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j-pop

My favorite Japanese singer, Hikaru Utada, has just released her first international album, called Exodus. It appears that she is going to just go with the name “Utada” in western territories. With the number of copy-protected CDs I've seen on the shelves lately, I was extra-stunned to see that this was just a normal CD, and the record company had seen fit to outfit the jewel case with an additional, high-quality board, extra-glossy jacket, a booklet of all the English-only lyrics rendered into Japanese, in addition to the booklet in the jewelcase. While thinking that I had briefly been transported to a magical land where the record company recognizes that treating me like a customer is good, and treating me like a criminal is bad, I didn't even look at the price tag as I brought it up to the counter. Like any other Japanese release, it was expensive: ¥3000. It’s worth it.

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