Since the J-POP Summit first started 2009, local Bay Area residents have been treated to a special one-of-a-kind event celebrating Japanese fashion, anime, art and of course J-POP. From its humble beginnings featuring small Japanese indie bands, along with the first U.S. premiere of Hatsune Miku, to its now considerable presence, it has been a wonderful delight watching the festival grow into one of the premiere San Francisco events. This year especially as it featured a top tier guest lineup that included Tomomi Itano, May'n, Tokyo Girls Style, YANAKIKU, human beatbox DAICHI and many more thousands of enthusiastic fans packed the streets of the famous San Francisco landmark. However, the performances were not the only main reason to attend it as there were also the food and ramen festivals. Both of which contributed to some growing pains for the festival that not even the upper managers were able to clearly foresee during its infant planning stages.

Watch pop star and former AKB48 member Tomomi Itano's full performance in downtown San Francisco at the J-Pop Summit Festival!

UPDATE: We've now updated the article with Tomomi Itano's performance from day 2 at Japantown in San Francisco. Make sure to watch them in HD!

Fans of old school manga and anime, take heed! Japan Expo USA has decided to kick it old school this year by inviting legendary mangaka Izumi Matsumoto as a Guest of Honor to Japan Expo Second Impact in San Mateo. Famous for helping to pioneer the harem genre back in the 1980s with his work in Kimagure Orange Road, his celebrated resume includes titles such as Milk Report, Comic Gunbuster, Sesame Street and Black Moon. Matsumoto will be meeting fans at the festival for both a conference and signings.

For more information on Japan Expo USA 2nd Impact, visit: http://www.japan-expo.org/

While we previewed the Smart Doll back in January at Mirai Inc., we caught up with the creator, Danny Choo at Anime Expo to talk to him a little about the successful launch of the Smart Doll. The doll's release was met with overwhelming success and orders have been temporarily halted as each one is hand assembled in Japan.

In our video interview, hear about the future of the Smart Doll and updates on the highly anticipated robotic automatic version with Android integrated functions. 

Let us know in the comments what you think about the Smart Doll!

While press conferences can be serious at times, it can also be a place where guests can unwind a little and talk a little more personally. Watch our full video of top Korean cosplayers Tasha and Doremi behind closed doors as they talk about topics ranging from their experience as professional cosplayers, Tasha's video game passion of attempting to get past rank 13 in Hearthstone, and Doremi's glutinous tendencies. 

As part of Aniplex's Kill la Kill event, Studio Trigger production members SUSHIO (artist), Kazuki Nakashima (screenwriter) and Yousuke Toba (producer) came to Anime Expo 2014 to discuss the success of their recently released sure-to-be-classic hit. Find out all about the success and challenges during the developmental phase of Kill la Kill in our transcription of their press conference at AX'14.

Please note, certain questions and responses have been abbreviated or paraphrased for clarity and to avoid confusion.

Sword Art Online/Accel World creator Reki Kawahara returns to the United States, this time accompanied by Sword Art Online original character designer and illustrator abec, and editor/producer for Sword Art Online's light novel/anime Kazuma Miki.

Certain questions and responses have been abbreviated or paraphrased for clarity and to avoid confusion.

Fresh off of their recent appearance in the 2013 hit anime series, Kill la Kill, Japanese voice actresses Ami Koshimizu (Ryuuko) and Ryoka Yuzuki (Satsuki) sliced-and-diced their way into their fans hearts at Anime Expo 2014 as part of Aniplex and SONY Music's star-studded event. As longtime voice actresses, both with extensive resumes and careers, fans had the chance to finally meet the pair in-person for the first time in Los Angeles. Find out what the two had to say immediately following their appearance at the epic Kill la Kill event on Day 2 of Anime Expo!