Aidoru

She sings, dances (or at least moves to the beat), is Japan's latest teen idol, and she's virtual. Hatsune Miko (初音ミク) has a real audience, a real band, but is, apparently, a hologram. In reality, it's a 2D projection on a transparent screen.

Her voice is synthesized using Vocaloid Yamaha software. Hatsune Miko is actually the second fully voiced character developed for Vocaloid (the first released in Japan) in 2007, and her name combines first (初, hatsu), sound (音, ne), and future (Miku ミク). The voice is that of actress Fujita Saki (藤田咲), who has recorded hundreds of Japanese phonemes with controlled intonation.

The Hatsune Miko phenomenon is not the first of its kind. This was followed by the great fame of Kyoko Date (DK-96), who was the first net idol in 1997. The phenomenon of stars in Japan dates back to the early 1970s and reflects the Japanese boom of French singer Sylvie Vartan with the film Cherchez l'idole (1963, released in Japan in 1964).

The development of Japanese idols is very interesting.

In the 1970s, idols had an almost mystical aura. Only the public side of their lives was known, and it was always perfect and expertly orchestrated, while their visible personas were false and carefully constructed. Nothing was known about their private lives, except for a few essential details (such as a marriage), and what was revealed about their private lives was equally constructed. Their working conditions were terrible: they were strictly supervised and earned very little, because most of the money went into the pockets of their producers, that is, those who created them.

In the 1980s, the status of idols began to approach that of ordinary people, partly because living conditions in Japan had improved significantly, but also because control had loosened somewhat and they were allowed to show a bit of their personality. The major labels, in fact, were beginning to experiment with competition between various stars, and therefore some differences were bound to emerge. A bit like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones: the latter seemed a bit wilder than the former, and probably were.
They also began to earn a little more, but still little compared to the business they generated.

The 1990s saw many changes. Instead of being portrayed as superior, idols became ordinary people who simply had something extra (an X-Factor?). In some situations, they could even be sad, a little out of shape, and admit to waiting for the sales to buy clothes. At the same time, their life cycle as idols accelerated.
But the big leap came when, seeing the huge success of anime and video game characters (e.g., Lara Croft), the major studios began working on virtual characters. Virtual stars don't have to be paid, but this consideration is secondary because in their place, animation technicians have to be paid, which can cost even more. The point is that a virtual character is completely controllable and poses no problems.

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