2013 and no end of the world, No evil death ray from the sun, and for me a year of growth. Also this year marks my 7th year of being a Nana fanboy! So for this post am going to do something I don't do on this blog am going to talk about my personal reasons for being a Nana fan.
Must of my life I've loved music from Japan, My childhood ( mid 80's early 90's ) the names I fallowed were Masami Okui, Hironobu Kagayama and Yoshiki Fukayama. In my teen years ( 90's ) the names changed to l'arc en ciel and oddly Chisato Moritaka ( mostly her 80's works ). My adult years (2000's and up ) have seen a huge rise in the number of Artist I fallow and like.
My love of Japan had me living there for almost 2 years, I worked for a US company that had me go to Asia and the middle east ( home sweet hell ). So back in 2006 I was turned on to a song called "Wild eyes" by some pasty girl named Nana Mizuki, Loved the song and wanted more, living about a hour from Akihabara it wasn't hard to get more, and more and more!! In 2007 I made my goal to see her live, and with some under handed tricks and deal making at work I was able to get that chance. 2007-02-12, I'll never forget that date it was the date of Live Museum the first Nana Live I was able to go to. My seats were horrible ( in the back!! ) but it did not take anything away from the concert or the greatness of Nana Live!
In 2008 do to some bad experiences at my work in the Middle east I was diagnosed with PTSD ( if you want to know I was a us marine and went though thing in Iraq that still keep me up at night sometimes ) Why I was recovering back in Japan My head doctor asked what kinds of things help me relaxes, I told him music mostly he asked who was my Favorite Artist? and with out a second of thought I side " Mizuki Nana-chan!" He told me to find what made me like her so much and why after my bad experiences I would turn to her music. I don't really know my self, something about her has me hoked on her.
In 2010 my contract in the USMC ended and I went to work for MPF, a shipping company that had me travel around Asia I had moved back to the USA by that time. I was still able to get to Japan for Nana Lives and other concerts. 2011 was the first year since 2007 I only attended one Nana Live, and that was Live Grace, It was also that year that Nana-chans book Shin-Ai was published. I got a hold of a copy of the book and paid for it to be translated to English for a small fee ( I sent it to a translation group in California who charged me 1,800$ for the job) so the most expansive copy of Shin-Ai in the world! However when I read the book I soon realized why I loved Nana as a Artist and a person, her personalty and who she was had been made by horrible experiences during her childhood and teen years, but rather than hate the people responsible she found love and kind words for them. The unbelievable strength of will for that is far beyond anything I could even dream of.
So even in 2008 when I was a mass I found something in her music and her that helped me get past some of the worst times in my life, I still love her songs, Lives TV shows. This has been a really bad post I am sorry for that but am kinda off sometimes and this helps me.
In closing once more happy new year to everyone.
I had to copy past the 2nd hafe of this post from a word doc. my PC killed its self before I could finish the post, thank god i make word back ups, sorry for the grey bares don't know how to get them off.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the roots of your Nanafandom! I am really sad to hear about what you've had to go through, but I am really glad that you did not let it keep you down and were able to stand tall again with the help of Nana-san! You are a strong person. Keep it up! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd once more, Happy New Year to you!
thank you for the kind words. :)
DeleteHey, thanks for that posting. I too had bad times recently, but Nana helped get through with it as well. Her cheerfulness and optimisn, as well as her kind heart, her wonderful voice and great looks resonate with me very much. Now the bad times returned but with my mother in a hospital now. It does look really bad. :( But once again, Nana is an inspiration to go through with this. I'm glad found her.
ReplyDeleteThat was in 2009, when i played the Basilisk anime for the first time and became hooked with Wild Eyes. This song and especially its singer seemed to be above and beyond any other anime music i knew so far. Except Yoko Kanno who is her own class.
But i didn't became a huge Nana fan until i saw the Live Journey footage back last year in october where she sang Miracle Flight/Power Gate back to back, driving a train! Actually, i was searching for a PV of Power Gate but instead found this. I just liked everything about it, and played the youtube video over and over again and again. Now i have all her albums, including Nana x Chisato, all her DVDs and Blurays and 12 of her singles, so yes, i like her. :) I also started a german Nana blog where i mostly talk with myself. *lol*
I also started collecting every little piece of Nana video i could find and i always like her honesty. Every now and then she cries during a Live or laughs wildly about something, and its always obvious it isn't for show. I also think its great how she tries to get in touch with the fans, like getting off the stage and just walking and singing among the fans. In the great Seven Pieces documentary you can see how she steps down the chairs towards the fans, and some girl rushes to her left while she is on the stairs, for a high five. Nana touches the girls hand even if she held her microphone there, and could have stumbled with her high heels. But that doesn't stop her from being nice to anyone.
It would be a great thing if more people drew inspiration from Nana, a fragilie looking but strong person. Rather than, say, Justin Bieber. :)