This new layout is seriously killing my eyes. Eventhough I like it, but it is way too light.

I'm in love with this song at the moment - 糸 Ito (Thread) by 中島みゆき Nakajima Miyuki. As well as Yuzu's new album FURUSATO which I managed to find the download link for. Maybe I'll find time to talk about the new songs later. But first...



The song paints the picture of two pieces of thread, one vertical, one horizontal, being woven into a piece of fabric or cloth, one that is woven for a purpose, one that can heal hurts, one that can keep others warm and safe, heading in the direction of love and healing.

糸 Ito (Thread) by 中島みゆき Nakajima Miyuki

なぜ めぐり逢うのかを
为什么会相遇
We can never know for certain why or when our paths will cross...

私たちは何も知らない
我们什么都不知道

いつ めぐり逢うのかを
在何时相遇

私たちはいつも知らない
我们永远都不会知道

どこにいたの
去了哪里？
Where did you go?

生きてきたの
生活过来么?
Did you even exist?

远い空の下
在遥远的天空下
Two tales under a distant sky...

ふたつの物语
两个人的故事


縦の糸はあなた
直的线是你
You are one thread,

横の糸はわたし
横的线是我
I am the other,

织り成す糸はいつか谁かを暖めうるかもしれない
织成的布或许会在某天温暖某个人的心
Woven together, possibly to someday warm another's heart.


なぜ生きていくのかを
为什么要活下去
Why did you disappear?

悩んだ日の迹のささくれ
迷失的日子里留下的痕迹的倒刺
The day I hesitated left a splinter.

梦追いかけ走って
追逐着梦想
Running after our dreams -

ころんだ日の迹のささくれ
逝去的日子留下痕迹的倒刺
The day we followed them, it left a splinter.

こんな糸がなんになるの
这样的线会变成什么
What will become of this thread?

心もとなくて震えてた
放不下的心颤抖着
Hearts left trembling in the wind...

雨の中
在雨中


縦の糸はあなた
直的线是你
One thread is you,

横の糸はわたし
横的线是我
the other is me...

织り成す糸はいつか谁かの伤をかばうかもしれない
织成的布或许会在某天保护某个人的伤口
Our being woven together may protect someone from hurt.


縦の糸はあなた
直的线是你
One thread is you,

横の糸はわたし
横的线是我
the other is me...

逢うべき糸に出逢えることを
遇到本应相逢的线
When two threads that are destined to meet are joined,

人は幸せと呼びます
人们称它为幸福
We call that happiness.

Credits:
Chinese translation - baidu zhidao
English translation - traceyc@blogspot

Nakajima Miyuki is well-known for her lyrics. If I'm not wrong, she composed the song too. But the lyrics are beautiful~ So beautiful.. And she has a lovely voice to top off everything.

Note: Both Chinese and English translations are not exactly the same. Its not my place to say which is more accurate, so I've left them as they are. Although the Chinese version is more detailed. For example: 'You are one thread, I am the other' is suppose to be 'You are the vertical thread, I am the horizontal one'. The English sentence that starts the song is equivalant to the first 4 Japanese lines. Despite leaving out bits and pieces here and there, the English translation flows very well as it is now. Hence a big part of why I'm reluctant to add anything in. Personally, I feel Chinese translations always fit better with Japanese lyrics because both languages are derived from the same roots. No matter what, this is a masterpiece of a song!

eeeeeek. ok ok, there goes my evening!! I was planning to make some progress with my lit review tonight, but I found these videos of Yuzu's guest appearance on Music Fair a few days ago in ultra-HQ. So clear, I just love it.

Learning my lesson, I immediately ripped the videos from youtube. I advise you do too :) I'm pretty sure they'll be taken down soon enough. This site produces pretty good mp4 rips. The fact that its HQ on youtube means the rips are pretty good quality too. Obviously getting the real recordered avi would be great but I'm satisfied, unless someone is so kind to upload it somewhere^^ *yay* Haven't felt this excited in awhile XD

Some problems have cropped up in my project. Research is so dodgy and you have to play sneaky. How fun :) But I was thinking if these obstacles didn't arise, I would have taken every thing for granted. So I'm glad for this experience, eventhough it means my workload has risen sharply, and lots of worrying pitfalls that you have no control over.

But first, Music Fair talk part. To tell you the truth, I haven't watch the segments properly. I need to get home and watch the rips so I can grin like an idiot in peace.



Iwasawa is actually talking this time! He is normally so shy. Its refreshing to watch them conversing rather than singing just this once. Don't ask me what they are saying because I have no idea. But their respective expressions are enough to get me all animated. I think they talk about one another (feedback & spill secrets^^), and how they met in primary school.

Its surprising that they are the only guest on this episode of Music Fair. But it means we get to watch them perform 3 songs. Yay!!



逢いたい Aitai (I want to see you)!! I still love this song to bits. The background is so pretty and shiny.


栄光の架橋 Eikō no Kakehashi (The Bridge of Glory) is a song by Yuzu I've never posted on my journal before, but probably one of their most well-know song (besides Natsuiro^^). It was the unofficial theme song for the 2000(?-trying to remember the year) olympics being broadcast in Japan. Very inspirational as always! And then of course, immediately after that they performed Niji (Rainbow) which is so much ♥ Translation of the lyrics by ra1nee here!! *grateful*

( For once, I'm spending money on something other than on food! )

Speaking of which, they have a new concert tour at the end of the year. And a new album titled FURUSATO (HOMETOWN). Some info:

Popular singer-songwriter duo Yuzu finish off a super-productive year with their ninth album Furusato. Their new album comes with the singles they've released in the past year including CM songs Niji and Yesterday and Tomorrow, megahit Aitai, Salaryman Kintaro theme song Shish Kebab, and the limited summer single Ichigo. Other recent tie-in songs like Yokohama port opening anniversary song Mirai and the Zoom!! SUPER theme song Superman are also included. Continuing the duo's tradition of writing music that feel as warm and comfortable as your hometown, Kitagawa Yujin created the new song Haruka to express his feelings about visiting Africa, and Iwasawa Koji wrote the exquisite ballad Futatsu Kotoba.

First Press releases come in special packaging with 36-page booklet; only while supplies last.
Source: YesAsia

Congratulations to the guys! Now, I have to go home if I want to wake up on time tomorrow. Oh, another good thing that has happened to me recently is I'm forced to get up early to be at my desk around 9am. So I've been breathing the fresh (? or the freshest it can be) air every morning and feeling very good about myself =P We need a quote, we need a quote to finish off!! XD *does a quick browse*

"I like to think that somewhere out there, on a planet exactly like ours, two people exactly like you and me made totally different choices and that, somewhere, we're still together.

That's enough for me."

Fully obssessed with this song at the moment. I love love it ♥

Firstly, the lyrics.

I can't find a translation of it yet. But from what I can pick out, its about life :) Looking forward in life. For example, the chorus 越えて 越えて 越えて (koete, koete..) means 'To surpass'. A theme about hope, light, the colours of the rainbow span across tomorrow. (I'm pretty desperate to know what it means^^ ahaha.)

Secondly, the PV.

The first thing it reminded me of was the Studio Ghibli anime, Howl's Moving Castle. Just because the building could move XD But the concept of this PV is brilliant, eventhough I don't totally understand it. Anyone want to try give their interpretation? The people in the moving cafe probably represent individuals who do not know one another but happen to cross paths at that point in time and shared an experience together. I wonder what each of them saw through the hole? I'm guessing their childhood, their past or dreams or precious memories? Also maybe the enclosed gloomy cafe represented a form hiding and through the hole they saw the light to their future.

( 虹 PV )

I've found two performances of Niji! Which are both superb.

This first one was performed at the recent 24hrsTV programme aired in Japan (which probably most on my f-list know was hosted by NEWS). I'm not going to lie, I've no interest in NEWS anymore. When I first started following them, I already had a dislike for Shige and Koyoma. And Tegoshi followed soon after. Shige=smug face. Tegoshi=arrogant brat. Koyoma=nice & ok when not singing or dancing. The last straw was when Yamapi changed his hairstyle during the Koi no ABO period, that was pure hideous. Only liking 2/6 members wasn't helpful. Although I think I will always keep up with NEWS just because of Ryo & Massu XD Yamapi redeems himself sometimes when he smiles from the heart, otherwise he is pretty bland most of the time. So feel free to de-friend me if you can't bear to read me dissing your favourite members :) I'm totally ok with that, because people move on.

Back to the perf, fortunately one good thing came out of NEWS hosting the show this year, hopefully someone shared this for download somewhere. This song makes me feel so good.

( 虹 24hr TV Performance )

On Music Station yesterday (friday). Super HQ video thanks to the uploader. I really want to know a way to contact her, its been difficult to find a good raw to subtitle V6's 2 appearances on this show for Guilty. SMAP (the group of men they spoke to) is awfully weird. Why the Japanese love this idol group, I've never been able to understand. And because of that, I've always wondered what tastes these people have -_-'. YUZU look awesome. I like both their clothes. Did I say already, I love the song. Yujin so handsome!!

Do you spy V6 looking cool in tux behind? ^_^ Don't slouch!! :(

( 虹 Music Station Performance )

Since we are on that topic, HQ video of V6's performance of Guilty yesterday. ahaha, you can see some of the 'uh-huh' moves I was talking about. That aside, very cool performance, different from the one last week but both very 'attractive' to watch. Some of the vocals were shaky though. I think they were talking about the picture of Ken taking a shower that they showed at the beginning of the CC concerts.

( V6 Guilty Music Station Performance )

The only clip I downloaded from the 24hrTV show was Ryo's Darts Trip. So cuuuute I tell you. I love how he is so straightforward all the time.

( Oh Ryo! )

Those who haven't watched some of the performances from this year's FNS must go here to download them! This annual Japanese music festival, I badly wanted to download the whole thing from clubbox, but the download wouldn't budge. Thanks to hiroki_chan, I was ecstatic to find she had uploaded some of the perfs. *hugs* to her!!

Loved the perfs by Yuzu, Mr.Children, Kobukuro, Aqua Times, V6 etc. etc. NEWS's performance was sub-standard (what can you expect!), Koyoma totally sang out of tune. But Ryo was hot~ Massu was still cute with his new hairstyle. V6 was classy! I'm glad they sang Chou, missed seeing them perform this song. They looked handsome with their tux, Ryo was too (have I mentioned ^^)

Watching some of the clips made me think again, why can't the chinese music industry produce top-notch artists like the names I mentioned above? Some of these awesome bands (I'm not refering to JE, I'm sure you know) can even sing better live then on mp3. The energy and emotions they potray from their singing spread through to the audience. One day, maybe one day I'll get the chance to be there live myself. Some of those fortunate people who manage to take a trip to Japan but go watch Johnny's concerts only, I feel they've really missed the opportunity. haha. And being the lyrics freak that I am, these bands write such meaningful lyrics about life (and not only sop sop love stories that most chinese songs are about), it makes the music all the more interesting and worth-while to listen to.

About Yuzu, according to Wikipedia, its a band whose members are Kitagawa Yujin and Koji Iwasawa. They started out as street musicians and released their first single in 1998 titled 'Natsuiro' (Colour of Summer), which is a lovely lovely cheerful song, go listen! Here is their performance of 'Story' at this year's FNS. If you like them, watch their concerts on youtube, they are full of energy, seriously~ And I've realised musicians tend to keep their youthful looks. Generally, they age gracefully. I think its because all negative stress is released through their singing. These guys are born in 1977 and 1976 respectively. That makes them around 30. They look young!

Good evening everyone!!! This is YUZU!!~~

( your own story, my own story, only one story )