Famous People: Hikaru Utada

Her mother was one of the most popular enka singers in Japan during the late 60's and 70's. Her father has been a successful music producer for the past 20 years. It seems only fitting that the daughter of the couple should grow up to be one of the most popular singers of her generation - and she's still only 21!

Growing up in the kind of environment that she did, it's no surprise that Hikaru Utada (Hikki to her friends) chose a muscial path. Growing up in New York as opposed to her native Japan she not only became bi-lingual but was also exposed to a greater variety of music than she would have been if she was living in Japan. With the help of her parents she began releasing singles in the US when she was 10.

It wasn't until she was 13 that she released her first solo single and a year later had moderate success state-side with a debut album called 'Precious'. However, as the songs on the album were all in English, the album did not fair as well in Japan. Towards the end of the same year (1998) it was decided by her and her parents to move from the US to Japan.

In October 1998 she auditioned infront of music producers, publishers and distributors at an event organised by Toshiba EMI. Seeing that she would be marketable, and actually had natural talent (which tends to be a rare thing in the mainstream Japanese music industry) they signed her up and 2 months later released her first single automatic. From there she never looked back and over the next 5 years establised herself as the number one female solo artist in Japanese music. The first single, and subsequent album 'First Love' broke records for the number of copies sold and she had 2 of the top three selling singles in 1999. The first album sold out at record stores prior to its official release date.

In 2001 she decided to enroll in Columbia University in the US, partly because studies at a Japanese university would have been virtually impossible given her popularity there. However, even in the US, where she was unheard of, she couldn't escape the rumors.

"Even before the first day of school, I was talking to this friend who was going to Columbia also, and he told me, 'People all know you're coming.' And I go, 'What do you mean?' And he said, 'Well, all the Asian kids know, but even the non-Asian students have heard something about the Japanese Britney Spears coming to their school.'"

She found that university wasn't for her and she left the US to return to Japan and pursue her music career. Not quite Britney Spears, the more reserved Hikaru Utada is now happily married to a photographer 13 years her senior. She still tops the chart with every single that she releases, even without the over exposure that the vast majority of Japanese pop-singers receive. With talent and her age on her side you should see Hikaru around for some years to come. And the first Japanese pop-star to achieve worldwide popularity and success may noy be too far away.

Check out more about 'Hikki' at her official site:

http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/index_j.htm

Superstitions: Numbers

In the Philippines it's regarded as bad luck to bring a pillow outside at night and in India it's bad luck to sneeze when someone walks out the door. These are just two examples of hundreds of thousands of superstitions that exist in different culture and countries around the world. Japan is no different in having its fair share of 'old wives tales' and beliefs/practices which form a small part of Japanese culture.

This time we're going to focus on numbers. In many Western cultures the number 13 is considered as unlucky but in Japan it's the number 4. In Japanese 4 is pronouned as 'shi', which is the same word as death. In many hotels and apartment blocks the number is simply not used. This applies to hospitals as well where the number 43 is often not seen in maternity wards as it means still-birth.

In hospitals you are aslo unlikely to see rooms numbered 9, 24, 42 or 420. As the number 9 is pronouned as 'ku' which rhymes with a different word meaning pain or worry. 24 is pronouned ni-shi meaning double death, 42 is shin-ni, meaning die and 420 is shi-ni-rei meaning dead spirit. If anyone in Japan asks you what your favorite/lucky number is, whatever you do, don't say 4! And that applies to 9 as well as the numbers listed above.

Japanese also have superstitions connected with your age. If you are male and 25 or 42 then you need to be careful as these are the years of bad luck when something bad might happen to you. For women it's 19 and 33. During these years it's customary for the person to visit temples and shrines to pray for protection from harm. Luckily I've got a few years to wait before the next year of bad luck comes around and I have to go and visit temples and shrines every week!

Next time: What happens if you cut your nails at night..............!?

Japanese Customs: Taking a bath

If you stay with a host family or friends whilst you are in Japan then will more than likely come across the phenomenon that is the Japanese Bath. Depending on how old the apartment or house you stay in is, the bath may be the older style square box shape or the rectangular shaped bath more common in other parts of the world.

The fundamental thing to understand about taking a bath in Japan is that it's not actually for cleaning but for relaxing and soaking - an essential part to any overworked salary-man's day. And that more than one person will be soaking in the same water as you. This might come as a bit of a shock to people who are not used to this custom, but it actually makes sense - who would want to soak in bathtub of dirty water?

Which is why you have to wash thoroughly, and I mean thoroughly, before getting into the bath. There have been numerous stories of people taking a bath without washing before hand and then letting the water drain away as you would do back home. In one case the newly arrived 'gaikokujin' was very please with himself that he had left the bathroom immaculate after taking a bath. He only realised what he'd done when he saw the shocked looks on the host family's faces when they saw there was no water in the tub for the rest of the family to take a bath. In winter it can take up to an hour to hear the bath water. I won't go into what happened to the person who took a bath without washing first but didn't even let the water out.............

There will usually be a small plastic seat that you should sit on whilst using the shower (or when I stayed with a host family, a plastic bowl) to wash yourself. Once your satisifed that you won't dirty the water you can get in. Make sure you've washed all the soap off your body before you do this as a soapy tub will not impress the next person who has to use it. Always test the water before getting in as Japanese people like their baths HOT!!! It might take a bit of getting used you and the first few times you probably won't last more than 5 minutes before getting out. In theory, the hotter the water is the more you are able to relax........

Japanese people will often allow you to take the first bath. This is a respectful gesture as this is when the water is absolutely clean. Although you can relax in a Japanese style bath, I personally prefer rectangular shaped baths where you can stretch your legs and really lie down. If you don't manage to experience a 'furo' then the next best thing is an 'onsen' or even one of the less common public bathouses (sento).

If you want to know more about the subject then take a look at a book by Leonard Cohen called 'How to take a Japanese Bath' which goes into excruiating detail about all aspects of bathing in Japan.

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