The forbidden . . .

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"Look   Look   Hikaru-chan   Me do NYUUYOKU(taking a bath) in NEW YORK"

'Kuma Chang, you just said the forbidden oyaji gag . . .'

The Twilight Kuma Chang

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Yes that's right. As wrote in the latest English message, I've been having meetings with the record company (Universal) folks over here in New York, discussing this and that about the next English language album.

Kuma Chang comes with me when I go to NY.

"That big Kuma Chang . . . You definitely can't bring him with you on board as a carry-on luggage, can you? How come you brought him . . . ?" I got a bunch of emails asking this! (lol)

Please let me bring him on board as a carry-on luggage, I swear I'll hug him close all the time!!! (weep) - I wished I could beg for mercy like that, but it seems like there's no way, to bring this huge sized guy with me on board.

So, I put Kuma Chang into the XL-size bag and send him as a checked baggage, getting my heart torn apart, every time I go to NY . . .

You often hear such stories like "Jewels in the checked baggage stolen," "Baggage sent to the wrong destination country by mistake" and such, so I'm always filled with worry, can't sit still even for a moment, and keep being worried like "Aww what if something happened to Kuma Chang!? What if he got stolen!? What if he was sent to Switzerland or Iran or Brazil etc. by mistake!?" until I get off the plane and receive the bag Kuma Chang is put in.

(Actually I almost always fall asleep before the takeoff when I board the plane)

After that comes, of course, the impressive moment of reunion! I give Kuma Chang big cuddles and rubs until he gets warm after I take him out of the bag, since he gets cool in the cold plane.

Aww, Kuma Chang, I'm sorry for having kept you in the cold and dark place, for 14 hours

I'm sorry Kuma Chang

You would've been tired by the long journey!!

So, that's about it.

I wish I could give him his own passport, and book a seat for him

Bon jour!

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Someone like you (lol)

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I got a couple of emails asking me "I seriously can't tell which one is Hikaru san, pleas tell me." (lol)

The tiny one on the left is me!

Someone like you

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Ta-dahhhhhh!

Took a loooooooooooong time to put this out here, but anywayz this is the commemorative picture taken when Miracle Hikaru san came to see me on the tour last year and we met in the dressing room right before the show. Miracle san looked casual and normal, not with the "Utada Hikaru-ish" makeup she puts on at work. She's a a cute woman.

My staff around told me she didn't look like me that much with no makeup afterwards, but looking at this picture I have a feeing she does kinda look like me . . . is it just me?


I'm so happy to learn some of you agreed that Jeff Buckley looks like Ito Hideaki! (lol)

As for Ethan Hawke, some of you who know him agreed with me. I also found a couple of people telling me he (Jeff Buckley) looks like James Dean, to give an example of westerner guy. I agree James Dean really looks like him, but I have a feeling that, his hairstyle, face expressions and mood remind us of Jeff but his face parts. I thought like that, having seen various types of his photos.


You know, there's this ke-tai site called "Kao Cheki!", right? The site that let you know the analysis date of which celebrity you look like, after you submit your face photo to it.

I got a bunch of emails from you guys telling me "Why don't you try it Hikaru-chan!" so I tried it the other day . . .

And the results were . . .

No. 1 Hoshino Aki

No. 2 Yoshizawa Hitomi


That's the answer I got from it. (No. 3 was an idol girl I didn't know)


. . . Ho, Hoshino Aki?! Yoshizawa Hitomi?!

Ehhhhhhhhhh?!

I mean,

Why I didn't get Utada Hikaru ! ! (lol)

Maybe it depends on the type of picture - I thought so and sent a couple of different photos to it, but got the same results every time.

Among those fan mails that let me know about "Kao Cheki" I remember some people told me "I tried it and the result was Utada Hikaru!" so it IS in the database for sure . . .

But I half expected it actually, cuz people tell me I'm totally different from what I look like in the photos whenever I meet them face to face. I half expected "Utada Hikaru" wouldn't come out if I submit my usual picture to it.


Some time ago, when my American band members came to Japan they told me "we saw someone that totally looked like you on the cover of a gravure magazine!!", so I got the magazine and guess what, it was Hoshino Aki san who was on the cover . . . There was such an episode . . .

Have I got any parts that look like her?! I don't think so. I mean, I'm like I wanna say sorry to Hoshino Aki san . . . I mean it . . .
I'm sorry . . .

Jeff Buckley

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Jeff Buckley.

He's my faaaaaaaaaaaaavortite artist!

He made a damn good album and died, so the number of works he left is not so many, but I believe he still has a lot of fans.

I was shown this CD jacket with his autograph when I was on a radio show of J-Wave, got pretty excited, went wild like crazy and then took a picture of it by my ke-tai.

Up until then, I always wondered "Why everyone loves to have things like autographs?" every time I was asked for my autograph. But having seen this Jeff Buckley's autograph I learned the value of autographs!

"Wow! So he did sign this autograph! And I'm looking at it right now! I'm holding it in my hand!" - this thought gave me some indescribable, electrifying excitement. I felt like I contacted Jeff Buckley just a lil bit. It's a quite "indirect" way of contact, though.

Maybe this could give you more reality than photos.

I really love "Grace," the only album he left, and having been listening to it hundreds of times. His two-CD live album "Live At Sin-e," that contains the live recordings he casually did in the places like cafe bars before he got popularity, is his another masterpiece.

I wonder which genre he belongs to - maybe it could be the common Rock/Pop or something like that I guess?

Or should I better call it "Beautiful Rock"? "Beautiful" might be a little too abstract expression.

"Painful Rock." I describe his music like that, if you ask me. Sounds good huh, Painful Rock.


By the way his face looks kinda like the combination of Hideaki Ito and Ethan Hawke . . . if you ask me. What do you think about this! I have a good feeling that I'm right on target about this . . . !

I'll be so happy if you could get what I mean! (lol) What do you think?

. . .

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*peeps*

Photo taken during the day, although it's night now

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"Awww   Hikaru-chan   You dun lounge around   only in your underwear"

'That doesn't matter, I just took a bath you know~. It's the season where you can enjoy fanning yourself while cooling down, only with your shorts on~.'

"Then me worry   u can't marry again"

Pencil

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Guys who thought you'd seen the first image of Kuma Chang sitting in front of the console board before!

That's right, that's the image used in "Profile" of UTADA UNITED BLOG that I'd been doing during the tour last year. I've always wanted to show it to all of you in a bigger size someday, as it was used in a quite tiny size(You say I'm just re-using it? No no, it's not that . . . (lol))

And this humorous image of me holding a pencil between my nose and upper lip, is the one use as my profile photo at that time. Taken in a corner of the studio.

You often find the girls striking a pose like this in those a little older mangas, huh? One of those typical poses, I should say. I did it, since I have never seen someone in this pose for real . . .

Balancing the pencil, while thinking something cupping your chin in your hand at the same time . . . man this is fairly hard to do. Could be easier, if it's okay to put on a very stern face not caring about others' eyes at all. I have never seen someone doing this in the classrooms.


Well actually you don't have to do it though.


In the meantime. Some time in the last week, a magazine said things like "Utada Hikaru, dating in karaoke till 5 in the morning with a hot model guy" in the banner headline, which made me quite surprised.
I thought about if I really did such a thing like that lately but had no clue, so I took a look at 2chan to get some more details! (lol) It's quite informative when you wanna know things like that (lol)

I did find things about the article there, which made me "Oh~! Yes I got it! So it's about that thing at that time!" and set my mind back!

It's just, I was drinking in a private room together with a female friend of mine, and later her boyfriend joined us. That's just about it.

I don't know why but the article said things like I called the younger model guy to the private room and cuddled up in there till the morning.

Younger (lol)

Model (lol)

Hawt (lol)

. . . That goes contrary to my type (lol)

Anywayz, apparently it is obvious that the stuff people of that place told those things in the interviewThat's a sad thing, I paid a large fee to secure that private room, for the sake of what. That happens a lot actually, the clerk people often accepts the interview. I'll never visit the places like that again! Ponpon! I should say!

Also, I have no idea from which source this came out, but seems like there's such a story like I was spotted together with Fujiwara Tatsuya san, the actor.

This is a totally groundless gossip, and I haven't even met him before . . . There's a possibility though, that he was dating with someone that looked like me! (someone, like Miracle Hikaru san)


It seems like, I've been kinda targeted, since lately I'm often dogged by some media cars on the way back form work, or staked out around my house. That's unusual. Maybe they're thinking something could happen around me as it's been half a year since I got divorced, I guess?

Karasawa-san told me "You better watch out, they've been hungry for some juicy gossips lately~" (lol)

Well, lately I haven't done anything that could get me in trouble if paparazzied, but I'll be careful anywayz . . .

Another pose

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*drops his head*

Yes that's it, being cool makes you exhausted~

From another angle

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I was like sorting my image folder contents and found a bunch of pictures in it dated this same date!

Sorry the picture looks a little rough, I took it with my old ke-tai.


Seems like I took Kuma Chang the engineer from even more different angles other than this . . .

What am I doing in the studio (lol)

Look everyone is working just as normal in the back (lol)

One-day engineer experience

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This is the picture taken when I took Kuma Chang to the studio while I was making Ultra Blue.

The works of the studio engineer looks kinda like this

"This is easy   Me can do this too"

Good morning

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Let me resume to talk about "Utada" family thing I was talking about earlier. (Yes that's right, I missed the timing and that's why I'm writing this now)


This is a illustration in that Tokuji booklet . . .


The Utada house is soooo big --- ! (lol)

Three times as big as other houses around (lol)

Just how much living, dining rooms and kitchen it got?!


(And apparently this is a battleground area of geta stores, right?!)


Jeez, seeing this hugeness there's no wonder the Utada family was a 大庄屋(dai-shouya).

By the way I investigated dai-shouya and found it didn't mean something like unpopular officers that I guessed earlier. They were indeed in the role to govern a lot of mura(villages), but they were also in the caretaker-like position, who led some tax-reduction movements and helped people getting in trouble.

Good to learn about this~


Also, here is the information I got from a fan of me by email quite some time ago, and it says . . .

A samurai person in Okayama pref. called "Utada Koshiro(宇多田小四郎)" appears in a Ryotaro Shiba novel called "Tales of Harimanada(播磨灘物語)." (on the page 74, volume 4)

It's said like that!

Maybe I'll read this "Tales of Harimanada"!

Tokyo

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It's raining like crazy all of a sudden.

In the situation like this, you use this expression in English:

It's raining cats and dogs

But you may be considered as a crazy person if you say it in Japanese like:

Hey dogs and cats are falling~


OMG!! We just had thunder!!


This is the book I'm reading right now.

Inside story

I got a lot of questions asking me "What were you talking about with MatsuJun right before the commercials?" - well, actually, at that time we didn't talk to each other a all . . . yes, we were just, gazing at each other in silence.

Let me explain!

In the run-through(kinda realistic rehearsal) that all the performers did together, The Cro-Magnons' performance of picking their nose at the camera at the end of the show made all of us laugh out loud.

Matsumoto-kun said "That's cool~" so I suggested him "Why don't you do the same thing in the actual show, Matsumoto-kun."

Then he said to me "If you did, I would do either" so I said "No no, after you" "No, you go first" "No you first" - it went something like that, and we were talking like that even on the air.

Then Matsumoto-kun told me "Hey look! You can do it now!" when the camera came close to me after the commercials, and I was embarrassed like "Ehhh?! Now?! No I can't, maybe people watching this would have no idea about it either!" Then he started gaaaaazing at me, to put a pressure on me in silence.

With those cool, manga-character-like eyebrows and eyes!

I was stunned like a frog aimed by a snake, shrank back like "Aw . . . Awwww . . . . "('cause he has so acute sight)

My heart pounded, and a various kinds of thoughts came and went through my mind, such as "Should I pick my nose here or not at the camera?" "If I did pick, I may lose a lot of things while I may gain few" "Or maybe I should go for it to beat Matsumoto Jun" "Come to think of it, his face really looks manga-ish!"

The commercials started in the meantime.

Matsumoto-ku told me who was totally worn out, "I just thought it would be easier for you to go for it if I had a surprised expression in the face"


Ah, I see, got it, so if you made a surprised expression, maybe I could pick my nose at the camera quite naturally - NO WAY !

("That will never happen!" by Makino Tsukushi @ Hana-Dan 2)


Such a drama happened. Within those few seconds.

And you know what, in the ending talk part. Matsumoto Jun, he did it. He picked his nose saying "The Cro-Magnons was so cool, especially this thing!" Oh my God! He' belongs to Johnny's and yet did it! So cool!

He's got me there . . .


I also got a lot of questions asking me "Did you make it to go home earlier than others?" as I said in the talk part "I like to go home earlier than any other people!" but on that day of all days I forgot to write the After M-Ste panel which I always wrap up before the show, so I rushed to write it after the show, and have some chit-chat with some other performers who came to see me - I went home not so early after all, which made me come in 4th, seemingly.


Well that happens.


And as for Beautiful World!

In the rehearsal I sang it in a cool manner which is close to CD version, but it came to the conclusion that it would be better to sing in a "enthusiastic" manner like I do in my concert since all other artist people did quite enthusiastic, exciting performance. I went into the show thinking "Alright I'll do it like my live concert," and actually I did the performance in a more enthusiastic manner than my usual TV appearances, with all my soul, which made me so feel good!

Good that I was able to sing at full throttle


Well that's about it I think?

Oh, and one more thing, I admit my hairstyle looked kinda like . . . Ayanami . . . (lol)

Give something, given something

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Whew~!

I took a good enough rest~!

My M-ste appearance last week ended all the TV-related work series this time! I took it easy for a while, doing things like soaking myself in a shiny bathtub nice and easy and such.


Never mind that, you know what~?

Just look at this~!

I got such a beautiful hand-made card from a girl named "Tae"-san!

Jeez this . . . is Kuma Chang, playing azuma-asobi . . . !

It's giza quality takasu(so high quality) if I say in Shokotan's way lololololololololol

Lots of washi are used freely for it!

It shows Kuma Chang's character very well! All the parts are quite look-alike, from those weeping-look eyes, that downy silhouette probably made by hand-tearing, that shortness of limbs, to those bottom shape of feet.

Thank you Tae-san~. This is just too cute~.

All your letters, Kuma goods(lol), and strange socks(lol) - I get too much to introduce here but I did receive all of them! Thank you very much. All those things always make me encouraged or enjoy.

I think it's such a wonderful thing, to be given something from someone. Please give this happiness to enjoy this wonderful feeling to your loved ones nearby and family, not only to me whom you seldom meet face-to-face.


I'll write about the inside story of M-Ste and such later-!

I am not a car . . .

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Done the toilet cleaning too.

I'm off to Tele-Asa(TV Asahi) in the afternoon. Will do my best in M-Ste.

I am . . .

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Gonna start to clean the bathroom.

Typhoon #9

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The typhoon is coming-! Seems like Kantō is gonna have troubles tonight. Could be here till tomorrow morning. Everyone take care when you go home, go to work or school. (I'll stay at home till M-Ste tomorrow)


I got an email from this woman, who's great enough to identify the book name just by those images of "Print" and "Another one" I uploaded two nights earlier.

"That's 'Nejimaki-dori Kuronikuru' isn't it"

Oh My God ! !

How did you find it out - ! ! ! I'm so surprised.


In the image of "Another one" you can see the part stating "42" but how could she tell the book name just by that clue . . . Did she just open the page 42 of all the books around her at random?? And did Nejimaki-dori Kuronikuru happen to be around her by chance?

Nejimaki-dori Kuronikuru is organized into the part 1, 2 and 3 - into 3 volumes. It's a lot easier to read than Kukai the Universal and actually I read through all the volumes just in three days as I thought "Maybe I should read this kind of novels at a rapid pace, like 1 volume per day"! That was fun. This is the first time I read Murakami works! (I tried "Norwegian Wood" when I was in junior high but dropped out 'cause it kinda didn't fit me)


By the way the thing you can see at the back of the bookshelf in the image above is a Kalimba . . . Yes, it's the Kalimba, an African musical instrument.

How come this happen to be here . . .

Kuma Chang's core

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"U know   Hikaru-chan . . . "

'What?'

"Me considered it again   and   me want Hikaru-chan   to forget about   that giving my fabric   thing"

'Oh, okay, no problem. You got scared?'

"Yup   Me don't like   being cut   Sorry"

'Just never mind. I don't need Kuma Chang's fabric and cotton actually. 'Cause aiko-san and I are not made of those kind of things.'

"Huh   not fabric"

'We're made of something more wet. It's likely more than a half of us is made of water.'

"What's that   Sounds weird"

Another one

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Could it be that printing still needs some very analog works?

Could it be that someone needs to set something like word stamps one by one, manually . . . ??

Or was this spot-like thing made by the dust stuck in somewhere, could that be the cause?


Now that I look closer, and it looks kinda like an ink that tried to escape from other words but died without fulfilling his life ambition. Man you almost made it! How frustrating.

I can't imagine the other way round. I wonder why. "Oh! Jeez! I'm late! Gotta hurry up to join others . . . . Gahhh, I'm not gonna make it!" - it never looks like that.

I think it looks like being on the way escaping from other words.

Well, it also looks like just a dust (lol)

Print

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I love to find disorders of book prints, and typos/omissions that editors didn't manage to correct.

You'll hardly find the latter ones, but those can be seen in English books from time to time. Like, you may find a grammatically unnecessary "to" in them. That's about it.

What makes me excited when I find in Japanese books, is those tiny lint-like spots of ink.

It looks kinda like, a strange tiny creature that had turned into a fossil many ages ago, or a crack on the page, or a microbe under a microscope, or just a weird dust. I feel happy when I find it. (I feel disappointed when I touch it and learn it is just a dust)

The ink-chan, who had left himself as a strange lint-like spot on the side with no connection to the original purpose, while other inks had turned into printed words just as they were supposed to be and become cool guys recognized not as "ink" but "words."

What a misfit.

I wonder what makes ink spots in the shape like this. I'm curious about it! Maybe I don't know at all about how book printing works. I've never seen it actually.


Ah speaking of that, I also wanna take a tour of CD manufacturing plants someday!

A hand sneaking from behind

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*sneaks up*

*rubs rubs*

*rubs rubs rubs rubs rubs rubs rubs*


"What are u doin   Hikaru-chan"

'Kuma Chang's butt is so big and cute~. aiko-san told me she also thinks Kuma Chang is cute, and you looks like an alive bear.'

"Who is it"

'She's the person who's doing the same job as I am. She is so tiny and cute!'

"Is she   that tiny"

'I bet nobody could find her if she hid behind your butt.'

"Maybe she needed more fabric"

'Fabric?'

"Me think   maybe   her papa and mamma   had few fabrics   when they made aiko-san   so they made her   small"

' . . . Well, it'd be probably something like that . . . I guess.'

"Me is okay   to give some my fabric   to her   cuz she is   a friend of   Hikaru-chan   Me got   a lot of cotton too   u know"

Butt of mystery

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Oh my God . . .

Just look at this . . .

Kuma Chang's butt keeps getting more and more beautiful day by day . . .



I was so fascinated by Kuma Chang's butt that I missed HEY!HEY!HEY! !

September is already here!

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Say, "EVANGELION:1.0" has been released! (I heard it's been quite well received!)

September is already here~

Time goes so quickly~

I finished the 1st week of M-Ste, and CDTV already went on the air.

Whether I go to heaven or hell when singing in M-Ste, is always up to if I can switch myself to singer-mode instantly or not, and this time I failed to switch and couldn't sing well though it was the only chance to sing Kiss & Cry on TV this time*weep* I feel I'm miserable

I hope I can do "the switching" well next week. Gotta raise my batting average

By the way regarding this panel, the reason why I drew Dou-san in a bunny outfit is . . . well there's a certain reason actually. When I was chatting with her in a meeting about this and that I told her that I saw her putting fake bunny ears on in a late show.

What if a fine and neat woman like Dou-san got dressed in a bunny outfit . . . Oh OMG(*experiences nosebleed*) - I drew that picture imagining things like that. (Am I Kame-Sennin or what . . . )

But you know! Lemme tell you ! !

I thought I wrapped up the picture with a taste of politeness and quite satisfied with the results.

. . . But ! ! !

You know what, Mr. I, the hair makeup guy, added a cleavage line to the picture without my permission, after I returned home . . . !


Dammit~! How come he did this to my lovely Mariko, that pervert man~!
Ponpon! . . . How disgraceful!

On top of that I heard he went home quite satisfied, with a very happy expression in his face. (reported by Murakami-san of my office)

These are the excuses for my half-regarded-as-sexual-harassment picture.


Alright, HEY!HEY!HEY! will go on the air tomorrow! Am I gonna watch it myself . . . or maybe I'm too shy to watch it . . . hmm . . .