Hatsune Miku Store Opens in Tokyo's Haneda Airport

[roseofbattle]

Hatsune Miku Store Opens in Tokyo's Haneda Airport

Vocaloid Hatsune Miku is featured in two stores in the Haneda airport for anyone visiting Tokyo.

Domestic and international fliers to and from Tokyo have the chance to visit the Hatsune Miku Wing Shop until March 31. The virtual pop singer was already popular in Japan, as well as overseas, and has lots of merchandise and video games starring songs using the Hatsune Miku software.

Hatsune Miku Wing Shop has two locations in Haneda airport, one inside Terminal 1 for domestic flights and one in the International Terminal 5F COOL ZONE. The domestic shop is open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. while the international shop is open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. They will close and leave Haneda airport on March 1.

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Anyone visiting the shops can buy a variety of goods with Miku's face. Food includes chocolate, cheesecake, candy. Travel-related goods include rolling carry-on cases, luggage tags, neck pillows, overnight bags, train pass cases, and passport cases. Apparel includes t-shirts, socks, and scarves. Also available for purchase are clear files, pens, sticky notes, tumblers, towels, and more. The international terminal shop has some exclusive items not present in the other shop, such as a t-shirt using the illustration featured on the English release of Hatsune Miku V3 [http://piapro.net/vocaloid/mikuv3e.html].

Of all the different Vocaloids, Hatsune Miku is the most popular worldwide. Games heavily featuring Miku in the Project Diva series are available on the PS3 and Vita, but the majority of the pop star's sales come from Japan.

Source: Anime News Network [http://mikuwing.com/]


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[James Crook]

I never clearly understood the point of Vocaloids or even what they are supposed to be. So all of this is a set of mysterious happenings to me.

 

[Headsprouter]

I never clearly understood the point of Vocaloids or even what they are supposed to be. So all of this is a set of mysterious happenings to me.

Same...I get that it's some type of artificial voice thing, but I've seen animations of these Vocaloids, too, so, exactly what do these games entail? Isn't there a dance element to it, too?

I'm impressed they were able to open a shop purely for the purpose of selling her stuff. I guess with a pretty girl on the front you can sell anything. It brought me to this article, so...

 

[stxopher]

I could be wrong but....

I believe that the Vocaloid series is, at heart, nothing more or less than a program designed to "sing". You input tune and lyrics then alter both to get the results you like. Just like text to speech programs there are modules with different "voices" that can be used. And as you can probably tell, Hatsune Miku would be the most popular. If there is a game involved, it would be won by you making something you like out of that. (Kinda like playing Minecraft on endless, you do it because...uh, reasons!) Ohhh, a bit like the ancient EA game "Music Construction Set".

Does this appeal to me? Nope. But then, neither does Idolmaster and that game is still going strong in the market that it's designed for. I know a few friends who play that and...well, okay, they mainly just play that. Again, it's a game where you make something (in Idolmasters case a pop star or group) that you want made.

In both those cases, it feels like a form of wish fulfillment. Instead of being the gun hero or constructing vast holdings and buildings, they build entertainment stars.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I never clearly understood the point of Vocaloids or even what they are supposed to be. So all of this is a set of mysterious happenings to me.

Same...I get that it's some type of artificial voice thing, but I've seen animations of these Vocaloids, too, so, exactly what do these games entail? Isn't there a dance element to it, too?

I'm impressed they were able to open a shop purely for the purpose of selling her stuff. I guess with a pretty girl on the front you can sell anything. It brought me to this article, so...

Think of Miku as the Gorillaz of Japan in a way (they are both vitural/ frictional characters).
As for their games itself, I can't say since I never played one but from what I've seen it's the rhythm based games.

Anyway this doesn't suprised me as I already know how big she is (heck she well the character even had a concert in the US which many fans did show up)!

 

[l3o2828]

I want a Len Kagamine store...stupid famous Miku...your voice isn't even that nice...

 

[Fat Hippo]

I understand the appeal of Miku...as a concept. In practice, I find the music just sounds absolutely terrible. Look it up on youtube, there are plenty of videos. I honestly don't understand why someone finds songs sung by this voice in any way appealing, but there's no explaining taste.

 

[JaceArveduin]

I understand the appeal of Miku...as a concept. In practice, I find the music just sounds absolutely terrible. Look it up on youtube, there are plenty of videos. I honestly don't understand why someone finds songs sung by this voice in any way appealing, but there's no explaining taste.

Exactly! Who would want to listen to this

Spoiler

when you could listen to this gloriousness!

Spoiler

 

[Nouw]

I understand the appeal of Miku...as a concept. In practice, I find the music just sounds absolutely terrible. Look it up on youtube, there are plenty of videos. I honestly don't understand why someone finds songs sung by this voice in any way appealing, but there's no explaining taste.

For me, most of their appeal comes from the classical music covered using the Vocaloids; it's like the synth-based classical music from A Clockwork Orange's soundtrack done by Wendy Carlos, specifically her rendition of 'Ode to Joy' which is played using electronic instruments though it is sung by people through vocoders which still sounds suitably artificial and robot-like.

Spoiler: If you are unaware of it, here's an embedded link.

It's pretty niche I'll admit but there's something about it that I love, a quality unique to this 'genre' I think. Now granted most covers done on sites like Youtube aren't on the same level of quality with the same amount of effort put in as the one done above but they still achieve the same effect when done right which isn't that often sadly. As you probably know, Vocaloids aren't programmed to sing German, Latin, Italian, etc and too often they end up sounding like. This. Where. They. Have. No-sense-of-musical phraSING though I'm not sure if that's the fault of forcing it to sing a completely different language. But when someone puts the effort in, it sounds wonderful.

Spoiler: Like this. I hope I have given you some kind of insight into why some people enjoy listening to them and I hope this hasn't offended your classical music sensibilities either :P

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Japan seems to be more openly embracing their otaku culture of late. If it keeps moving further along, it could either be really great or a huge disaster.

Still a bit cringe-worthy from my perspective though, so i don't think I buy any of it.