On May 7, Sakura Miku, the official support character of the Hirosaki Sakura Festival, announced the "101st Sakura" cherry blossom support song on YouTube.

Sakura Miku is a character derived from the popular character "Hatsune Miku". Hatsune Miku is a female virtual idol that supports the voice synthesis system "VOCALOID" developed by Krypton Future Media (Sapporo, Hokkaido). The live performance of Hatsune Miku expressed in 3D is so popular that a world tour is held.

Sakura Miku has been appointed as the official support character for the Hirosaki Sakura Festival since last year. It is set to 2020, but plans for next year and beyond are currently undecided. The Sakura Festival was canceled this year because of the new coronavirus, and the planned Sakura Miku related events were canceled or changed. Initially, in order to make this year's Sakura Festival more lively, we used the same song that was planned to be played at the venue and major facilities in the city, and planned an online project that could be connected next year.

"101st Sakura" is the 18th single song released by Hirosaki's dance and vocal unit "RINGO MUSUME". Shinya Tada, who was in charge of composition, has experience in music such as AKB48 and Arashi, and currently lives in Hirosaki. The lyrics were co-written with apple girl producer Shinichi Hikawa, and I visited the tree doctor who manages the cherry blossoms in Hirosaki Park, and the theme was "I want to live as strong as a cherry tree."

It will be released on the same day on the Hatsune Miku official channel at 11 o'clock on the same day, and the lyrics of the English translation will also be written by Mr. Hikawa. With over 50,000 views over 24 hours, over 10,000 likes, and over 1000 comments. Many of them were comments from overseas, and she said "She sang a spring song for us who couldn't leave home" from multiple countries such as the United States, Germany, and Mexico. The response was "beautiful" (translated by the editorial department) (as of 11:00 on May 8).

Mr. Tada said, “I was surprised by the number of messages from overseas. I would be happy if the charm of Hirosaki's cherry blossoms could reach the world through the video. Even for the apple girl who has been singing the original “101st Cherry Blossoms” carefully. I want to thank you again."

In late May, we plan to release an after-report video using the same song, including photos, videos, and illustrations of this year's cherry blossoms.