Bringing Japanese Pop Culture to Singapore! Moshi Moshi Nippon Festival World Tour in Singapore Report

| Event | Posted by tinyredman on Sep.16.2015

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Japanese pop culture fans in Singapore were treated to the different sights, tastes and sounds of Japan thanks to Moshi Moshi Nippon Festival stopping by Singapore on September 5-6, 2015 as part of their world tour event. Held at *SCAPE, the event allowed Singaporeans to experience Japanese food, fashion, anime, music and anisong. The festival is a celebration of Japan’s latest pop culture so, it doesn’t matter if you already love Japanese culture or have no idea where to begin, Moshi Moshi Nippon Festival serves itself as a platform for you to learn and enjoy. It aims to bring Japan to you and as the name “Moshi Moshi” suggests, it is a “Hello Japan Festival”.

Festival Ground
Located on the playground of *SCAPE, giant tents showcasing various aspects of Japan were being pitched. At the same time, a mini stage was built for anisong and idol fans have a great time while enjoying the music through “mixing” and “wotagei” during the performances.

Food and Shopping
Gold Rush and Japan Shopping Festival showcased their services they provide to customers. Gold Rush prides itself on their luxury designer goods and the high cash payouts offered to customers selling their items. The record they have every year is 5 million SGD from buying 1800 customers every year. Japan Shopping Festival was there to promote their shopping festival where made-in-Japan goods were slashed for a limited time. Held every summer and winter, people who like Japanese goods may want take note of the services they provide. Cool Japan Fukuoka is no stranger to Singaporeans as they previously came to promote FACo. This time round, they were promoting Fukuoka with booklets in different languages so that locals could have a better understanding of what they can expect when they visit Fukuoka. Marukome is the leading maker of miso soup in Japan and were there to promote their latest offerings to Singaporeans craving the taste of authentic Japanese miso soup. On a few occasions, artists Anna Yano and AMIAYA could be seen helping marukome give out free miso soups to attendees.

Music, Anime and Anisong
When talking about Japanese pop-culture, it is impossible to do so without anime and anisong. MILPOM★, a stop motion animation done with dolls, were there to promote their fun filled anime. This anime features the daily life of MILPOM★ and her friends, voiced by Hikari Shiina (a.k.a, Pikarin) and Anna Yano, who were there to promote this anime.

On the first day the event, both voice actresses were up on the mini stage to talk about their thoughts on working on MILPOM★. You may watch the anime here.

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EXIT TUNES where there to showcase some of their latest offerings featuring vocaloid producers, artists and dancers. Fans were could also buy CDs and albums right from them.

LIVE DAM set up a booth for anyone who wished to sing karaoke, after all, who doesn’t love karaoke? With English, Chinese, and Korean, in addition to Japanese, LIVE DAM is prepared to let anyone who dares to hold the mic and express themselves with their singing. There were a few occasions where utaite, Matsushita, Rinahamu and Hikari Shiina were spotted at the booth singing, heating up the audience more than the weather could. Rinahamu sang “nerve” (BiS) a few times at several different speeds and had fun interacting with her fans.

CHEERZ, the mobile app for supporting idols, was there to promote their services. In collaboration with Tokyo Girls’ Update, they brought along BPM15Q, who edged out over 450 other idols on CHEERZ to make their overseas debut in Singapore. Featuring Rinahamu and nicamoq, these two lovely girls had several performances at the mini stage and were at the booth to take pictures and talk with their fans.

Mini Stage
One of the main highlights of Moshi Moshi Nippon Festival was the mini stage, where anyone could enjoy performances by various artists like Matsushita, PCF, Pikarin, and BPM15Q. Each group catered to fans from all backgrounds in Singapore. Anime and utaite fans went crazy when Matsushita took over the stage with her cute and husky voice, pumping up the crowd with a mix of her original songs and covers.

PCF, the dynamic party group, were there to raise the roof with their amazing dance and wotagei performances. As this was not their first time in Singapore, they were no strangers at all. The interaction that the group had with the audience was spectacular. Within just a few short minutes, they were able to coordinate different dance moves and have fun as a group.

Pikarin, the 20,000-year-old demon in the body of a cute young girl who loves cosplay and anime, was at the mini stage to welcome fans to her 魔界, or demon world. Her performances froze onlookers in their tracks as her loyal “Makaijin” (魔界人, the name of her fans) could be seen kneeling on the ground (土下座, dogeza) to her and letting her walk on their backs. Of course, she allowed them to have their pictures taken with her as well. http://lineblog.me/shiinahikari/archives/1039230509.html

Performing 3 times in total at the mini stage, BPM15Q stole the hearts of many idol fans in Singapore with their cute voices and looks. It could be said that there were many people who had no idea who they were before this event but, after everything ended, many idol fans in Singapore seem to have had their hearts stolen by the duo.

Throughout the two days, they sang three songs: “Sure chigai, Boku to Kimi no TsuShin”, “Doki Doki parirarura” and “BPM15Q!”. All three songs belong to the EDM genre, but when coupled with the cute voices of Rinahamu and nicamoq, it becomes something new. Do check out the remixes of the songs here: https://soundcloud.com/nicamoq/bpm15qnicamoq-remix

Despite being the first time seeing BPM15Q, idol fans in Singapore didn’t lose out in terms of mixing and cheering for their idols. Even more surprising was the “EWAH EWAH EWAH” mix that was created by the local fans, which pushed the entire atmosphere up.

Language barriers were quite high for the two girls. Rinahamu was only able to say simple things such as “HAPPY! YEAH!!” and “ENJOY!!”. However, fans were able to understand what they were trying to express. During the last live, BPM15Q said that they will definitely return to Singapore one day. Overall, it was a great success for BPM15Q for their first overseas performance.