Hello Everyone!

We would like to tell you more about our big New Year's party at 2nd Street Jazz! LA's first J-Pop and J-Rock New Year's Eve event will be held from 8 pm to 2 am at Matsumoto's 2nd Street Jazz, featuring a special appearance by Lucine! Tune in Tokyo DJs Tora, Del, Ally, Yuki, and yours truly will be spinning the best in J-Pop, J-Rock, J-Urban, Para Para, and K-Pop as well!

The event is now All Ages! For this special event, we are opening up our doors to everyone! Be sure to bring an ID.
 

There will be some special activities during the evening, including a J-Pop and J-Rock cosplay contest, where guests are encouraged to dress as their favorite Japanese artists. 1st and 2nd place will receive prizes courtesy of 2nd Street Jazz and Jungle Special Collectors Shop! Additionally, there will be Door Prizes, a Polaroid photo booth by Tune in Tokyo photographer Mr. Postman ($5 per photo), and Ramune and Japanese snacks provided by the club's new "Ramune Girl" (prices per item will vary).

Lucine. starts at 11 pm. Then, everyone will ring in the New Year with a free toast (provided by 2nd Street Jazz for patrons over 21)!

Presale tickets for $15 are available at the Cure Shop in Little Tokyo, at 325 East 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Jungle and the Cure Shop is offering a free Visual Kei photobook to everyone who purchases a presale ticket (cash only)!

Our RSVP list is closed as of 12/20, but the $15 presale tickets will be available at Jungle and the Cure Shop until 6 PM, 12/31.

Tickets at the door will be $20.

While you're waiting for the big event, here's a good way to revisit the last year. Liz Ohanesian at the LA Weekly has compiled a list of the best of the fan conventions for 2009. You'll see some familiar faces and places on the list! And is case you missed it, check out Liz's top ten anime themes of the decade.

Thank you for supporting us over the last year. See you on 12/31! Let's all greet the New Year together!

Greg Hignight
DJ and Founder, Tune in Tokyo

Hello Everyone!

Tickets for our big New Year's event with Lucine. are now available at the Cure Shop in Little Tokyo for just $15! The shop will also be offering a free gift to anyone who purchases their ticket through the store!

Jungle and the Cure Shop will also be offering a special prize to the 2nd Place winner in our J-Pop and J-Rock cosplay contest! If you haven't heard, we want you to dress up as your favorite Japanese musicians and performers! There will be a $100 cash prize for first place!

Tune in Tokyo friends Lucine. will be joining us for an awesome live set, leading up to the big festivities at midnight! They're looking forward to meeting everyone at 2nd Street Jazz on the 31st!

There will be Japanese drinks and snacks, and a photo booth, too.

Ring in the New Year with all your friends at LA's first and only J-Pop and J-Rock club event!

Greg Hignight
DJ and Founder, Tune in Tokyo

Hello Everyone!

It's going to be an exciting December for Tune in Tokyo!

First up, we're going to be hosting a special event at Kira Kira on Saturday, December 12th! This awesome new purikura studio is located in City of Industry, just a few blocks from Diamond Plaza. Kira Kira features the newest purikura machines from Japan, perfect for a photo shoot with all your friends!

Tune in Tokyo is teaming up with Kira Kira to bring you a sparkling Christmas event!
 

There will be free drinks and snacks, prizes, and purikura specials!

DJs Tora, Del, Yuki, Ally, and I will be spinning J-Pop and J-Rock throughout the evening!

There is no cover, and this is an all-ages event! The party will run from 8 pm - midnight. There's also plenty of free parking at the shopping center.

We're looking forward to celebrating the holidays with all our friends at Kira Kira--and they're exciting about introducing their new shop to everyone. If you have any questions about the event, please contact us through MySpace.

Next up, our friend Maganda will be performing at The Joint on December 15th. It's located at 8771 W Pico Blvd in Los Angeles. This is a 21+ show. Maganda rocked the house at Club Good Hurt last week, and we're stoked to see his next performance.

Then, on Thursday, December 31st, join us for LA's first J-Rock + J-Pop New Year's Eve! We're thrilled to be bringing you the best in Japanese and Global pop, as we celebrate the New Year in style! We'll be joined by our friends Lucine., making their first appearance at Tune in Tokyo! We're proud to welcome Lucine., who are guaranteed to bring in the New Year loud and clear with their beautifully dark and lush sound!

There's more! We want you to dress as your favorite Japanese idol! We are having a J-Rock + J-Pop cosplay contest, and there's a $100 cash prize! In addition, we'll be offering prizes to the runners-up courtesy of Anime Jungle. We'll also be giving away door prizes.

Want a great momento for New Year's? We're going to have a photo booth where you can take a Polaroid snap! For $5, you get an instant Polaroid photo, and we'll be taking digital photos as well, as provided by our staff photographer Mr. Postman!

For our patrons 21+, there will be a free toast. Just save the raffle ticket you will receive at the door, and exchange it before midnight for a drink to ring in the new year, courtesy of 2nd Street Jazz!

Tune in Tokyo would also like to announce a really cool addition for our New Year's party: Ramune Girl! She'll be serving the best in Japanese snacks and Ramune! For our guests who don't frequent the bar, what could be cooler than popping open a fresh bottle of the best soda in the world? She'll be easy to spot--so if you see her, ask her for an ice cold Ramune!

As always, DJs Tora, Del, Ally, Yuki, and I will be behind the decks, bringing you the best in dance pop from Japan and around the world.

Tickets are $20 at the door. Presell tickets are also available through the Cure Shop in Little Tokyo for $15!

It's going to be a great month! Celebrate the holidays with Tune in Tokyo--the destination for Japanese music and fashion!

Greg Hignight
DJ and Founder, Tune in Tokyo

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for the amazing year! We celebrated our first anniversary on Thursday, October 15th with the help of our friends Nirf, Stephanie Yanez, and Maganda, and all of our friends...thank you for supporting Tune in Tokyo, and making it the destination for J-Pop and J-Rock in Los Angeles! Before we look forward, I wanted to take some time to thank the people who made our events a success. It takes a lot of talent and hard work to pull this off!

I'd first like to recognize our DJs and staff. It goes without saying, I suppose, but Tune in Tokyo is built on the musical foundation that our DJs provide. This starts with my business partner, DJ Del Martin.

Tune in Tokyo actually began with International Pop Conspiracy, founded by DJ Del in 2007. Del has been working as a DJ and Promoter in Los Angeles for about 10 years, and put together the IPC DJs to bring a global sound to the LA indie club scene.

DJ Tora is an original member of the IPC team, and along with DJ Del, DJ's Noir, Sophia, Roland Saint-Laurent, Noel, (and I) developed the IPC sound--which would ultimately lead to Tune in Tokyo. We certainly weren't the first global pop club night--the seminal Par Avion lead the way in the early 00s. We injected a healthy dose of J-Pop + J-Rock into the mix, and some K-Pop along the way (courtesy of DJ Tora). She was instrumental in putting Tune in Tokyo together, and is our authority on Japanese electro and K-Pop.

DJ Ally also helped us to get Tune in Tokyo off the ground. Ally usually has the opening set, which in many ways is the hardest part of the evening--people are streaming in and just getting settled, we're checking the sound--its a little chaotic. Ally always delivers, and makes sure that we start the evening right with a great mix of J-Pop, J-Rock, and anime music! What you may not know is that DJ Ally is also a talented actress and performer, with a lot of interesting credits. You may never know when she may turn up in your favorite TV show!

DJ Yuki joined us in our second month, and helped to round out our team of five DJs. Yuki-Chan, as he's also known, delivers driving dance beats often focusing on Japanese electro, Eurobeat, and Para Para. But he's also known to drop some surprises, and is a big fan of K-Pop and dance music from across Asia. DJ Yuki has a busy life outside of Tune in Tokyo, and works just as hard promoting our events as he does behind the decks.

Charleett Romero and Ceese Amo started working with us in our first couple of months, and have served as door girls, hostesses, event planners, creative assistants, and helped to put out the occasional fire along the way. Charleett has the distinction of being our first "official" regular, but quickly transitioned to supporting and helping us at all levels of operations. Ceese is not only an integral part of our team, but also happens to be LA's only Lolita Lawyer, having worked in a legal capacity for many J-Subculture related groups and companies. She's also our resident expert on Wa-Lolita fashion.

Megan Amo played a huge role in shaping the look and style of our events (for those in the Lolita community, she's known as "Megwa"). She recently relocated to New York for school, but her influence on Tune in Tokyo continues to this day.

Patrick and Jake joined the Tune in Tokyo crew over the summer. You may have first gotten to know them as the guys who kept the lines under control at our Cure Mini Live event. They also did a bang up job as guest DJs for the Suguri Release Party in July.

Gavin Hignight handles our door security. I should mention that he also happens to be my brother! An accomplished writer, performer, and marketing specialist, Gavin also offers his services every month at the door, which is by no means easy. Its his responsibility to make sure everyone is checked in properly, and he also has to keep the troublemakers and hooligans at bay. We appreciate his contribution in keeping the peace, and keeping everyone safe at our events.

Betty and Haley Ruszecki are known to many as the mother-daughter Lolita duo, but to us, they are our biggest supporters. Working with the Ruszeckis has opened up a lot of doors for us, and we will always be grateful the opportunities that resulted. Haley has also helped to shape the look of our events, providing a sense of style and direction for our monthly themes.

Our resident artists have played a huge role in the success of Tune in Tokyo. Through their art and design, we have been able to establish a brand all our own. Jettila Lewis has illustrated most of our flyers and posters. Her distinct style, that hits somewhere between Japanese and American sensibilities, was just what we needed to get people's attention. Jettila has a great eye for detail, and captures not only the fashions well, but also creates female characters that seem subtle and real, avoiding the trappings usually associated with anime and manga inspired art. Jettila's work includes the "Motor City" graphic novel, and the soon-to-be-released web comic "The Concrete World."

Jose Macasocol, Jr. has also illustrated flyers for us, including the awesome "heart" girl used in our Valentine campaign. Joe has an extensive body of work, having provided art and design services to numerous manga publishers. He is also a talented conceptual artist. Joe will be working on some new material for us in the coming months. We can't wait to share it with you!

Debbie Cruz (a.k.a. Buro-Kunha-To) has designed flyers for us, including the new playbill style poster featuring the Tune in Tokyo DJ crew! Her unique and edgy style has afforded us variety in our promotional campaigns, and given us our best looking posters! We are grateful for her contribution to the look of Tune in Tokyo.

We've had the privilege of our events being documented by great photographers. Our gratitude goes out to staff photographers Steve Lee, Terence "Mr. Postman" Cole, and William Seppuku (who shot our fantastic group photos used in recent campaigns). We also want to thank Shannon Cottrell of the LA Weekly for shooting the awesome galleries of our events.

A special thanks also goes out to Liz Ohanesian of the LA Weekly. We know that she has a busy schedule covering events all over LA, many bigger and more important than ours...we are humbled to have been a subject of her postings on the indie scene in Los Angeles.

You can read Liz's report, and view Shannon Cottrell's slideshow on our First Anniversary Party here.

I would like to also thank our clients, and everyone who supported us throughout the last year. This includes Tetsu Shiota and Anime Jungle, Cure Magazine, Scot Reyes and the Valley of the Dolls shop, DJ Tony Okungbowa, Jason C. Miller, Flopi, Enrique Galvez and Rockin Android games, Jody Mahler and Alternate Visions, Tomomi Fukuda of Camden Lock, the Vamps Tour and Ai Aota, Royal/T Cafe, Camille Vergara, Mandy Ma, Rob Gray and Vamp Star, Polo and Nirf, Adrian, Stephanie Yanez, Mistress Prime, Maganda and Tommy, Elffys, Hikari, Tai Nguyen, Molly, everyone at Jrock Revolution, Roger and everyone at Tainted Reality, Paul Funatani, Naoyo Azuma, Ejen of Cosplay in America, Michael Wolf, La Carmina, J-Pop Express, Nora, Shelly, Jeanelle, Ian, Carol, Grace, Krista, Rebekah, Ace, Deb, Kevin, Steve Weese, Momo, Gloom, Eric Dead and Job from Wolfpack MRX, Eden, Obake at Jrockaphile, Ebisu Restaurant, Spencer Cross, DJ Ichi, Melissa, Kristen, Daniel Blak, DJ Larry of Underground, all the guys in Lucine, and most importantly, the Matsumoto family and 2nd Street Jazz.

Now its time to look forward! Next up: The release party for the Concrete World web comic. On Thursday, November 19th, join us for a night of electronic beats and cyberpunk fashion, inspired by Gavin Hignight and Jettila Lewis's new future shock series!

Then, on Friday, November 27th, we'll be at Club Good Hurt with our friends Vamp Star! They'll be joined by The Faded, Nirf, and Maganda for an awesome night of live music, and DJ sets provided by the Tune in Tokyo crew!

Closing out the year, join us at 2nd Street Jazz for LA's first J-Rock New Year's Eve! More details to come!

On behalf of co-founder Del Martin, and myself, we want to thank everyone for the successful year, and look forward to more great times in the future at Tune in Tokyo--the destination for Japanese music and Fashion!

Greg Hignight
DJ and Founder, Tune in Tokyo

Hello Everyone,

Tune in Tokyo's First Anniversary party is just one week away!

We have a lot of great things planned for the event--first and foremost, live appearances by Stephanie Yanez, NIRF, and Maganda! We're proud to welcome these great artists to 2nd Street Jazz, celebrating our first year of Japanese and Global dance music in Little Tokyo!

Known for her win at AX Idol 2004, Stephanie has toured the U.S. and Japan and has recently released her first album, "Sides". She'll be performing with NIRF, fresh from their summer tour in Japan. LA-based artist Maganda will be performing as well, and welcoming everyone to his first CD release party, in conjuncture with our event.

Tune in Tokyo DJs Tora, Del, Ally, Yuki will be spinning Japanese Pop, Rock, Urban, and Para Para as well. As always, we'll drop in some global dance music, and I'll be on deck later in the evening the bring you some of my favorite tracks.

We are also going to have some great giveaways! We have two copies of Cure # 68 signed by Chariots and Megamasso, provided by Cure Magazine! Additionally, we have two sets of Budclicks iPod accessories provided by Cools, and IkeMac Little Tokyo, two copies of the Motor City graphic novel (illustrated by Tune in Tokyo artist Jettila Lewis) provided by Motor City Comic.com, and Maganda will give away a copy of his new CD! We will also be giving away a limited number of Tune in Tokyo posters designed by Jettila Lewis, and clothing designer Megwa, available only at this event! Be sure to get your raffle ticket!

We are adopting a "shiny" theme for our anniversary. Feel free to dress up or cosplay!

Don't forget that 2nd Street Jazz has a full drink and snacks menu, including our signature cocktails, the "Tune in Tokyo" and SpeedRacer, the non-alcoholic and really awesome Melon Float, Carne Asada Tacos, Quesadillas, desserts, and more.

Our First Anniversary Party will be held at Matsumoto’s 2nd Street Jazz in Little Tokyo. 2nd Street Jazz is the premier destination in the Little Tokyo area for music fans, with monthly Dub, Reggae, Hip-Hop, Rock, and Jazz events. The venue frequently plays host to Asian, and Asian-American acts. 2nd Street Jazz is located at 366 E 2nd Street, at the corner of 2nd and Central, in Los Angeles. Cover is $10 for 18+, and $5 for 21+. Doors open at 9 PM.

We would like to thank everyone for joining us over the last year, and look forward to great times ahead, celebrating the best in Japanese music and fashion. Tune in Tokyo is the destination for Global Dance Pop. Hope to see you there!

Greg Hignight
DJ and Founder, Tune in Tokyo 

 

Hello Everyone.

Tune in Tokyo's Back to School night is almost here! We've got our uniforms, do you have yours? This is going to be fun!

As always, DJs Tora, Del, Yuki, Ally, and yours truly will be bringing you the best in J-Pop, J-Rock, K-Pop, and more! We'll be dropping new tracks from Scandal, Ayumi Hamasaki, Perfume, Girl Next Door, 2NE1, and Kara, in addition to a special selection of Versailles tracks in tribute to Jasmine You.

And don't forget, 2nd Street Jazz has a special desert menu created especially for Tune in Tokyo! Try a Melon Float or Lychee Sundae for only $5 !

We're about to go into production on our Tune in Tokyo T-Shirts, designed by Tomomi Fukuda of Camden Lock--who's provided clothing for bands like Green Day, Sum 41, and Auncia! She's created a really cool design for us (which you can see pictured below) and it will be available in both women's and men's cuts. If you're interested, please send us a message with your size, M/F, and preferred color. The t-shirts will be $20 each, and are expected to be ready for our October event.

Be sure to check out the great new gallery of photos from the Candy Land Lolita Tea Party by Mr. Postman, in our MySpace albums.

See you at Tune in Tokyo this Thursday!

Greg Hignight..
DJ and Founder, Tune in Tokyo