Tokyo, August 14, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A meteoric J-pop duo with a massive global fan base have helped support the world’s largest projection mapping show, helping to light up Tokyo’s Midsummer Nights.
A work of art that combines YOASOBI’s fast vocal and instrumental music with a firework of images and colors made its debut in the TOKYO Night & Light program on July 26. The evening show uses the exterior facade of the 243-meter-high Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) No. 1 Building as a screen. Three other projections by internationally renowned artists complemented the program on the same weekend.
YOASOBI – 23-year-old singer Ikura and 30-year-old singer-songwriter Ayase – contributed the newly composed “Butai ni Tatte (Standing on the Stage),” which reflects the emotions of athletes ready to compete. The song was adopted by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK as the theme song for its sports programs, and its first performance on Night & Light coincided with the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
For the first screening, a crowd gathered at Citizens’ Plaza at the foot of the 48-story building, a landmark in the Shinjuku business and entertainment hub, to watch animated silhouettes of runners and other athletes cavorting on the wall.
The Night & Light project has fulfilled TMG’s goal of creating a “new tourism resource that brings color to Tokyo’s nightlife,” and has attracted 280,000 visitors in five months since its launch on February 25. The show is projected onto an area measuring 127 by 110 meters and has been certified by Guinness World Records™ as the “Largest Architectural Projection Display (Permanent).”
The program currently runs every half hour between 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and strings together several projections for 15 minutes. On weekends and holidays, the series includes crowd-pullers such as the world-famous Japanese film monster Godzilla and a work inspired by traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings. “Standing on the Stage”, 3.5 minutes long, will initially be shown every evening.
YOASOBI, which means “night out,” is a household name around the world five years after his debut. His hit “Idol,” the theme song of the TV animation “Oshi no Ko,” became the first Japanese song to top the Billboard Global Charts (excluding the U.S.) in June last year. It was also recognized as Japan’s most popular song in terms of royalties in the year ending March 2024.
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