Nanase Aikawa (相川七瀬, Aikawa Nanase February 16, 1975- ) is a Japanese rock musician. While she does have her fair share of soft songs (such as "Dandelion" and "The Last Quarter"), and fun songs ("Break Out", "Cosmic Love"), a good portion of her collection (and, indeed, the majority of her most popular songs) fall firmly under the rock category. February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Japanese rock is a form of popular music, often abbreviated to J-Rock in much the same way that J-Pop is used as an abbreviation of Japanese Pop. ...

History

Nanase Aikawa was born on February 16, 1975, in Osaka, Japan. Her real name is Misa Saeki (佐伯みさ). Her parents divorced when she was young, which affected her significantly enough that she developed into a bit of a troublemaker (which also happens to be the title of one of her best songs.) It is rumoured that she was in a girl gang in her young teenage years, and supposedly may have been its leader. Another story has it that she was severely bullied by classmates, giving rise to nightmares, and she skipped an entire year of school. Regardless, at the age of 15 she left all that behind, dropped out of school, and was discovered by well-known music producer Tetsuro Oda. Throughout her school years, Nanase would sing and participate in a few singing competitions, which routinely passed her over, though brought her to the attention of Mr Oda. He trained Nanase as a singer for five years before she released her first single, though the details of her life in those years are sketchy. Osaka Castle, Ōsaka-jō Umeda district of Osaka Location in Japan Osaka City  listen? (大阪市; Ōsaka-shi) is the third-largest city in Japan, with a population of 2. ...

Personality

Nanase is an intensely private person. Very little is known about her personal life except for the bits and pieces she feels confident enough to announce. For instance, on February 16, 2001, a great many of her male fans were heartbroken when she publicly announced that she had gotten married that very day. She published this, and the fact that she was already three-months pregnant, on her official website. Nothing else about her relationship was known until the birth of her son on September 6, 2001.

She is 'polite, but seldom enthusiastic' in interviews, although she frequently leaves hand-written messages on her website. Very little else is known of her. This may also be due to the lack of Japanese to English translators in the Nanase Aikawa fanbase. Oddly enough, roughly half of the non-Japanese Nanase fans are Chinese.

Career

After she released her first single in November of 1995, she released three more singles, and then her first full album Red in 1996, which sold more than two million copies in its first month. That album won her an invitation to perform on Kouhaku Uta Gassen, a New Year's Eve singing contest between male and female teams of popular singers sponsored by NHK (one of Japan's television networks). Since then, she has released about one album each year, plus an average of three mini- or maxi-singles. Her second album, Paradox, was released in July of 1997, selling 1.8 million copies, coinciding with her first concert tour Live Emotion '97 (consisting of 20 concert dates, and attracting a total of 65,000 fans, according to Avex). July of 1998 saw her third album Crimson, and another concert tour with over 40 concert dates. Her 1999 release, I.D., was a compilation album, but it debuted at number one on the rock chart, her fourth consecutive album to be released at the number one slot. In 2001, she also released a 'mini-album', something between a full album and a single, of uncharacteristically soft, though lovely, ballad-style music, recorded during her later months of pregnancy. Kouhaku Uta Gassen (紅白歌合戦, Kōhaku Uta Gassen), more commonly known as simply Kouhaku, is an annual music show televised by NHK on New Years Eve in Japan, ending shortly before midnight (when NHK switches to a frenzy of Happy New Year greetings from around the nation). ... NHK NHK (日本放送協会, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai), or Japan Broadcasting Corporation, is Japans public broadcaster. ... AVEX Records, also known as AVEX Trax, is the music department of the Japanese commercial giant Avex Group. ...

At the 11th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards, Nanase's album Red was voted the Best Album (Japanese Rock and Folk music, female vocalist category). Her album Paradox was also voted Best Album of the Year at the 12th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards.

As of August of 2004, Nanase Aikawa has released six albums, plus two compilation albums and the mini-album, a total of 24 singles, and no less than three separate concerts and two music video collections on video and DVD.

Aikawa Nanase publishes her music under the Motorod label, a division of Avex Group. AVEX Records, also known as AVEX Trax, is the music department of the Japanese commercial giant Avex Group. ...

Nanase is currently touring and recording with former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman. The classic Megadeth logo, circa 1986. ... Marty Friedman was the lead guitarist for the thrash metal band Megadeth for a period of almost twelve years (1988 to 2000). ...

Personal Statistics

Discography

• Yume Miru Shoujou Ja Irarenai (8 November, 1995) Mini-Single
• Bye Bye (9 February, 1996) Mini-Single
• Like A Hard Rain (17 April, 1996) Mini-Single
• Break Out! (5 June, 1996) Mini-Single
• Red (3 July, 1996) First Album
• Koigokoro (7 October, 1996) Mini-Single
• Troublemaker (13 February, 1997) Mini-Single
• Sweet Emotion (1 May, 1997) Mini-Single
• Paradox (2 July, 1997) Second Album
• Bad Girls (12 November, 1997) Mini-Single
• Kanojo To Watashi No Jijou (4 February, 1998) Mini-Single
• Nostalgia (8 May, 1998) Mini-Single
• Crimson (8 July, 1998) Third Album
• Lovin You (6 November, 1998) Mini-Single
• Cosmic Love (17 March, 1999) Mini-Single
• I.D. (19 May, 1999) Compilation Album
• Sekai Wa Kono Te No Naka Ni (23 July, 1999) Maxi-Single
• Jealousy (29 September, 1999) Maxi-Single
• China Rose (8 December, 1999) Maxi-Single
• Foxtrot (16 February, 2000) Fourth Album
• Midnight Blue (31 May, 2000) Maxi-Single
• Seven Seas (9 August, 2000) Maxi-Single
• No Future (31 January, 2001) Maxi-Single
• Dandelion (31 January, 2001) Maxi-Single
• Purãnã (21 February, 2001) Fifth Album
• The Last Quarter (27 September, 2001) Mini Album
• Owarinai Yume (5 June, 2002) Maxi-Single (InuYasha third opening theme)
• Roppongi Shinjyu (9 October, 2002) Maxi-Single
• Shock of Love (13 February, 2003) Maxi-Single
• ID:2 (26 March, 2003) Compilation Album
• R-Shitei (27 November, 2003) Maxi-Single
• Ai no Uta (21 January, 2004) Maxi-Single
• 7 seven (18 February, 2004) Album
• Round ZERO ～ BLADE BRAVE (18 February, 2004) Maxi-Single (Kamen Rider Blade first opening theme)
• Mangekyo/UNLIMITED (29 September, 2004) Maxi-Single
• Kagiriaru Hibiki (19 January, 2005) Maxi-Single
• The First Quarter (16 February, 2005) Mini Album

InuYasha (Japanese: 犬夜叉, inu dog + yasha demon from Japanese yasha, derived from masculine Sanskrit yaksha) is a long-running manga and anime series by Rumiko Takahashi (creator of Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, and others). ... Kamen Rider Blade (Japanese 仮面ライダー剣, Masked Rider Sword) is a tokusatsu superhero TV series under the popular Kamen Rider franchise. ...

External links

• Nanase Aikawa Official Site (Japanese)
• Nanase Aikawa Official Site (at record label) (Japanese)
• Nanase Aikawa Fans Forum (English fan site)