Maki Ohguro is one of those artists that you never really hear about, and yet left a huge impact on Japanese music in the 90s. Undoubetedly you've heard one of her songs before, even if you don't really remember it. Indeed, she used to be a pretty big thing in the mid-90s with her heavy pop-rock sound. You don't find many people who declare themselves to be Maki's biggest fan, and yet if you see her giving out a free concert (because she can, that's why) you think, "Oh, cool! Free Maki concert? I'm in. Let's go!"
The best way to describe her style is "heavy and loud," and yet she's not hard rock or metal at all. She's squarely in the pop-rock category, but like most of her fellow labelmates of the 90s (which include ZARD and B'z, just to namedrop a couple superstar names) she has that edge to her music that you just can't deny. Her songs are catchy and infectious, even if you don't think about them much.
I like to think of Reina in particular being that kind of Maki fan. She would buy some of her albums and play them as background noise, but she would never fan over her. (Not that she fans over anybody, but I digress.) These days she would definitely have some classic Maki tunes on her cell phone and listen to them during her commute on the train.
Actually, I take some of that back. I could see Reina watching Maki videos on TV and thinking, "Hm, I could go for a style like that." Not that she would ever commit to it.
Below is a video of all of Maki's 90s songs, a perfect sampling for our theme this week!
I consider myself somewhat of an expert on Japanese pop 'n rock (colloquially referred to over there and abroad as "J-pop") and writing an extensive series that takes place through the decades in Japan and NOT expecting me to insert Japanese pop songs into every scene is next to impossible. At the REN'AI RENSAI website I even have a list of recommended listening soundtracks for every major novel. One of my favorite decades of J-pop has to be the 90s. It was what I got into first back in 2003, and now it remains incredibly nostalgic (or as they say in Japan, natsukashii.)
This week as we lead up to the release of "JOSHOKU." on Friday, I want to stop and listen to some tracks by artists that definitely influenced the 90s culture described in the book. These are artists and songs being played in the backgrounds of scenes - the CDs constantly falling off Reina and Aiko's shelves when they need some, er, mood music.
Our first artist of the week is hitomi, a 90s pop idol who made her debut in 1994 with the Tetsuya Komuro (he is kind of a big deal people) written and produced track "Let's Play Winter." hitomi started her career as a model before quickly hitting superstardom in the 90s with her slickly produced dance tracks and heavy mid-tempo songs. She has a very unique voice even by J-pop standards, but it's absolutely infectious, just like her songwriting abilities and her tracks as she has matured through the years. (Yup, she's celebrating her 20th anniversary in the industry this year!)
I picked hitomi first for two reasons. 1) There is a new character in "JOSHOKU." named hitomi, and that's pretty funny. 2) I could see her first album getting a lot of spins in Aiko's room. Aiko really loves flashy, pretty, and charming female pop singers, and hitomi just jumps into my head as "the it girl" that Aiko would fawn over for a good 2-3 years.
Below is hitomi's third and arguably most popular single "CANDY GIRL." I want you to imagine Aiko humming this to herself as she washes dishes today. Yes, today. Somewhere in RR land Aiko is washing some damned dishes and she is humming and singing "CANDY GIRL" and probably driving Reina nuts. Bless them both.
I dare you to listen to this and not get it stuck in your head for a day too!
I speak from way too much experience when I say that finding lesbian representation in Japan is like looking for lesbian representation on the moon. Finding lesbian music artists is even more impossible. That's why you pretty much take what you can get and just run with it.
Nanase Aikawa is one of those artists you take with glee.
A superstar in the late '90s, Nanase has always had a bad girl image and was one of the pioneers of women doing popular rock music in Japan. (As opposed to bands or being on the fringes of popularity.) Her unique voice, style, and attitude really tore apart the music scene for a good few years. Needless to say, a badass like that (it's not known if it's true or not, but it's said that she used to be in a gang in high school) is going to attract the attention of women and girls looking for someone shirking conformity as well. One of those groups is lesbians. Nanase has always had a large lesbian fanbase in Japan, so it was no surprise that when a survey asked a lesbian base a few years ago, "What Japanese female celebrity do you most want to sleep with?" Nanase Aikawa came out on top. Nanase, who broke hearts over a decade ago by having a shotgun marriage with a man (whom she is still married to, and has a total of three sons with) took it with great humor.
In fact, she pretty much ran away with the idea of being a lesbian idol.
Back in ye olde 2010 (which is Jesus times according to the Internet) Nanase started up a side project called "Rockstar Steady," with songs and an image playing on lesbian themes. Most of the songs (almost all of which are in English) talk about problems with girlfriends, being fed up with men, the usual stuff. The main attraction of Rockstar Steady is Nanase's slick butchy image and rocking attitude. She's always leaned toward rock, but she goes all out for Rockstar Steady.
Check out the video for "Fine Fine Day" below, one of the hottest videos she's ever done - she even makes out with an Italian model for a few seconds. Yay!
And here's a blast from the '90s and one of the greatest J-pop songs ever created. Oh, and see what Japanese lesbians fell in love with. ;)
Last time I mentioned that the biggest lesbian representation in Asia seems to come from the Chinese related nations.However, the artist I featured then was not a known lesbian. This week is different. Denise Ho, one of the biggest musical celebrities in Cantopop (Hong Kong) is not only the first out lesbian celebrity in Hong Kong but also one of the most famous in Asia.
Denise Ho has been in the business for almost 20 years now. She got her start by winning the New Talent Singing Awards which led her to being mentored by her idol Anita Mui. She's often described as the second coming of Mui. Denise's music focuses on dark themes, from mental illness to the negative facets of being gay. (One of her earliest songs, "Rosemary," caused quite the stir in Hong Kong by being about a lesbian relationship.) Her music videos are often artistic and surreal.
In 2012 she officially came out as a lesbian at Hong Kong Pride. Until then she was often rumored to be dating fellow Cantopop superstar Joey Yung, although officially they've only been known as friends. (Yung is currently dating a man and has never insinuated any other orientation.)
Below is her popular ballad entitled "Infatuated," highlighting her rich voice.
And here is her more uplifting song, "Initiate," the theme song to a film. (She's also an acclaimed actress, by the way.)
When it comes to lesbian music in Asia, China and its territories such as Taiwan and Hong Kong seem to be the greatest places to find it. At the very least, C-pop artists are more open about lesbian themes than their K-pop and J-pop counterparts. Why this is, I can only speculate, and would be taking us completely off track! (ba dum tsch.)
One of C-pop's greatest darlings out of Taiwan is the dual singer and actress Rainie Yang. While she is not "out" as anyone but herself, Rainie has starred in a fair share of lesbian themed movies (such as the critically acclaimed "Spider Lillies" - which I will review soon) and written music for correlating projects. Her latest album, "Wishing For Happiness," features a music video and mini-drama of the same name. In the drama (which is about a half hour long) Rainie is proposed to by her current boyfriend, but it's quickly revealed that she used to have a girlfriend - well, more than one! It's a short drama so the plot is rather glossed over, but the acting is great and the candidness with which the lesbian relationships are treated with is refreshing in a world hung up on gay angst and traumatic endings. For a quick, hopeful pick-me-up, I recommend Rainie Yang's "Wishing For Happiness" mini-drama. The song is fantastic as well.
Below is the music video, which highlights the drama.
And below is Part 1 of the full drama, with English subtitles. Parts 2 and 3 can be found on Dailymotion.
Almost everyone knows about Japanese anime - you know, that East Asian medium that has been blasting through the West's youth for the past few decades. You've probably also heard your share of Japanese pop and rock, including the visual kei that depicts heavy rocking men in long hair, heavy make-up, and sometimes Victorian dresses. You may have even seen a Japanese movie or drama, even if you didn't know it at the time.
And let's not forget the traditional Japanese mediums like kabuki, (which is all male, even in the female roles) and bunraku, the puppet theater. What most people who aren't lesbians obsessed with Japan haven't heard of is the world of all-female musical, takarazuka.
Takarazuka has a long, long history when compared to some other modern Japanese arts. It was established in the early twentieth century by a railroad company to entice tourism to the central Japanese city Takarazuka. The idea was to hire all women to perform both female and male roles, in both classical and modern musicals, as an opposing hook to the all-male kabuki. Over the decades takarazuka musicals because so popular that the original troupe (called Flower) was gradually split into four other troupes: Moon, Snow, Star, and Cosmos, in that order. (There's also the Supreme Troupe, featuring older actresses who have yet to retire.) Each troupe has their own general niche and "top stars" that attract fans for generations.
Besides indulging in the over-dramatic, crazy singing and dancing skills, and shooting glitter at everyone, takarazuka's main appeal is the "otokoyaku", or the "male" performers. Actresses (commonly called siennes) are split into either the otokoyaku or musumeyaku (female) groups early on in their training. Women in the otokoyaku group are instructed to act as manly as possible both in their professional and personal lives. Over the decades this has meant the otokoyaku have become the driving force behind takarazuka, as they offer a gendered escape from reality for both oppressed housewives and dirty-minded lesbians. (Darn, right?)
That said, the bulk of takarazuka's fans are women: specifically, middle-aged women. It's becoming more popular with younger women (particularly outside of Japan, thanks to the Internet) but the bread and butter of the business is still with the average everyday housewife. Many experts have tried to understand this phenomenon, but it mostly comes down to gender liberation and, well, come on. It's hot androgynous women strutting around being fabulous. Do I really need to spell this shit out? I didn't think so.
I've been a casual fan for many years, but it's only in the past year I got to the point where I was finally learning names and caring beyond "lol they're hot." When creating the Ren'Ai Rensai series, I knew I wouldn't be able to get past two novels without creating a full blown subplot involving these salacious musicals. Finally, "KATAOMOI." introduces a takarazuka-related subplot focusing on 90's zuka. (You better memorize the name Miki Maya right now.) It was a blast to write, and I'm kinda sad it's over. But I can't force Aiko to be obsessed forever. Well, I could, but it would be pretty obvious.
I will now round off this post with a clip featuring, arguably, the biggest otokoyaku and musumeyaku actresses in recent takarazuka history: Yuu Todoroki and Mari Hanafusa, respectively.
With the release of "KATAOMOI." only three days away, it's time to jump into a post about one of my favorite things related to it - Japanese media! 1997 was a great year for Japanese media. In fact, it was a part of the great music and movie "boom," when records were broken to new astronomical heights. Some records were so crazy that the odds of them ever being broken now are slim to none, granted the great decline of Japanese physical record sales.
Music
Perhaps the biggest news for J-pop in 1997 was that of superstar idol Namie Amuro smashing the record for most copies sold by a female solo artist for a single. Her classic "Can You Celebrate?" (written and produced by Tetsuya Komuro, who pretty much dominated music in the 90s) sold a whopping 2.3 MILLION copies in Japan alone. A record that hasn't even come close to being broken by another female solo artist.
Anime
The 90s were a golden era for many anime fans around the world. One of the most (relevant to our stories here, anyway) famous shows to come out in 1997 was Revolutionary Girl Utena, a cult classic that on the surface is about surreal sword fights and roses, but deep down is more about gender roles, existentialism, and lots and lots of phallic imagery.
Oh, and Pokemon came out that year too.
Movies/Drama
Although 90s dramas from Japan are probably not as well known as their anime counterparts, 1997 was still a monumental year for the format. One of the biggest dramas that year was "Love Generation", a romance starring superstar Takuya Kimura. The drama touched on Japanese business culture, social conformity, and, of course, love triangles. The drama enjoyed very high ratings of 30% and was the first winner of the Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix.
Video Games
1997 was the year of the Nintendo 64 in Japan. Franchises such as Mario, StarFox, and Zelda all got huge reboots that put them on the 3D map for generations to come. While it's difficult to say what's a "1997 game" due to release lags, one of the most beloved games to make it's mark in 1997 was MarioKart 64. An ultimate party game, MarioKart could have been played by even the most casual of gamers. And probably was. MarioKart has always been a video game staple in parties in Japan!
You know, watching all these clips is making me think 1997 was a pretty awesome year.
As both a queer woman and a die-hard music lover, I'm always looking for great music that primarily features lesbian band members. While twin group Tegan and Sara are probably the most famous, my favorites have always been Uh Huh Her. Comprised of Leisha Hailey (who played Alice from The L Word) and girlfriend Camila Grey, Uh Huh Her are an indie band with great, trance-like vocals and a terrific fusion of electro and acoustic sensibilities. Like most groups, their lyrics center around love's angsts and pleasures, but what makes them stand out is that you know they're talking about other women. While it's fun to re-imagine lyrics from other bands with a gay twist, with Uh Huh Her it's a surety!
Currently they have two full-length albums and three EPs - not band for a band that's only been around for six years now. (Well, not bad for a Western band. ;) ) I once almost had the chance to see them live a couple of years ago, but that didn't pan out. Well, maybe someday!
You may have also heard of them about a year or so ago when they were embroiled in a minor scandal with Southwestern Airlines. According to the ladies of UHH, they were sharing a kiss on board when they were asked to stop. Needless to say, did not bode well with the general gay community.
But, as I said before, UHH is one of my favorite bands ever. Their hypnotic music is great for writing, reading, working, chill out, everything! Doesn't hurt their voices are ethereal as well. :) If you've made it this far you've probably checked them out already, but if you haven't, do it! They need more support!
Changing up the promotions a little bit. Originally I intended to post the first preview of "DAISUKI." today, but it's not quite ready yet. So, instead, have the song I consider to be the "theme song" of the story, a lovely mid-tempo ballad called "I Love You" (get it?) by Miwako Okuda. I don't even have to post a translation, because it's in the video! So ha!
Remember you can still sign up for the DAISUKI blog tour happening in October!
It just wouldn't be a HW without me posting something about Japan, eh. Well, if you haven't noticed by now, I tend to blab on and on about my other love outside of writing, which is Japanese pop music (or, J-pop). This week's artist is one of the best (as always!) and a huge name that's been around for about three decades now. Namie Amuro is one of the innovators of "hip-pop" music, a fusion of hip-hop and generic pop music. Her super cool attitude and famous long-hair femme chic look are legendary in Japan and the rest of Asia. Her best songs range from 90's dance hits to her hip-pop flavor of the day.
Included in all these hubs is a review of her most recent album that dropped last week, Uncontrolled. Below is a teaser video of the entire dang album!
Yes, one of. She's gonna be pretty high up there. Trust me, I know a thing or two about great Asian singers.
Akina Nakamori is one of THE women from the Golden Ages of J-pop, also known as the 1980s. Her deep and sultry voice outranked her peers' vocals, and while they all did the "girl next door" song and dance, Akina was showing a more striking image that would later be called a "vamp" image.
Akina was one of the very first "oldies" artists I started listening to, and she was basically my gateway drug into the whole subgenre. She's released over 20 original albums, over 20 best albums and collections, and numerous amazing cover albums. I implore all my readers to check her out below because she's just, well, amazing. You don't need to know Japanese to appreciate a woman of this caliber.
As for the hubs I've written about her, I recommend starting with Akina Nakamori: The Vamp of Classic J-pop. You can then hop on over and start exploring her extensive discography. I also have plans on writing up an article about her best songs and albums, but for now, I recommend checking out the videos below!
This week's theme is on Kumi Koda, a highly popular J-pop artist who has made her mark as a hyper-sexualized dance machine and ballad crooner. Okay, I love Kumi. She's amazing. But she's not everyone's cup of tea. But if you like dance songs and great ballads, you at least have to click on the video below and give her a try!
Up for grabs are two album reviews of hers: JAPONESQUE and Dejavu. I recommend JAPONESQUE out of the two, but of course you should read both of them. *hint hint*
That's all for this week. Bit of a hurry because there's only 15 minutes left in Wednesday and I have a novel to edit!
It's been over a month since my last Hubpages Wednesday, and in that time I've written five more articles (two of them in the past two days with more on the waythis week!) It's amazing how much work actually gets done when you just sit home all day sick out of your brain. But since five is too much to adequately go over here, I'll break them up into two pieces over these next couple of days.
Part 1 has to do with J-pop. First up there's A Brief History of Japanese Pop Music, a subject I'm pretty well versed in. Second are two Ayumi Hamasaki reviews, the first for her mini-album FIVE and the second for her full-length album Love songs. If you're not sure about them, check out the commercials below!
I'll be back tomorrow with the other two which are a part of the Living in Japan series, and some discussion about my earnings as of late, mostly to do with the latest Google Penguin hit. Ugh.
To celebrate over nine years of me stannin' the crap out of this amazing woman, I bring you Ayumi Hamasaki: The Queen of Japanese Pop Music. Don't let her initial squeaky vocals fool you - not only is she the most successful female singer in the history of Japan, she's also incredibly thoughtful, talented, and omg gorgeous brilliant. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Want some new music? Why not give her a shot?
First, the bones of this post. Back to editing CROSS//Rebirth with the hopes of betaing it by the end of the summer. I got up to about chapter 7/8 last time before Nano hit, so I'm going through them a chapter a night until I hit that. At about 10k a chapter that's a damn good rate. Still editing though. Clipping about 300-500 words per chapter, most of them extraneous stuff.
And now for the other point. Today happens to be March 11th, the first anniversary of the Great Tohoku Earthquake in northern Japan (or, the Tohoku area). This time last year I was sitting in a hotel in Portland waiting to go to the Japanese consulate to pick up my work visa. Just a bit of an odd coincidence. My mother and I were glued to the hotel TV and internet wondering if I would have a job to go to at all, or if I would even be able to.
Then we immediately worried about our own home. We are from Port Orford, the westernmost point in the contiguous 48. We were bound to be smacked by tsunamis the next day. Which we were. About 11 of them. (We were even on CNN the next morning. We sat in the hotel lobby going "omggggg" and watching in horror as...nothing happened. Ha.)
Since last April I've been living here in Gifu Prefecture, which is in central (Chubu) Japan. It was largely unaffected by the earthquake and tsunamis up north, but Japan is a very monolithic culture and what affects one part of Japan is felt all across the country. As a foreigner I will never be able to understand the magnanimity of what happened to Japanese people here. But as I sat and listened to the announcement of a moment of silence at 2:46 today, I thought about all of the people still living in squalor shelters in Fukushima. American media did a bang-up job scaring the whole damn world about radiation, but nobody bats an eyelash here. Our main concern are the survivors still stuck in temporary shelters, many of whom have no privacy, very little space to hold their minute belongings, and no idea of where and how they'll be another year from now. If you have it in your heart and ability to do so, please donate to a cause, such as the Red Cross.
We have had many earthquakes since I've been here, but since I'm from San Andreas Land, it's nothing new to me. But it's changed here. Even the smallest shake has all our parents calling and the media assuring everyone things are fine. But I wish the western media would leave that alone. Please focus on the people who still need help. All the scare mongering helps nobody. (Choir. Preaching to it.)
I'll wrap this post up with a video from a band that made an interesting take on survival in Tohoku. Those not prepared may find a tear in their eyes. (The title translates to "Let's Meet Here Again".)
Two hubs for you this week! And yes, as you can tell from the title, both have to do with Japan - but in totally different ways!
The first one is a mini-travel guide dealing with the JR Yamanote Line: Tokyo's Circular Cruise. The Yamanote Line is one of the world's busiest train lines and takes you on a circular tour of all the hot sights in Tokyo. I photoblogged each and every station on the line. I had a lot of time one day in 2009...considering there are 29 stations...well yeah. Come see what sights and sounds can be found within walking distance at every station!
The second one is super fresh. As a follow up to one of my most popular hubs yet, here's Top 10 J-pop Female Idols of the 70s and 80s (Part 2). It's one of the best times you can have on the internet. Hop into my time machine and blast into the past for some great Japanese pop music!
Once again, only one hub this week because I was super lazy. What can I say, it's that time when a lady like me decides to just collapse every day and die, pretty much.
ANYWAY, on the docket this week is a hub dictating Top 10 Tetsuya Komuro Produced Acts. You know you love your some 90s Japanese pop. You love it so much you want to watch this video.
Also, dedicating this post to Keiko Yamada, who I just discovered had to have brain surgery last October. Her and her husband TK's group "globe" were one of the very first Japanese bands I ever got into, and remain one of my absolute favorites today. Stay strong gurl. <3
Starting from this week, I am hoping to post a mini-promo post on Wednesdays advertising my latest hub. You know how it is, other authors. Gotta keep the cycle of promotion circling!
This week's hub is Music For Every Language (part 1), that seeks to expose readers to languages in music that they may never otherwise check out. I love listening to music from all over the world, in as many languages as possible, so I've starting compiling small lists of good songs and artists that I enjoy listening to. Definitely suggest checking it out so, if nothing else, you can hear some cool languages and maybe get some cool music!
(Also, taking suggestions for other artists and languages!)
Well the NaNoWriMo site has been overhauled, and with it comes the start of a new Nano season! I do love the hype of a new Nano season. It's pretty much summed up in this video (with a very odd still...)
That said, I've got most of my profile set up and am already stalking the always lulzy forums like I do all year already. I mean, I've already seen Dan (yes, you Dan) beating me to the Participants' Blog thread. Darn time zones! (AND OF COURSE IT'S A RACE I mean duh. First page or bust.)
SO. OFFICIAL "Are you doing nano?" post. Well, are you? What's in store for this year?
Most of us writers make small to grand soundtracks for our novels and/or series. This post is not about any overall soundtrack that I have (that will come later!) but instead about the "perfect song" that best sums up one of my entire series.
In short, the theme song.
Now, I have a theme song picked out for every singular installment, but before a couple of months ago I didn't have one for the whole series. That's a very big role to fill and not just any song can capture the essence and emotion of an entire series of anything, book, show, or movie. I didn't think I would find the perfect one for a very long time. Until my queen favorite artist, Japanese pop empress Ayumi Hamasaki, released a a new mini-album this August.
The final track is called BRILLANTE, and I was in absolute love from first listen. It's been a long time since Ayu has put out a song that instantly grabbed my heart from the first few notes and managed to hold onto it for the full six damn minutes. And then one night as I walked home from work this song came on my MP3 player, and I realized why it felt so strong to me - it encapsulates the entire motivation felt through the course of my series CROSS//particularly the final scenes in the final book. The climatic scene of the entire series came to me while listening to this song. And it was perfect.
The best way I can describe the meaning of this song is to say "I must go on alone". The narrator (well, Ayu) is pained by the idea of separation from the person who always stood by her, but truly believes that going on "the narrowing road" by herself is the only way things can end up. This is exactly what is going through a character's mind at the end of my current series. The character does not want to abandon the person they love more than their own life itself, but for the good of the universe the character believes without a doubt that things can only be fixed by acting alone, even down to the detail of not telling their beloved why. In short, the road to saving the universe is narrowing, and one character believes that it can only be walked upon alone, with pain.
I have done my own translation of these lyrics. Now, if you're coming here from a google search looking for a translation of this song, here's some notes: I initially translate songs aiming to be as literal to the original meaning as possible (adjusting for symbolism, obviously). I then go back and reword some phrases so they sound more fluid in English and the meaning is easier to grasp. Finally, I adjust the syllables so they can be sung to the original composition if you so desire. And yeah, I test that last part. The feelings behind these lyrics are explained above.
Thinking of you with this composition
I did the last thing there was to do
The greatest gift I can give is
Not telling you the reason for it
Humans are stronger than I thought
I’ve been in darkness a little too long but
Steadily I go
I couldn’t see anything
And then I could see everything
The continuing road is too narrow
I have no choice but to walk on alone
When humans feel pain that
Exceeds the scope of imagination
They cry and they shout until
There is no more power left to do so
And nothing but emptiness strikes them
What was two became one again*
That’s all it was
They were simply going back to how they were before
I couldn’t see anything
And then I could see everything
The continuing road is too narrow
I can no longer walk on together with you**
*This does not imply the happy feeling of two people becoming "one" in love. It heavily implies a couple separating and each individual going back to their original life.
**Again, this isn't about being empowered and saying "lol bai". The narrator is extremely pained to be separating without giving a reason, as he/she believes they must continue on their path alone. It's implied that if it weren't for what the narrator has to do, he/she would stay with the person these lyrics are directed towards.
Finally, I give you the song itself in its music video format so you can hear it and see it in the context that Ayu presents. The video is slightly NSFW as there's lots of mostly naked men, although it's not pornographic (darn). It's also a little cliche but you know~ Wonder Woman is always relevant~
