About NEON SAKURA
NEON SAKURA emerged from Osaka's Shinsaibashi club scene in 2021, when producer and vocalist Rika Hayashi began uploading tracks to SoundCloud that blended the warm, synth-heavy textures of late-1980s Japanese city pop with the propulsive energy of contemporary J-pop production. The name was a provocation — a collision of synthetic neon glare and the ancient beauty of cherry blossoms — and it stuck immediately.
Growing up in Osaka, Rika was surrounded by her parents' record collection: Mariya Takeuchi, Tatsuro Yamashita, Anri — the golden canon of Japanese city pop. But she was also obsessed with her father's vintage Casio MT-40 keyboard, spending hours programming its tiny built-in rhythms into something approximating full compositions. "Those Casio sounds are in my DNA," she told Barks Japan in 2024. "I hear them in everything I make now, even when they're buried under layers of 808s."
Her breakout 2023 EP 夏のネオン (Neon Summer) clocked over 12 million Spotify streams in its first month, driven by the euphoric lead single 「ピンクの夕暮れ」(Pink Dusk) — a four-minute rush of glitter-synth, punchy bass and a chorus that hit the global city pop community like a thunderbolt. She has since supported international acts across Asia, headlined Club Quattro in both Osaka and Tokyo, and been named one of Japan's 30 Artists to Watch by Rolling Stone Japan.
For Golden River Veil Fest 2026, NEON SAKURA is promising a production unlike anything she has staged before — a full live set featuring a five-piece band, custom LED visual installations, and material from her forthcoming debut album Spectrum Wave, due for release in July 2026. Fans in neon costumes are strongly encouraged.
Releases
Debut full-length album. A 44-minute journey through every colour in the spectrum — from deep oceanic bass to crackling neon highs. Features collaborations with producers from Seoul and London.
The record that changed everything. Five tracks of crystalline city pop-electronic fusion, led by the global hit 「ピンクの夕暮れ」. Still holds the record as NEON SAKURA's most-streamed release.
The debut single that started it all — a lo-fi, Casio-driven city pop love letter recorded in Rika's Shinsaibashi apartment bedroom. Raw, nostalgic, and completely captivating.
When the Crowd
Becomes the Show
A NEON SAKURA live show is a full sensory immersion. Every attendee is encouraged to bring their phone flashlight — the sea of lights they create becomes as much a part of the performance as the music itself.
At her Zepp Tokyo show in 2025, the crowd's phone lights were triggered in real-time by the beat using a custom app — creating a living, breathing light installation across the entire venue floor. For GRVF 2026, that technology is being scaled up to a beach of thousands.
