Japanese Cheer Bicultural Kids Who Sing in Their Language

Crystal Williams can seem like a pretty average American 10th-grader. She slouches her way through English class, is a devoted forward on the school basketball team and complains that her teachers give out too much homework.

But Crystal, born and raised in Japan by her American serviceman father and Korean-born mother, is anything but average.

As Crystal Kay, she is an up-and-coming star in Japanese pop music. And she embodies something fundamental in the psyche of fans in this country: They love the exotic, especially if it’s familiar.

“I look American, but I’m singing in Japanese,” the 15-year-old explains. “They like that.”

Japan’s fascination with things American is nothing new. Young people have been snapping up the latest in music for decades.

But imported music has one major drawback: Since it’s not in Japanese, it’s hard to sing along to. Domestically produced pop music closely follows trends in America, but there has long been something of an authenticity gap.

The answer: bicultural kids.

The market for aspiring singers like Crystal got a huge boost after now 19-year-old Hikaru Utada emerged from the campus of Tokyo’s American School in Japan three years ago to become one of the biggest hits this country’s music world has ever seen.

“First Love,” Utada’s debut CD in 1999, sold more than 9.5 million copies, making it the best-selling album in Japan ever. Though both of Utada’s parents are Japanese--her mother was also a singer--she was born in New York and now attends Columbia University.

Before long, Japanese producers were scouring other international schools for similar talent. Such schools are often where embassy employees, foreign corporate executives or Japanese who have lived long stretches abroad send their children.

Crystal is something of a flip side to the story. Instead of being essentially a Japanese kid raised among Americans, she is basically an American kid raised in Japan. Crystal has never lived in the United States. Her entry into the business was aided by her mother, also a singer, who had connections in the entertainment industry.

Just four months after Utada’s debut album was released, Crystal, then 12, was out with her own debut single. She has released two albums so far.

After three years in the business, Crystal is now recognized on the street and can generate squeals of joy when she steps on stage.

But Crystal, who wants to go to college in the United States, doesn’t expect success in Japan to translate easily into fame overseas.

“I think it would be really hard to be successful in the States,” she said. “The level is higher, and there are so many talented people.”