Hirosue Ryoko: A Revelation of Sorts

My first memories of Hirosue Ryoko was back when we were collecting idol magazines aoound 1995 or so.Back then we were hungry for those Babe-a-licious idols like Miura Rieko, Hinagata Akiko and Kanno Miho, so we were quite confused when plain-looking (in fact, rather tom-boyish) Ryoko Hirosue started taking over the pin-up magazines!
“I just don’t GET it!” I would say to Morningberryz, “Why is this chick so popular?!” “She ‘s not a babe, and in fact, with that haircut she looks like…doraemon!” We just didn’t see her appeal back then.
She played the part of a child-prodigy piano player who gave Kimura Takuya a hard time in the classic drama Long Vacation, and thereafter was always affectionately referred to by us as “Piano-Brat”. “Piano-Brat’s on another Kindaiga cover!” Or: “Piano Brat’s in that new drama Shota No Sushi!” It seems we couldn’t get away from her!

Things slightly changed for me around mid 1996, when she starred in serial in the re-newed Mokuyo No Kwaidan Mystery show with Tamao Nakamura. The story was about a girl who befriends a ghostly spirit, and the theme song was Maji de Koi Suru 5byou Mae, sung by Ryoko herself! I have to say that I watched the show pretty regularly, and even ended up buying the single of this unbelievably catchy tune!

Next I saw Ryoko in dramas like Beach Boys and Boku ga boku de Aru Tameni, but it wasn’t until the comedy / drama Sekai de ichiban Papa ga Suki with Akashiya Sanma that I actually started really liking her as an actress. Actually, it was the NG stuff on FNS HAPPENING that warmed me to her, she was so funny when she flubbed her lines, you could tell she was fun to be around in “real life”. There was this one NG scene where she is handcuffed to Sanma, and they both trip and fall, she is laughing so hard, you start laughing, too!

Next was a real 90 degree turn for her, as she played two very dark suicidal characters in both Seija no Koushin and Lipstick. I remember even then thinking, “Wow, she’s come a long way since the Piano-Brat days.” I truly thought her new image was going to be a more rebellious-type character, and thought she could do it,too!

I didn’t see Ryoko Hirosue again until Otousan in 2002, (which I was watching for Kyoko Fukada) , and was surprised at the character she was playing, a sad, introverted girl with no self-confidence. I was shocked ‘cause I’d never seen her like this in any of the other dramas I watched. But I had to admit it was a pretty interesting character.

Jump ahead to 2007, and my friend Car is obsessed with all thing Domoto-Brothers related. Browsing through some blog online, I notice that the three Domoto Tsuyoshi J-doramas that fans seem to love are Second Chance (I loved it,too!), To Heart (with my babes Kyoko Fukada) and one called Summer Snow. Summer Snow? How did I not see this one before? So I downloaded the show. Here it is 2007 and I’m downloading a show from 2002.

The story’s about a young man named Natsuo, (Domoto Tsuyoshi) taking care of his two siblings, who meets a young girl (Hirosue Ryoko) suffering from a heart-disease. The two compliment each other well, she is kind and insightful, and he is fun-loving and outspoken. The drama is about the chance meeting the two have and the relationship that develops.
Without giving away any spoilers, I have to say that the drama was incredibly touching. Lots of good acting here, ESPECIALLY Hirosue Ryoko and Chizuru Ikewaki (such a cutie here!), who really knock their scenes out of the ballpark.

Ryoko’s character Yuki Katase….what can I say. This was without a doubt the best character I’ve ever seen her play. She was so positive and yet so vulnerable. When she was happy, she was so adorable, you just wanted to hug her to bits, and when she was sad, it just broke your heart.

I think this is the first time I’ve fallen in love with one of Ryoko Hirosue’s drama personas; she was just the sweetest thing ever! And the scenes where she’s crying made me realize that NO ONE breaks down like Ryoko Hirosue! So real and emotional, it just destroys you. But for whatever reason whether it be her acting, the story, or my personal preferences, all the scenes really hit home!

I might rate the Summer Snow drama an 8, but I’ll DEFINITELY rate Ryoko Hirosue’s performance of Yuki a 10! When the show was finally over, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. More precisely, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ryoko’s scenes… I had to laugh- This drama has got me smitten with Ryoko Hirosue! With the actress I once referred to as Piano-Brat! I just HAD to write up this little blog entry, if only to state for the record for Ryoko Hirosue and Ryoko Hirosue’s fans :

O.K., O.K….I “GET” IT NOW!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Be-B / Manatsu No AI YAI YAI

Continuing on with my coverage of favorite songs from that very first j-pop mix I’d acquired years ago is a fierce little rocker called MANATSU NO AI YAI YAI by the super-cool vocalist known simply as BE-B!

Be-B had a very original vocal style that immediately stood out from the rest of the songs: Throaty and raspy with a definite rocker edge, the way she wailed and built up each bridge to the awesome “SHINING HEART!!!” climax, this song was definitely among the first j-pop songs I truly, truly LOVED!

 The J-pop buyer at work let me borrow a few Japanese Music Specials from earlier that year, including the past Kohaku Uta Gassen and the Japan Record Awards. It was here I first got to see Be-B in all her rocking glory, singing a cool little tune called “Doumu~Kaze Ni Mukatte, and after that I picked up her greatest hits package (entitled, simply enough, Be-B Singles) What an awesome collection this was-Triple Gatefold Sleeves and all!

Those Wacky GNo嵐 Opening Credits!

 One thing that I've always loved about the various variety shows that J-storm group ARASHI have are their catchy and hilarious opening credits that accompany them!
  A long-standing tradition among these beginnings is normally soft-spoken leader Satoshi Ohno stepping up and playfully striking various "Tough Guy" poses and attitudes! In two "D NO Arashi" openings, he is portrayed tricking the other members into spelling out "Leader Saiko!" In another, he is carried by his co-workers on their shoulders, "emperor" style! In one, the members are carried like mannequins onto the set, followed by a very real Ohno slipping on some cool shades before the group animates!
 But out of all of these, my very favorite one has to be the "Fight Song" opening credits of "G No Arashi"!

It starts out innocently enough...

Sakurai Sho is happily polishing his trophies..

Masaki Aiba is twirling a Soccer Ball...

Kazunari Ninomiya is catching up on some reading...

...and Matsumoto Jun yawns, waiting for something to happen.

Then suddenly,Ohno shows up, and WANTS THEM ON THEIR FEET!

He perks up Nino first...

approaches Sho...

persuades Jun...

and convinces Aiba...

Then gets the boys in line to form their FIGHT pose as the line GANBATTE echoes!!!

A fun beginning that instantly gets you in the mood for the episode's activities!
It doesn't hurt that the theme Fight Song is a terrific tune, either!

First Foray in J-pop: Tenchi Muyo!

My very first introduction to japanese pop music came through an Anime Series that the girls in the Video Room at Tower Records used to play over and over again every night we worked! The Series was Tenchi Muyo, and once the songs hooked me, I made it a point to watch every show, eventually falling in love with the series and buying every episode on laserdisc, as well as most of the CD soundtracks that were available!
The two songs that brought me in were the ending credits to the first series, called "Talent For Love" and the opening credits to the second series called "I'm A Pioneer". Both songs were sung by Chisa Yokoyama, the voice actress who also supplied the voice for Sasami. Both feature peppy, catchy, hummable songs, both feature great animation,and there'll probably never be an ending credit sequence better than the Talent For Love clip with Ryo-Oki growing a carrot!
My favorite character of the series just has to be intergalactic scientist Washu, better known (by her request) as Washu-chan! My favorite episode is the "Hello, Baby" episode, which is, naturally, centered around Washu and her past. I think she's just the coolest, sexiest, smartest chick in that household, second to none!

Shakalabbits!

Here's probably my favorite current J-pop group out there right now,the rocking and quirky SHAKALABBITS!

A Friend asked me to describe them in a sentence, and I said "Judy and Mary for a new generation of fans!"

YES I said JAM, so they're an acquired taste and not for the faint of heart!

Whenever I would check out the latest postings on the mighty Japanese ORICON charts, there always seemed to be groups that charted regularly in the top echelon that never seemed to appear in television shows like Music Station and such. You would see these names like ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, GARNET CROW and BUMP-OF-CHICKEN, and think, “Who ARE these groups?” I suppose if I lived in Japan, or at least had access to japan radio shows, I’d know them, but being completely reliant on shows like UTABAN and HEY HEY HEY to “educate” me about new groups, there were quite a few that remained unknown to me!

  Shakalabbits was one such group. I’d see this group with its weird name continually making the top twenty in the Oricon charts, and one day, a kind and generous soul on Jpopsuki uploaded the latest single of theirs called “DAZZLING SOUP”, and I downloaded it so I could finally get to HEAR this group!

 Wel, I didn’t know what I expected, but this song was just fantastic! As I mentioned above, they struck me as a latter-day JUDY AND MARY, but this group also seemed to have 1980’s nu-romantic overtones in the music as well (at least in THIS single), and I immediately knew I wanted to hear more!

Matsuda Seiko STYLE!

Yes, She's still around. Yes, She's had more new image makeovers than Madonna. And YES, I think she's SUPER HOT! :) From the Seventies all the way up 'til the present, we are always blessed with the ever changing Seiko Matsuda. And that's a good thing! From the moment I first laid eyes on her flouncing around onstage with a stuffed-teddy bear backpack belting out her many hits of yesterday, she's been dear to my heart!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Kome Kome Club / Subete wa Honto De Usso Kamone

Theme song for the romantic comedy Shinkon Nari, starring Mikami Hiroshi and cute Riho Makise as newlyweds who have to move in with the groom’s domineering parents!
This was really a zany show, and the theme song by Kome Kome Club sums it up nicely with the title called (roughly), “Entirely, Absolutely, a Lie…Maybe!" Hahaha! Nice touch on the single, too: A beautiful white dove...and a BAT!
Supporting characters like Koji Matoba and SUPER SEXY Senri Yamazaki appear as the “foils” who are trying to break up the new marriage for their own wants, and as an added bonus, we have Kobayashi Akiji (beloved Tachibana Tobei of the Kamen Rider series) as the doddering father of the groom!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: DEEN / Hitomi Sorasanaide

When I received my 5^th J-pop cassette Mix from my friend in April of 1996, I was blown away by not just one but two new Hirose Kohmi songs, two new Mr. Children songs, and a couple of songs from a cool rockin’ band I’d never heard before, DEEN! What a terrific group this was!

In a way it was like getting a crash course in DEEN goodness because the two songs that opened up side two of that cassette mix were just about their best songs ever: the dramatic rock ballad LOVE FOREVER and the catchy whimsical HITOMI SORASANAIDE!

Though it was known to me that Izumi Sakai wrote (or, rather, co-wrote) Hitomi Sorasanaide, I didn’t think that there was a ZARD version of the song out there. Though later it became pretty common to hear ZARD’s take on songs later, (especially in regards to FIELD OF VIEW with songs like Kimi Ga Itakara, Totsuzen and DAN DAN Kokoro Hikareteku which all appeared on TODAY IS ANOTHER DAY) at the time I didn’t expect it, and so imagine what a pleasant surprise  I had when I first listened to ZARD’s “Forever You” CD, and this gentle, sweet acoustic version of Hitomi Sorasanaide closed the album!

After hearing these DEEN songs, I just had to have them, but at the time was only able to get Love Forever, and no matter where I ordered Hitomi Sorasaniade from, I kept getting the dreaded “OUT OF PRINT” message returned. It wasn’t until years later when a friend managed to get that rare DEEN single for me, and he had to go by hook and crook to acquire it! For that he has my eternal gratitude! AHAHAHAHAHA

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Judy and Mary / Cheese Pizza

When my friend Dan introduced me to CoCo all those years ago, he also introduced me to a handful of other groups that he was listening to at the time, and zany j-pop pranksters Judy and Mary was one of them!
I fell in love with the single "Cheese Pizza" as well as the parent album Orange Sunshine, featuring other great singles like "Radio", and just think- songs like "Sobakazu" and "Overdrive" were still around the corner!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Koizumi Kyoko / Beautiful Girls

Wonderful opening tune for equally wonderful drama Mada Koi wa Hajimaranai starring Kyoko Koizumi, Kyon Kyon's song "Beautiful Girls" is, in my opinion, one of the all-time GREATEST J-drama themes EVER!

Mada Koi wa Hajimaranai tells the tale of two lovers in Feudal Japan who, because of class and upbringing, are forbidden to be together. With nowhere else to go, they commit suicide, swearing that they will find each other again in the next life...Fast forward to present day Japan, where the two lovers have been reborn, and are just waiting for fate to bring them back together again...but it's not as easy as it seems! First off- neither of them know that they are past lovers, and it is only through chance that the two meet at all! Will destiny bring the two together at last?

Mada Koi Wa Hajimaranai

Coming out  in 1995, Mada Koi featured early roles for some of who would become Jdrama royalty, including Nakai Kiichi and a very young Takenouchi Yutaka, Tokiwa Takako, Sakai Maki,  and Kusanagi Tsuyoshi among others! ALL would go on to have illustrious careers!

They've even got Nishimura Masahiko in a hilarious role as the rascally unseen "narrator" of this modern day fairy-tale, who lets the viewer know at the beginning of the first episode that, even though the two fated lovers have finally been reunited after all these centuries apart..."Love STILL Hasn't Begun!" Cue music, and then we're swept away...

Mada Koi Wa Hajimaranai is firmly entrenched as one of the GREATS, and its theme song one of my absolute favorites!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Dreams Come True / Love, Love, Love

Here’s my personal vote for GREATEST J-POP SINGLE OF ALL TIME, Dreams Come True’s Love, Love, Love which was the theme song for the j-dorama Aishiteiru To Ittekure starring Toyokawa Etsushi and Tokiwa Takako.

Incredible, moving song, and I can’t remember a time when any other theme song was so intimately interwoven throughout the show. Even now, just hearing that harpsichord intro takes me back instantly to the drama!

HEY! HEY! HEY! Music Champ rated Love Love Love as the #2 song of 1996, I would have pushed for that little nudge to get them where I REALLY thought the song belonged! Ahahahaa...

This song has become the band’s signature song, and you can frequently hear them include it in their repertoire, (such as on this past year's Kohaku, among others) and Dreams Come True even performed this song on the LIVE 8 concert, albeit in “english” mode.

Favorite J-Pop Singles: TOKIO / Love You Only

The highlights of the 1994 NHK Red and White Fetival, or Kouhaku, as they call it, were Sakamoto Fuyumi's ikebana styled "Yuzakura Oshichi", Matsuda Seiko's girly-girly "Kagayaita Kistetsu E Tabidatou", X-Japan's rocking "Rusty Nail" Moritaka Chisato dancing on a cake performing "Suteki Na Tanjoubi", and the first-ever performance I ever saw of Johnny's band TOKIO singing their debut single "Love You Only"!

At the time, I was all about the Otomejuku Idol girls like CoCo, ribbon and Wink , but there was something irresistably catchy about this TOKIO song! It had such a hook that It made me ignore the fact that these were a bunch of dudes, all dressd up in white costumes trimmed with bird feathers! But what WAS it?

We were to find out that the musician who wrote the music for "Love You Only" was the writer responsible for MANY of our beloved CoCo and ribbon songs, too (I think CoCo's ONEGAI HOLD ME TIGHT was one of them!)! It's like they say...everything's connected, well at least as far as j-pop in the mid-nineties!

This song has ALWAYS been an absolute favorite to sing at karaoke: the better drunk to belt out those catch-and-call choruses...KIMI GA, KIMI GA ATSUI KOISURU NARA!!!!!!

Of coure, TOKIO was just the beginning, and I would go on to love groups like SMAP as well as groups that came along a lot later like ARASHI, V6 and the unstoppable KINKI KIDS!

"One More Time!"

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Nakayama Miho / Hurt To Heart

Another fantastic single introduced to me via those groovy J-pop mixes my friend at work would make for me, this time the dramatic HURT TO HEART by Nakayama Miho!

Whenever I’m talking about these J-pop Mixes, I say that Dave “made the j-pop mix for me”, but I should clarify that he was actually making the tape for HIMSELF… As j-pop buyer, he would get a whole lot of new j-pop singles each month, and he’d make tapes of the ones he liked to get to know them better, and since he knew I also loved j-music, he’d simply make a duplicate copy of the mix for me!

He would come into my section and hand me a brand new cassette and offhandedly say, “Hey, I got a new J-pop mix for you.” YATTA!!!

The only problem is that while he knew who and what was going on the mix, I had no idea at all since what he gave me was always a bare cassette with no labels. Only when he had time would he go home and copy down all the names and titles for me, a BIG headache for him, so sometimes I’d wait for weeks without knowing who or what I was listening to!

Anyway, so it had been a week or so of listening to the latest j-pop mix with this melancholy Nakayama Miho song, and I was really liking it, pretty soon I’d find myself singing the chorus to myself as I worked. So one day Dave’s walking by and hears me singing, “Heart…To…Hearttttt!” He came into my section and said, “Ehhhh…It’s actually HURT to Heart… I’ll write down the titles tonight, okay?” HAHAHAHA! D’OH!

Nakayama Miho was a very frequent guest on Hey Hey Hey back in the day, and I was thrilled to see her performing this beautiful song one evening!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Nishida Hikaru / Melody

My first exposure to Nishida Hikaru was through a zany comedy on NGN called “Natsu! Depart Monogatari” starring TOKIO’s Tatsuya Yamashita and Hikaru. Though it barely showed Hikaru at all in it (more of a cameo character), she did sing the ending song "C'mon, C'mon, C'mon," which piqued my interest!

Then during a chance viewing on MUSIC FAIR, I caught Hikaru singing a variation of Oldies with fellow guests Uchida Yuki and a woman whose name I can't recall for the life of me , including an extremely cute rendition of "Kissing On The Phone", before she broke out her new single “Melody”…and boy, did that voice blow me away! Sultry and silky, I had to have that single, so immediately went out and got it!

It could have ended there, but I loved that song  so much (as well as the Natsu Depart Monogatari song),that I was DYING to hear her other stuff!

At the same time, Golden, the Tower Records J-pop buyer in town, told me he'd ordered Hikaru's entire catalog of stuff, which got sent to the wrong store and did I want to go along with him and pick it up? Hell YEAH! Seeing All of Hikaru's wonderful back-catalog, I couldn't WAIT to purchase them and start DIGGING IN!

Clear, Esprit, Nineteen Dreams, Silhouette, Sundance, File Of Life, Love Always…. Over time, I managed to acquire her entire back catalog of CDs and Singles, through Tower Records, Shirokiya's BOOK OFF and the good old OTOKICHI PREMIUM, and I have to tell you that each and every CD and single has incredible sentimental value to me. I’d just moved to another town, and I spent many days taking walks around the neighborhood, listening to my walkman, Hikaru as my only and dearest companion!

Probably my greatest Hikaru moment was watching a video collection of hers. In the PV for her song “Kitto Aiga Aru”, she is riding her bicycle through what I immediately recognized as my own town! She rode past my neighborhood park, down my street, and THEN RIGHT PAST MY APARTMENT! I was in utter shock! Hikaru-chan had ridden right by my house ! Where the heck was I at that time?! :)

Hikaru-chan rides past my apartment!

I know that you all are wondering how it is that I even can tell that it's my apartment Hikaru's ridin' past in this screen capture. While it's true that there really isn't too much to go on, the CM for Kitto Aiga Aru shows a few different camera angles of this scene, including a pulled-back shot where you can clearly see Hikaru and my humble abode! 

See that second story window up there? That was my apartment and that's my air conditioner hanging out of it, LOL

 

AHAHAHAHAHA!

I moved out from there some time ago and last I checked, the apartment had been renovated into a bank establishment....

Favorite J-Pop Artists: Princess Princess

How did I first get introduced to all things Puri-Puri? Let's See...

The first song I ever knew from Princess Princess was “Dakara Honey”- The J-pop buyer for  the record store I worked at had thrown it onto a compilation cassette ( I guess to fill up space) from a Drama Theme song CD he had,( Dakara being the theme song for “Double Kitchen”which actually had an episode featuring Puri-Puri…but I digress) and the quirky enka-style vocalist certainly caught my ear… At the time I had a mental picture of the group being two old ladies (hence the double princess) singing novelty songs for a living!

    A few months later I was at my friend  Daniel's house, where I flipped through the latest issue of his KOKIKU magazine. In that issue, there was an article reporting that the Rock Group Princess Princess was calling it a day. The article featured the cover of “The Last Princess” and that was the first time I saw them. In fact, I wasn’t sure it was the SAME group, seeing as THESE gals looked cool, and I didn’t think they’d have sung a novelty song like “Dakara Honey”.I remember reading it and going "whoa!" to Daniel, and also talking to the J-Pop Buyer at work the next day about the article.

Farewell Concert

 Princess Princess was set to start promoting their last CD and final tour, so in the coming weeks, Puri2 was to appear on numerous shows, promoting their latest single and saying their farewells.

   Back then I didn’t have access to NGN, so weekends were to hang out at Daniel’s House (J-pop Central ) to watch “Pop Jam” and “Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ”, cheering on then-newcomer Namie Amuro or booing the very flamboyant Sharan Q. It was on Pop Jam that I first got to see Princess Princess moving and breathing.

     And what a sight it was. Pop Jam had created a montage of Puri Puri performances right from the beginning, and I remember thinking that the young bushy-haired Kaori might be Hawaiian! Looking at the classy ladies on stage, I came to the conclusion that the  girls in the montage wasn’t them, possibly girls they had managed? Of course later I was to find out that it in fact WAS them,in one of their many “looks” over the years.

    As Hiroko Moriguchi interviewed the girls, I thought there was NO WAY these were the same artists that did “Dakara Honey”,and felt foolish that I thought they WERE...But then Princess Princess got onstage to belt out “Fly Baby Fly”. The SECOND I heard Kaori’s voice, I KNEW they were the same band that did “Dakara”, and what’s more, I liked THIS song, too! What a revelation!

Princess Princess b

   When J-pop Buyer Dave found out I had more than a passing interest in Princess Princess, he made another Cassette tape for me, this time with the Puri2 single “KISS”. I was convinced. No longer would I ever think they were a novelty act. This lush piece of pop perfection with the soaring harmonies just killed me. It became my favorite song on the tape. At this stage they might have been a group I admired and liked a few singles, but it was an appearance on the show MUSIC FAIR that changed my whole outlook on Pri2.

   Like the other music shows around that time, Music Fair had prepared a special “farewell” episode just for Puri Puri. Guests included, along with Puri-Puri, Hiroko Moriguchi, Chisato Moritaka, and Arisa Mizuki. Together they sang "19 Growing Up","Diamonds", "M", "Sekai De Ichiban Atsui Natsu" and "Oh Yeah". Then Puri Puri did "Papa","Seven years After" and "Natsu No Owari".

     Needless to say, I was blown away, plain and simple. It was then that I realized that this group was extraordinary, and I hurried down to the Record store to pick up SINGLES 1987-1992…and thus began the Puri Puri obsession! I remember riding around Diamond Head with a friend, listening to the Singles Collection, and laughing upon hearing the REAL Puri-Puri versions, as all we knew about some of the songs were the ensemble-style versions they performed on MUSIC FAIR.

Moritaka Chisato Ramblings

Random Ramblings: :

1. My Favorite Album By Chisato:

 

Do The Best

This is the first album I ever purchased by Chisato! Featuring such faves as "Kibunsoukai", "Watarase Bashi", "Watashi Ga Obasanni Nattemo", "Natsu No Hi", "Watashi No Natsu", and my favorite Chisato song of all time, "Futari Wa Koibito"!

The Album Where Chisato Looks FINE:

Pepperland

This album is a decent release from Chisato, but more importantly,she looks just KILLER here!

Words cannot describe how fine I think she looks in these pictures.IMNSHO.

More pics from the CD booklet below:

DAMN!

@$@#$...DAMN!!

Mmmmm... Chisato.I think I've Made My Point.

Comments from Original Post:

yametekudasai wrote:

I've been DAMNED as well...

I had NO IDEA that this was the "Pepperland" Chisato. "Rock Alive" lives!

zdorama replied to yametekudasai’s comment: 

Yes, on the third day, Kamisama created a "girl". And it was Chisato. And he saw that it was fine.

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Fujii Fumiya / Time Machine

Single from Fujii Fumiya, the man best known as the lead singer for the Checkers as well as the man that my co-worker Wayne once called “The Japanese Bryan Adams” No word on whether that was a compliment or an insult from him!

Time Machine was one of the very first songs I ever attempted to sing at Karaoke,and oh man, if Fumiya Fujii was there to have heard that, he would have jumped into that Time Machine and gotten his butt outta there as fast as he could!

I remember after trying to sing it, seeing this performance of Time Machine off of POPJAM, and I don't know WHAT Fumiya's doing in this perf, busting out Michael Jackson moves, posing dramatically and and spinning around on his butt, but it was very silly indeed! When I went over that night, we both watched Fumiya doing his wacky moves before they said to me, "This is that song you were singing, huh." AHAHAHAHAHA

Check out the zaniness yourself:

Still an occasional karaoke fave to butcher, by the way!

Favorite J-pop Singles: Tube / Yuzurenai Natsu

Another one of the very first songs I ever attempted to sing at Karaoke, a song that absolutely leaves me out of breath… maybe this is why lead singer Maeda’s face is always so red!

During the bridge of the song, Maeda sings positively: “Yes… KEEP HOPE ALIVE!”, but the karaoke subtitlers phonetically transcribed it as “Yes… Keep Hope ARRIVE!” On this, there has not been ONE SINGLE time that I have sung this song that someone hasn’t laughed and pointed it out “Hey, look, they wrote ARRIVE instead of ALIVE…FUNNY!” Yep, Har Har. First time I ever heard THAT one! Now do you mind if I go back to turning my face red?

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Amuro Namie / Chase The Chance

Ahh...the kickin' theme song for that crazy MacGyver of the Kitchen show THE CHEF, starring Noriyuki Higashiyama and Kokubun Taichi! Actually one of the very first j-doramas that I ever watched!
I'd already loved the song because of the show, then I was properly blown away by Namie Amuro (and Super Monkeys) performance of this song on that year's KOHAKU as well, solidifying me as a solid Amuro fan from then on!