Kokia for sure is the best japanese voice =D followed by Hidemi Uematsu.
Kokia -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ1EdrPPuSk *_*

alan definitely. also AZU

Thank you I had forgotten all about Rimi! She does have an amazing voice and Chitose sucks in her current lives, like, hard even though the recorded version sounds great; maybe it just deteriorated.

I'm a big fan of ayaka, MISIA, and Superfly and their voices are amazing.

Although I love Ayu and Hikki and like several of Kuu and Mika's songs, they aren't that special at all vocally although they're nice to listen to. ayaka, Misia and Superfly can blow them all out of the water any day.

Here's how Hajime Chitose sounds now (duet with ayaka and Aoyama Thelma [even Thelma was better O___o]:

^yeah...its sooooooooooooooooooooo sad....
her lives used to be just beautiful ;__;

shes just ruined her voice somehow. even her studio stuff suffers sometimes.

And the beginning is not that bad; half way into the video and towards the end I want to die.

i know its terrible...

thats why we dont talk about that :)

ayaka is okay. But people are forgetting about Superfly! She has one of the most powerful voices I ever heared in J-Pop. Crystal Kay and AI are also strong contenders.

MISIA, Kokia, Stephanie, and alan are the ones that come to mind, in that order. Ayaka Hirahara also has an amazing voice but haven't heard too much of her music to say for myself. Perhaps she could be up there with MISIA.

And while I think Koda Kumi, Mika Nakashima, and Utada Hikaru are good singers, I have to agree with an earlier comment in this thread and say they are far from outstanding vocalists. Their voices occasionally lack emotion in them and their ranges are too limited to be outstanding vocalists. Still, I find all their music enjoyable and have all their albums.

^ Um, really, the ranges on all three of those people are pretty much the best things about their voices!! :thud Well, honestly, Hikaru's range is exaggerated a bit in the studio, because I've rarely seen her hit high notes correctly live, but it's still definitely above average. And I've seen both Kuu and Mika hit amazing notes almost perfectly live. If you don't think they're the best singers, that's understandable, certainly. But they don't have limited ranges, by any means. :no

^ But this is about singers with the best vocal registers, not those with above average or good. Yes, Kumi and Mika have good ranges, but in comparison to MISIA, Mariah, Kokia, Barbara Streisand, and the other vocal greats, they aren't on the same league.

Probably MISIA :yes

Koda Kumi may have a good vocal register, but she lacks the control several of the other singers mentioned have, such as MISIA or Superfly. Plus, she doesn't exactly have a PRETTY voice. Well, that may just be me though. I don't dislike her voice per se, but I don't like it either.

Stephanie, seriously this girl is so cool :thud

I understand, they aren't as great as some. I just thought you meant they had limited ranges in general, and that was kinda crazy, hah.

No, not just you, lol. :X I think she's a great singer, but her voice is so.....ugly. Harsh and nasal at the same time, and she truly sounds like a man when she tries so hard to make it deeper (I guess she does this because she needs to sing in the lower register more, since she does so much dancing, but it just sounds weird and kinda gross usually >_<').

^ ugly is quite harsh isnt it? :P Koda's voiced annoyed me to no end when i first heard her live but boy did it grow on me. i think she's got much better control now than before too, on her ballads anywho.

i would go for ayaka btw. adore her voice.

Sorry, hah... But no, I think Kuu's voice is just that: ugly. :\ I mean, she sings beautifully, but it would be AMAZING if her actual voice weren't so eehh. :\ And yeah, I agree, she's gotten amazing control over the years. And I don't think it was ever bad to begin with, either. I don't know why some people don't think so. :shrug The only person I can think of that should be picked on for control is Hikaru. :X

And yay, another ayaka vote. :D

fair enough fair enough! haha i can see what you mean. but for me, being 19 and yet having such a high voice makes me covet deep voices like hers lol in regards to her control, yea she had it before definately, its just the small details in her live songs i've noticed she's gained some more control over like in walk. she doesn't yell out the oo's anymore. or in her black cherry live of yume no uta, the wahooooooooooooooooooee was breathtaking compared to the previous lives.

and yep. ayaka's voice is heavenly imo. i'm no musical genius so i cant describe it with that kind of terminology so i'll go with heavenly

Koda has the best voice IMO. She just needs to get abit more control and stop wailing, oversinging even at times.

Kyushima Misachi has a great voice. Very strong! She sounds really good/better when she sings her folk/traditional songs (aka Alan type songs).

Looking purely at vocal register, there are only a few that can match MISIA. (I would name them, but I simply don't know them!). People keep naming Koda Kumi but I really don't see how she's such an amazing singer >.<.

Aside from that, when looking at how POWERFUL everybody's vocals are, the list changes a bit, I think. Mika Nakashima has good control but she can't really belt it out like, say, ayaka or Superfly can.

I love female singers XD