Day 155

30 posts in thirty days.


30 random facts about me.


Fun Fact #5: Utada Hikaru got me into J-Pop. Personally.

In 1999, while I was attending North Carolina A&T State (Go AGGIES!) there was a forum being held at the Student Union about foreign relations and how it would affect us in the next century. I attended, and while listening to a speaker who was a foreign exchange student from Japan speak, a young woman was standing beside me.

Her name was Utada.

She was going around speaking to everyone and smiling and shaking hands. When she got to me, I couldn't really find anything to talk about with her, so the first thing that popped out of my mouth was:

"What are you listening to on your walkman?"

She smiled at me and placed the walkman in my hands and the headphones over my ears. The very first J-Pop song I ever heard was Night of Fire by Niko. I was hooked. She saw me bop my head, this way and that, and smile like someone had given me candy.

When the circuit was over, I caught Utada before she returned to her vehicle. I asked her where I could find more music like that. She nodded and handed me her tape that she was listening to. Come to find out, what I was listening to was a recording of Para Para, basically group dancing music (much like the Electric Slide), and I had the first set, Para Para Stadium, in my hands.

I still have that tape somewhere. Who knew that the young woman that I met would not only become one of Japan's biggest pop stars herself, but would also introduce a new genre of music for me to listen to.

So, Fun Fact #5a and 5b: Utada Hikaru got me into J-Pop personally. And I love it.

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Now playing: NAOKI with Y&Co. - CAN'T STOP FALLIN' IN LOVE ~super euro version~
via FoxyTunes