This is an installation piece at the famous Tower Records in Shibuya, featuring the artist Kimura Kaela (木村カエラ). Originally a popular teen model in Japan, Kimura is half Japanese and half British and is the largest J-Pop star at CME. I suspect that she is only fluent in Japanese however, judging from the horrid pronunciation of the English lyrics that permeate her new single. She is one of a new generation of cute female pop singer clones on the tier below that of demigods Utada Hikaru and Ayumi Hamasaki.

Her latest single "Magic Music" rose to number two on the national charts (it is currently at number seven having been out for almost a month now). Her style is much more rock / alternative than the aforementioned Japanese pop superstars. I have not met Kimura Kaela yet - this will happen when I transfer to CME's rock / J-Pop division in three weeks. The jacket art on her new album features the singer, sporting glittery wings, rising out of a multi-colored painted toilet. The toilet used in the shoot is on display at Shibuya's Tower Records so I had to take a commemorative picture - it is my company after all!

I asked a co-worker at Columbia about the toilet imagery. Sato-san said that for her latest album, Kimura wanted to give off a clean, happy and bright image. Pointing to the picture on the cover of a magazine, he said, "See, she comes out of here, the toilet right, but she is still so clean and happy!" He described this as "ii kanji" or a "good feeling" for the consumer.