[Uemarasan]

I wonder why no one bothered to read the subheading:

"Eclectic, wide-ranging and unpredictable, some female stars of the orient's hippest country deserve to be seen and heard in the west"

The point of choosing a seemingly random line-up of female artists was already mentioned in this thread: to show the DIVERSITY in female J-pop. If they put Namie or Koda in there it would have been redundant. Ayu is the FACE of female mainstream J-pop and the J-pop idol system, just ask the rest of Asia. And Shiina Ringo trumps Utada Hikaru any day of the week as the important female singer-songwriter of Japanese music.

Why are people here are so sensitive, reacting a bit overdramatically to "backhanded" compliments. Obviously, the fact that the writer wasn't gushing all over Ayu shows an attempt to uphold some standard of journalistic fairness (except for the cosmetic surgery comment, although personally if I weren't a fan I would have been just as suspicious). Obviously, she's not a fan, but she found something positive to say about Ayu, although modulated so that she doesn't come across as a complete fan-idiot. She even managed to balance her opinion of Shiina Ringo, and she was upfront about being her fan. A gushy article would turn most people off Japanese music. They would think it was written by some anime-obsessed Japanese-crazed person with no critical thinking whatsover. This article tries to sell J-pop to people by cautiously recommending music that would otherwise seem or sound completely strange and alien at first to the average Western listener.

Tomoko Kawase belongs in there as well. She is female alt pop-rock personified. The Brilliant Green is the great underrated Japanese music act of the 90s and 00s.

Even Nana Kitade and alan might be justified for appearing on the list. They definitely represent clear and distinct Japanese pop types.

People are just crying because their favorites didn't appear on the list. Sheesh. I don't see Chitose Hajime or Cocco on this list and I'm not praying for divine vindication. I'm just glad SOMEONE is actually interested in putting a spotlight on Japanese pop music in a mainstream Western publication, and thank God for her. J-pop definitely deserves more attention in the culture-deaf West.