The land of karaoke

In other news, I apparently have no sense of whether something is sincere in Japanese, because lyrics to pop songs (especially love songs) that could only be pure cheese in English make me melt when I hear the song in Japanese. PRIMARY EXAMPLE:
嵐：Monster


The lines that get me everytime--
"I'll be by your side until we see the dawn /
Even if all my memories were erased /
and I were reborn, I'll seek you out again

"I'm not what you see, hold onto your heart /
On the night of the full moon, I found you"


Cheesy, right? But I love it. And have memorized the lyrics so that I'll be ready to pwn when I finally go out to karaoke eventually.

2時を少し過ぎる頃(OH No!)残酷なMonster
月明かり草木眠る頃(OH No!)甦る

君の叫びで　僕は目覚める
今宵の闇へ　君を いざなう　Monster

凍りつく夜が創り出す(We are)
君の後ろ　Who？
気付いたときはもう閉 じ込める
(Monster)逃げ場は無い

(Just One)君の手を(Two)愛の手を
(Three,Four＆Five)抱 いて眠りたい

あなたがいたから生まれてきたんだ
夜が明けるまで近くにいよう
僕の記憶が全て消えても
生 まれ変わったら　また君を探す
見かけじゃなくて　心を抱いて
満月の夜　君を見つけた　
Monster

ドアのない 部屋に迷い込む(No Way)
誰か見てる　Who？
足音が徐々に近くなる
(Runaway)でも動けない

(Just One)このスリル(Two)止められない
(Three,Four＆Five)怖がらせたい

だけど本当は　君が好きなんだ
朝が見えるまで　隣に居よう

一 万年の愛を叫ぼう
生まれ変わっても　また君を探す
Monster


12 時を少し過ぎる頃・・・　
月明かり草木眠る頃・・・　

君の涙で　僕は目覚める
今宵の闇へ　君を連れ出す

僕 の記憶が全て消えても
生まれ変わったら　また君を探す
見かけじゃなくて　心を抱いて
満月の夜　君を見つけた
Monster

There's a lot of JPop and JRock I would absolutely not listen to were it not for the goal of language practice, but there's a couple groups growing on me- especially the aforementioned "Arashi" (storm) and "Funky Monkey Babies"... they were big in the 90s?

But then there's others that are just so happy and cute... even if you acknowledge its terrible music, you can't help but squee because its full of cute little Japanese girls being princesses and flying and singing about love. 気まぐれ「ロマンティック」("Romantic" by "On a Whim") is perhaps the best example: mad props to Nick Rosenbaum for originally introducing me.



And then of course, there's all the strange and unfathomable ways in which Japanese "news" programs misappropriate popular western songs. Watching TV while writing this, I just heard an arrangement of the Star Wars Imperial March on banjo and nose flute. Umm... yeah.