And now the song translated from Perfume’s ⊿ album is this one! I love the sound of this and originally thought the song would have cute romantic messages but the lyrics turned out to be of a really needy girl. (Nakata, the things you are making Perfume sing!)

I had just planned to do up to this – you know, “favorites from the album” and all – but apparently my favorite new songs are pretty much every new song on the album that’s not in complete English. So I might do Zero Gravity for fun too.

Like always, alert me to any mistakes you might see! Japanese, romaji, and English lyrics under the cut.

Japanese

言葉じゃうまく言えないの
ぬくもりだって足りないの
視線の行く先はどこ？
キミに全てあげるわ

心がうまく冷えないの
ぬくもりだっていらないの
期待の向く先はどこ？
キミに全てあげるわ

You are my heart, my life, and my soul.
I love you more than words can say. Ah
You are my heart, my life, and my soul.
The best thing that I can do is to show you now.×2

Romaji

Kotoba jya umaku ie nai no
Nukumori datte tarinai no
Shisen no yukusaki wa doko?
Kimi ni subete ageru wa

Kokoro ga umaku hienai no
Nukumori datte iranai no
Kitai no muku saki wa doko?
Kimi ni subete ageru wa

You are my heart, my life, and my soul.
I love you more than words can say. Ah
You are my heart, my life and my soul.
The best thing that i can do is to show you now. x2

English

Can’t say it well in words
Not feeling enough warmth
Where are your eyes looking?
I’ll give you all of me.

My heart doesn’t get cold
Don’t need any warmth
What are you anticipating?
I’ll give you all of me.

You are my heart, my life, and my soul.
I love you more than words can say. Ah
You are my heart, my life and my soul.
The best thing that i can do is to show you now.　x2

Next on my list of favorites from Perfume on ⊿ is this one. I think this song (and the accompanying PV and performance) is superb – the voices are full of longing while the music is fun and retro-sounding. A retro midtempo techno ballad? Yes please!

As always, I am simply someone trying to learn Japanese by translating and is by no means an expert, so if you see any mistakes anywhere let me know! Japanese, romaji, and English lyrics under the cut.

Japanese

キミをどんなに想い続けても
あたしにできることなんかなくて
夕焼けみたいに沈む気持ちを
胸にしまいこむ

それがどんなに意味のないことで
一つも変わることがなくても
一緒に笑い合える関係
それを守りたい

願うなら　さよなら　と　笑えるより
寂しいねって　いってくれるよな　そんなふたりがいい

※I still love U 抜け出せない　迷路のよう　見えないドア
I can smile 隠してるの　この気持ち　涙に変えて
You and me どうしようもない　それはきっと　あたし自身
rescue me なんていえない　目を閉じて　眠りにつく

あまり連絡がこないときでも
あたしにできることなんかなくて
曇り空みたいなこの気持ちを
胸にしまいこむ

震えた気がして電話を見て
気のせいだとがっかりしたりもして
次はいつになるとあえるかな
思い続ける

願うなら　じゃあまたね　って手を振るより
寂しいねって　いってくれるよな　そんなふたりがいい

※

Romaji

Kimi wo donna ni omoi tsuzuketemo
Atashi ni dekiru koto nanka nakute
Yuuyake midai ni shizumu kimochi wo
Mune ni shimai komu

Sore ga donna ni imi no nai koto de
Hitotsu mo kawaru koto ga nakute mo
Isshouni warai aeru kankei
Sore wo mamori tai

Negau nara sayonara to waraeru yori
Sabishii nete ittekureru yona sonna futari ga ii

※ I still love U muke nasenai meiro no you mienai DOA
I can smile kakushi teru no kono kimochi namida ni kaete
You and me doushiyou mo nai sore wa kitto atashi jishin
Rescue me nante ienai me wo toji de nemuri ni tsuku

Amari renraku ga konai to kidemo
Atashi ni dekiru koto nanka nakute
Kumori sora itai na kono kimochi wo
Mune ni shimai komu

Furueta ki ga shite denwa wo mitte
Ki no sei dato gakkari shitairi moshite
Tsugu wa itsuni naru to aerukana
Omoi tsuzukeru

Negau nara jyaa mata ne ne te wo furu yori
Sabishii nette ittekureru yo na sonna futari ga ii

※

English

What kind of thoughts did you have
I can do without thinking about it
I just want to sink into the sunset
Store these thoughts inside my chest

It doesn’t have any meaning but
Still nothing has to change
Always smiling together as one
I want to protect that

As for my wish, smiling is better than goodbyes
I’m lonely when you leave, it’s better when it’s the two of us

※I still love U   Don’t slip away　A maze with invisible doors
I can smile   Holding back changes these feelings into tears
You and me   Can’t be helped, I’m always by myself
rescue me  I can’t just shut my eyes and fall asleep

There’s not much contact between us
I can do without thinking about it
It feels like there’s a cloudy sky
Store these thoughts inside my chest

My heart trembles when I look at the phone
It’s just my imagination and I feel disappointed
Next time I’m strange it’ll be because
My feelings will continue

As for my wish, well see you later and wave goodbye
I’m lonely when you leave, it’s better when it’s the two of us

※

I am loving the new songs from Perfume’s new album ⊿ and I’m working on translating what I can. “Kiss and Music” is one of my new favorites – simple and short but staying sophisticated and sexy.

As always, I am no expert by any means and translate for the learning, so if you see any mistakes, alert me! Original Japanese, romaji, and my attempt of the English translation under the cut.

Japanese

夜の隙間が　鋭角になる
わからないのね　刺激じゃないわ

コインを投げて　運で決めるの？
勇気ないのね　踏み出せないの？　ねえ

※
DANCE. The kiss and music
潜る音 basement
DANCE. キミのABC　伝わるのよfeel
your eyes, your hands, your lips,
love me, see me, catch me, touch me,
Kiss and Music

あなたの隙は　わかりやすいけど
わからないのは　あの日のことね

コルクを開けて酔いに揺られて
勇気ないのね　踏み出せないの？　ねえ

※

Romaji

Yoru no sukima ga eikaku ni naru
Wakaranai no ne shigeki janai wa

KOIN wo nagete un de kimeru no?
Yuuki nai no ne fumi dasenai no? nee

※
DANCE. The kiss and music
Moguru oto basement
DANCE. Kimi no ABC tsutawaru no yo feel
your eyes, your hands, your lips,
love me, see me, catch me, touch me,
Kiss and Music

Anata no suki wa wakari yasui kedo
Wakaranai no wa ano nichi no koto ne

KORUKU wo agete yoi ni yurarete
Yuuki nai no ne fumi dasenai no? nee

REPEAT ※

English

The gap between us gets acute at night
I don’t understand why you’re not excited

Flip a coin and let luck decide?
Don’t have the courage to step forward? Hey

※
DANCE. The kiss and music
Dive into the sounds of the basement
DANCE. Your ABC. The feel of the flow
your eyes, your hands, your lips,
love me, see me, catch me, touch me,
Kiss and Music

Your space is easy to understand but
I don’t understand what happened that day.

Pop open the cork and get intoxicated on your movement
Don’t have the courage to step forward? Hey

REPEAT ※

I usually don’t do song by song review types or anything like that on this blog, but after the leaks (cough from the normal sources), I’m certain ⊿ (Triangle) deserves attention and praise for what its achieved – both for Nakata and for Perfume.

Starting with the songs themselves: Take off is a futuristic opener with a simple concept: a countdown from ten to one until the start of the actual songs. What it does differently is that each number is repeated three time – presumably once representing for each girl, and going off the triad concept of the album. The synth is gorgeous and the vocalizations add to the mystery of the short track. I do believe the transition into love the world could be slightly better handled, but the pairing is marvelous: similar synth sounds, but one mysterious and dark leading into one cheerful and poppy.

love the world is followed by Dream Fighter, and sounds like a fairly natural progression given that the two singles seemed to pair along from the very beginning. It then leads into edge(⊿-mix) – a more aggressive version on what is already an (shall I say it?) edgy song. Most of it sounds very similar to the original and extended versions of the track, but the additional synth created melodies inserted in between the vocals, along with the addition of distorted noise and pure instrumental portions, give the track even more of a gritty club feel than the original.

edge leads into NIGHT FLIGHT, this year’s PINO CM song. The song has a throwback feel with 80’s style synth instrumentals, but don’t pin it as retro: Perfume’s echoed vocals and a strong synth bass line give this track a modern twist. The song is sophisticated and is at the same time catchy.

Kiss and Music is next, a funky and sometimes dissonant slow track. Unlike most of Perfume’s music, Kiss and Music lacks a distinct pop melody and track – instead, it offers a fairly simple minor track paired with sensual, almost spoken lyrics.

It’s then a smooth transition into Zero Gravity that’s a fun midtempo version of 90’s shibuya-kei. It has a clear piano backing track to match soft and sweet vocals. The song is – for the lack of a better description – adorable, and is a nice change of style for the girls.

I still love U follows to give us a retro styled track paired with a unforgetably catchy melody. The instrumental itself sounds like 80s and 90s synth pop. The vocals switch between vocoded to be muffled and more distorted and to be  fairly clear. The chorus is sweet and longing and wonderfully paired with strains of violin.  The only fault of the song is breakdown before the last chorus: it adds a nice emphasis on the last part but should ideally be only half or less of its current length.

The best thing follows with fun twinkly synth sounds paired with a fun melody. The chorus is catchy and fun to sing along to. It doesn’t achieve anything new but does give a great song. It leads into Speed of Sound – which is less of a Perfume track than something like an interlude. There’s no distinct melody and Perfume only contributes spoken words into a colorfully varying song. The lack of melody makes the song more of a club than a pop song, but the song does provide a cute atmosphere.

The ending of the Speed of Sound leads nicely into the grating synth beginning to One Room Disco. Finally, the album ends with Negai (album mix). The difference would be the addition of acoustic piano and strings to the beginning, as well as along with additional acoustic effects throughout the song’s arrangement. The additional instruments sound a little messy paired with the heavy percussion during the bridge and refrains, but the addition of strings and timpani is a perfect addition during the choruses. There’s also a pleasant new acoustic ending to the song. I loved the original Negai, but I think the album mix offers a more personal, humanized version of the song – a fitting ending to an album that was strictly electronic.

Overall, I think ⊿ is an amazing album musically and Nakata has done a great job once again – there are definitely going to be new Perfume favorites coming out of this.

And to address the increasingly common viewpoint that Perfume is becoming capsule part two, I think ⊿ can confidently disprove that claim. It’s true that some of the songs wouldn’t look out of place in a current capsule album – like Take Off, Kiss and Music, or Speed of Sound – but the other tracks are all still the pop-based technopop Perfume fans know and love. Do you thinks  Yes, the songs do feature significantly stronger club-based influences, but does anyone want Perfume’s music to have stalled permanently at the offerings in GAME? Yes, Perfume sounds differently in ⊿ – but they sounded differently in GAME from Complete Best too. It’s natural for an artist to evolve, even if the evolution is strongly based on the producer. I think its brave for Nakata and Perfume to try some drastically new styles in the album songs when they could have just have released a rehash of songs that sound right in place in GAME in order to continue off the sophomore album’s success.

Most importantly, ⊿ makes me realize how big an influence Perfume is in the music. No, I do not believe Nakata would be able to make I still love U as charming as he did if he had used Toshiko’s vocals instead of mixing Perfume’s three lines together. The vocoding has changed and it’s harder to differentiate the three voices – but you can still differentiate three different voices during the solos for most of the songs. Perfume still adds their personal charm to their songs and are still present.

If you’re feeling disappointed that Perfume in ⊿ no longer sounds like the Polyrhythm or Chocolate Disco Perfume you fell in love with, throw away your bias and just listen to the music for a moment, and tell me if you enjoy it. And if not, that’s fine, it’s just not your style: personally, my GAME loving heart still thinks GAME is one of the best albums of all time. But lets put Perfume’s history aside for a moment.

Hmm. That’s been a rambling. I guess in conclusion what I’m saying is just that ⊿ is an AMAZING album, and I’m loving several of the new album tracks with just a few listens. Go on and give them a try – whether you’re a big fan of Perfume’s sound in GAME or not, you might be pleasantly surprised!

I hadn’t liked the B-side “23:30″ to Perfume’s “One Room Disco” single when I first heard it, saying that it was looped and uninventive. …well, a lot can change when you listen to this lounge-like, mellow song for twenty times on repeat when pulling an all nighter! A google search didn’t turn up lyrics for me again ): so I attempted it myself, again.

Like before, if you see some mistake with my romaji or English translation (very likely), please drop me a comment.

Japanese, Romaji, and English all under the cut.

日本語

美しい　夜のライト　23：30の
ふたりは　眠らない　時間を　求めて
やわらかい　温度で　包まれ　たいのに
いつかは　昇るよ　新しい　日が来る

[CHORUS]
そう　ねぇ　愛して　遠くに　いたくない
わずかな　時間が　切なく　過ぎてく
どれほど　過ごせば
ひとつに　なれるの
変わらない　終わらない
何かを　探すの

楽しい 夜でも 23：30の
ふたりは  変わらない  時間を　求めて
やわらかい　温度で　包まれ　たいのに
いつかは　昇るよ　新しい　日が来る

[CHORUS x2]

そう　ねぇ…
そう　ねぇ…

Romaji

Utsukushi yoru no raito nijyuu san jihan no
Futari wa nemuranai jikan wo motomete
Yawarakai ondo de tsutsumare tai no ni
Itsuka wa noboru yo atarashii higakuru

[CHORUS]
Sou ne aishite tooku ni itakunai
Wazukana jikan ga setsunaku sugiteku
Dorehodo sugoseba
Hitotsuni nareru no
Kawaranai owaranai
Nanika wo sagasu no

Tanoshii yoru demo nijyuu san jihan no
Futari wa kawaranai jikan wo motomete
Yawarakai ondo de tsutsumare tai no ni
Itsuka wa noboru yo atarashii higakuru

[CHORUSx2]

Sou ne…
Sou ne…

English

The beautiful light of night at 23:30
The two of us don’t sleep, just asking for more time
The comfortable warmth wraps around me, burns me
At some time we’ll have to get up when the new day arrives

[CHORUS]
That’s right, I love you, I don’t want to be far from you
Don’t cut short the little time we have
Becoming accustomed to being alone
Don’t change, don’t end
What are we searching for

A wonderful night, but it’s 23:30
The two of us don’t change, just asking for more time
The comfortable warmth wraps around me, burns me
At some time we’ll have to get up when the new day arrives

[CHORUS x2]

That’s right…
That’s right…

Some other (aka better) translation is probably floating around the internet somewhere, but since I finished it anyways for my own sake: Perfume “One Room Disco” lyrics.

If you see some mistake with my romaji or English translation (very like), please drop me a comment.

Kanji, Romaji, and English all under the cut.

Kanji

ワンルーム・ディスコ
ディスコディスコ ワンルーム・ディスコ ディスコ ディスコ

なんだって少なめ 半分の生活
だけど荷物は重い 気分は軽い
窓を開けても 見慣れない風景
ちょっと落ち着かないけれど そのうち楽しくなるでしょ

# 新しい場所で上手くやって行けるかな？
部屋を片付けて 買い物に出かけよう
遠い空の向こう 君は何を想うの？
たぶんできるはずって思わなきゃしょうがない

ディスコ ディスコ ワンルーム・ディスコ ディスコ ディスコ

なんだって少なめ 半分の生活
だけど気になるカロリー 気分は軽い
シャンプーをしながら 目を閉じたまま
シャワーも出せないけれど そのうち慣れてくるでしょ

% 新しい場所で上手くやって行けるかな？
音楽をかけて 計画をネリネリ
今日はなんだかね おもしろいこともないし
リズムに揺られたいんだ ワンルーム・ディスコ

昼間みたい 街の明かりが
星空を見えなくする
たくさんのまぶしい光
溶けて消えちゃいそうだ

#
%

Romaji

One Room Disco
Disco Disco One Room Disco Disco Disco

Nandatte suku name hanbun no seikatsu
Dakedo nimotsu wa omoi kibun wa karui
Mado wo ake temo mi narenai fuukei
Chotto ochi tsukanai keredo sono uchi tanoshiku naru desho

# Atarashii basho de uwaku yatte ikeru kana?
Heya wo katazukete kaimono ni de kakeyo
Tooi sora no mukou kimi wa nani wo omou no
Tabun de kiru hazute omou wana kyashou ga nai

Disco Disco One Room Disco Disco Disco

Nandake suku name hanbun no seikatsu
Dakedo ki ni naru carorii kibun wa karui
Shyanpoo wo shinagara me wo tojita mama
Shyawaa mo dasenai keredo sono uchi narete kuru desho

% Atarashii basho de uwaku yatte ikeru kana?
Ongaku wo kakete keikaku wo meri meri
Kyou wa nan dakane omoshiroi koto mo naishi
Rizumu ni yurare tainda one room disco

Hiruma mitai machi no akari ga
Hoshizora wo mienaku suru
Takusan no mabushii hikari
Tokete kie chai souda

(Repeat #)
(Repeat %)

English

One Room Disco
Disco Disco One Room Disco Disco Disco

Feels like something is missing, like living half a life
Though my luggage is heavy, my mood is light
I open the window, but I can only see a foreign scene
I feel unsettled, but I’m sure it’ll all be enjoyable soon.

#In this new place, will everything go smoothly?
After I finish cleaning the room, I’ll go do some shopping
Over at the other side of the far sky, what are you thinking about?
There’s no choice but to think everything is alright.

Disco Disco One Room Disco Disco Disco

Feels like something is missing, like living half a life
My mood is light but I still need to watch my calories
While shampooing my hair I have to close my eyes
There’s no working shower, but I’m sure I’ll be used to this home soon

% In this new place, will everything go smoothly?
Playing music while I make my plans,
It feels like so far nothing today has been fun
So I’ll just rock to the rhythm, a one room disco

Like the streets lit up so bright like daytime
That it hides the starry sky
So much dazzling light
Is soon going to fade and disappear

(Repeat #)
(Repeat %)

Perfume’s “One Room Disco” will be released on March 25th. The song has been described as a danceable spring song.The B-side is a song called “23:00.”

With a song that has disco in the name, the first thing that comes to mind is of course “Chocolate Disco” – the old sleeper single on “Fan Service Sweet” that became a huge hit after Perfume got famous.Some were ecstatic about a possible similarity to “Chocolate Disco,” some were critical that Perfume was going in a backwards direction. But what about the actual song?

“One Room Disco” starts off hard, with strong and dissonant electronic chords and a heavy bass. But twenty seconds later, the song turns around 180 and switches into a lighter, breezier song. But to just describe it as that really doesn’t do it justice. As all perfume songs go, the melody itself is slightly repetitive but unbelievably catchy. The vocoding seems a little more electronic this time and fairly thin and high pitched in the chorus, but in Nakata style, the girls’ voices are still distinguishable.

And the backing track itself is terrific. The song blends girly, twinkly synth sounds with a strong techno beats – but heavily relies on bass guitar to fill up the bass rather than a synth bass. The song also refrains an echoey, six-note tune that sounds like it came straight out of a retro 70’s disco. The song has a really mellow atmosphere – think Perfume’s “Macaroni” – but is still uptempo. There’s also some capsule-esque techno breaks in between, as if to remind you that Perfume’s music, despite being cute and poppy, still means business.

And the video! The set of “One Room Disco” is simple but gorgeously designed. Perfume uses the power of computer graphics to weave seamlessly in and out of small, simple, primarily-colored cube rooms – cube rooms that turn into a neon-lit dance paradise complete with their own disco balls and LED-lit floors during dance sequences. They play with props -they even turn into staff for each other and hold around set props during the slow interlude.  But my favorite part would be in the beginning, where Perfume stand in the dark, lit only be the strobelights, as a wind blows on them – it’s a chillingly beautiful scene. “One Room Disco’s” dance is, compared to their last several dances, quite a bit simpler, due to both a slower rhythm as well as this song’s emphasis on sounding cute. There’s also a slight focus of emphasis on apples – perhaps a throwback to “Polyrhythm,” where an apple was used as a strong visual as well?

Perfume continue to walk the line between pop and techno – both the music and the video show the blending of idol-pop and a techno. Depending on whether your tastes for Perfume lean towards pop or electronic, “One Room Disco” may or may not completely satisfy you – for my usual tastes, this song leans a bit much on the poppy side. But I still love it – the instrumentals are so complex and the tune so catchy, “One Room Disco” is yet another Perfume song that has completely engaged me.

Kohaku’s artist lineup for this year has been released.

Newcomers on the red team (female) are Aoyama Thelma, Akimoto Junko (enka singer who I think made it big this year with her single “Ai no Mama De”), Ikimonogakari, GIRL NEXT DOOR, Perfume, and Fujioka Fujimaki and Ohashi Nozomi (the two men and the little girl who sang the theme to Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea).

Newcomers to the white team (male) are Kimaguren, Kiyama Yusaku, Jero, Shuchishin with Pabo, Tohoshinki(DBSK), Mr. Children, and Mizutani Yutaka (enka singer who made a comeback).

Overall, expected additions for the year. I’m not familiar with enka singers, but the female singers who made it big this year all made it onto the show (Perfume! Yes!). I’m surprised and pleased that Ikimonogakari are finally on. For the male artists though, I’m surprised it took this long for Mr. Children to make it on.

Full lineup is

RED TEAM: aiko, Aoyama Thelma, Akiyama Junko, Ayaka, Angela Aki, Ikimonogakari, Ishikawa Sayuri, Otsuka Ai, Kawanaka Mizuki, GIRL NEXT DOOR, Koda Kumi, Godai Natsuko, Kobayashi Sachiko, Sakamoto Fuyumi, SPEED, Tendo Yoshimi, Nakashima Mika, Nakamura Mitsuko, Hamasaki Ayumi, Perfume, Hitoto Yo, Hirahara Ayaka, Fuji Ayako, Fujioka Fujimaki and Ohashi Nozomi, Mizumori Kaori, and Wada Akiko.

WHITE TEAM: Akikawa Masafumi, Aqua Timez, Itsuki Hiroshi, EXILE, Kitajima Saburo, Kitayama Takeshi, Kimagurin, Kiyama Yusaku, Kobukuro, Shuuchishin with Pabo, SMAP, Tohoshinki (DBSK), TOKIO, Tokunaga Hideaki, Hikawa Kiyoshi, Hirai Ken, Fuse Akira, Porno Graffiti, Maekawa Kiyoshi, Mikawa Kenichi, Mr. Children, Mizutani Yutaka, Mori Shinichi, Moriyama Naotaro, and WaT.

Overall, same as you’d expect – the popular pop artists plus all those established enka singers (I had to google every one of them… pain). I’m glad that Perfume made it onto Kouhaku – hopefully, they’ll be here the year after too. Also, Tohoshinki has officially made it big in Japan. Absent from the list are any girl idols besides Perfume – not a year for AKB48 or H!P, I guess. Also absent despite their pretty big hype this year: Amuro Namie, Fukuhara Miho, and Shimizu Shota.

So will Kouhaku be your Japanese new year’s programming of choice?

(…unfortunately, no matter how nicely Perfume and Otsuka Ai will be strutting their stuff on stage, all the enka will render my early death. Yeah, not really a fan. I’ll be sticking to my good old standby: Johnny’s Countdown. )

Perfume’s highly anticipated next single “Dream Fighter” will be released on November 19.

Since it’s radio rip released, I’ve been loving this song hardcore. There’s a stronger techno backing with the beat and the bass, but it’s the same it’s paired with the same catchy melodies that Perfume always has. There’s a little less vocoding in here than usual, perserving the girls’ voices more to their original while still being electronically altered. …just trust me. A few plays and there’s no way this song can get out of your head.

The PV surprised me with its simplicity, especially after the CG free for all that was “love the world.” The black screen and beginning reminded me strongly of their “Computer City” PV  – but if they’re going for a comparison, this is like their computer city primped up and adorned with gold (which, hey, they kind of are). The simple black scene soon evoles into a video filled with light, angle, and CG effects, not to mention paired with a dance that looks complex and streamlined. The angle shots are gorgeous and the bubbles make for a great transition method.

The frantic changes in angle make it hard to really watch the dance, but there are absolutely gorgeous solo shots. (Nocchi at 0:38! 1:02! 3:20! As you can tell, I’m a big Nocchi fan…) You wouldn’t think it, but they actually used a lot of CG bubbles to positively highligt the video. Probably the only thing I didn’t originally like were the yellow costumes, but I admit they do look really good against the black background. The video is clean and fresh but still engaging.

Looks like working on his new album hasn’t made Nakata skimp on Perfume at all. This is another terrific release for Perfume – the string of good songs just doesn’t stop! It’s hard to try to describe Perfume songs in a pseudo intelligent way to get you to listen, while all I want to do is squeal in joy at it. I can’t wait for live performances to begin.

I hope this single duplicates and exceeds the success of “love the world.” The b-side on this single is called “Negai” (wish) – no preview yet, but I’m hoping for a “Seventh Heaven” esque electroballad. Then again, with Nakata, you can never tell. Support Perfume, and buy this great single! (:

First things first: with some computer problems, I haven’t really been too caught up on the scene and what’s happening – which means I haven’t been blogging much and probably won’t be blogging much for awhile.

But just for fun while I’m borrowing a friend’s computer, here’s a list of the ladies in Japanese entertainment I want to look like the most. I found that many times, talent and popularity doesn’t equal me exactly wanting to look at them – and women that male fans (and some female fans) drool over don’t seem so hot to me.

So based completely on being shallow and judgmental on looks for once, here’s my top ten girls:

10. Toda Erika

Toda Erika used to look a little weird and awkward to me, but it’s mostly her fashion that caught my attention. I’ll admit, I only started liking her after I saw her in her drama Liar Game with a great colorful costume, bright tights and all. Also, recently she’s been going for a more sexy look – and it’s really working for her.

9. Otsuka Ai

Otsuka Ai has her moments for me; sometimes she looks really insanely gorgeous, and sometimes she looks kind of frumpy (her Rocket Sneaker promotions, or her Tokyo Friends promotion posters…) but I think she has great style – I always want to copy her clothes and hairstyles. (And, she really deserves a spot on this list because I actually went into a salon with her Renai Shashin-era picture, asking for that haircut.) Quirky style, and pulls everything off really cute and prettily.

8. Tanaka Reina

I knew almost nothing about Tanaka Reina; I still don’t know much about her aside from that she’s one of the tops in Momusu now and that she has wonky eyes, but ever since a long time ago I thought she was really beautiful; it’s all in those amazing eyes.

7. Nocchi of Perfume

Nocchi has her moments for me – sometimes she looks plain on shows – but most times, she’s so amazing and fierce. A lot of her appeal towards me comes from her hair – I always love her hairstyles. I also love how she pulls off her clothes; she looks good in almost everything.

6. Suzuki Airi

Yet another H!P girl I know almost nothing about, except for that fact that she’s really pretty. And yes, she’s young, but hey – judging totally on looks here. Like Tanaka Reina, I really like Airi’s eyes.

5. Shaku Yumiko

Shaku Yumiko is just really, really hot. And wears clothes really well. I mean, I finished her drama Himitsu no Hanazono not for male eye candy but because I really liked the clothes she wore in that drama. And – really now, look at the picture, she’s just really, really hot.

4. Ishihara Satomi

Ishihara Satomi used to look kind of plain sometimes, but recently she’s just been layering on the wow factor. Always really simple looking, but pulls everything off really perfectly – just gorgeous. I haven’t watched her dramas so I have no idea how she carries herself, but from what I’ve seen she’s beautiful and graceful.

3. Aya of SweetS

Yeah, okay, SweetS has been defunct for awhile and I have no idea what she looks like now – but I love how SweetS-era Aya looked like. Style-wise, not so much, but she has a very pretty face.

2. Horikita Maki

She’s not a “standard beauty” by any sense, but she can pull off the long hair and flirty dresses or the short hair and boyish fashion. She is just beautiful, period, and so close to being #1 on my list, if not for…

1. Aragaki Yui

Aragaki Yui is just so naturally gorgeous. Her hair, makeup, and clothes are all rather simple, but she always pulls it off beautifully. It doesn’t hurt that she actually has great style, of course.

So there we go – if I wake up tomorrow looking as Aragaki Yui, I could die happily.