I think I won't listen to Japanese music anymore...

Ok, so you know, I already have to put up with a lot of stuff for being an American yet liking Japanese music. Having to order online and wait weeks for cds instead of buying them in stores, only by strokes of luck getting to see my fav artists in concert, everybody thinks it's SO weird to be listening to Japanese music when it's really quite normal, nobody knows who on earth my favorite artists are, can't hear my songs on the radio, forget catching a performance or music video on tv, etc. To be honest, I've been quite depressed this past week thinking of having to return to the US and carry on my jpop fandom. I've grown so use to this jpop filled environment leaving it to go back to the nothingness of the states isn't a great prospect. I'd go as far as to say painful. I love my music! I've got access to just about everything here. Going back to the states, I'll lose everything!

I was even contemplating going back to listening to English music mainly again. Maybe it's from going a year without being in an English enviroment, but it's starting to sound good again. At least, I wouldn't be musically starved that way or go through the annoyance of being odd, weird, abnormal, etc. That is my main pet peeve. I'm sick of thinking that I can't express my love for my music without being thought of as strange by someone. It's just music. Chill! The only difference is the language, and, yes, I can understand it. It's quite good actually if you'd give it a listen, but even if you don't want to, you don't have to roll your eyes, insult me or the music, or look at me weird. Open your mind a bit! I just hope my family stops the teasing. I never liked it before, and after spending a year here, it's not going to seem any less annoying.

So what is the point of this post? This


That was for my Ellegarden fan music video. JASRAC (I know now) is a copyright protection organization for Japanese musicians. How the heck they found my video, I do not know, but it angers me that they would be so willing to take it down. What's the most annoying thing is that there are tons! of other videos that are violating copyrights on there. Music videos, dvd content, performances, etc. Why my stupid home made fan video only? I was on the verge of marching straight down to their headquaters in Shibuya. I really was going to go. I spent yesterday writing up and printing a letter in Japanese and English to give to all their board members. I ended up just mass emailing (it was only 11 emails addressed to the board members) to some random email I found on their website (couldn't find any direct emails) and throwing all the stupid letters away.

But, I'm really angry. I learn Japanese partly because I love Japanese music so much. I want to go a step further and do something even more meaningful to my favorite artists besides just listening to their music. Going as far to study Japanese is meaningful especially since I am a foreigner. I work hard. And when you put in so much effort and put up with so much nonsense (read from the top again), it's very annoying that some dumb organization would step in and be like "No, we don't care that you are simply being creative and showing love for your favorite music. We're shutting you down". It makes me mad and don't talk to me about stupid laws. Make an exception! It's a fan, and not just any fan. I'm from a different country which means their music is spreading. Isn't that a good thing? Now I'm going back feeling like my favorite artists don't even appreciate my fandom.

Yeah, so that was something on top of something else. I just want to hurry up and come home so I can see how I feel about it then. It was just nice to be normal for a year. I'm having a hard time letting that feeling go.

p.s. And yes, I'm still excited as what to be seeing Kaela live in concert next week Saturday! booyah! ^^V kutsu wo narashi! takaku! takaku! jump shite! It's gonna be a blast and forget Japanese culture that doesn't express feelings. I'm rocking the hey out at that concert so watch out!