[tokyoxjapanxfan]

Originally Posted by natalaxie

OMG we would have been in Japan around the same time and almost the same age!
I was in Nagoya - whereabouts where you?

For me the most nostalgic is Memorial Address because I bought it on my first trip to Japan - I snuck off from the school group in the evening to walk down the street to a big CD store somewhere in Tokyo, 15 years old, finally seeing the object of my fandom become a tangible physical reality. Because it was a mini album I was able to afford the CD+DVD version and I loved watching Because of You PV SO much! Then I sang the title track at the talent show at school, which was a big deal because I was super shy. Some bullies laughed but I won an award and ten years later I read a letter from my Dad (our teacher collected them and sealed them to give to us at the ten year high school reunion) which said how at that moment he could not believe that his shy little girl had become an adult. It is basically the most emotional thing my dad has ever communicated to me, and meant a lot as one of 3 girls who generally never feels like any aspect of her 'growing up' has been appreciated, acknowledged etc by her parents. The song means even more to me in that sense because she wants to know that she was ever truly loved... (my issues are nothing near as bad as what Ayu experienced with her parents but I have issues all the same, like many people!)
Also by the time of My Story, I was becoming an emo late-teen obsessed with Shiina Ringo's darker songs, so Memorial Address was like a high point in my fandom before I moved away from Ayu for a while.

I was/am in Tokyo!

So interesting to read everyone’s responses!