On her own, Japanese pop superstar Hatsune Miku can¡¯t sing. Nor can she rap, dance or DJ. She is drug- and alcohol-free because she can¡¯t indulge in either, and she can¡¯t have affairs or engage in offstage shenanigans fit for YouTube scandals or tabloid headlines. Now entering her sixth year as a beloved idol with a global fan base, she looks as youthful and demure as she did when she debuted. She can¡¯t even get old.
¡°She doesn¡¯t exist,¡± says her creator, Hiroyuki Itoh, with a brief shrug. ¡°Never has.¡±
Itoh, CEO of Sapporo-based Crypton Future Media, is a software developer and so-called meta-creator, whose goal is to aid others in realizing their artistic endeavors. In 2007, he asked a graphic artist named Kei to create an anime-inspired digital avatar, the kind of cartoon-company mascot common in Japan, to represent both Crypton and its virtual-voice program for Yamaha¡¯s Vocaloid software ¡ª a singing-voice synthesizer.
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