April 5th 2007

MY FIRST WEEK IN JAPAN! :)

Hey Everyone!

I just got back from Japan a few days ago, and it was one of the most amazing experiences EVER! Everyone I met was so nice, and it was so cool to learn about a new culture and get to learn a little bit of Japanese! It was one of the busiest weeks of my life, and I got to do so many cool things!

I arrived on Sunday, March 25th in Tokyo, and got to rest from the jet lag of traveling. The flight was about 13-14 hours! On Monday, my first day of work, I got to meet alot of really great people from my record label Avex who are working really hard to make my music a success in Japan! I did magazine interviews and a few photoshoots for ROADSHOW, SCREEN, and WHAT'S IN magazines, as well as a radio interview at FM Yokohama. Also that day, I had my first TV appearance in Japan on a show called BEST HIT USA! So exciting!

On Tues, March 27, I did magazine interviews and a couple of photo shoots with EGG, BiDaN, and TOKYO HEADLINE. There were a few more radio interviews at Tokyo FM for their WONDERFUL GO GO and BIGLOBE shows, as well as interviews with Radio X. That day I also had a TV interview for KABUSHIKIKAISHA YOGAKU. We went out to a really cool restaurant for dinner and tried "Shabu"...It was really cool because you have a boiling pot of water at your table, and you take vegetables and thin slices of beef and cook them in the water at your table! It was really fun to cook my own food at a restaurant!

On Wed, March 28, we went to a Korean Barbecue for dinner. That was also a really cool experience, which I recommend if you get a chance! :) During the day on Wednesday, I started off the day with a magazine interview with IN ROCK magazine. Later, I would be performing my single "Unexpected" at the movie premiere for "STRINGS," because my song was selected to be the theme song for the movie!!! It was such a cool experience! I was able to meet some of the Japanese celebrities who did the voice overs for the movie, and they were all really nice! I even got to speak to them in Japanese with a few of the phrases I learned during my week in Tokyo. :) The performance for the movie premiere was my FIRST PERFORMANCE EVER in Tokyo, and I was so honored to have been invited to perform at such an amazing event! After the performance, I went to the after party and got to meet the producers of the film and other cast members.

On Thursday, March 29, there were magazine interviews and some photo shoots for ANAN, TV NAVI, VANILLA, MUSIC MOBILE MAGAZINE, and BRAND BARGAIN. There were also TV interviews for TVK, and another TV show called MUSIC ON TV, which was so much fun! A camera crew followed me around for a few hours for MUSIC ON TV, and we went to a beautiful part of Tokyo called Asakusa, where I got to eat at a very traditional Japanese restaurant! I'm normally not a huge fan of seafood, but I had to enjoy the awesome experience in front of me and try pretty much everything on the table! Afterwards, my team and I walked to the beautiful temples and shrines in Asakusa, which was AMAZING....I love seeing traditional architecture, and I had been waiting all week to see it! So much fun!

Friday the 30th was my last full day in Tokyo for my first trip, and I did a radio interview with INTER EXPRESS and a web interview with ORICON. I was really excited because I was able to perform on a well-known Japanese TV show called WARATTE LITOMO on Fuji TV. The set of the show was really cool, and it was fun watching the show live on TV while in the dressing room at the studio waiting to go on the show! What a cool feeling! One of the Japanese stars that I met at the movie premiere was a guest on the show as well, so it was nice to see him again! Later that day, the staff of my record label Avex met with me for a farewell karaoke party!!! It was SOOO much fun, and it was a great chance to thank everyone for their hard work during the week! My first trip to Japan was a once in a lifetime experience, and I felt so welcomed by everyone I met during the week! I can't wait to go back! See you soon and have fun! :)

You can check out my new Japanese Official Website at http://avex.jp/misha/
Click on the post "2007.27.3" under "What's New" to see pictures from my first week in Japan!

Love,
Misha :)