[2003.09.02 0012h]

   [music] ayumi hamasaki \\ powder snow [acoustic orchestra version]

the song above is such an incredibly beautiful song, i don't really know
how else to describe it.  you don't even need to know a word of japanese
for it to be powerful enough to move you.  however, knowing the meaning of
the lyrics does add to its simplistic beauty.

i was first introduced to ayumi hamasaki in the summer of 2000, as i was
leaving japan.  if i remember correctly, i first heard her when i was
trying some takoyaki at a restaurant in osaka's kansai international
airport.  her music was being played on a stereo in the restaurant, and i
grew to like her music very quickly.

by the time i finished my takoyaki, i had heard maybe two or three of her
songs, and i went up to the girl working at the counter to ask her who the
artist was.  she showed me the cover of the album she was playing.  i
can't remember much about it anymore, although, if i recall correctly, it
was one of ayumi hamasaki's ayu-mi-x albums, of which she currently has
several out.  sadly, i didn't note down which one it was, so i can't
remember for sure which of her songs i heard at the restaurant that day.

i do, however, vaguely remember having listened to track 7, 8, or 9 that
day.  the above song is track 8 off of the acoustic orchestra side of
ayumi hamasaki's first ayu-mi-x album, so it may as well have been one of
the songs i heard that day.  another version of powder snow is track 7 of
the remix club side of the same album, so in either case, there is a
significant chance that my introduction to her music included some version
of the above song.

it's interesting how i had barely even heard of ayumi hamasaki's music
during the three weeks i spent in japan that summer.  the first two weeks
i was there, i was touring the northern island of hokkaido with stanford
taiko, so most of the music i heard was either our own or of the taiko
groups that we held concerts with.

i did, however, have some exposure to mainstream japanese music in between
some of our concert practices.  at the time, the singer topping the charts
was mai kuraki, so i bought her album to get a taste of what her music was
like.  utada hikaru was also very popular at the time, so i also bought
one of her cds.  it's strange to realize that during these three weeks, i
don't recall being exposed to ayumi hamasaki's music until i was about to
leave japan, considering that she's probably currently the biggest music
celebrity in japan and perhaps all of asia.

right now, i'd say that ayumi hamasaki is probably my favorite solo music
artist.  i recently learned that one of her favorite bands is smashing
pumpkins, which is pretty neat since smashing pumpkins is one of my
favorite bands as well.  i wonder how much influence smashing pumpkins has
on her music, and if the former members of smashing pumpkins listen to
ayumi hamasaki.