A meteoric J-pop duo with a huge global following has pitched in to boost the world¡¯s largest projection mapping show and help illuminate midsummer nights in Tokyo.
An artwork, combining YOASOBI¡¯s up-tempo vocal and instrumental music with a riot of images and colors, made its debut on the TOKYO Night & Light program on July 26. The nightly show uses the exterior of the 243-meter-tall Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) No. 1 Building as its screen. Three other projections created by internationally acclaimed artists also joined the menu over the same weekend.
YOASOBI - female vocalist Ikura, 23, and male singer-songwriter Ayase, 30 - has contributed the newly composed ¡°Butai ni Tatte (Standing on the Stage),¡± which echoes the emotions of athletes ready for competition. The song has been adopted by Japan¡¯s public broadcasting corporation NHK as a theme song for its sports programs, and its first Night & Light presentation was timed to coincide with the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
For the first screening, a horde of people gathered at the Citizens¡¯ Plaza at the foot of the 48-story building, a landmark in the business and entertainment hub of Shinjuku. They watched animated silhouette images of runners and other athletes romp around on the wall.
The Night & Light project has lived up to the TMG¡¯s goal of creating a ¡°new tourism resource to color Tokyo¡¯s nightlife,¡± attracting 280,000 visitors in five months since its launch on February 25. Projected onto an area, 127 meters by 110 meters, the show has been certified by Guinness World Records¢â as the ¡°largest architectural projection-mapped display (permanent).¡±
Screened every half an hour between 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. at present, the program strings together a few projections for 15 minutes. On weekends and holidays, the series feature crowd pullers such as the world-famous Japanese movie monster Godzilla and a work inspired by traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings. ¡°Standing on the Stage,¡± 3.5 minutes long, is to be screened every night for the time being.
Meaning a ¡°night out,¡± YOASOBI is a global household name five years after its debut. Its hit ¡°Idol,¡± the theme tune for the TV animation ¡°Oshi no Ko,¡± became the first Japanese song to top Billboard¡¯s Global (excluding U.S.) chart in June last year. It was also acknowledged as Japan¡¯s best popular song in terms of royalties in the year to March 2024.
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¾ð·Ð¿¬¶ôó: TOKYO Night & Light PR Office
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