Year in Review 2015

This year is all about numbers and meaningful statistics that have seen me in the air very often.

In 2015 I lived in many countries for short and long periods of time. With a total of more than 200 nights at hotels and over 6 months outside of Japan, I have been in Singapore, Hong Kong, The US, The UK, The Philippines, Malaysia and also in Korea.

With more than 80 individual flights boarded, 165,000 miles flown and 23 times outside of Japan, I can say that this is the year when my company has become truly global.

Looking after client relationships in many countries has opened new horizons that followed my overall trend in personal perspective and for all of you who know what I mean, changing places is not something I refer to as an unusual trend in my life.

As 2015 transforms itself into 2016, I here thank all of you who have made my own transformation possible. Both good and not so good relationships established this year allowed me to conquer the enormous achievements of 2015 that now take me to a new perspective in life.

Kohaku Utagassen 2014

For as long as there are more women than men in Japan Shirogumi is likely to continue to win, but this doesn't mean they have what it takes to do so.

This year's Kohaku can be defined in two ways. Originality and new songs in part of the ladies behind Akagumi and old songs represented by the gentlemen's side which at times resembled the return of the walking dead due to how old some of the selections made for them where.

The highlights were delivered by Yuriko Yoshitaka and her brilliant MCing for the ladies and all songs played by them. In a year where Ayumi Hamasaki was not in the show, the 48 formula delivered in all its variations was great. In addition, Miwa, E-girls, Ikimonogakari, Kana Nishino, Sayaka and Carry Pamyu Pamyu carried all scores.

On the men's side the only few highlights were delivered by Sekai no Owari and AAA. All else was old and boring.

The downsides and the wrongly done. Nagabuchi and his disaster appeals, Hiromi Go.....Why? Yakishimaru Hiroko...Why? And more importantly why was Seiko Matsuda paired against Arashi at the end of the show?

While rather entertaining, the 2014 edition of Kohaku tells us that the ladies drove the music industry in Japan last year, but once again the effortless have been rewarded for not having done much with a great appeal to the mass of voters.