Japinoy.com

Let's talk about Hikki, the J-pop superstar.

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Date of birth: January 19, 1983
Height: 5' 2 " / 158cm
Blood Type: A
Birth Place: New York City
Websites:
http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/
http://www.utada.jp
http://www.utada.com

Other great Utada info sites:
Wikipedia
UTADA-Online.net   

Utada's short bio from Wikipedia

Utada Hikaru was born in New York City, New York to Japanese parents who both had roots in the Japanese music industry: her father, Teruzane Utada, was a producer, while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer (she performed under the stage name "Keiko Fuji"). She made her first professional recording at the age of twelve, and recorded her first album, Precious, in 1996 under the pseudonym Cubic U. The album led to her career overseas. In a recent MTV interview (MTV's You Hear It First, October 2004), Utada said: "Someone in Japan heard it, at a Japanese record company, and he said, 'Oh, can't you write in Japanese? You speak Japanese.' And I didn't want to say no, so I had to try it."

She is currently married to Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and movie director. He has directed several of her music videos, including "Final Distance", "Traveling", "Hikari", "Sakura Drops", "Deep River", "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", "You Make Me Want to Be a Man", "Be My Last", "Passion", and "Keep Tryin'". Also, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" was played during the credits of Kiriya's directorial debut, Casshern.

Ah... my fav J Artist along with Nakashima Mika. She just released her new album recently - Ultra Blue... talk about long period of no new albums. I have been waiting for this! Katai (I wanna buy it)!

dareka:

Ah... my fav J Artist along with Nakashima Mika. She just released her new album recently - Ultra Blue... talk about long period of no new albums. I have been waiting for this! Katai (I wanna buy it)!

hmm...if i remember correctly, you were a fan of ayumi hamasaki. oh well. hehe.

i wasn't really a fan of utada's from the start. the first utada song i heard was 'automatic' and i hated it. i didn't like the video too. BUT, when i heard 'first love', i was blown away!! woohoo, i loved it! i was surprised to learn it was utada's too.

so now, yeah, i'm a fan too.

 

Oh? Did I gave that impression?
It's true that I liked hamasaki, but I liked Utada better (since she's better in all aspects (*^^*)).
I don't like Hamasaki's song very much anymore...
But for I like Utada's songs even up till now (probably with the exception of Exodus, it just really had a different feel... Utada rashikunai). My favorite song on the Ultra Blue would be "Dareka no negai ga kanau koro" - slow and melow melody + nice lyrics

I don't know if it's just me...but I keep hearing an English version of Utada's "First Love" on local radios lately. Di ko alam ang title pero katunog na katunog talaga nung kay Utada.

i like utada too. i think what cuts her above the rest of the female j-idols is her talent for songwriting. dami na rin nyang na-compose na songs, and a lot of those songs actually have depth. poetic, if i may add.

@ dareka: i'm thinking of buying utada's exodus. what did you mean by 'utada rashikunai'? did you mean that in a positive way? kasi maski utada rashikunai, as long as maganda naman mga song, gusto ko pa rin bilhin. any feedback? thanks!

@ maneki neko: sus! yung kay toni gonzaga! the nerrrrrrve talaga! ang panget. kakainis, not even giving credit to utada at all. bwiseeet!

 

my love for jmusic.. it all started with this girl ^^ 

Exodus.. hindi ako bumili kc wala akong gusto maski 1 song.. even Easy Breezy.

Ultra Blue.. i love this album. id like to have one too but i dont know if EMI Phils has plans to release it here.. sobrang expensive naman kc ng Japan version.

paalala lang.. dont buy Ultra Blue(or any j-albums for that matter) sa Comic Alley. hindi orig binebenta nila. unless okay lang sa inyo na gumastos ng 450 sa isang class-A pirate.

new/upcoming releases after Ultra Blue

Single Clip Collection vol.4
Exodus lowpriced reissue for 1500yen

single
release - 11/22
Boku wa Kuma 3 editions... special ed. | regular ed w/ dvd | regular ed

DVD
release - 12/20
Utada United 2006  
Unplugged lowpriced re-issue 

nightowl:

paalala lang.. dont buy Ultra Blue(or any j-albums for that matter) sa Comic Alley. hindi orig binebenta nila. unless okay lang sa inyo na gumastos ng 450 sa isang class-A pirate.

P450 for a pirated? Is this for one DVD only?

I think they sell J-Pop in Philippine music stores but is there any other place?

Wigent:

P450 for a pirated? Is this for one DVD only?

I think they sell J-Pop in Philippine music stores but is there any other place?

nope, for an album. ang dvds nila, whether anime or jpop/jrock concert is P600 per disc. 

for Jpop cds, Tower Records' probably the best place, but with very limited stocks. its also the best place to look for Hikki's past albums since other record bars dont carry them anymore. It only costs around Php450-475, original local release by EMI Phils.

as for used/2ndhand cds.. i dont know where to buy those. ang alam ko lang yung mga nagbebenta online. but i heard meron daw bandang QC. 
wait, meron pala. there's a shop called JFAnemidea (formerly-known sa FEATA) at Makati Cinema Square. that's where i bought my ELT fragile single and some Laruku singles.

^ mejo off-topic na, sorry mods. pero that would be an interesting/informative topic.
shy magstart ng bagong topic

nightowl:

^ mejo off-topic na, sorry mods. pero that would be an interesting/informative topic.
shy magstart ng bagong topic

Thanks for the info nightowl.
And please start a new thread. I can see you know a lot about Japanese things.

OK, back to Utada Hikaru.

nightowl:

paalala lang.. dont buy Ultra Blue(or any j-albums for that matter) sa Comic Alley. hindi orig binebenta nila. unless okay lang sa inyo na gumastos ng 450 sa isang class-A pirate.

Yup, I learned this the hard way. Sobrang addict kasi ako sa anime OSTs at marami nito sa Comic Alley. So tuwing may bagong release ng favorite animes ko, bili agad. Only to find out later that these items are bootleg copies! Yung mga Sonmay yung nakalagay.

Hikki releases a new single!

Her single, Boku wa Kuma, is now out in the market. This is the theme of NHK's Minna no Uta and is Hikki's first nursery rhyme release. For the album cover, please see my avatar. Hehe.

According to Hikki, she was inspired to make the song when she received a teddy bear, Kuma-chan. かわいいね～

 

Siya ang unang jpop artist na nagustuhan ko.  Ang ganda ng new song niyang, 'Flavor of Life.' OST ng Hana yori dango 2. Ü  Grabe, nakaka-LSS. Number one ngayon sa singles chart ng Oricon.Ü

This may be a little late, and I am sure Hikki's fans here already know but I just thought I'd share the sad news:

Hikki and her husband of 4 and a half years, Kiriya Kazuaki announced that they are divorcing. The divorce resulted from differences "over the direction they want to head for and the concept of a married couple" and because of lack of communication while they were pursuing their respective careers".

Sad, sad, sad. I thought this was a much better pairing than Amuro's but it's a shame that they had to separate...But let's all wish them well in their decision!