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A former fashion model turned singer, hitomi has been riding high in the Japanese pop charts since debuting in 1995. While hitomi's success has not been as all-conquering as that of her contemporaries Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki -- she's yet to score a mega-hit on the scale of either of those two divas -- she has nevertheless been a consistent hitmaker, selling more than 8.5 million singles and albums combined. That she's done so for more than a decade, a period longer than that of the average shelf life of a J-pop idol, is a result of a perennially youthful image (Hitomi is looked upon as a fashion idol by her teenage fans), and because her music has never strayed too far from the winning uptempo dance-pop formula of her label, Avex, albeit with a vocal delivery far less mannered than many of her labelmates. As well, hitomi's lyrics have struck a chord with a rising but significant demographic in Japan: young females with disposable income to burn. Like many Avex artists, musical...