In Japan, virtual figure reaches status of pop star

Hatsune Miku never misses a beat, has an international fan base and thousands of people attending every concert, Reuters reports.

The virtual star is computer generated and is based on a voice-synthesizing program developed by the company Crypton Future Media. The image of Hatsune Miku is produced by the company, but the program allow the users to create their own music. Her best songs--the headlines at her concert--have  emerged from more than 20 different people.

All 10,000 tickets for the digital diva's four shows in Tokyo on Thursday and Friday sold out in hours, despite the 6,300 yen ($76) ticket price. While Hatsune Miku was projected on the stage at the shows, thousands of  other fans packed into 24 cinemas to watch it live. The concerts was also broadcasted in cinema's in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

"It was absolutely amazing, it's like my heart is still dancing. I don't think I'll be able to sleep," 21 year-old Yuaya Ofuji said when she came out of the concert.

Another fan,  Hazuki Koide, was dressed up as the pop-star when she attended the show. She said that she had wanted to attend Hatsuen Miku's concert for a long time. Last year she watched the concert in the movie theatre, but this year she really had to make it to the concert because this could possibly be Hatsune Miku's last concert.

It's not clear why the organizers said that these shows might be the last ones, but if they are, she will be going out on a high. Some online polls have her down as the most-requested singer for the London Olympics opening ceremony.

" We thought we really had to make the effort to come because we wouldn't get a chance to see her in the future," Daniel Noll, who flew in from Australia, told Reuters. " She gave a lot of people that didn't have a a voice, a voice to express their feelings and thought."

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com