Year in Review 2013

Anything that falls short of “Wow” with all that “wow” entails is an understatement at the time of defining the year in simple terms.

This year is full of learnings and professional development filled with great surprises.
Although with “downs” quickly turned into “ups,” 2013 was especially fantastic on the life side of things with of course the usual healthy mix of work intermingled heavily at all times.

Around March I discovered that I was going to become a father again later in the year. This was a pleasant surprise and everything that happened from that moment onwards took new meaning. It all went with a sense of urgency, a healthy sense of urgency filled with love and renewed passion for all things, passion I applied to every moment.

In April I traveled to London for Internet World 2013. This was a fantastic event where I discovered new knowledge and created new business relationships. I was also blessed with the longest sunny week in London which apparently doesn’t happen very often over there. I also reconnected with a friend I had not seen in a long time. This set the tone for a year filled with lots of international travel.

A week in Hong Kong in July followed London. I spent a good amount of time learning a great deal of Big Data and behavioral marketing there. Australia and the Gold Cost were next just to prove that a weekend escapade to Australia from Japan is possible. That is, if there is a three-day weekend. Later in the year my work took me to Hong Kong again for more business and learning.

In all I have been outside of Japan 4 times this year and this is a record in all my 14 years in Japan, especially so considering that in general I dislike flying.

My 2nd daughter Mine was born in November and with her my latest life of the last four years makes sense. With her I discovered more than ever than following my heart is not just something nice to do, but my human duty.

This year 2013 is a great year filled with great events and feelings, a great year to remember.

Kohaku Utagassen 2012

The 2012, edition 63 of Kohaku Utagassen ended with the win of Shirogumi.

Shirogumi won just barely and in a show that from the start set a rather strange retro tone.

Hamasaki Ayumi playing a medley of songs from ten years ago started a retro flavor that continued throughout the whole show and for both teams.

In this 63rd edition of the show, all performers were confined to one scenario that resembled a tunnel which was kept stable for all. With the exception of choreography, the singers did not have many possibilities of individualization and as a result all performances where rather plain and almost forcibly standardized.

In a year when women performed their best and sold records in high numbers it was quite puzzling to see some of the things that happened in the 4.5 hours of performances. Why were there artists like Nakajima Mika, Yuki, Ayaka and Koda Kumi in the show when they clearly were not top selling artists in 2012? Why was the whole Enka category so weak? and why was Missia in the show when she clearly did not exist in 2012?.....and why sending her to perform from a desert in Namibia?

On the side of the men things were slightly different and equally puzzling with songs being performed not by non-existent performers, but by current artists who appear to have benefited by the retro tone. This comes as no surprise since they never had a chance to win in the first place. Their overall performance and track record of 2012 was quite weak and there was clearly no real winner in their team. They all had to relate to old songs to make an impact forward.

Good performers from Akagumi with great performances this year were: AKB48, Momoiro CloverZ, Yui, Ikimono Gakari, Carry Pamyu Pamyu, Perfume, and Sakamoto Fuyumi.
Good performances from Shirogumi: Arashi, NYC, Golden Bombers, Sato Kazuyoshi, AAA, Naoto Intiraimi, and Tachi Hiroshi.

In summary, the overall retro trend helped the men and hadn’t it been for it Akagumi would have won rightly as they deserved.