Most socially/globally conscious jpop artists?

[Alessia_Tateno]

Hitomi - She has her own association to help animals or something like that. Admirable.

Sifow - For the reason someone explained below. Very admirable, no wonder she is my second role model

Namie Amuro - She donates money here and there, this year she donated some milion yen (I dont remember how much) for the big earthquake that attacked Japan last summer. No wonder she is my role model *__*

Ayu just spend money for herself here and there, I don't think she ever cares or thought to donate something -.-

[ohsixthirty]

but didn't ayumi donate once maybe? i thought i had heard she did.

at least she did the song nation thing with keiko, lol.

[midnightispure]

Cocco is very involved with the environment, specifically the beaches in Okinawa. In 2002, she published her first art book, Minami no Shima no Hoshi no Suna. In August 2003, she organized a benefit concert to raise awareness about cleaning up beaches in Okinawa. A DVD documentary titled Heaven's Hell followed in December. A single was produced titled "Heaven's Hell" was released where all proceeds went to the clean up beaches/hurt animals in the Okinawa area. She continues to donate to causes like these. She's really environmentally friendly. She performed at Live Earth as well.

That being said, I'm sure Ayu does donate, we just don't hear about it, mainly because I'd say the majority of us don't keep up with minor things in the Japanese news. Also, I mean, if you donate and you make a big deal about it like..."oh blah blah blah I donated ALL of this money to this one place", well, you're being superficial about it. Many celebrities donate all the time and don't tell the media they do. The people that do are just looking for praise.

[AyuGAME]

honestly i don't know the answer

[ayumisrael]

While ayu spent on herself money in China when she had the ASIA TOUR there was those news all around that it helped China's economy a lot ^_^ so she actually did something except for giving her song A Song is born for donation for the 09/11.

[criminal]

The items that one person purchased helped the economy of a country with over a billion people? o_____O

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by criminal

The items that one person purchased helped the economy of a country with over a billion people? o_____O

She spent a few hundred thousands $ so most likely =P

[TITANIC]

i think mika and namie maybe -_-'

[elepop]

Originally Posted by hotaruchan

hitomi - she's really passionate about saving the environment and animals

Ohh yeah! I forgot hitomi! In wiki, it says that she's an animal welfare activist.

[UHPlus]

that's all i knew ...

-namie donated most of the profit from NEVER END single's sales
-namie donated part of the profit from her SO CRAZY tour 2004 in taiwan & Seoul concerts
-namie attended MTV asia aid and donated to the tsunami's victims
-namie donated 3 million yen (26,000 USD) to the earthquake fund that hits the city of Kashiwazaki on 16 July 2007.

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by Alessia_Tateno

Ayu just spend money for herself here and there, I don't think she ever cares or thought to donate something -.-

Maybe she doesn't go around bragging about how she donated money

In the past Ayu has shown how she's aware of certain issues, particularly those related to the environment and world peace. I believe the concept of Dome Tour was based on the human impacts on Earth. Her 2005 performance at the Aichi Expo was environmental related too. Also her album "I Am..." was based on the events of 11th September. Also she was part of avex's nonprofit project, SongNation and her songs sometimes reflect some social problems, so I doubt she's this selfish ignorant brat people are picturing her to be.

I'm not sure how genuinely aware most J-Pop artists are with regards to these issues. J-Pop is mostly about keeping up appearances so sometimes it's not easy to see who's doing it for attention or not. However mink does seem to be really interested in animal welfare. Namie also seems another person who really tries to contribute.

I sometimes wonder if some artists are truly aware of these issues or if they just do it simply because issues are very hot issues and consequently this will ensure that they will get some spotlight time. Most record labels are aware that artists who seem compassionate about the weak are about to gain some charisma points and free exposure. I mean Ai Otsuka spent her talk time plugging her single at LIVE EARTH and I bet many just had a nice script memorized while having no idea what the event was exactly about.

[atashida]

Ayu's songs and videos are socially conscious, although not about the environment. In reading interviews with her she seems very guarded: I think she thinks a lot of things that she doesn't say, and those things get expressed indirectly in her songs/videos. (Especially about idol culture and the role of women in Japanese society.) Then she goes and releases...random stuff that anyone could do like glitter/fated -_-;; So it's difficult to tell.

Namie of course donates openly, and while her music/dancing is very light stuff the things she says in interviews are often very interesting socially...(about her music personas, about how she thinks men will think PLAY is "too strong" etc [that was in MTV Trackstory if you're wondering], about avex)

And sifow! sifow is great. <3

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by Demure_Dusk

Maybe she doesn't go around bragging about how she donated money

In the past Ayu has shown how she's aware of certain issues, particularly those related to the environment and world peace. I believe the concept of Dome Tour was based on the human impacts on Earth. Her 2005 performance at the Aichi Expo was environmental related too. Also her album "I Am..." was based on the events of 11th September. Also she was part of avex's nonprofit project, SongNation and her songs sometimes reflect some social problems, so I doubt she's this selfish ignorant brat people are picturing her to be..

Exactly.
I think that ayu is just too modest to donate in most of the things that everyone will know that she donates, same goes with that she doesn't want to take awards anymore. Selfish is one of the last things someone can say about ayu. ayu is a good person and it's too bad people try to make her something she is not. She is a diva and all but an awesome person as well.

[MsMiyabi]

Koda Kumi - Song Nation Project /w Boa (Sept 11th Victims)
Koda Kumi - Fever Live Concert (Profits go to World Wildlife Foundation) I heard tickets were about 100 us dollars and over 13,000 attended.
Koda Kumi - Works With Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund
Koda Kumi - Live Earth

[Sweet_Ai]

Here is an article in Japanese about conservation or something. I think sifow may be part of it. A bunch of magazine models are, Egg, Ranzuki, Popteen, etc

http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3156915/

[elepop]

Yeah, maybe Ayu does help socially/globally and maybe she doesn't care that it appears in the news or not. But it would be cool if she could do more. I'm sure she'll be able to influence lots of people. If she was doing what sifow is doing to help the earth right now, the impact would be much bigger because her fanbase is bigger. Oh well.

Originally Posted by Akurei

Koda Kumi - Song Nation Project /w Boa (Sept 11th Victims)
Koda Kumi - Fever Live Concert (Profits go to World Wildlife Foundation) I heard tickets were about 100 us dollars and over 13,000 attended.
Koda Kumi - Works With Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund
Koda Kumi - Live Earth

I wouldn't add that. I don't think appearing in LIVE EARTH means you're socially/globally conscious. Sure, they appeared on the concert. But are they actually doing anything? That, we do not know.

[Raleigh]

True that she should do more and I agree with you there. It's a shame that she never did something to create a movement for something really productive. Live Earth seemed to me that avex and Sony and some other record labels had some spots assigned for their artists and they chose popular ones to give them free promotion.

[bondingo]

I was in Tokyo when Kuu did that WWF concert and I even saw commercials for it constantly but didn't know what it was, so I didn't end up going. When I found out about it after the concert, I was pissed because I could have actually gone if I had known

Anyways, it's good to see sifow does so much. She's so admirable. And Namie is just insanely generous. I admire that woman in every way. Ayu on the other hand hasn't made any contributions big enough for coverage, so obviously she couldn't be doing too much for noteworthy causes. It's funny she can buy a first class seat for her teddy bear, but doesn't spend money like that where it could be put to better use (i.e. some awareness fund).

[MsMiyabi]

Then this goes back to my thread. How can u not respect namie?

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by bondingo

I was in Tokyo when Kuu did that WWF concert and I even saw commercials for it constantly but didn't know what it was, so I didn't end up going. When I found out about it after the concert, I was pissed because I could have actually gone if I had known

Anyways, it's good to see sifow does so much. She's so admirable. And Namie is just insanely generous. I admire that woman in every way. Ayu on the other hand hasn't made any contributions big enough for coverage, so obviously she couldn't be doing too much for noteworthy causes. It's funny she can buy a first class seat for her teddy bear, but doesn't spend money like that where it could be put to better use (i.e. some awareness fund).

ayu must be sorry that she didn't do enough for your taste. If you can be sure she didn't anyway.