As I've mentioned in some of the articles over the past little while, Tokyo has been undergoing some changes in different areas. Although most of them are of an architectural nature, this one here has been one of culture and language. I've been hearing that the northern part of Ikebukuro, an area that I've yet to explore although I've visited the eastern side many times due to the Sunshine 60 Building, has grown a Real Chinatown, a neighbourhood so steeped in Chinese culture and cuisine that even the native Japanese need a Mandarin-speaking friend to make their orders in restaurants. There are videos like the one above but I first found out through some segments on variety shows via Japan TV.
It's almost as if one doesn't even need to leave Tokyo to visit places like Shanghai. Shanghai has already arrived in Tokyo perhaps. Speaking of which, earlier today I wrote on singer-songwriter Amaiwana（アマイワナ）with her 80s aidoru take on "Loneliness", a twinkly tune created by Ginger Root as both collaborated on the latter's Nisemono arc of songs and videos.
Well, I didn't want to finish off this KKP day without providing a true Amaiwana tune without the trappings of her character Kimiko Takeguchi（竹口希美子）in the Nisemono arc, so I was able to find this digital single of hers that came out earlier in May this year. "Shanghai Rendezvous" was written and composed by Amaiwana and it has a 60s girl pop feeling filtered through 80s synthpop and it doesn't sound like a Ginger Root tune.
I don't know her real name but Amaiwana was born in Kyoto on New Year's Day 2000 and according to her J-Wiki profile, she specializes in dance music, pop and dream punk. She began giving live performances when she was just 14 years old although it wouldn't be for another five years before she took on her current nom de plume. As for why she chose it, she just said that it was easy to remember and it sounded cute. She has had an affinity for Showa era culture including the music and fashion. Besides her singing, she has also worked as a model and an actress.
The YouTube channel Angura did a segment on Amaiwana just a few weeks ago so you can give that a look as well.
"I don't know her real name but Amaiwa..." Ah, it seems the public isn't going to find out who Amaiwana is really is anytime soon. And, we are also probably not going to be able see Ado's really face either.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's not all that precedent-setting, though. There have been acts that haven't shown their faces or identities for various reasons. The band GReeeeN only showed themselves through CG when they appeared on the Kohaku a few years ago. Part of the reason is probably to keep the mystique and another is pragmatic in their case since their "day job" is dentistry. I don't expect Ado will show herself on the Kohaku either.
DeleteI didn't know GReeeeN's members were dentists!
DeleteI think when GReeeeN first started out, the members were dentistry students at their university so they had probably wanted to keep themselves secret to prevent hordes of fans disturbing their studies. But after that, they realized that they had to keep their practices safe, too.
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