Biggest names in entertainment to appear at MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN

TOKYO, SINGAPORE, BEIJING and SEOUL, South Korea – MTV Japan hosted a press conference in Tokyo today officially welcoming the star-studded line up of performers scheduled to appear at MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN (VMAJ), the June 25 live music television event to benefit the Japanese Red Cross. Lady Gaga, who attended today’s press conference, headlines a line up of performers including Tokio Hotel, Namie Amuro, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, Exile, Kana Nishino, One Night Only and Monkey Majik, all performing live at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture Saturday night. Confirmed presenters include AI, AK-69, Thelma Aoyama, Beni, MiChi, Naoto Inti Raymi, Anna Tsuchiya, w-inds, Verbal and Marie, Shion, Sun Wei and Kozue from “Shibuhara Girls,” MTV’s new Japanese reality drama.

Hosted by Japanese pop sensation and Japanese Red Cross spokespeople AKB48, the staging of MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN is the culmination of MTV Japan’s MUSIC OF HOPE campaign, the channel’s multiplatform response to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN will be broadcast live to more than 30 million households on MTV Japan, MTV Korea, MTV SEA and MTV China on Saturday, June 25 at 1800 Tokyo & Seoul/1700 Singapore & Beijing. MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN will air in all Japanese television homes via cable, satellite and national and regional terrestrial channels (details to be announced).

A special one-hour version of MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN will air to over half a billion homes globally on MTV channels worldwide as a special installment of MTV’s weekly live music series, MTV WORLD STAGE Friday, July 29 (check local listings for airtimes).

MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN Red Carpet arrivals of the biggest names in global, regional and Japanese entertainment will be webcast live from Makuhari Messe during a 90-minute special hosted by MTV Japan VJ Joann. Featuring artist interviews and exclusive behind-the-scenes access, the special webcast streams live at 1430 Tokyo/Seoul on www.vmaj.jp, or 1330 Singapore/Beijing at www.mtvasia.com/vmaj.

In response to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, MTV Japan announced that the tenth annual MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ) would be staged as MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN, an international music television event to benefit the Japanese Red Cross. Nominations were led by Japanese artists Ikimonogakari, Miliyah Kato and Kana Nishino, K-pop sensation Girls Generation, and international superstars Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Eminem, Justin Bieber and Linkin Park each earning three nominations. Japanese artists AI and Yui join Avril Lavigne, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Kanye West as double nominees. Winners of the awards will be announced in July.

In May, MTV Japan and Viacom announced that a 10 yen donation would be made to the Japanese Red Cross for each vote cast within Japan in all fifteen VMAJ award categories. This contribution, up to a maximum of US$100,000, is in addition to the donations made by Viacom employees and matched by the company. The company also dedicated airtime to Red Cross donation appeals and artist-driven awareness spots, which have aired more than 40,000 times across Viacom International Media Networks’ to date.