LOS ANGELES, CA - October 17, 2012 - Happy Disappearance Day! It’s been five years since Hatsune Miku was taken down and returned to the Internet. Two weeks after her program was released, the popularity of the vocaloid program on the Japanese Internet had reached such a heightened frenzy that Google and Yahoo Japan began blocking the keywords “Hatsune Miku.” The enormous traffic the search engines received for the keywords was mistakenly believed to be spam. Outcries about the “disappearance of Hatsune Miku” had been so loud, hours later Google and Yahoo would officially apologize and restore her back to the Internet. Thankfully, she was returned and is going to perform live at PMX 2012!

Hatsune Miku, presented at PMX by Vocalekt Visions, has performed in sold out performances all over Japan, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. The completely-computer-generated 3D hologram performer has become a Japanese icon and is one of the more popular images in Japanese anime. Topping charts and debuting at number-one on the Japanese weekly Oricon album charts, Hatsune Miku is the world’s most popular virtual idol.

Originally released on August 31, 2007, Hatsune Miku began as a singing synthesizer program. Given only a melody and the lyrics of a song, the vocaloid program is able to sing for you using a synthetic voice. Her voice was created from vocal samples from Japanese voice actress, Saki Fujita. When strung together, these vocal samples of a single Japanese phonic would create full words and phrases.

On September 12, 2007, Amazon.co.jp reported sales of Hatsune Miku totaling 57,500,000 yen, making her the number one selling software of that time. Five years later, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva hit stores in Japan on August 8, 2012, and sold 159,592 copies in 3 days, making it the number 2 selling PS Vita game. With over 50,000 user songs created yearly and now performing live, the virtual diva’s popularity is still booming.

"A free, non-ticketed Vocaloid concert with Hatsune Miku may seem insane for others, but we want our attendees to have the best time at PMX without worrying about extra cost. They've already come for the convention, we want them to stay and have the fun! We expect a huge turnout and we will try to accommodate as many as we can. With everyone's cooperation, we'll make this a memorable event!" - Janice Gelacio, Director of Programming

The Hatsune Miku concert is free to all PMX attendees, so show up early! Admittance is given on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, go to http://www.PacificMediaExpo.com

About Pacific Media Expo: As America's first major media trade show dedicated primarily to Asian-Pacific popular culture and entertainment, Pacific Media Expo (PMX) is a distinguished industry event sponsored by the Pacific Media Association. PMX 2012 strives to create an eclectic community where artists, industry, and fans can freely experience and express the very best of Asian-Pacific popular culture.