More or less, I am still not here. Difficult times, lovely readers, difficult times. But I thought you might be interested in what I have to share from Anime South 2007. That is, some J-Pop cosplay. YOU HEARD ME.

On the first day, I dolled Ashkta up as Natsumi Abe from the 'Morning Coffee' PV (one person recognized her), and on the second day I premiered my long-awaited, blood, sweat, and tears cosplay of Ayumi Hamasaki from her Arena Tour 2006 performance of 'STEP You/Ladies Night'. I may not be Yaya Han, but Yaya Han was judging, and I wound up with a Judge's Award at the cosplay contest, so if that doesn't boost my ego, nothing does.

The J-Pop Panel would have gone much more smoothly had my hard drive not crashed on Christmas Day, thusly destroying my entire collection of PV's, Lives, Concerts, Hello Morning episodes, Utaban episodes..everything. So...we got by the best we could, which was well enough considering that we were booked opposite Lisa Furukawa, whom I hear performed excellently. :)

When asked to recommend websites for people who wanted to wet their feet int he J-Pop waters, I found myself heartily pushing International Wota, to the point that I began to reminisce and exalt some of my fellow bloggers, most specifically Ray, as cornerstones of a community that is, while still relatively underground in the United States, so full of community spirit and vigor for sharing the love.

Also, the final prize question was "Which album are you going to buy from American iTunes on January 1, 2008?" I was quite excited that more than one hand was raised to answer 'GUILTY'.

During the panel I had time to expound upon why I considered Namie Amuro's 'PLAY' to have been the best J-Pop album of 2007. It was so much easier to do it with my voice...it's hard to find the words for anything these days, but when I return to you, PW readers, I will be ready to find those words again. Shall it be a year of great music, great friends, and happy blogging!

Enjoy the pics, guys. It's rough going with my mom right now...not to stray too far from the point of Pink Wota too much...but I might be going dark again for some time. Don't worry, though! Ai Araba, it's ALL RIGHT! <3

~*~TEASINGS~*~

VEE as AYUMI HAMASAKI

ASHKTA as NATSUMI ABE

( Cosplay pics under the cut! )