Osaka: Anime Songs Bring Foreign Nationals Together; Kitadani, Horie Sing Songs from ‘One Piece,’ ‘Voltes V’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:46 JST, February 1, 2025

OSAKA — A karaoke contest was the highlight of an event held in Osaka to encourage exchanges and interactions between foreign nationals working in Japan.

Singers performed anime theme songs and other numbers that thrilled the crowd made up of attendees from a wide range of countries including the Philippines, Malaysia and the Netherlands.

YOLO Japan Corp. organized the Jan. 12 event at their facility, YOLO Base, in Naniwa Ward, Osaka. The company is based in the ward and runs the facility, which provides employment support. YOLO Japan also runs a job information website for foreign nationals.

Seven foreign nationals who passed an earlier qualification process took to the stage for the karaoke contest.

A 33-year-old Dutch woman, who has lived in Japan since 2014, enthusiastically sang in Japanese the Porno Graffitti hit “Melissa,” which was the opening theme for the anime “Fullmetal Alchemist.”

“The song’s title is the same as my name, and this song means a lot to me because it helped me become friends with Japanese people,” she said. “It was awesome to have fun here with everybody.”

Hiroshi Kitadani, who sang the theme song for the popular anime “One Piece,” and Mitsuko Horie, who sang the theme song for “Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V,” a Japanese anime hugely popular in the Philippines, also performed at the event.

The crowd went wild with excitement when Kitadani and Horie unleashed their signature songs.