NAME CHANGE! The JapanTown Pop Culture Festival is now the COOL JAPAN Festival!

The first JapanTown festival, the Pop Culture festival, has changed its name to the JapanTown Cool Japan festival to more accurately reflect the meaning of this event.  It's more than just about Japanese pop culture; this festival's really about what's new and interesting in all of Japanese culture. The JapanTown Cool Japan festival aims to showcase the products, food, pop culture symbols, fashion, and lifestyle expressive of Japanese culture and creativity.


"Cool Japan" is actually a commonly term used to describe the growing national interest in Japan. The phrase first appeared in a 2002 Foreign Policy article by journalist Douglas McGray titled "Japan's Gross National Cool." It then became part of mainstream vocabulary to describe the stuff that made Japan "cool." A TV show called Discovering Cool Japan was even created to explore the aspects of Japan that people, namely foreigners, found attractive.

The Cool Japan festival will still take place on July 17th, 2010 in the East Village on 4th Avenue, near St. Mark's Place. We'll keep you posted on the final location!