The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current, September 04, 2023, Page 17, Image 17

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    A.C.E.
September 4, 2023
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 17
Japan’s synthesized singing sensation Hatsune Miku turns 16
By Yuri Kageyama
The Associated Press
C
HIBA, Japan — Hatsune Miku
has always been 16 years old and
worn long aqua ponytails.
She is Japan’s most famous Vocaloid —
a computer-synthesized singing voice
software that, in her case, comes with a
virtual avatar.
Legions of fans celebrated the 16th
anniversary of Miku’s August 31, 2007
release with events including a virtual
exhibition and songwriting to showcase
her standard high-pitched, cutesy voice.
For sale are a special Seiko watch and a
series of dolls in the character’s likeness.
The Vocaloid’s hits have been widely
shared online, including on Miku’s own
official YouTube channel, which has
drawn 2.5 million subscribers. She has
CDs and DVDs out and video games
focused on fun rhythms co-produced with
Sega, as well as cosmetic products plas-
tered with her name and famous manga
artists drawing portraits of her for t-shirts.
Thousands of people packed a concert
hall in a Tokyo suburb last week to watch
their virtual idol dance and sing while
accompanied by human musicians.
The audience bobbed colorful light sticks
in time to the music, with some people
dressed like the doe-eyed Miku. As laser
beams flashed about, the cheering crowd,
who knew the songs and the choreo-
graphed moves by heart, performed them
in unison. A human-size hologram of Miku
was projected at the center of a dark stage
as though she was really there.
“I love the way her voice doesn’t sound
human,” Koyo Mikami, 16, said while
attending the event at Makuhari Messe
Convention Center with a friend. Both
boys wore kimono featuring large images
of Miku.
Miku’s voice was synthesized based on
the voice of Saki Fujita, a human singer,
actor, and voice actor.
The Vocaloid software application works
on both Windows and Mac computers by
taking inputs of melody and Japanese lan-
guage lyrics and outputting the music with
Miku as the vocalist. Edits like adding
vibrato are as easy as double-clicking.
Although various versions are available,
the latest official Crypton package sells for
16,500 yen ($110).
Miku is 5’2” and weighs 93 pounds, is
perpetually 16 years old, and favors songs
with tempos between 70 and 150 beats per
minute, according to Crypton.
Whether being 16 makes a technology
outdated or a classic is up to the beholder.
While Hatsune Miku, whose name
translates to “first note from the future,”
pioneered a genre, many other Vocaloids
are now on the market. The technology has
advanced since Miku’s early days, with all
kinds of voices and features available.
The voice synthesizer software has been
featured in more than 100,000 songs,
performed in 3D concerts in Los Angeles
and Hong Kong, and inspired countless
works of art.
Hatsune Miku owes her reign as the “It
Girl” of the digital era to the participatory
nature of Japan’s manga, animation, and
pop music culture, according to Benjamin
Boas, author of From Cool Japan to Your
Japan. Instead of strictly guarding their
intellectual property, publishers and other
copyright
holders
encourage
fan
participation, he said.
Unlike Mickey Mouse, Super Mario, and
other copyright-protected characters,
Hatsune Miku was offered as open-source
software, with a Creative Commons
license in the west that allows people to
more freely use and distribute the content
they make with the software.
“Miku’s success was always about the
fan community and the ability for fans to
become all Miku’s producers at once,” said
Boas, whom the Japanese government
named as the country’s Cool Japan
Ambassador, a symbolic honor.
“As long as that community is alive, I see
a future for Miku.”
Creators who make music with
Vocaloids are called “Vocalo-P” in Japan,
with the “p” standing for “producer.” Some
have gone on to become superstars in
Japan, including the duo Yoasobi and
singer Kenshi Yonezu.
People are also having fun with various
voices for Vocaloids. Among the recent
performances shared with a frenzy online
is an AI version of Frank Sinatra doing a
rendition of “YMCA,” a 1978 hit by the
Village People, never performed on record
by the legendary crooner.
FIRST NOTE FROM THE FUTURE. A figure
of Hatsune Miku is displayed at an event at a Tokyo
suburban hall, Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan, in
celebration of Miku’s 16th anniversary. Miku has al-
ways been 16 years old and worn long aqua ponytails.
She is Japan’s most famous Vocaloid — a computer-
synthesized singing voice software that, in her case,
comes with a virtual avatar. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)
Hiroyuki Itoh, chief executive of Cryp-
ton Future Media, which developed Hat-
sune Miku and is based in the northern
Japanese city of Sapporo, said creating a
character to go with the voice software was
part of making the program user-friendly.
“We wanted to make it easy to use for
amateurs who want to make music as a
hobby,” he said. “Some people can’t sing
very well, and here you have a 16-year-old
girl singing your song.”
There are no plans to end Miku’s perpe-
tual adolescence or to age her beyond 16.
“We will do our best as a company to
make sure Hatsune Miku will continue to
be loved by the people,” Itoh said.
A nation of new Matildas
fans salutes Australia’s run
to the WWC semifinals
Continued from page 12
For others, it’s already time to look to the
future.
Matildas midfielder Alex Chidiac said
the team had created “a legacy that’s going
to live on and it obviously has inspired so
many people.”
“After the tournament, we’ll get all that
perspective and this will be a lot easier to
swallow,” Chidiac said of the loss.
“Obviously right now, it’s still very fresh.
But I think overall (a) massive
achievement. … we’ve got a whole bunch of
passionate fans now, which is cool.”
Mary Fowler, a 20-year-old emerging
star for Manchester City who had a
breakthrough tournament for Australia,
will likely be part of that legacy.
“It’s always really nice, just watching
videos and people around the country
giving us some love,” she said. “It’s been an
unbelievable tournament in that sense.”
Immigrant workers’ lives, livelihoods, and documents in limbo after the Hawai‘i fire
Continued from page 10
Immigration attorney Kevin Block noted that some im-
migrants have permanent residency or temporary pro-
tected status, and some are in the United States illegally.
“A lot of those folks are nervous about applying for any
kind of help,” he said. “When (the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, also known as FEMA) rolls into
town or when there’s government agencies around or even
medical help, they’re very scared to get it because they’re
scared of getting deported.”
A document provided by FEMA says anyone affected by
a major disaster may be eligible for disaster assistance,
including noncitizens whose deportation status is being
withheld for at least one year, as well as noncitizens
granted asylum. That assistance can include crisis
counselling, legal assistance, medical care, food and
shelter, and other relief services.
However, callers to the FEMA assistance hotline are
told in recorded messages that they should provide a
social security number and are warned that lying in an
application for aid is a federal offense.
For immigrants who were brought to Maui as children,
it is the only home they know.
“They are working as first responders, providing food,
delivering supplies,” Block said. “They are right there
with everybody else checking to see who needs help. It’s
become more apparent than ever how vital they are to the
community.”
Chuy Madrigal fled the blaze with nine members of his
extended family, which originally is from Mexico.
They lost the home that his mom worked 30 years to
save up enough money to buy and the food truck they
started operating just three months ago, said Madrigal,
who is a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals program, or DACA, for immigrants who were
brought to the U.S. as children but don’t have legal status.
Madrigal said he and others from the immigrant
community have been knocking on doors to gather
supplies for those in need and offering to translate. They
have tried to comfort those, like him, who lost everything.
“There has been a lot of fear,” he said. “But once you talk
to people and tell them, ‘When we got here, we started
from zero, this is zero again, we just got to get back on it
and continue’ — a lot of people have said, ‘You’re right.’”
The family is planning to rebuild their lives again on
Maui.
Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon, and Watson reported from
San Diego. Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed.
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