Y'know...in all the years that J-Pop superstar Ayumi Hamasaki（浜崎あゆみ）was an omnipresent figure on TV with all of those hits, I don't think I had ever heard of this song, her 4th single from October 1998, "For My Dear..."
The title rings a bell but hearing the song has given me something fresh to listen to. It's a laidback and wistful ballad by songwriters Hamasaki and Yasuhiko Hoshino（星野靖彦）about being afraid to take that step of confessing one's love to someone, and I am quite drawn to that crystal plaintive voice of the singer with the quiet arrangement. Also, the accompanying music video sends some interesting images of various people (not) trying to avoid each other. There is some rather poignant awkwardness in there.
Plus there is Hamasaki herself in that short red hair in that original video before she became that huge superstar. Quite natsukashii. "For My Dear..." went Gold, breaking the Top 10 for the second time by hitting No. 9. There was a re-release of the single in 2001 for which it peaked at No. 33. The song also was on her hit debut album "A Song for ××" which also contained a number of her other singles including "poker face".
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