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Countdown Japan
From Virtual Japan
Countdown Japan (Not to be confused with Japan Countdown, a TV Series in Japan) is a Japanese Rock festival. It is sponsored by “Rocking On,” the same sponsor that created the Rock in Japan festival. Countdown Japan is held every year on December 29th, 30th and 31st to countdown to the end of the year, and traditionally attracts local group though the occasional international artist has been at some of the Countdown Japan events.
Summary
Countdown Japan is Japan’s largest winter rock festival and one of the only festivals that plays in order to countdown to the new year. It is held in Makuhari Messe, in Tokyo, though there are sister concerts being held in INTEX in Osaka.
The naming convention of the Countdown Japan event is such that both the years are mentioned in the title. For example, this upcoming 2008 Countdown Japan is known as “Countdown Japan 08/09” since the concerts end at 6 AM on 1/1/2009.
Countdown Japan West (Osaka) was a huge success in 2006, its first year of being implemented, but in 2007 it did not experience such great success so the 2008 event is going to test how popular it is and possibly shut down the event if it does not turn as great a profit as the Tokyo venue.
Musical Groups
The bands that are expected to play at Countdown Japan 08/09 have not yet been announced. However, some of the more notable bands that have played at past events are Orange Range, Acidman, Ellegarden, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Doping Panda, Denki Groove, Grapevine and many more.
The 2007/2008 event was the first event that lasted 4 days. It featured over 100 different bands over the course of the night including some of the most popular Japanese bands in the country.