crowd in Japanese, with shouts of "se-no" ("All together now!") or "arigato-gozaimashita" ("Thank you very much!"). After the show, fans lined up to chat with the idols at the venue's booths. These meet-and-greet sessions are called "perks meetings." The paid service lets fans take pictures with the idols, get autographs, and chat with the girls for a few minutes. An autographed photo and a two-minute chat costs 100 yuan ($14). According to Chinese media, the number of underground idol groups in the country has skyrocketed since the end of pandemic restrictions, from about 40 in 2023 to over 250 in March this year. A male fan of the idol group "Affloret" gave his favorite group member, Rhythm, a flower bouquet for her birthday. "I really love her and have been watching her grow. I hope she becomes the No. 1 idol in China," said the man, who wore a black vest with the Chinese message: "I only watch Rhythm." The producers of Affloret, which was set up in China's biggest business hub in June last year, include people who worked at AKB48 Team SH, the Shanghai branch of Japan's famous all-girl idol group AKB48. Since AKB48 started in 2005, it has operated under the concept of "idols that fans can casually meet" through "handshake" meet-and-greet paid events at venues including a Tokyo theater dedicated to the group. Of the six women in Affloret, only Nayuyu is a full-time idol. The others are either college students or work part-time in the entertainment industry aside from their main jobs. Rhythm said in an interview that she feels "very happy and blessed" on stage and that it is great to be able to share her emotions with fans who often reciprocate with a feeling "full of energy" after watching her performances. The group members, who were chosen from about 100 candidates, sing in both Japanese and Chinese, even though Nayuyu says Japanese pronunciation is hard since most of the members have not really studied the language. Being passionate and enthusiastic about becoming an idol is more important than talent, an Affloret producer said. Even though Affloret has over 100,000 fans who follow their online content and social media, the group's main source of revenue is offline -- event tickets and meet-ups. The Affloret members said they look up to Japanese underground idol groups like AIBECK and iLIFE as role models and hope to perform with them in Japan. A Japanese man in his 40s who lives in Shanghai and follows Chinese idols said he thinks the biggest difference between Japanese and Chinese entertainment cultures is the physical distance between the fans and performers. "In Japan, there are strict rules and fans must keep a certain distance from idols, but here the atmosphere is more relaxed, allowing fans to chat with the performers more intimately," he said. Unlike a lot of Japanese groups that are made up of teenagers, most of the Chinese idols are adults who get into show business for a limited time, according to the Japanese fan. A lot of members "graduate" or quit after a year or so, presumably because Chinese youth are under more pressure to find stable jobs. The man said he got into Chinese underground idols after seeing a live performance by a group called Transparent Classroom and Parallel Girls from Changsha, Hunan Province, in 2019. The six members of the Changsha idol group are unique. They sing original songs in various genres, including rock and punk, in Chinese. This is different from the groups classified as mainstream idols, which try to evoke feelings of "moe," or enchantment with cute and innocent characters. Zhao Beichen, 31, the producer of Transparent Classroom, is known in the Chinese media as the "godmother of Chinese underground idols." After a live performance in Changsha in May, she explained that she wants to nurture "alternative" performers who are "not perfect" and can be seen as "unsophisticated." Zhao researched Japanese underground idols for her thesis at Meiji University in Tokyo, attended concerts by amateur groups and worked at an idol talent agency while she was in Japan. "China's got a huge population base, so no matter how niche the genre is, there'll always be a market as long as there are people who like it," Zhao said. "I think it'll be easier to get underground idol groups together in China than in Japan because the culture here isn't as developed." Zhao said she has never thought about having her group sing Japanese songs because the members cannot speak the language. "Underground idols should be diverse and inclusive, like a hodgepodge," she said, adding that the industry is "fun because it is based on grassroots."
