An open letter to Ms. Kayo Aiko

...wherever she may be.

Dear Ms. Kayo,

It's been quite some time since your last recording, and for the moment I'm not expecting anything new in the near future. I keep seeing on your blog that 'Kingyo' is spending time together, and that your fellow Girls Box Movie stars Nacchan and Saito Michi have been close by as well. While I understand that you're really good friends, it's hard to see you all together and wonder where things stand professionally and where they might go from here.

For instance, not more than a month ago, you posted a 'purikura' photo of 'Kingyo', (that's you, Yu, and Nao), and the wording on the photo was "Lovers High". I have seen dead horses get pummeled, but that song came out almost two years ago, and as I've mentioned before, the record company wasn't even nice enough to give y'all a second song. How dare they? All they need is a PC with ProTools on it, a good couple of hours, and there you go, internet-only single. Why this isn't happening is beyond me.

So, what else are you up to these days? Seems like quite a bit, actually, from what I've seen. You're cooking, doing stuff for 'Max My Ride' on Mtv Japan, apparently, still got the gig on the Cheer Up*Indies TV show (and I haven't yet seen a full episode). There's a youTube channel for that show, and it has the most random clip collection I have ever seen. Not full episodes, nor a chronological filing system, just, 'here's a video...' Would somebody please let me know what she's up to... can I get a list of some sort?

What's new with me, you ask? Well, I'm taking an unprecedented trip this summer to see some of your contemporaries at Anime Expo. This blog got a nice write-up on International Wota and this should hopefully steer any current or potential fans to this site so we can congregate and demand more Aiko for the West. Lately I've had a few more comments than usual; in fact, I'm actually getting a few comments these days. (By the way, sh1zuk4, Rammstein's 'Herzeleid' album *is* the best album on the earth -- I *love* bold statements like that, btw.)

Last and certainly not least, I just want to let you know that one way or another, Tsunku *himself* is going to hear one of your songs, whether he likes it or not. As he has agreed to be a judge at the Anime Expo 'AX Idol' contest, and as I have agreed to be a contestant in said contest, I've decided to bring the song 'Hold on to love' as my showpiece. (The rules of the contest have deemed it necessary to pick a song from either a manga or video game, so, from a video game, it is, Aiko-style).

Somehow the stars have aligned (I'm overdoing it, bear with me), and my odyssey of Jpop discovery will come full-circle. From discovering you three years ago -- then (by branching out) discovering the group you tried out for -- to personally presenting one of *your* songs to the brains behind that outfit... oh, it's all just too much to handle. Hopefully within a couple of months I'll be able to tell a story that begins with, 'so I was singing a Kayo Aiko song to Tsunku...'

Someday, Ms. Kayo; someday, I'll tell you all about it.

-jyoru