Okay. I get the Jero thing.
He's of mixed race, from the States, with a Japanese grandmother to whom he promised he would one day be an enka star. And now he is. Hip hop costume and all.
Not many people sing enka these days. Hitomi Shimatani, a fading pop-star, originally debuted as an enka singer, before moving on to do, well, pop. So, I think it's incredibly cool that Jero has carved out a place for himself. Plus he sounds lovely.
You don't necessarily need to understand Japanese to get the start of this video, which displays photos of Jero as a youngster, and shows him winning a "Japanese gong show" type program on NHK. Later, he's challenged to see how many Enka songs he actually knows out of over 100. He wins every challenge. If you stick out to the end of the video, you'll see him bust out a few dance moves.
I came home with the Jero single. I would never do the same for that other contrastingly talentless import. Now I am playing the sad, sad Umiyuki song over and over.
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