A video message from the bilingual voice actress.

With the release of Japanese party game Nippon Marathon coming up in a couple of weeks, the makers of the game have put out a video message that introduces fans to Diana Garnet – a J-pop singer who’s featured on the soundtrack.

Onion Soup Interactive, the developer of Nippon Marathon, describes the game as a cross between retro racer Micro Machines and wacky TV game show Takeshi’s Castle.

Garnet, who has a song called “Hyper Love Racing (Japanese Edition)” in the game, joked: “I mean, it’s got old men in sailing uniforms, lobster dudes, mini-games, bowling, racing, story mode, just absolutely everything. Including the kitchen sink, probably. Yeah, I think there’s probably a kitchen sink.”

Originally from Washington D.C. and now based in Tokyo, Garnet worked as an English teacher before taking part in a singing contest on NTV’s Nodojiman the World, in which she won and went on to build her career.

Garnet sang “Spinning World” which was used as the outro for anime series Naruto Shippuden and “Thank You for the Music”, the ending theme to animated-comedy Meow Meow Japanese History.

Outside of singing, Garnet works as a bilingual voice actress. She also hosts shows on TV and radio.

Nippon Marathon is currently available on Steam through Early Access, with a full release on 17th December for Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4. The Xbox One release will come a day later on 18th December.