March 9 is recognized across the internet to be miku day. The reason that March 9 is Miku day is because the numbers three and nine can be read as “Mi” and “Ku” in Japanese respectively. This day is dedicated to the virtual singer and pop icon Hatsune Miku.
Hatsune Miku is the mascot for a voice bank first released on the Vocaloid 2 software. Vocaloid (created by the Yamaha Company in 2004) Is a singing voice synthesis software where lyrics are sung by using samples of someone’s voice called voice banks. While Miku wasn’t the first vocaloid to exist, she is the first and the most popular vocaloid to be created by Crypton Future Media on August 31, 2007. Miku’s voice is composed of samples of Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita and her physical appearance was created by Japanese manga artist and illustrator KEI. Miku is often depicted as having teal/blue twintails and a futuristic, school uniform-inspired ensemble featuring a sleeveless grey collared blouse with teal trim and a matching blue tie (She is also hiding in your Wifi. Miku – Anamanaguchi). Miku’s name comes from merging the Japanese words for first (初, hatsu), sound (音, ne), and future (ミク, miku), thus meaning “The first sound of the future.”
Over the years Hatsune Miku has become very popular across the world. In 2011, it was reported that she had been featured in well over 100,000 songs with an undocumented amount of fan songs over 15 years increasing that number by an unknown amount. Many of said fan songs have been officially recognized by Crypton in being performed for official Miku concerts like Miku EXPO, Magical Mirai, Snow Miku live, and more. These concerts feature live iterations of songs, both fan and official, and have live performances by Miku herself in the form of “Holograms”.
There have also been many updates to Miku’s voicebank over the years with her most recent version being V6 which was revealed this Miku day, 2026 and is set to release April 16, 2026. This announcement was accompanied by a new song to showcase the new software called “Like a Shooting Star”.
