Posted in December 2005

紅白スキウタ アンケート

The final results for NHK 紅白スキウタ is revealed on the NHK site this evening and Akina achieved the following results (in descending order of votes) – and there are some interesting and surprising choices:

雪の花 – 1 vote

二人静 – 1 vote

ブロンド – 1 vote

中森明菜ヒットメドレー – 1 vote (???)

初めて出逢った日のように – 1 vote

華-HANA- 1 vote

椿姫ジュリアーナ – 1 vote

秋桜 – 1 vote

カバー曲傘がない – 1 vote

あなたへのレポート – 1 vote

TOKYO ROSE – 1 vote

I hope so – 1 vote

LIAR – 1 vote

Dear Friend – 1 vote

fire starter-stock – 1 vote

マリオネット – 2 votes

月華 – 2 votes

原始、女は太陽だった – 2 votes

The Heat ^musica fiesta^ – 2 votes

ラボエム (LA Boheme) - 3 votes

瑠璃色の地球 – 4 votes

トワイライト – 4 votes

サンドベージュ – 3 votes + (sandbeige 砂漠へ) – 1 vote Total: 4 votes

days – 4 votes

ジプシークィーン – 5 votes

禁句 – 5 votes

水に挿した花 – 6 votes

少女A – 9 votes

帰省 – 9 votes

愛撫 – 9 votes

サザンウィンド – 11 votes

十戒 – 11 votes

tattoo – 12 votes

tangonoir – 24 votes

スローモーション – 25 votes

セカンドラブ – 53 votes

難破船 – 266 votes

赤い鳥にげた – 254 votes

赤い花 – 387 votes

Akina’s Top 3 Songs:

(3) ミ・アモーレ – 434 votes

(2) 飾りじゃないのよ涙は – 6915 (紅14) – No. 14 in poll

(1) DESIRE – 7267 votes (紅11) – 11th in poll

Now let’s look at the Top 10 and see who’s been invited from the list:

(1) LOVEマシーン – モーニング娘 (invited and singing this song)

(2) 涙そうそう – 夏川りみ(invited and singing this song)

(3) さくらんぼ – 大塚愛 (invited but not singing this song)

(4) ハナミズキ – 一青 窈 (invited and singing this song)

(5) Yeah!めっちゃホリディ – 松浦亜弥 (invited but not singing this song)

(6) Jupiter – 平原綾香 (invited but not singing this song)

(7)  地上の星 – 中島みゆき (not invited)

(8) 川の流れのように – 美空ひばり (deceased)

(9) 雪の華 – 中島美嘉 (invited and singing this song)

(10) いい日旅立ち – 山口百恵 (retired)

So far so good. I’m not so pissed off yet but now let’s look at some other singers who were invited instead of Akina:

(12) カブトムシ – aiko

(13) やさしいキスをして/DREAMS COME TRUE (invited and singing this song)

(16) 天城越え – 石川さゆり (invited and singing this song)

(21) 赤いスイートピー – 松田聖子

(25) My Revolution – 渡辺美里 (invited and singing this song)

(26) LOVE LOVE LOVE – DREAMS COME TRUE (invited and singing this song)

(61) あなたに逢いたくて~Missing You~ – 松田聖子

(71) 青い珊瑚礁 – 松田聖子

(75) 二輪草 – 川中美幸 (invited and singing this song) – This is ridiculous!!!

NHK has some serious explaining to do here. Akina has done extremely well to have not only 2 songs in the Top 100, but the only female singer with 2 songs in the Top 15, and she is being overlooked in place for singers who scored lower than her!!!

I sincerely hope that newspapers will start picking up on this fact and demand some justice be made towards Akina and her fans!! This clearly reflects their total disregard for the poll, which makes it irrelevant in the first place …

The only consolation is that she did so much better than Seiko, who is voted by HMV as the 7th Best Japanese Singer of All Time …

Year-end goodies

Quite a few goodies arrive today (phew…in time for 2006!):

1. New Year Postcard

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Message from Akina (rough estimation as the Akina’s handwriting is a little hard to read):

" Happy New Year!  What will 2006 be like for you? 2006 will be the year that I welcome my 25th year in showbiz. I hope to spend a good year with you!" From Akina.

The 2006 calendar(7pages) can be purchased directly from the FC. It states that the style this time for the calendar is America Pop. 

2. DVD poster : Given when you order @ the Dinner show(it’s bigger than normal)

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 3. Calendar 2006

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Happy New Year to all VAMP readers! 

Some Year-End Sentiments

The final hours of 2005 will soon be slipping away; "Rakka Ryusui" is spinning as I write this.  At this time of the year, I invariably find myself in a reflective mood.

It’s been nearly a decade since I first began accessing the Internet on a regular basis, and more than eight years since I launched my own web site dedicated to Akina.  Time sure flies!  (And not just when you’re having fun!)

The Internet has certainly come a long way.  In the early going, Akina-related info was difficult to come by, sparse as it was.  These days, there is an abundance of great content to be found on the web.  And, it’s getting better all the time.

I think everyone (and especially those of us who are overseas) would agree that it’s so much easier being an Akina fan now that we have the Internet.  How else could you keep up with the current news, order all the latest releases, and share a common interest with fellow fans all over the world in such a timely fashion and with so little effort?  Indeed, I can’t imagine returning to life as it was before.

One of the things that has really struck me during the past 8+ years is the extent of Akina’s fan support.  While I was not surprised at all that Akina continues to maintain an avid fan base in Japan and other parts of Asia, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that she has such a following elsewhere in the world.

Over the years, I’ve received e-mails from Akina fans around the globe (every populous continent–save Africa–has been well represented).  As to be expected, a percentage of the individuals living abroad was comprised of transplanted Asians; yet, among the remaining people, there was nevertheless a sizeable number of non-Asian admirers.

Some of the people who contacted me were not familiar with Akina previously, but had their interest piqued after surfing my site–Akina just has that affect on people!  I am happy and proud to say that several of them followed up by ordering their first Akina CDs and some new fans were born as a result.  It felt good to have a small hand in helping others to discover Akina.

I’m not sure whether it was due to a language barrier, or because my web site’s design was lacking (my earlier attempts were admittedly rather weak), but there were a surprising number of people who contacted me under the apparent assumption that I was Akina.  Now, I would never want to ridicule or laugh at another person’s honest feelings, but I must say these were among the most intriguing e-mails I have received to date.  Included in this group was everything from personal inquiries and complements (I was flattered on Akina’s behalf), to meeting proposals (a few took it a bit further), modeling offers (a testament to her good looks), and… gulp, even a handful of threats!  Of course, it’s not always easy to gauge a writer’s tone or sincerity from an e-mail.  Perhaps (or hopefully, as the case may be) some of those messages could simply be attributed to someone’s idea of a joke.  Either way, I’ll probably never know for certain.

I will confess that one of my fantasies in recent years has involved receiving an acknowledgement from Akina herself.  I realize the chances of that actually happening are probably very slim.  She doesn’t even seem to care about computers!

I did receive a few e-mails from people who have worked with her though, which is the next best thing.

But all that aside, the majority of correspondence has had the positive effect of bringing me into contact with really great people and mutual Akina fanatics (including, of course, my VAMP comrades!) ready to share the common bond of loving all things Akina.   Interacting with this group has truly been a pleasure and I have made some wonderful friends in the process.  In addition to being a lot of fun, I’ve learned quite a bit as well.  My heartfelt thanks to you all!

Let’s have a great 2006.  Happy New Year, everyone!

難破船

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update on BEST FINGER

1 additional picture from Universal Official Akina Website:

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I am not sure if this will be the album cover…(which looks really dull =( )

Anyway, only the following songs are re-recorded 2005 version : 少女A,Desire,北ウィング、十戒、1/2の神話

11th Jan! DVD + BEST FINGER!

14th Jan : MusicFair on TV!  落花流水! (she should be singing it!)

 

Akina & Kyon Kyon – S.O.S

a rare and delightful pairing! Akina and Kyon Kyon obviously had fun reprising Pink Lady’s S.O.S.! it’s seldom we see Akina being so “cute” on tv. in fact, Kyon Kyon pales standing next to her. Akina looks tall next to the pint-sized KK! imagine how small KK is!

2 types of AN handphone straps (DS)

There are 2 types of handphone straps on sale @ the DS 2005:


IMTS 1988

1995 True Live

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Video:
Part 1
Part 2

Part 3 

Audio:
Part 1
Part 2

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