Star-Gazing Japanese Duo Write Song for Leonids


SEARCH:


	Star-Gazing Japanese Duo Write Song for Leonids By Alexander Goldman Special to space.com posted: 11:45 am ET 23 November 1999

Star-Gazing Japanese Duo Writes Song for Leonids

After offering the world a theme song for the 1999 Leonid meteor show, the Japanese pop group Aquamarine are still watching the skies and thinking about the big ideas.

In fact, members of the duo, whose song "Jewel in the Winter Sky" [RealAudio] was chosen by Leonids '99 as its 1999 musical theme, say their purpose is to study the questions of life while performing original music.

Keyboardist Mimasu, who "loves stars very much," notes on the band's website that there are no simple answers to questions such as "why are we here?" and "what is the meaning of life?" but it is clear that people can come together in music. This power of communication and communion is what drew him to study and practice music in the first place, he says.

Images

Sachiko and Mimas have performed the Leonids Theme at Japanese planetariums and star festivals.

Related Links

Aquamarine [in Japanese]

Leonids '99

He lists astronomy as one of his hobbies, and clearly enjoys stargazing.

Together with vocalist Sachiko, he most recently performed "Jewel in the Winter Sky" at Tokyo's Sunshine City Planetarium.

In addition to astronomy -- Aquamarine albums sport titles like "Tales of Stars" and "Cosmos" -- the band's interests include the Backstreet Boys and "Doraemon", an animated TV show similar to America's Rugrats.

Many Japanese people have been enraptured by the Leonids display in recent years. In 1998, about 4 million Japanese fled the cities to the mountains and seacoast to watch the display, causing traffic jams throughout the country.

Leonids '99 is a global educational project designed to teach high school students about the annual celestial event by organizing observation activities. Sponsors of the project include the Society for Teaching and Popularization of Astronomy, the Astronomical Society of Japan and the Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences.