Living in Japan isn't all about games. Just mostly 
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.Something About Japan - Hikaru Utada, Siren of Song
I've been a very casual JPop fan for a few years now, enjoying the catchy tunes, and also getting some much needed listening practice for my Japanese studies. However, recently my girlfriend lent me a bunch of CDs from one of her favorite artists, Hikaru Utada.
It might seem strange but I had never heard of Hikaru before even though 3 of her albums are actually in the top 10 best ever selling albums in Japan. This includes her first Japanese album "First Love" at the number one spot. So, with some initial indifference I started to listen to Deep River, her 2002 release. Soon I was captivated by her rich voice, far beyond what I was used to from other JPop female artists. Since then, I've tried all her Japanese releases and have fallen in love, especially with her more recent stuff.
Hikaru has had three English language albums released in the U.S., where she is known as just Utada, although only the most recent two were released under that name. Unfortunately, I haven't listened to any of them but what I do know is that her voice is just as compelling in English as in Japanese. In fact, due to growing up and studying in New York, her English is basically perfect.
Hikaru is not without gamer cred. For starters she worked on the theme songs for the Kingdom Hearts games, including Passion from Kingdom Hearts II (the English version is known as Sanctuary but is still sung by Hikaru).
Secondly, it was Xerxes who pointed out to me that she is a mean Tetris DS player as is proven by the following video.
If you want to sample her music then I recommend checking out iTunes which lists a number of her albums (even in the U.S. iTunes store). Also, you can try these links to Amazon JP (scroll down to the track lists below) for some of my favorite songs, although I think the quality on iTunes is better.
Prisoner of Love / Heart Station (also on Amazon US)
Beautiful World / Heart Station (also on Amazon US)
Tokyo Nights / Deep River
Keep Tryin' / ULTRA BLUE (also on Amazon US)
OK, so what blog post about Hikaru Utada would be complete without some pics of this gorgeous lady. So here we go!
Something about Hikaru with long hair just drives me crazy!
With this cool Sci-Fi look, she could be Faith in the new Mirror's Edge movie. (OK, I don't think there is any such movie in production)
Looking just a little seductive in this pose.
Cool and casual.
So do you have any thoughts on Hikaru? A favorite song? Or another JPop artist you'd like to pimp?
Most of the information for this post came straight from Wikipedia. Thanks a bunch. BTW, I believe Hikaru may currently be single (couldn't find any info to the contrary) so good luck guys!
It might seem strange but I had never heard of Hikaru before even though 3 of her albums are actually in the top 10 best ever selling albums in Japan. This includes her first Japanese album "First Love" at the number one spot. So, with some initial indifference I started to listen to Deep River, her 2002 release. Soon I was captivated by her rich voice, far beyond what I was used to from other JPop female artists. Since then, I've tried all her Japanese releases and have fallen in love, especially with her more recent stuff.
Hikaru has had three English language albums released in the U.S., where she is known as just Utada, although only the most recent two were released under that name. Unfortunately, I haven't listened to any of them but what I do know is that her voice is just as compelling in English as in Japanese. In fact, due to growing up and studying in New York, her English is basically perfect.
Hikaru is not without gamer cred. For starters she worked on the theme songs for the Kingdom Hearts games, including Passion from Kingdom Hearts II (the English version is known as Sanctuary but is still sung by Hikaru).
Secondly, it was Xerxes who pointed out to me that she is a mean Tetris DS player as is proven by the following video.
If you want to sample her music then I recommend checking out iTunes which lists a number of her albums (even in the U.S. iTunes store). Also, you can try these links to Amazon JP (scroll down to the track lists below) for some of my favorite songs, although I think the quality on iTunes is better.
Prisoner of Love / Heart Station (also on Amazon US)
Beautiful World / Heart Station (also on Amazon US)
Tokyo Nights / Deep River
Keep Tryin' / ULTRA BLUE (also on Amazon US)
OK, so what blog post about Hikaru Utada would be complete without some pics of this gorgeous lady. So here we go!
Something about Hikaru with long hair just drives me crazy!
With this cool Sci-Fi look, she could be Faith in the new Mirror's Edge movie. (OK, I don't think there is any such movie in production)
Looking just a little seductive in this pose.
Cool and casual.
So do you have any thoughts on Hikaru? A favorite song? Or another JPop artist you'd like to pimp?
Most of the information for this post came straight from Wikipedia. Thanks a bunch. BTW, I believe Hikaru may currently be single (couldn't find any info to the contrary) so good luck guys!
Total Comments 14
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Wow, I'm in love.... That's pretty much what my dream girl looks like. All the Amazon links pop up as 404 for me. Wonder if they're Japan region restricted.
I like some J-Pop. Mostly what I like is from anime. I like Takako Minekawa, but she's experimental and can be very hit or miss. I'm also a fan of Minmi and Kazami (both of Samurai Champloo fame, and both pretty gals as well  ).Kazami  Minmi |
Posted 04-15-2009 at 09:16 AM by shunoshi
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Hey shunoshi, just to quickly respond. I tried all the links in Firefox 3 (Mac), Safari (Mac), and on my iPod but they seemed to work. What's your browser?
I added Amazon US links for the 2 albums they list, which have samples available (ULTRA BLUE and Heart Station). Thanks for letting me know! |
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Posted 04-15-2009 at 09:31 AM by Chris_D
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Yeah, both FF3 and IE8 give me 404. The US links work though. She sounds pretty good. Here are tracks from the ones I mentioned:
Takako Minekawa Kazami Minmi |
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Posted 04-15-2009 at 09:51 AM by shunoshi
Updated 04-16-2009 at 07:06 AM by Chris_D (Restored shunoshi's post, sorry about that :-() |
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Whoa! Ultra Blue would cost me $64 to import. My mind just asploded....
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Posted 04-15-2009 at 09:53 AM by shunoshi
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What has two thumbs, wants to play Tetris against, and then knock boots with Utada... This guy.
"Hi." Oddly enough that's how I'd imagine our first, second, and third date would go. After that we'd probably watch some movies and stuff. *sigh* ^_^ |
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Posted 04-15-2009 at 04:24 PM by Xerxes
Updated 04-15-2009 at 04:28 PM by Xerxes |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shunoshi
Yeah, both FF3 and IE8 give me 404.
If you want to try and view her stuff on Amazon JP you could try searching from the main page using "宇多田ヒカル" (Utada Hikaru). Quote:
Originally Posted by shunoshi
Whoa! Ultra Blue would cost me $64 to import. My mind just asploded....
. Still, I think Japanese CD prices are pretty ridiculous, so if you want to stay legal and don't mind downloading then you could get them off iTunes (now DRM free, 256kbps ACC). The Australian iTunes stores has her albums at 18 AUD, so I imagine they must be $10-15 on the US store? |
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Posted 04-15-2009 at 05:24 PM by Chris_D
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xerxes
Oddly enough that's how I'd imagine our first, second, and third date would go. After that we'd probably watch some movies and stuff. *sigh* ^_^
)I really loved that song "Simple and Clean" before I even knew it was related to the Kingdom Hearts game. Now I'm thinking I almost have to go and play KH2, despite really disliking Disney (which always put me off trying the KH series before). Also, this is one of those cases where I think the English version is better. It sounds to me like the melody is designed around the English lyrics and then the Japanese version (Hikari) has been made to fit (even though the melody is a little different between the two versions). Btw, Simple and Clean is on the Colors single. |
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Posted 04-15-2009 at 05:34 PM by Chris_D
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Karaoke would be cool. I like to get drunk and dance personally.
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Posted 04-15-2009 at 06:04 PM by Xerxes
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You deleted my post, Chris D.
 I was wondering what was going on. |
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Posted 04-15-2009 at 07:38 PM by shunoshi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shunoshi
You deleted my post, Chris D. I was wondering what was going on.
. I often click the "edit" button by mistake because I think I'm clicking "quote" (which you can't actually do in the blog comments for some reason). So I think I'm replying to your post but actually I'm editing it!Anyway, I realised pretty quickly that I had screwed up and I tried to restore your post before I went to work. Must have clicked preview instead of update though. Hopefully it should be OK now! I want to comment on those videos later too . |
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Posted 04-16-2009 at 07:10 AM by Chris_D
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Yay, it's back! I was hoping I wouldn't have to dig up videos again.
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Posted 04-16-2009 at 08:01 AM by shunoshi
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Wow Takako has a bit of a hair fixation huh. Pretty catchy. Is it a song about hair styling?
Kazami, you-himawari, prob. my fav of the three. Nice and soothing  .Minmi (Samurai Champloo) - nice melody. I actually watched maybe 1-2 episodes of that back in the day but the main characters seemed too morally vacuous so I quit. |
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Posted 04-17-2009 at 06:15 AM by Chris_D
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Yeah, the morally vacuous characters are done that way on purpose. As the show progresses they begin to rely on one another. It's a very good series, you should give it another shot.
That was one of Takako's "normal" sounding songs. She does some seriously experimental music. That Kazami song is also on the Samurai Champloo soundtrack. The only difference is that this one is wholly Japanese. The soundtrack version is partial English. Minmi has more of a hip hop sound to her music if you check out the other things she has done. I'm normally not one to listen to pop music, but something about the female Japanese voice draws me to it. Not understanding the language probably helps as well since most American pop lyrics are garbage. |
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Posted 04-17-2009 at 07:02 AM by shunoshi
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I have to second shunoshi's Samurai Champloo love. It is a great series. Give it a few more episodes and see what you think.
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Posted 04-17-2009 at 11:20 AM by Kielaran
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