Special Guest Appearance

Hiromi Igarashi: 五十嵐 裕美 is a very well established Japanese Voice Actress from Sapporo, Hokkaido. She debuted as Voice Actress in the anime “Ayakashi” in 2008 and played numerous characters in well-known anime series such as ‘Anzu Futaba’ in “The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls”, ‘Aoi Hyoudou’ in “Maid Sama!” and ‘Edytha Rossmann' in "Strike Witches; World Witches, Taking Off!". We are very pleased to welcome a Voice Actor who is active on the front line as one of the memorable first guests from Japan at Japan Fiesta 2023 in Christchurch.

"Hiromi Igarashi Q&A Session" will be held on the indoor stage with the audience. In addition, she will challenge the traditional Japanese entertainment "Kamishibai" reading drama.

A limited number of the designed autograph papers will be sold, and only the holders will be able to participate in the "Hiromi Igarashi Autograph Session". All the proceeds will be used for invitation expenses of her.

Born in Osaka in 1980, Kenji Furutate discovered the Taiko, the traditional Japanese drum at the age of 18. Deeply fascinated, he decided to follow his passion to become a professional Taiko player. In 2003, he formed the Japanese drum group "GONNA" in Nagoya and started his solo career in 2006. Since then, he has been active both at home and abroad, including in Beijing, Holland, Belgium, Dubai, and New Zealand.

Kenji Furutate has collaborated with the local Christchurch taiko group, Takumi, and will present his outstanding performance to the audience. Do not miss it!!

Living in Auckland, NZ, he is known as stuntman Namihei Koshige (his real name, Kazuhiro Yokoyama, is also used as his stage name). His representative work was performing action stunts for the US TV series "Power Rangers", which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. In Japan's Super Hero TV series "GARO", he participated as an actor, stuntman, stunt coordinator and action director. He has also performed stunts in the films Mulan and Ghost in the Shell (live-action version).

At the stage of Japan Fiesta 2023, Namihei Koshige will share his professional experience with you and will host a fun and safe simulated combat demo with audience participation.