London’s very own festival of Japanese culture – Japan Matsuri – returns to Trafalgar Square in the centre of the city. A regular fixture now in the London calendar, this free annual festival brings people together to enjoy Japanese food, music, dance, and activities for all the family.

Everything kicks off at 10.00am and runs through till 8.00pm. With two stages, there is plenty to see all day. The programme of stage performance for this year is still being finalised and will feature exciting new acts as well as the return of favourites from previous Matsuri. Enjoy the atmosphere with Japanese festival food from the numerous stalls.

Japan Matsuri is organised jointly by the Japan Association, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Japan Society and Nippon Club, with support from the Embassy of Japan.

Follow Japan Matsuri on Facebook (Japan Matsuri), Twitter (https://twitter.com/japanmatsuri) or on www.japanmatsuri.com for all the latest news.

Female Garage-Punk Trio from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill film announce rare UK date.

The 5,6,7,8’s were formed in the early 1990’s and hail from Tokyo, Japan. Stylistically, the band take their inspiration from 50s & 60s Rock ‘n’ Roll and have been compared to Link Wray, Dick Dale, The Sonics, Bo Diddley, The Trashmen, Chuck Berry, The Detroit Cobras and more.

The 5,6,7,8’s performed three songs in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Volume 1 where the band were filmed covering ‘Woo Hoo’ (originally by The Rock-a-Teens), ‘I’m Blue’ (originally by The Ikettes) and a 5,6,7,8’s original ‘I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield’.

Yoshiko “Ronnie” Fujiyama – Guitar/Vocals
Sachiko Fujii – Drums/Vocals
Akiko Omo – Bass/Vocals

Our favourite Vocaloid has been continuing her global expansion plans since the release of the English build of Hatsune Miku arrived in August 2013. The long-expected English language version of Miku had been mooted for some time – and was hinted at in our exclusive 2012 interview with Crypton Media CEO Hiroyuki Itoh.

Hatsune Miku is a music software developed by Crypton Future Media which enables anyone to make their computer sing by entering lyrics and melodies. As a massive number of users created music using the software and posted their works on the Internet, Hatsune Miku quickly evolved into a cultural phenomenon. Since then, Hatsune Miku has gained much attention as a character, involved in many fields such as merchandising and live performance as a virtual singer. Now her popularity has spread across the globe.

Now Hatsune Miku is returning to the UK for a special concert at Wembley in London. 26th October (as well as European dates).

Female Garage-Punk Trio from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill film announce rare UK date.

The 5,6,7,8’s were formed in the early 1990’s and hail from Tokyo, Japan. Stylistically, the band take their inspiration from 50s & 60s Rock ‘n’ Roll and have been compared to Link Wray, Dick Dale, The Sonics, Bo Diddley, The Trashmen, Chuck Berry, The Detroit Cobras and more.

The 5,6,7,8’s performed three songs in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Volume 1 where the band were filmed covering ‘Woo Hoo’ (originally by The Rock-a-Teens), ‘I’m Blue’ (originally by The Ikettes) and a 5,6,7,8’s original ‘I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield’.

Yoshiko “Ronnie” Fujiyama – Guitar/Vocals
Sachiko Fujii – Drums/Vocals
Akiko Omo – Bass/Vocals

Female Garage-Punk Trio from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill film announce rare UK date.

The 5,6,7,8’s were formed in the early 1990’s and hail from Tokyo, Japan. Stylistically, the band take their inspiration from 50s & 60s Rock ‘n’ Roll and have been compared to Link Wray, Dick Dale, The Sonics, Bo Diddley, The Trashmen, Chuck Berry, The Detroit Cobras and more.

The 5,6,7,8’s performed three songs in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Volume 1 where the band were filmed covering ‘Woo Hoo’ (originally by The Rock-a-Teens), ‘I’m Blue’ (originally by The Ikettes) and a 5,6,7,8’s original ‘I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield’.

Yoshiko “Ronnie” Fujiyama – Guitar/Vocals
Sachiko Fujii – Drums/Vocals
Akiko Omo – Bass/Vocals