I was a music guest at the HONDA-YA 30th Anniversary Charity Event!

HONDA-YA President Yutaro Mukumoto and Vice President Shinji Yamashita

Hello, Stephanie Yanez here! I’m a Jpop music artist, content creator, model, TV/Internet personality, and author. I was invited as HONDA-YA’s headlining musical guest at their 30th Anniversary Charity event. HONDA-YA is a Japanese restaurant in Orange County in the city of Tustin. I have been eating at HONDA-YA for years now and have had many birthday celebrations at this restaurant growing up. So this was a huge honor for me! I performed my original Jpop/City Pop music as well as famous Anime covers from my favorites Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sailor Moon, and Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Kenji Tamura and Yurisa

Japanese comedian Kenji Tamura with his partner Yurisa were the official MC’s of the event. Kenji Tamura or Tamuken, as he is known by his fans, is a famous comedian. He would appear in very popular shows like Suyoubi no Downtown and Tantei Knight Scoop. Once he turned 50 he decided to move to Southern California. Yurisa is a digital creator, social media manager, and content creator. Together they are Cha~rity! I was so honored that they both introduced me onto the stage for my concert. I had so much fun with them both and I can’t wait to see them again soon. Be on the lookout for those two!

I was also a judge for their talent show along with Kenji Tamura, President Yutaro Mukumoto, and Vice President Shinji Yamashita. The talent show was a highlight of the event! So many talented people came out to compete for the grand prize of a $500 dollar gift certificate for HONDA-YA. Let me tell you about a few of the contestants.

Risa approached me for a photo after the contest. / Photo of Risa’s daughter with my book “WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS” that I gave her at the event.

I really loved Risa’s cover of the Pokemon theme song めざせポケモンマスターMezase Pokémon Master. She is on vacation from Japan and brought her daughter up on stage to help with singing as well. She did a very good job at singing Pikachu and because of that I gave her my book “WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS” that I recently got published with Japanese company Amesian Books.

Another contestant was Japanese rapper Pepper from Osaka who now lives in Los Angeles. He surprised me by telling me he was a contestant because actually I have performed and even released a song with Pepper before. But one thing that I know about Pepper is that he is really passionate and loves to perform on the stage. And people really loved his original song. Pepper did not win a prize but he won the hearts of the crowd.

The winner of the talent show was Haru with his cover of IDOL from the anime series Oshi no Ko! I’m also a music teacher for young children and seeing Haru up on stage is really inspiring. He knew all of the words and kept up with the beat. I actually saw Haru before over at Tanaka Farms for their talent show for the Nova Vita Festival. I must say that he has improved so much since then and that festival was in July this year. So I could definitely see him improve even more with each passing day! You go Haru!

Radio host Kay from Sakura Radio came to the event! I was recently interviewed on her Japanese Children’s Book program OSUSUME EHON talking about my book “WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS”.

You can listen here: https://sakura-radio-e42b7d0b.simplecast.com/episodes/jpopwhat-are-your-dreamsnavi

Purchase my book here: http://stephanieyanez.com/whatareyourdreams

Once again it was such an honor to perform and judge at HONDA-YA’ 30th Anniversary event. Thank you to all that came out and please continue your support for HONDA-YA!