“Is this China!? Wow! I want to cosplay too!”
Looking back now, this is the one line that started it all.
Right before LinLin was to return to China after graduating from Morning Musume I interviewed her for a newspaper article. During the interview I showed her a photo from a ‘doujin’ event held in Shanghai called “ComiCup” and it nearly bowled her over.
“I want a job that allows me to bridge gaps between China and Japan!”
And she achieved just that when she performed live on stage in Harbin (which you can read about in the asianbeat back numbers).

#26 Flash Report! Former “Morning Musume” Member, LinLin, Returns to the Stage in Harbin!

It was not long after that that LinLin told me about her plans to debut as a solo artist in China.

Unlike K-Pop, Chinese music (C-Pop) is virtually non-existent in Japan, but the popularity of Taiwan and Hong Kong artists throughout East and South-east Asia is incredible. I’ve listened to a number of Chinese artists myself after asking LinLin to recommend me some of her favorites, but it was like nothing I had heard before. It was a whole new musical experience that reminded me of my teenage years and the beginnings of my foray into the world of rock music.
But nothing is more exciting to me than the thought of LinLin becoming a solo artist and diving headfirst into the vast ocean that is the Chinese market. And even though China is her home country, LinLin was practically raised in the Japanese music industry, so it must be difficult for her going into a completely different system and learning how things are done the Chinese way. Whenever we meet in China, though, she’s always there to welcome me with a smile on her face.
“All my free time is spent watching anime. I love anime. I feel like, whenever I see the characters in anime moving towards their goals, it gives me a sense of courage too.”

I believe LinLin’s very existence is invaluable to both China and Japan. She’s a Chinese artist trying to make it as a singer in China, but she also loves and understands Japan and she can sing in the language of both.

In my travels to China on cultural diplomacy matters, I’ve found that no song stands a testament to the power of song and its ability to break down cultural barriers more so than Teresa Teng’s “Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase” (Give yourself to the flow of time). It is my hope that LinLin’s songs can do the same for the people of China and Japan and bring them closer to each other on a personal level. It’s LinLin’s dream, it’s my dream, and I think it’s an important dream for both China and Japan as well.
I can’t help but feel excited for LinLin’s big solo debut come spring. Stay tuned for that article, coming soon.

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