Japanese Version of Website Launched; MORNING MUSUME Announced as First Official Guests of Honor Source: BAM! Marketing, Publicity & Promotions press releases Official Site: anime-expo.org Special Thanks to Chase Wang Located in Los Angeles, CA, Anime Expo is the nation’s largest anime/manga convention. The event serves as a key meeting place for the general public to express their interest and explore various aspects of anime/manga, as well as for members of the industry to conduct business. AX 2009 will be held July 2 – July 5, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Southern California. Attendees, Press and Industry Members are invited to view the video coverage site of the 2008 convention at AXBackstage.org and to register for the 2009 convention at anime-expo.org. In addition, the convention recently launched a Japanese language version of its newly re-designed fan-friendly site to be used as a welcome portal to Japanese industry, press, attendees and fans. Event organizers have also announced the attendance and performance of Japan’s most celebrated and top all-girl music group Morning Musume(also referred to as “Momusu”) at AX 2009. The Morning Musume (??????, Morning Daughter) is a one of a kind group whose story began in 1997 when Japanese producer Tsunku? held auditions for a female rock vocalist for his band Sharan Q held on the Japanese TV show ASAYAN. With the five runner-ups from the contest, Tsunku decided to create an all-girl group that sold 50,000 copies of their indies CD single “Ai no Tane” and debuted as Morning Musume. They are the lead group of Hello! Project. Morning Musume`s first single “Morning Coffee” made a huge splash by hitting the #6 position in the Japanese pop charts within its first week of release. In August of 1998, Morning Musume reached the #1 spot in the Japanese pop charts with their 3rd single “Hold on Me”. In 1999, the group had their first nationwide tour with 19 performances in 7 cities for 40,000 fans. In September of 1999, Morning Musume released their smash hit “Love Machine” that sold 2 million copies and held the first place spot in the Japanese pop charts and stayed 17 weeks on the Oricon Karaoke Chart. In 2008, Morning Musume celebrated their 10th anniversary. They are definitely the world’s most famous and successful Japanese all-girl group. Morning Musume is famous not just for being Japan’s top female group, but also for its unique approach with the shuffling of members. Producer Tsunku? creates freshness by graduating band members and adding new members to create different units and adds fresh new faces for fans old and new. In 2007, Morning Musume made a historic impact within the Japanese music industry as the band welcomed new members Jun Jun and Lin Lin from China and began to reach an international audience. The current lineup consists of band members Ai Takahashi, Risa Niigaki, Eri Kamei, Sayumi Michishige, Reina Tanaka, Koharu Kusumi, Aika Mitsui, JunJun, and LinLin. In coordination with this event, JapanFiles.com will release Morning Musume`s digital catalog on its website, beginning with the release of the group`s new single "Naichau kamo" on February 18, 2009. JapanFiles.com will also open a special Morning Musume store for fans with official goods from Japan.

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation

The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-profit organization with a mission to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment property ­Anime Expo. More information can be found at its website spja.org.