Hajimemashite and welcome to our site, from yours truly Webmaster Mr. Z! A bit about me: I am a Web & Graphic Designer from the USA, and have been into "cool Japanese stuff" for quite a while now. (Actually, the first exposure I can remember to Japanese animation was watching 'Speed Racer' as a kid in the 70s and also remember a friend of mine introducing me to the 'Project A-Ko' and 'Starblazer - Yamato' animes around mid to late 90s!) Yes, maybe I'm pretty old for a lot of you guys & gals - BUT I recently found out that I share the same birth-year as HYDE! So that is kind of cool :p. Other than that, I am also into other kinds of music (British pop/rock, dance/trance, jazz, fusion, world music, etc - anything good & cool!), art & design in general, vegetarianism, fitness, photography, and guitar! I first got into jpop music in the very late 90s/2000 by discovering acts like MAX, Ami Suzuki, Noriko Suzuki (anyone heard of her?), and others. I liked the upbeat, high-energy sound (oh and of course the girls were very cute too ^_^ ), but on perhaps a "higher note," I was particularly struck by the voice of anime seiyuu Maaya Sakamoto (In case you don't know her, she has done a lot of work with the composer Yoko Kanno, and her voice is featured on anime such as Escaflowne, Secret of Lodoss War, Wolf's Rain and others). I was so impressed by Maaya's music, that that was one of the reasons I started this site back in 2001. (I'll try to add my 'Favorites List' soon!). Of course I am also an "otaku," having great respect for the spirit, originality, and fun (and especially for a lot of the fantastic artwork & design!) of a lot of the makers of Japanese anime and manga. Games, yeah I'm kind of a game-geek too, but actually I don't get too much into the RPG like a lot of people do, I tend to prefer (for video games) the Action and Sports games. Welcome to Jpopexpress.com, please enjoy your stay, and let us know what you think! Youkoso! ^_^ ....