Yes, Kirsten has just "discovered" Youtube. So sue me.

Anyway, there's this one song by a Japanese band called "The Boom" (yes, yes, silly name, I know, but it's better than "Thee Michelle Gun Elephant", that's all I'm sayin')

The song is called "Shima Uta" ("island song", the name given to the music of the Ryukyu Islands (better known as Okinawa)

It's absolutely a gorgeous, heartbreaking song. It's also the number one song for foreigners to sing karaoke for in Japan.

And it was because I got this song stuck in my head that I decided to surprise Naoto for his birthday (we were living in Japan, but separately at the time) by taking him to Okinawa for the weekend. We got talking on the plane, and yadda yadda yadda, we decided to get married.

So you could say this song has a special place in my heart.


Anyway, here's Gackt (kind of like the david bowie of Japan if David bowie made out like he was a 1000 year old vampire in all media appearances) singing it with real Okinawan ladies with real Okinawan hair styles and traditional high-pitched vocals.