10/17/98
Jeez, it's been a long time since I updated these pages! Sorry about that. Let's see ... what's happened?

• Tamio's fantastic new album "Matatabi," two tours, and a tour video; also singles he wrote/produced for Downtown Hama-chan ("Haru-wa Mada-ka") and Syoko Suzuki ("Tasikameteiteyo")
• Puffy's album "Jet" and a couple singles.
• Abe's solo piano tour and a new album ("Huu-ka Setu Getu") on his newly-founded Abedon The Company label. Oh, and the gorgeously cryptic Abedon web site (there's even information in English on how to order the album).
• EBI hooking up with the reunited members of A.R.B. and an album ("Real Life") and a couple singles (I think) with them.
• Last summer's 2000 GTR All-Stars concert tour, which brought the Hit & Run stable of Sony artists -- including Tamio, Abe, and Nishikawa-kun -- onstage together (and into the studio for a limited-release single)
• At least one (two?) album releases from Kawanishi's band Vanilla ("The Spider")

As you may have noticed, I've also switched domains, and I'm going to have a go at using a visual HTML editor (Page Mill 3, in this case) to maintain these pages, just to see if I hate it as much as I expect to.

7/8/97
"Fail Box" is now out on vinyl and CD, and so are the two Puffy solo singles and a new single, "Natu no Taisyo," from ABEX GO GO (sorry, CD only on those). An album (maybe a pair of singles?) by "OnukiAmiYoshimuraYumi" entitled "solosolo" (Epic/Sony ESDB-1827~8 ?) is due August 6.

Disregard what you see below about the Unicorn Lyrics Translation mailing list, because it's moved. The new addresses are Majordomo@ml.asahi-net.or.jp (with subscribe ml-words as the body of the message and anything you feel like as the subject) and ml-words@ml.asahi-net.or.jp to contribute.

5/16/97
New releases on deck: the long-awaited third Tamio Okuda solo album, "Fail Box," comes out on vinyl only on 6/9; the CD follows almost a month later on 7/1. Two new solo mini-albums by the Puffy girls, "Ami Ohnuki" and "Yumi Yosimura" come out 7/2 and 7/9, respectively.

Ariko "Ann" Ishii has begun to coordinate participants to undertake the massive task of translating all the Unicorn lyrics into English. I'll be starting to post them up on the site here in a couple weeks. Folks who want to get involved can join the mailing list set up expressly for this purpose; send mail to majordomo@po.teleway.or.jp with any subject and this text in the body of the message:

     subscribe ml-words
     end

Your contributions will then go to ml-words@po.teleway.or.jp, and you'll need a Japanese-enabled browser to read people's replies.

4/28/97
New Puffy single, "Nagisa ni matsuwaru"; it's sort of disco-flavored, if you ask me.

Tamio Okuda is having a house (with an attached recording studio) built next to the lake in Tsukuba so he can go fishing all the time. He will tour Japan this summer.

Sony has got their "Hit and Run" website up; it features information on Yoshiharu Abe, ABEX GO GO, Tamio Okuda, Puffy, Vanilla, and some other folks that have nothing whatsoever to do with Unicorn (but not EBI!). The packaging of the new Puffy single mentions the URL.

3/27/97
Many new releases: A single ("Arigatou") and album ("Shopping") from InoueYousuiOkudaTamio, a new single and album from ABEX GO GO, a new single and album from EBI, one new Puffy single out currently ("Circuit no musume"), and one slated for next month ("Nagisa ni matsuwaru," on 4/16). Add to this the Movie 8 laserdisc and the Kyon Kyon single Tamio wrote ("Otoko no ko on'na no ko," JVC VIDL-10810), and it's been a very expensive month for Unicorn enthusiasts, and this one in particular.

2/25/97
Something called "Unicorn Movie 8: The Another Side of Live" has been released, as has the new InoueYousuiOkudaTamio single.

Ken'ichi Hoshino's Unicorn site has moved to a new address: http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~terrazi/unicorn/index.html. And for what it's worth, I just added a bunch of new links to the links page.

1/16/97
Finally, a new single from Tamio, this time with Yousui Inoue in a combo named, accurately enough, INOUEYOUSUIOKUDATAMIO. The name of the track is "Arigatou" and the street date is unknown at the moment. We'll be listening to it as we thumb through TO's book, Fish or Die (published by Kadokawa-shoten), which contains essays originally serialized in "Gekkan Kadokawa."

More-accurate release information for new product from The Artist Formerly Known As EBI:

"Game" (single) 1/22/97
"Mirror Man" (album) 2/21/97

(from "Pati-Pati," via KH)

1/14/97
Ken'ichi Hoshino, keeper of the Japanese Unicorn Site, reports that members of Sparks Go Go are teaming with Yoshiharu Abe to form something called "ABEX GO GO." The homonymous first album and a single, "Osewa ni narimashita," are due out 3/21/97.

Also, it seems that EBI is going back to using his real name, Kazushi Horiuchi Mellencamp. He's got a new look (long hair and a beard!) and a new band of some kind too. Look for a single sometime this spring.

Takashi Aoyagi says that he's got Tamio's BRAND NEW BOOK. No word yet on what's inside.

Puffy fans will be glad to know that Yumi has recovered from her bicycle accident and that she and Ami are now touring Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore to promote "Amiyumi." Their next single, "Circuit no Musume," hits the streets 3/12; another tour (Japan?) begins 4/7, according to Mokkun (via the Jpop mailing list).