"Hikoboshi no Hoko" (The roar of Hikoboshi) is an annual concert that is held by three singers and myself as the emcee. Led by singer Takayuki Miyauchi, who is known for singing the theme song of "Kamen Rider BLACK RX," the show is held collaboratively with Shinichi Ishihara and Hideaki Takatori, usually in Osaka in early July, around the time of the Tanabata star festival.
This year, we held the concert in Tokyo about half a month later than usual, without an audience, of course, and streamed it online.
The three singers sang more than 20 songs in about two hours. To produce a different atmosphere for each song, Ishihara, who also acted as the director, racked his brain. He eventually decided to split the space into three sections, even though it wasn't that big, given that the venue was a club. He also built some sets offstage and changed the color of the lighting. He thus created a show with performers not getting too close to each other while also keeping it as visually sophisticated as a concert set up by pros.
It is a tradition of the event to include a comedy skit by the four of us. But since we could not get close to each other this year, we took photos of ourselves in advance and put them together to create a picture story for which we also recorded our voices. Clearly, the skit turned out to be a bit different compared to past years, but there were some scenes that we were able to do because it was not a live performance. This included Takatori's impassioned acting as a female housekeeper and Miyauchi, who actually sang enka, in the role of an enka oldies Japanese pop singer. Fortunately, the show was well received by the online audience.
Of course, it could not replace a live performance. Still, I want to continue contributing what little I can to organizing such events and concerts in order to bring good vibes to as many people as possible in this age of the novel coronavirus.
Suzuki is a Yomiuri Shimbun senior specialist and an expert on tokusatsu superhero films and dramas.
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