Sophia- the band which saved and completely changed my youthful life

Actions speak louder than words..

As I have decided in my new years' resolution, here is another post :)

When I was back in Japan for holidays, I looked through all the CDs that I bought when I was younger and burned them in my MP3 player ( by the way, I am an anti Apple person, so I don't have Ipod,, just as my preference) Well, obviously, I wasn't into English music much till later, so all of them are Japanese bands. I loved Judy and Mary, Go!Go!7188 as I have mentioned them before for a couple time, L'arc~an~ciel, X japan, Glay, and Ringo Shina. However, there is a band who completely changed my prospectives toward the life as a whole. They are called " SOPHIA". They are not as famous as other J-rock bands, but their songs saved my life, (it sounds too exaggerating, but it is true). I found something that I was completely in love. I found something that I could always trust, I think. well it was way too complicated back then. well, I can tell the personal story if I decide to go on and on, yet I'd rather talk about the band.

SOPHIA has been created 16 years ago from now, in 1994 by the main vocalist, Mitsuru Matsuoka. This is around when lots of J-rock bands, including Glay, L'ar~an~cial, Luna Sea have became famous in the mainstream music industry. Despite lots of poor reviews from music critics about his voice and the way he sings, he has kept singing since then, released a number of somewhat famous songs. But most importantly, the lyrics are so powerful and meaningful. I remember watching a short music video of "Circus" by SOPHIA when I was 12 years old on TV and i was crying after watching it. I ran to the music store and I still remember that the store didn't have the CD and I had to wait for a month to get the CD because they weren't that famous.I've also been to different cities in Japan just to see Sophia's concerts with my friend even at the age of 13 or 14.

Almost 10 years from then, I can still sing all of their old songs. This year is their 15th anniversary. The band contains still the same original members.

I have posted 2 of their songs " Circus" and "gokigen tori" Enjoy!

Happy New Year! welcome to the new decade

Happy new year to everyone! ( if there is anyone who is still reading this blog)

Well, it has been a long time since I updated my last post. Life has been crazy busy with school and work. I just got back from Japan. I had a wonderful time there with my family and friends.

so now it is time to restart this blog. One of my new year's resolutions, aside from eating healthy and trying to lose a couple of pounds ( as always listed in my lists..), I decided and I will be updating more frequently on this blog and try to get more traffics! I watched " Julie and Julia" on my way to japan on the plane, and it motivated to me to write more, well, not like Julia who constantly updated her project on daily basis, I would like to see myself posting once or twice a week.. this is more reasonable, I think. so my goal is to update at least 52 times a week. Deal? When I fail to do so, I will buy you a pint of beer!

When I was in Japan, I was complete exposed to new music that I haven't even listened to when I lived there. one band, Pia-no-Jac,composed with a pianist, and a drummer from japan, completely shocked me when I was browsing in a store. Amazing.

I cannot call myself as a fan of classic music. I don't prefer to listen to it compared to other types of music, but the arrange of these classic music by Pia-no-jac is amazing. I found myself liking these songs more and more.

So here is a music video of Pia-no-Jac's "The Blue Danube" Japanese title "美しく青きドナウ" its your time to experience the awesomeness of this band!!