Michiko Ota Official English Blog

I am now living in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Prescott Valley is about 2 to 3 hours north of Phoenix.

We are at a higher elevation (5000 feet/1525m) so it is cooler than Phoenix.

The air is clean and people here are very friendly.

I am happy to be up here.

It may still be temporary as there are some more potential changes in my life.

It is a never ending story.







Before I left Tempe, I did have some fun on Halloween. I was a sweet lolita.

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If you compare with music from the West (US/Europe/etc), I find that Japan/Korea definitely has more of an edge. For the past 10+ years, I have been programming Japanese pop music and anison for Internet radio. Because of having so much focus on the Japanese aspect of Asian pop music, I have no had much exposure to Korean language pop music.

I really think that Japanese people are getting fed up with idol groups because THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM. Back in the Mari Yaguchi days, I loved Morning Musume (and Minimoni.. shh, don't tell anyone..). Ever since the release of "Kimagure Princess" (complete with the CD cover art with missing body parts), I really lost interest in Momusu and virtually anything Up Front puts out. I am still a big fan of AKB48 and while AKB48 itself is putting their shelf life to the test, I love the sub-units, especially Watari Roka Hashiri Tai.

Where it comes to the Korean invasion, I am very impressed with BIGBANG and 4minute. I think 4minute's two recent Japanese releases are much more edgy than their Japanese counterparts.

Why are they so popular?, because they are different. But this brings on the question, is Japan ready to scrap the ruffles and seifuku for the more "western" look coming out of Korea? With the trends in music visual presentation that are usually spawned from the influence of television (especially anime) and street fashion, are Japanese girls ready to scrap super-cute for super-slut? Could this just be a passing fad that will wither away after the airing of the 61st Kohaku Uta-gassen?

Japan's music and fashion is just that, Japan's. It's an art form that must be preserved and improved upon by Japanese influence.

This was originally posted as a reply to a Facebook post made by TokyoFashion.com

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This week, J1 will add the new single by HALCALI. The song is "Roman Hikou" (浪漫飛行) (Romantic Flight).

This is a cover of the song performed by Psycho le Cemu in 2003.

Here's the original version by Psycho le Cemu:



and the cover version by Halcali:



I will be honest, I like them both. I like the Psycho le Cemu version because it sounds very 1980's. I like the HALCALI version because.. well.. it's HALCALI. How can you not like a HALCALI song.

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