u/Parking_Law_494

Japan’s major business news program WBS recently aired a feature about Japanese entertainment content becoming a huge global industry, and Hanabie. was introduced as an example of Japanese artists finding success overseas.

The program explained that Japan’s overseas revenue from anime, games, music, and other entertainment content reached a record-breaking 6 trillion yen in 2024. The Japanese government is aiming to expand that to 20 trillion yen by 2033, which would be comparable to Japan’s automobile exports.

As part of the segment, WBS focused on Hanabie.’s rapid rise outside Japan. The report showed footage from their concert in Los Angeles, where the crowd was going wild for them. The narrator pointed out that although Hanabie. is still relatively unknown in Japan, they've already completed around 20 US tour dates this year alone and are quickly gaining popularity overseas.

The band talked about how everything started after uploading a music video to YouTube about five years ago. Yukina said they suddenly began receiving a huge number of comments from people all around the world, and that she had never even imagined overseas listeners would support them.

The program also interviewed a Sony Music producer who discovered Hanabie. after noticing that almost all the comments on their videos were from foreigners. After seeing them perform live, he approached the band about working together.

According to the program, Sony Music is currently placing major focus on expanding internationally. They showed a department dedicated to analyzing streaming data from music platforms, tracking exactly when, where, and how often songs are played around the world.

For Hanabie., the data showed that the United States accounted for 37% of their streams from August 6, 2022 to March 31, 2023, which was more than five times higher than Japan. Based on this information, the band has been strategically focusing on the American market through touring.

The report also explained how overseas merchandise sales have become increasingly important as CD sales continue to decline. The Sony producer mentioned that while towels and T-shirts are standard concert merchandise in Japan, towels barely sell in the US, so Hanabie.’s American tours focus mainly on T-shirts instead.

Finally, a Sony executive said the company wants to create more Japanese artists who can become stars globally or within specific international regions, and that they aim to build sustainable long-term success in the global market.

You can watch the news segment here. Their part starts at around 26:10. The video is generally not available outside Japan, but you may be able to watch it using a VPN.

The Viva La Rock Festival livestream is an exclusive post-performance talk show streamed on LINE VOOM, the short-video platform within LINE. During the festival period, talk segments featuring artists who had performed that day were broadcast each night starting at 8 p.m.

During this livestream, there was a segment where the artists played a ring toss game using a board with nine numbered squares leaning against a wall. Each square had a peg sticking out, and whichever number the ring landed on determined the topic they had to talk about.

Hettsu threw first and landed on square number 1. The topic was, "What you're angry about."

Hettsu said that in February of this year, she slammed her pinky toe really hard, and her foot became so swollen that it was painful even to walk. She went to a doctor, who told her it was just a bruise. Even though it hurt so much that she found it hard to believe it was only a bruise, she trusted the doctor and lived with it for a while thinking that was the case. However, the pain didn't go away, so she recently went to get a second opinion and found out that it had actually been fractured. She's still receiving treatment, and although the bone still hasn't fully healed, apparently it no longer hurts in most situations.

The host then also asked Matsuri what she was angry about. She said that since Hanabie had usually performed at outdoor festivals while the sun was still fully out, she and the other members had been really looking forward to seeing how the stage lights would look during their performance at Viva La Rock Festival, which started around 5 p.m. However, the sun was out more than they had expected, so the lights didn't stand out very much. She said she was angry at the overly energetic sun.

Next, Matsuri threw the ring, and it landed on square number 7. The topic was, "A song that shocked you recently."

After asking if it was okay to mention an artist instead of a song, She brought up EMNW, who were also performing at the festival that day. She said that she had first discovered them on TikTok a while ago and had been checking up on them regularly ever since. She was finally able to see them live for the first time that day and once again thought they were really cool, saying she was blown away by every aspect of their performance. Apparently she and the others also met them and exchanged greetings in person, and she said they were fluffy and cute, while Hettsu added that they were nice girls.

In the next segment, they played a game where they rolled three dice, and depending on the total, they could win either premium grilled eel, two pairs of HeartBuds earbuds, or a premium scrubbing brush. Since this year marked the 13th edition of Viva La Rock Festival, the host explained that rolling a total of 13 would win the eel, rolling triples would win the scrubbing brush, and any other result would earn the earbuds.

Matsuri initially tried to let Hettsu roll the dice because Hettsu is used to rolling dice for tequila shots at izakayas, but Hettsu said Matsuri might actually have better luck instead. Matsuri rolled the dice, but the total came to 5. She ended up getting the lowest number anyone had rolled so far and received the earbuds.