On Sept. 28 and 29, I took part in Kesen Kuso Bunkasai, a pop culture festival in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. I had the honor of being in charge of six anison (anime song) concerts on the event's main outdoor stage, from their preparations and planning to emceeing.
Legendary anison singer Ichiro Mizuki agreed to be the headliner of the event, which was mainly like an anison festival. Affectionately called Aniki (Big bro) by fans, Mizuki is also known for always bringing sunny weather with him. Thanks to him, the weather stayed fine during the two days, despite the all-day rain forecast. It did rain during the night, but that did not affect the concerts at all. Far from it, the second day turned out to be like summer, which was unusual for this time of year in Ofunato.
The concerts were backed up by singer Hideaki Takatori and his band, ZETKI, whose pleasant brass sounds rang out in the autumn sky in the Tohoku region.
The artists who joined the concerts on the first day were Mizuki, Takatori and the "Kamen Rider Faiz" team: Kento Handa and Kohei Murakami. The second day featured Teuchi Live, a makeshift group of voice actresses and singers from the "Precure" (Pretty Cure) series: Yuka Uchiyae, Mayumi Gojo, Atsuko Enomoto and Orie Kimoto. Members of Junretsu, a vocal group of "mood kayo," or old-fashioned, romantic Japanese pop songs, also joined the second day. They are extremely popular right now.
Although the six concerts were named "Anison Live" on the festival schedule, the participating artists were diverse, from mood kayo singers to actors from a tokusatsu sci-fi superhero TV show. I take pride in this lineup.
It was last autumn when people in Ofunato contacted me through Takatori, whom they've known for a long time, to consult me about the festival as part of activities to revitalize the city, which was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
"At the time of the quake, we received support from all over Japan. This time we'd like to start an event by ourselves and revitalize the community," one resident who contacted me said.
At first, I felt hesitant because I thought it was impossible for me, an amateur, to be involved in an event on such a large scale. But the passionate thoughts of the local people moved me in the end. Moreover, after Mizuki kindly agreed to take the lead for the concerts, the other artists also readily agreed to take part.
The venue was a park on the seaside, although the sea is no longer visible because the view is blocked by a large embankment built after the earthquake and tsunami. Of course, safety comes first. That's a given. But I hear that local people who were used to living next to the sea had mixed feelings about the embankment.
It was one of the purposes of the concerts to hold them in the park so that the audience could take away fun memories from the place.
The concerts attracted various types of people from all over the country, including fans of Mizuki, Precure, Kamen Rider and the mood kayo pop songs.
The festival's theme was "Shido -- Tsunagu," which is roughly translated as "start -- linking." Mizuki said in his welcoming address that he wanted to make the event an opportunity to show the future image of people from disaster-stricken areas and other places joining hands. Looking at the different types of people who gathered at the event, I felt that all of us were able to make a small but important first step toward the goal. I'm hoping to help cultivate this little budding hope and bring it forward to next year and beyond.
Suzuki is a Yomiuri Shimbun senior specialist and an expert on tokusatsu superhero films and dramas.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
