Category Archives: Music

Girly J-Pop ahoy!

Maaya Sakamoto got married!

She was 19… In yet another breaking development that casts a blinding spotlight on the unrelenting passage of time and my lost teens, Maaya Sakamoto, my favourite singer in all dimensions of space and time, got married at the ripe … Continue reading

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SDN48 Singapore Live

SDN48 posing in front of the Merlion, Singapore’s manufactured tourism symbol I caught SDN48 live performing in Singapore at Scape last Friday. I was going to wait for the official concert photos to be distributed to the blogosphere before I … Continue reading

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AKB48 Singapore

A short press conference was held today for the opening of AKB48’s official merchandise store in Singapore and their first permanent theatre outside of Japan. There was also a short photography session with Misaki Iwasa, Mika Komori and Miho Miyazaki … Continue reading

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Maaya Sakamoto 2011 Live Tour (Osaka)

Concert booklet and T-shirt I expected last year to be my first and last chance to watch Maaya Sakamoto perform live, but I was wrong and my sentiments at the time were rendered somewhat hyperbolic in retrospect. In spite of … Continue reading

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Maaya Sakamoto – Utsukushii Hito

Maaya’s latest album You can’t catch me was just released a few days ago. The best song in the new album is by far Utsukushii Hito, a collaboration with Yoko Kanno for the Kentoushi Fune Saigen Project at last year’s … Continue reading

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AFA X

A very expensive piece of plastic Or the one where I got to see SCANDAL perform live but showed up too late to get an autograph. Alternatively, it is also acceptable to refer to it as the one where I … Continue reading

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Maaya Sakamoto 15th Memorial Live “Gift” DVD

It’s finally here. A few months ago, I spent 13 hours in an oversized aluminium alloy tube to get to Japan and back so that I could attend Maaya Sakamoto’s 15th anniversary concert at Budokan. A few days ago, the … Continue reading

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Maaya Sakamoto 15th Anniversary Concert

The cherry blossoms bloomed early this spring, just as it did thirty years ago on Maaya Sakamoto‘s birthday. The date was 31st March and the venue was Budoukan. I stood in line at the entrance of Kitanomaru Park along with … Continue reading

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Identify this song!

This song is Sayonara wo Kikasete by Nanase Aikawa, a veteran female J-rock singer. It’s the B-side of one of her earlier singles from the late 90s and it is one of my favourite songs from her. This is not … Continue reading

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Maaya Sakamoto – We Are Kazeyomi!

Maaya Sakamoto, the greatest singer/seiyuu in the history of the universe, held a live tour at the start of this year (2009) called “We Are Kazeyomi!” This was her first proper concert in the five years since she released her … Continue reading

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Washinomiya Shrine — the real Lucky Star

Washinomiya Shrine (鷲宮神社) is the oldest shrine in the Kantou region of Japan. It also happens to be one of the setting locations for Kyoto Animation’s Lucky Star, the very shrine that Kagami and Tsukasa work part-time as shrine maidens. … Continue reading

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May’n Live in Singapore!

Yes, this is NOT a joke. May’n (May Nakabayashi), the beautiful voice behind Sheryl’s songs in Macross Frontier, will be making her way down to this tiny-red-dot island to perform live at the inaugural Anime Festival Asia, previously introduced on … Continue reading

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