From the category archives:

JPop

Biyuuden

by Lainay on August 31, 2005 · 25 comments ·

Rika Ishikawa
Birthday: January 19th, 1985
Birthplace: Kanagawa
Blood type: A

Erika Miyoshi
Birthday: November 8th, 1984
Birthplace: Hokkaido
Blood type: B

Yui Okada
Birthday: December 28th, 1987
Birthplace: Osaka
Blood type: A

I’d like to share with you a semi-new group in the Hello! Project: Biyuuden. Biyuuden is made up of 3 girls: Rika Ishikawa, Erika Miyoshi, and Yui Okada. Rika is a former Morning Musume member, while Erika was chosen in a 2003 Hello! Project audition, and Yui was one of the many girls that advanced in the Hello! Project “Egg” Audition.

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Namie Amuro

by Spyro on August 31, 2005 · 31 comments ·

Namie Amuro (安室奈美恵) was born at Naha, Okinawa prefecture, on 20th of September 1977. Her parents divorced while she was only a toddler, leaving her mother responsible for bringing up Namie and her 3 siblings all alone. The low funds of the family didn’t prevent Namie from chasing her dreams to be a star. She was attending Okinawa Actors School successfully, despite her having to walk everyday for 2 hours to go and return from the school – her family couldn’t afford public transportation.

At her fifteen, she formed a girl group with some classmates of hers, called “SUPER MONKEY’S”, under TOSHIBA EMI label. At first, their sales were pretty decent but after the 5th single “TRY ME ~私を信じて~” (01/25/1995), the group started having proper recognition at the charts, getting into the top 10 and being invited at 紅白歌合戦 (Kouhaku Uta Gassen), a big annual music show. During that period, the group had already moved in Tokyo and changed its name to “Namie Amuro with SUPER MONKEY’S” with Namie taking the upper hand and the lead role of the group. The two following singles made big success as well, resulting to Avex, through the superstars’ producer Tetsuya Komuro, noticing the band, offering a solo career contract for Namie. The rest of the members regrouped with the name Musical Active eXperience or, simply, MAX.

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Where’s My Love

by Rinoa on August 31, 2005 · 4 comments ·

Caroline Lufkin

Name: Caroline Lufkin
Birthplace: Okinawa
Residence: Los Angeles

I’m sure quite a few of you have heard of Olivia Lufkin, a singer from Avex Trax. Olivia Lufkin is half Japanese and half American and has sung in a variety of styles ranging from rock to ethereal pop and alternative.

Caroline Lufkin is Olivia’s sister who currently resides in the United States and is working on releasing her first release with the company Temporary Residence Limited. Caroline moved around a lot when she was younger since her father was formerly a Marine, though was originally from Okinawa. She graduated from Berklee School of Music in Boston in 2003. Caroline writes her own material, and has a voice not unlike that of Björk. Caroline’s voice has also featured on several advertisments in the Japanese market.

“Where’s My Love” is planned to be her debut single. Produced by Sweden-born Andreas Bjorck, this track is a very soothing and has this unearthly feel to it. The song itself is rather captivating and ethereal especially with the addition of her soft voice. The background music gives you memories of those music boxes and wind chimes. One can also notice how her voice is quite similar to her sister’s, apart from sounding more delicate and less powerful. In this track I believe that Caroline has proved herself as excellent in her fragile vocal abilities as her sister as she subtly controls her singing to express the sorrow and longing in the verse. The result is a composition that swells with novelty and charm.

It has come to my attention that her debut will be on October 25th, according to her MySpace entry.

Where's My Love cover

Where’s My Love
Where’s My Love (Magical Mix)
Time Swells

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Tokyo

by Jason on August 25, 2005 · 4 comments ·

Masaharu Fukuyama
Birthday: 6th February 1969
Hometown: Nagasaki
Height: 180cm
Blood type: O
Fukuyama Official Site

Fukuyama san’s 20th single Tokyo was released at 17 August 2005. I think Fukuyama san is one of the great male singers in Japan, mainly because he has a soft and gorgeous vocal (just like Kuwata Keisuke). He is definately not such of singer who can sing rock or rap, that’s why most of his songs are soft and slow. You will feel great and comfortable when you listen to his songs. I remember the first song i heard from Fukuyama san was Sakuraban which released on 26th April 2000. I saw him from tv music station, he played with the guitar when he sang the song. After that he took part in some japanese drama, too bad i only remember one of them named Bijo ka Yajuu or some of them call this drama as Beauty and The Beast.

The first song Tokyo is the ending theme of the current japanese drama Slow Dance. The time i get in touch with this song was because of this drama, I was really impressed when i heard the ending theme. It just gave me a really strong feeling when i listen to this song. The second song Watashiwa Kaze ni Naru, a bit similar to the first one but added some smooth jazz feel. Both of the songs are basically sounds very smooth, so i think most of you guys will love this single.

Tokyo