Totoro & May. This is a famous scene from "My Neibor Totoro." Totoro is appearing later.
Well, have you ever listened to "WOMAN 2"?
It's a compilation album released by a Japanese music company many years ago.
I listened to the album just now after a long time. Though many CD shops located in Japan don't sell it anymore, I guess it's still available online like on Amazon or something, but I'm not sure we can play it in other countries except here in Japan. I don't know why, but I find some were released by Sony Music Japan while others were by Universal Music Japan.
I felt like listening to Meja's "How Crazy Are You?" the other day, and I told my honey so.
I came to know the song when I listened to "WOMAN 2" for the first time many many years ago ... I guess I was 12 years old or so at the time. To tell you the truth, this album made me like listening to English songs as well as foreign songs.
"WOMAN 2" is one of the combpilation albums of "WOMAN" series, and the series has released more than 10 albums like that so far, I guess. I used to listen to "WOMAN," "WOMAN 2," "WOMAN 4" and "WOMAN 6" when I was younger. I got two of them, the 2 and the 4, but I threw them away when I got older ... I shoudn't have thrown 'em away.
Well, my sis gave me "WOMAN 2" and I came to like foreign music and so-called compilation albums, and I asked my father to get "WOMAN 4" later. I don't remember when and why, but I threw away both of them after I turned 20 years old or more, I guess, because I didn't want to remember I was studying very hard many things including English when I was much younger because I believed it'd change my life and take me to a better place, only to realize I didn't feel I fit in anywhere. I was tired of my life, living in Japan, and myself, I think. Well, so, now I'm listening to CD-ROMs of the albums.
My sister ... she's difficult, sometimes ... You know what? She was angry with me after I called her children "twins," because she insists each has each own name and I should call their names, not just "twins." You know what? Once my sister was mistaken about my name's kanji characters ... maybe more than 10 years in her life. My name is Chiemi, and the kanji characters are 智栄美, but my sis thought the "e" of my name used another kanji character which can be read the same "e".
2 discs consist of "WOMAN 2," "WOMAN," "WOMAN 4" and "WOMAN 6," so each album includes a lot of songs. They include catchy and popular songs as well as old but famous songs, and I found these compilation albums tell us good songs or artists unfamilar to some, even though I can't check all artists' albums,
The title of the previous blog post is "Lovin' You," which is the title of the famous song by Minnie Riperton. I always listen to the song thinking of my hon.
This time, it's "Eternal Flame." 
"WOMAN 2" has "Lovin' You", too, though it's not the original one but its cover version. Its Disc 2 has "Lovin' You" while the Disc 1 includes "How Crazy Are You?"
These are my favorite songs from "WOMAN 2," "WOMAN 4," "WOMAN 6," and "WOMAN." In many cases, I like their tunes or melodies but not their lyrics while some are really to my taste, I mean I like both tunes and lyrics. I've not added all my favorites. There are more. Well, just listen to the album and find your own favorites.
From "WOMAN 2".
Track. 3
Some songs of Des'ree are famous in Japan, too, and this is one of them. WOMAN's Disc 2 has her "Feel So High" and WOMAN 4's Disc 2 "I'm Killing You," which is played in the movie "Romeo & Juliet." I'm sure many Japanese people have listened to her "Life" as well as "You Gotta Be."
Track. 15
This is the theme song of "Rundaway Bride," whose Japanese title is "プリティ・ブライド", or "Pretty Bride" in English. I haven't seen the movie, though. I wanna. The audio video with lyrics above is not an official one.
Track 18 (the last song of the Disc 1 of "WOMAN 2")
Early "WOMAN" series always have Sheryl Crow songs, like the Disc 1 of WOMAN 4 includes "Soak Up The Sun" as it appears later, WOMAN's Disc 1 "If It Makes Me Happy," and WOMAN 6's Disc 2 "The First Cut Is The Deepest." I used to listen to "Everyday Is A Winding Road" after I first listented to the compilation album "WOMAN 2" and came to like foreign music. Well, I didn't understand the lyrics then.
Well, I'll update this blog post again later. I'll add more music videos though some of them are not official ones.
I wanted to correct some spelling mistakes by using Ameba's smartphone app, but somehow I couldn't because not all the sentences I'd typed in by my computer were on the app's edition page. It happens sometimes.
Anyway ...
☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ
From "WOMAN 4."
.
Disc 1;
Track. 2 "Soak Up The Sun"
I used to feel like listening to the song on the day when it was sunny and the blue sky was beautiful.
Track. 7 "Dream Lover" by Mariah Carey.
Mariah Carey is very famous in Japan, too. She's especially famous for her Christmas song, "All I Want For Christmas Is You," you know. I like another version of this Christmas song included on Justin Biber's Christmas Album, "Under The Mistletoe."
Track. 8 "Sugarhigh" by Jade Anderson
Jade Anderson's another song "Sweet Memories" is good, though it's not been included on WOMAN series so far, I guess. "In The Morning" series and "What's Up" one are also my favorite compilation album series, and the 2nd album of the former one includes the song.
Disc 2;
Track. 3 "To Love You More" by Celine Dion.
Celine Dion's ballad songs are popular here in Japan, too. Say, the theme song of "Titanic," "My Heart Will Go On."You know what? I really liked the movie, and I still have the DVD and two kinds of the Titanic's soundtrack.
Also, "Beatuy & the Beast" and "How Does A Moment Last Forever" from the famous disney movie "Beauty & the Beast." It's originally an animated film but its live-action one was released last year here in Japan, The main theme song of both films are the same, yeah, "Beauty & the Beast," but "How Does It Last Forever" is the ending song and the original of the live action one. I love these songs.
Woman series often include Celine Dion's songs as well as Sheryl Crow's and Jennifer Lopez's. Her "My Heart Will Go On" is included on WOMAN 6's Disc 2, of course, and "Where's My Heart Beat Now" is on WOMAN's Disc 2. I personaly like her "A World To Believe In," too.
☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ
From "WOMAN 6".
Track.1 "Naughty Girl" by Beyonce.
I'm not sure if it's true, but I've heard before Beyonce doesn't like Japan because Japanese people didn't respond well when she performed in Japan and that she stopped her live performance. I like especially "Listen" and "Irreplaceble" among Beyonce's songs, though I don't like the lyrics. Well, "Listen" is one of the songs she sang in the movie "Dream Girl." She played a main character. I have both DVD and the soundtrack of the movie though I haven't seen it for many years.
Track. 2 "All I Have" by Jennifer Lopez ft.
The Disc 1 of WOMAN 2 also has Jennifer Lopez song, "Waiting For Tonight," WOMAN's Disc 1 has "If You Had My Love," and WOMAN 4's Disc 1 has another. You know, Jennifer Lopez's an actor as well as a singer, and "I'm Coming" which will appear later in this blog post, is an ending song of the film "Maid In Manhattan," in which she plays a main character.
Track. 6 "Powerless (Say What You Want)" by Nelly Furtado.
I used to listen to this song ... I listened to it almost every day. I really like the tune. Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like A Bird" is also my favorite, though I like "Powerless (Say What You Want)" much better. I remember some female figure skater skated to the song maybe for exhitibition a few years ago ... I saw it on You- Tube, I guess.
Track. 8
Christina Milian is one of my favorite artists. The Disc 1 of WOMAN 4 includes her "When You Look At Me." I think you've listened to "Dip It Low." It's an Asian-themed song and was very popular. According to the Wikipedia written in English, she suited the co-writer and producer of the song for some reason. Sorry about that.
Anyway, I have her album "It's About Time," which was released in 2 versions in Japan, and I got both. I bought their CD＋DVD versions, and one of two has the music video of "AM to PM," which is so cool. I added its music video though it's not an official one. I like this song and its dance, too. The remix part of the dance is especially cool. I think she's a good dancer.
Also, from her album "It's About Time," I like "Down For You" and "Someday One day," too. The audio video above and the previous music video of "AM to PM" are not official ones. It seems the 1st verstion of the album released in Japan includes the former song while the 2nd one doesn't. Just in case, the right album in the photo above is the 1st ver. of "It's About Time." I like both versions, but I think the 2nd ver. should have "Down For You," too. Also, both should include "AM to PM" on CDs.
Track. 16
Oh, here it is. The original song of "I'm Coming Out" is sung by Diana Ross. A singer called Amerie covered the song and this ver. is played on "Maid In Manhattan." I first watched the movie on TV while staying in Seattle, America, not in Manhattan, haha, and after I came back to Japan, I got the DVD. It's said some LGBT people think Diana Ross's "I'm Coming Out" is an anthem for themselves.
☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ
From "WOMAN."
Trak. 5
Her another song "You're Still The One" is included on "WOMAN 2."Actually, I used to listen to her albums such as "Come On Over," "Up!" and "The Greatest Hits, "These title songs are also my favorites, I mean "COME ON OVER" and "Up!" Both are not just titles but songs themselves.
The album "Up!" has 2 Discs, Red and Blue, so the song "Up!" has 2 versions in accordance with it, and you can check both on You-tube; Red and Green versions. I don't know why it's titeled "green"version on her official You-tube channel, not blue. I still have her albums including it, so I checked the colors of the discs, and they are red and blue.
See? I'd say it's like a traffic light in Japan. Japanese people call traffic lights meaning go "blue." However, the traffic lights are exactly green. I hear "green", red and yellow are standard colors for traffic lights in many other countries while Japanese ones are "blue," red and yellow, even though blue one is actually green.
Anyway, well, my sis still has the album "Come On Over," I guess. She lent me the album after she gave me "WOMAN 2," and I came to like Shania Twin's music. I got her other albums later, "Up!" and "The Greatest Hits".
I did get into R & B many years later, but I didn't throw away her albums. Anyway, though I don't like Taylor Swift's country music that much (I prefer her pop music and I have her "1989" DXL version), I do like Shania Twain's. I read somewhere before Taylor was inspired by Shania's country music and she decided to become a country music artist.
Track. 11 "Sunshine" by Gabrielle.
Many people don't know the artist, and me either, but I like this song.
Track. 13 "All 'Bout The Money" by Meja.
She's the same artist that sings "How Crazy Are You?" and "Rainbow." "Rainbow" is included on WOMAN 4's Disc 1.
Well, many years ago, my sister lent me Meja's cover album "Animeja; Ghibli Songs." It's really good, actually. She sings famous Ghibli songs mainly in English, but one song from "Whisoer of the Heart"is covered in Japanese. Actually, the song is derived from a famous song "Take Me Home Country Roads," and Olivia Newton John's cover version plays at the bigining of the movie. Japanese people and Ghibli fans as well as Meja fans should listen to the album.
Totoro Totoro It's not an offical music video, though.
Oh, Ghibli ...Studio Ghibli is their official name. It's a Japanese animation company and has released a lot of great anime films, many of which are popular in other countries as well. Many Japanese people just call it "Ghibli." I'll write about Ghibli and their great music sometime.
"My Neibor Totoro," or "となりのトトロ." (Tonari No Totoro.) It marks 30th anniversary this year. Congratulations. 
My mom and sis told me before that I watched Totoro every day when I was one or two years old (Laser discs in those days), and I learned by heart many of the lines around three years old. So that's why my sis sometimes gave me Totoro's goods for my birthday even though I grew up. I found the same mug I have at a Ghibli goods shop. The number of 10 is printed on mine, and there are other numbers' mugs. My sis gave it to me many years ago because my birthday is March "10." She also gave me Gigi's goods sometimes.
Gigi is a black cat appearing in another Ghibli movie, "Kiki's Delivery Service." Now that she has two children, she gives lots of Totoro's and Gigi's items for them, and she always has to get two. So do I, haha. Now I'm wondering what I should buy for their birthday presents. They'll become 2 years old next month. One of them call Totoro "Toto." So funny.
From "Kiki's Delivery Service," "魔女の宅急便"（Majyo No Takkyu Bin） in Japanese.
These photos were taken at "Donguri Republic," or "どんぐり共和国." "Donguri Republic" is a Ghibli good shop. It has some locations,and one of them is located in Tokyo Sky Tree. Of course, I asked staff members if it was okay to take photos there. I remember we are not allowed to take photos in many places of the Ghibli Museum, though I went there many years ago. Well, "Donguri Republic" has its online shop as well. Their items are so cute.
Ghibli's songs are really good. They are like Disney songs. I mean, both are mainly for animation films (Ghibli hasn't released live-action movies, I guess), but their music and songs are great by themselves, you know what I mean.
Go back to the original topic ...
Track. 14 "Serching My Soul" by Vonda Shepard.
To tell the truth, I didn't like or dislike the song when I used to listen to WOMAN series, I find the lyrics are nice and powerful. It's said the song was a theme song of American drama series, "Ally My Love", though I haven't seen it.
Disc 2 of "WOMAN.."
Track. 2 "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles.
I used to listen to Atomic Kitten's albums, and I first listened to "Eternal Flame" when listening to their albums. I didn't know at the time.it's a cover song and that I'd listened to the original one many many years before. I just found their another good song "The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)" is also a cover song. I didn't know that.
Atomic Kitten's "Eternal Flame" is also good, but I really like their original songs like this;
Track.8 "I Love Your Smile" by Shanice.
Well, I find I added another song of the artist. Here's the right one. I'm sure you've heard the song before.
"WOMAN" series do have much more songs. I can't name all of my favorite songs because there are so many. Check out these compilation albums and find your own favorites.