Sakura-Con 2602 So. 38th St. PMB 78 Tacoma, WA 98409 PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sakura-Con 2012 welcomes STEREOPONY Seattle, WA 2/3/2012 ANCEA (Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association) is proud to present STEREOPONY as musical guests for the 15th Sakura-Con April 6-8 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Downtown Seattle Washington. STEREOPONY is a Japanese all-girl rock band that formed in Okinawa in 2007 and will be attending their first Sakura-Con. Consisting of AIMI (Vocal/Guitar), NOHANA (Bass), and SHIHO (Drums) the band gained their first opportunity on the Japanese rock radio program “SCHOOL OF LOCK!” STEROPONY should be well known to many anime fans as the artists behind several notable anime themes. Their debut single "Hitohira No Hanabira" was the 17th ending theme for the famous anime series “BLEACH”; released on November 5, 2008 and ranked #25 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. Their 2nd single "Namida No Muko” was the second opening theme for the second season of the Sunrise series “Mobile Suit Gundam 00”; and achieved #2 in the Oricon charts. STEREOPONY has toured internationally and experienced great success in the Oricon charts. In March 2009, the girls performed in SXSW 2009, and received a thunderous ovation. Their 3rd single "I do it" is a collaboration with fellow Sony Music Entertainment Japan singer YUI, was released on April 22, 2009. Their debut studio album “A hydrangea blooms” was released on June 17, 2009 and ranked #7 on the Oricon weekly charts. STEROPONY’s 5th single "TSUKIAKARI NO MICHISHIRUBE", also released with a tie-in with the second season of hit anime series “Darker than Black” which ranked #8 on Oricon. After releasing 2 singles, in June 2010, the girls released their much anticipated 2nd studio album “OVER THE BORDER”. “Chiisana Mahou”, the opening theme of anime series “Letter Bee REVERSE” was released on December 8th. STEREOPONY collaborated with the band Kariyushi58 to produce the single "Tatoeba Utaenakunattara" released on August 10, 2011. The band's 10th single, "Arigatō", was released on September 28, 2011. The music video for "Arigatō", released on September 1, 2011, features film actor Abe Hiroshi; he is also on the cover of the version B release of the single. On October 16th, they an- nounced the planned release of their 3rd studio album. Sakura-Con is the first and largest Japanese Animation Convention in the Northwest and the main realization of ANCEA's non profit mission to support Asian Cultural Education. Sakura-Con is committed to providing people of all ages an opportunity to learn more about anime, manga, gaming, and Japanese culture-both traditional and contemporary. ###.