Mar 14 2008
Music
As a musician, music is a part of my life in some shape or form. I’m either listening to it or playing it. While I’m restricted to playing by ear as I haven’t been classically trained, I do enjoy music from all genres although since listening to Japanese music, I haven’t really been into the American, British or the asian Mandarin Pop scene much.
I absolutely dislike the way Japanese music is handily classified into “JPop” to denote anything that remotely sounds like music that emerges from Japan. They do dabble in a lot of genres, such as Rock, Blues and Rap. And while I enjoy JRap, I don’t quite have a thing for ERap (read: English rap) nor MRap (read: Mandarin Rap). Strange isn’t it? Apart from that, thanks to Nodame Cantabile, I love me some moving classical music.
Despite all that though, I do have a favourite band. It’s strange the way I came upon them although the phenomenon seems to be widespread across the globe. I was watching Hana Yori Dango and was intrigued by Matsumoto Jun 松本 潤 who stars as the jerk extraordinaire Doumyouji Tsukasa. I’d heard he was in a band called Arashi. Being the resourceful person that I am, I headed to YouTube where I knew some videos would be waiting for me. Since then, I’ve succumbed to what fans call The Jun-bait and have become an Arashi fan.
Arashi 嵐
Arashi consists of 5 young adorable boys who debuted in 1999. Obviously, they’re in their twenties now and have grown up since then. Members are Matsumoto Jun 松本 潤, Oono Satoshi 大野 智 (a.k.a. Buchou or captain), Aiba Masaki 相葉 雅紀, Sakurai Shou 櫻井 翔 and Ninomiya Kazunari 二宮 和也.
Arashi from their PV for the single Happiness (released in 2007), opening theme to Shou and Nino’s dorama, Yamada Tarou Monogatari 『山田太郎ものがたり』
They sing well, dance well and perform live really really well. I’ve watched enough DVDs to know that. They also act very very decently, especially Jun and Nino who have had a variety of different roles. Jun is my favourite, followed closely by Buchou. The former based largely on the scope of his talent and the latter based on his dorky acting roles (see Pikanchi and its sequel Pikanchi Double).
Members of Arashi from their first single PV A.Ra.Shi in 1999 and their We Can Make It PV in 2007
Interesting to see how they’ve matured and how successfully they’ve done so. Johnny’s really grooms its charges well.
I’ve got two favourite songs which I listen to for different reasons.
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A.Ra.Shi A favourite for those times when I just need something upbeat to keep me grooving (and working).
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We Can Make It I think this is one of their most uplifting songs. It helped me through a difficult period last year while I was dealing with issue in the workplace. Everytime I feel down, it perks me right back up. I also love the dancing in the PV.
Truth be told, I love most of their music anyway. (^-^)v
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