Last week, "J-POP Summit Festival" was held at Japan Town in San Francisco. I was there on Saturday to help out my fiends from Toei Kyoto Film Studio, to promote their wacky samurai comedy "Metal Samurai".

I was actually AMAZED at the HUGE crowd of people there on Post street, where NewPeople J-POP center is located. Honestly speaking, I have been a bit skeptical about Mr. Seiji Horibuchi's attempt in building this new venture, NewPeople and VizCinema, as the "J-POP Mecca in the U.S.", but my worries all got blown off. The stark contrast of "old and stale" Japan Town image and the colorful "kosupure" ("costume-play") people strolling around was so interesting. It was not exactly "authentic Japan", or even "Akihabara copy", but was more new "San Francisco style" J-POP, integrating its own "counter-culture" roots with cosmopolitanism, with a dash of familiarity with Japanese American history here in this city.

I am really curious how this new "SF-style J-POP" will eventually evolve.

Michi