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Well, competition in the tech industry is increasingly cutthroat, but may be even more so in Japan. 

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Well, the country has been pioneering the latest in tech gadgets and graphics for years. 

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Well, now as Kyung Lah reports, they're putting those skills into pop music, that is.

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The picture of perfection. Pop singer Aimi Eguchi, part of Japan's hottest girl group, has flawless features, an angelic voice to match. 

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Too bad Aimi isn't real. She's a computer generated image built from the best features of six of the real-life members of AKB48.

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Japan's biggest pop band pulled off a stunt, creating Aimi for a commercial to show the power of the country's computer technology. 

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The creative team behind Aimi call her their dream girl.

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Have you created the perfect pop star?

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Completely. Yes. Perfect.

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Aimi fooled even hard-core fans for a week. And now that they know the truth, they still say they love her.

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She's not the only virtual singing sensation in Japan. 

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Meet Miku Hatsune, pop star and giant hologram, performing live before thousands of adoring Japanese fans. 

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She makes her U.S. debut in a sold-out 4th of July weekend concert in Los Angeles. 

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But as you can see, she's already a megastar at home.

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So all of this begs the question: how long before a computer graphic gives a human singer a run for the money? 

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Well, here in Japan it's already happening. 

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Miku had a pop album that topped Japan's charts last year and this year, and she even has her own commercial deal.

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Introducing the new 2011 Toyota Corolla. It's the official car of Hatsune Miku.

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Yes, that's Japan's biggest automaker using a hologram instead of a Hollywood star to sell the Corolla.

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Aimi's creators say, prepare yourself, you are looking at entertainment's future.

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Do you believe that CG could one day replace the human pop star?

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"I very much believe so," 

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says Takatoshi Nakao. "We used to enjoy searching for the singers we love, but we're entering an era where we'll just create them."

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One drawback, say fans, is you can't exactly high-five a computerized pop star. 

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But hey, maybe technology will even fix that so that one day we can say computer graphics killed the video star.