Kanagawa and Déjà vu

Kayo Aiko is from Kanagawa. That's all we know about her origins. If the question was, "what part of the solar system is Kayo Aiko from?" then this answer would be pretty specific. Only problem is that Kanagawa, in the scope of things, is actually quite large. About 9 million people live there, in many different cities. It's like telling someone you're from New Jersey, and assuming that they don't want to know any more (they might not, actually).

Mind you, I'm not looking for the girl's home address (or maybe I am), and I can understand that they're trying to keep crazy people like me from camping outside her house (even though she might live in Tokyo now). But can you at least give us a city? I'm just interested in knowing what kind of traditions her family might have, what the local dishes are, and whether she grew up in the city or off the beaten path. They could even just say, 'she's from a small town in Kanagawa' or 'she's from a big city in Kanagawa', and even if she's from Yokohama, I certainly won't be finding her any quicker. A small town there is, what, 10,000 people, so even then, needle in a haystack. Why doesn't Aiko have any hometown pride?

My best guess is Yokohama, because it's the largest city and therefore the odds are greater for it to be her hometown. Maybe, just maybe, telling people you're from Kanagawa is like openly stating you're from Yokohama; unless you say the name of the town everyone just assumes that's where you're from.

So every now and then I'll be listening to some Aiko song, preferably at ear-splitting volume, really getting into it and in the middle of it all, I stop and wonder, 'what is this I'm listening to?' I'm well-acquainted with all of her songs and anymore it's like breathing -- you forget that you do it all the time, and one day you realize you've been doing it all along without thinking. The melodies are engrained in my brain to the point that I forget that she's Japanese and I'm American.

When I find my bearings and realize that it's Aiko, I hear her wonderful voice and think about how pretty she is, and it's like I'm hearing the song for the first time, all over again. Good music and an outrageously beautiful woman... and that's all I need!