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Hi everyone,

Here are some updates on all things related to Seiko:

(1) "Suteki na Ashita" (loosely translated as "A Beautiful Tomorrow" or "A Splendid Tomorrow") 
-TV news program theme that runs daily on weekdays from 5.30am
-In her short interview with the station, Seiko said that she was delighted 
that her song was used as the program's new theme song and that she hoped to 
visit the TV Studio personally some day soon. The entire TV crew response to 
that was pure excitment (you could see and hear it from their expressions) as 
they knew that Seiko didn't usually make lip services.
-So far all the respond towards the new song has been very positive. 
They now call Seiko-Ryo combination, "The Missing You Golden Combination".
-I am not sure if we could call that a "Golden Combination". More likely, it
shows the "We had enough of Harada Shinji and his chorus" stance in 99.999% of 
viewers, fans and critics.
-The song is definitely above the average Seiko-Ryo-Yuji. Very very catchy 
especially the "Wow-uh-wo-oooooo-u-ooooo-u-oooooo" part, but not cheapo. :)
It is a mix of the coupling song of "Unseasonable Shore", "Natsu no Hitomi" and
more. I have a very good feeling about this song. It would be a good song at a
concert, just as "20th Party" was. You get to hear the Seiko Sound and Seiko- 
The Voice 
once again. You get the positive energy that helped you to go through 
your daily routines before.... (something which I missed dearly the last year.)

(2) New CM
-New version of Doctor Divas (www.divas.co.jp) was on air last week
-Glico Curry Ver#1 was on air last friday. New version with daugher Sayaka is cheduled in May
-Many were worried if Sayaka's first single would be written by Harada Shinji. 
Rest assured as it is penned by Brilliant Green's writer, who has expressed 
being a hugh Seiko fan. He also said that he was impressed by Sayaka's maturity
 and sense of reliability. Brilliant Green is a rock-group (soft rock) with a 
female lead vocal. Songs by this group have hit top 10 every time. Sayaka's 
song will be the theme song for a tv drama by Fuji TV, starting this Thursday.


(3)Akina's/Mio's cover version of "Ruri iro no Chikyu"
-Recently, cover versions of the hit song in Supreme ablum brought further mass 
media's attention on Seiko. Both Mio and Akina belong to the alto vocals. 
Akina's style has always been the "dark" "melancholic" side as opposed 
Seiko's "positive" "clear vocals". We cannot help but feel a terrible mismatch 
of Mio and Akina interpretation of the song and lyrics

(4) Hirai Ken
-I have been a fan of his since 1997, when he was still a nobody. Most would by
 now know him by being the first Japanese to have BabyFace produce his song
this year. 
Hirai Ken has his own NHK tv show every thursday. This week he will talk about 
how he got to know of Seiko. He has sung Sweet Memories many times before and
has often spoke about how deeply he was moved by Seiko's voice in "hitomi wa Diamond".

(5) Fashion and Style
- As you have seen it in the Glico CM. Seiko spots a new hair-do. 
A refreshing change and very nicely done too. The single jacket does not seem 
to have it that way... it looks much better in the CM. It looked kinda boxy 
during the shooting of the new single jacket.
- Diamond Award had Seiko in a black and white evening dress which she had them
designed for the ceremony.  If you had a chance to see the back cut of the two
dresses, you would be just as impressed :D

(6) Seiko's 2002 Japan Tour
-Starting this tour on June 21 at one of the newly built hall. It is called 
Saitama Super Arena which can sit 20,000people. It is just at the outskirts of 
Tokyo, and for the first time, we will be allowed to watch the reherals that day.
-What a dilemma!!!! Most of us want to watch the concert without knowing the 
contents (the sets, the songs, the costumes). Especially since this is the year 
which marks the return to Sony, fans are speculating that there would be lots 
of "Never would I have thought Seiko would be singing this song and that" items 
in the show. But to miss the once in a life-time rehearsal opportunity.... 
Good grief... Any advice anyone?



Speaking of Japan Tour, there is still alot of worry about who the remaining 
song writers and arrangers it woudl be for this year's album. More than not, 
we are also sceptical about Harada's and his band's participation (or not) in 
The tour. Although the mood is alittle up with Ryo's involvement, we still are
hoping for some collaboration with producers Masataka Matsutoya, or Ohtaki Eiichi.

Yuji Toriyama has several bgm albums to his credit. And I was very impressed 
with what he did in 1998's Forever album. I replayed 20th Party 
"Kanshashiteiruyo" (#2), "Rain" and "A mid summer night", and found the music
arrangement a much higher complexity than L&E. Then if you listen to the music
only of Seiko's single "Unseasonable Shore" and its coupling song, you might 
find that even without Seiko's vocals the instrumental music was melodies enough. 

Is that good for someone with a vocal and charm like Seiko's? I was impressed 
with Matsutoya's piano arrangment he did for Seiko in last year's FUN tv program. 
The arrangement was so creative yet subtle. It was so simple and 
achieved so much. What Matsutoya did so cleverly and miraculously was to bring 
the melody to shine even more and yet at the same time never stand alone. 
The arrangement just stood by Seiko's vocals, allowing only Seiko's vocals to 
be the main cause of playing that piece of song. Any one who listened to that 
piece in FUN ended up very naturally enjoying the melody of the songs per se, 
and miraculous glued to Seiko's quality of vocals. It also caused Seiko to give 
one of the best if not the best performance I have ever heard so far.

It has been a year, and I am still on the FUN topic. That 5min was like 10-15min in 
real time when I watched it on tape, and is worth all the 20 odd years and more as a fan. 
That is The Recording, .... will it become A PRELUDE TO THE RECORDING?

Songs like "Kanashimino Boat" and "Sakura no Sono" came out of nowhere. 
There is hope. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Still, I can't wait for the new song "Sutekina Ashita" to be on sale, as it is 
definitely one close to "Missing You" calibre. A pop version. :D

Shopgirl