Junko Yagami, who has been jogging for over 30 years, is seen in this provided photo.

       Japanese singer-songwriter Junko Yagami, who scored a series of pop hits following her debut at age 20, has been active in the United States for over 30 years. Below she reflects on different perceptions of age in Japan and the United States.

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       Soon after I ring in the New Year, my birthday arrives. In Japan, people probably have few qualms about asking or being asked, "How old are you?" but if you dared to ask the same question in the United States, the person would swiftly respond, "What?" with a puzzled look, followed by, "Why?" The implied meaning of their response is, "What's this for? Why are you asking? What does my reaching a certain age have to do with anything?"

       After living in the United States for over 30 years, one of the things I've found different from Japan is this issue of how people's ages are handled. In Japan people say things like, "For someone who has reached 30..." and tell you, "Now that you're such and such an age you've got to live like this." And when people get older, their attire might become more reserved. In the United States, however, people don't tie a person's age to their way of living or how they dress. In fact, there are countless instances that lead me to think, "Age doesn't matter."

       I've been jogging for over 30 years, and when I started out, I joined a community marathon. In these marathons, men and women, young and old run together. About 15 minutes after I started running, I was overtaken by a woman who looked twice my age. "Damn it," I thought, and I passed her, only to be quickly overtaken again, and she finished far ahead of me.

       At the hair salon I go to, the owner there, who was well past 80, dyed her hair a beautiful blonde color and wore a pink sweater with matching nails and lipstick. When I didn't see her for a while, I got worried and asked her daughter, "Is your mom OK?" She replied, "Junko! Mom remarried, to a 90-year-old multimillionaire. Can you believe it?"

       Accordingly, when it's someone's birthday, rather than asking, "How old are you?" I've also come to think a "Happy Birthday!" to celebrate is sufficient. But it's not easy to stick to this "American style" of celebration in Japan. When I'm interviewed by newspapers and other media, the reports always give my name followed by my age in brackets. I really don't want to be judged by my age, so I say, "I'd prefer it if you could please leave out my age," but in the overwhelming majority of cases, they don't comply.

       But this is only in print. In my heart it's still the "American style" for me. In other words, I'm not bound by age at all.

       I sing with a pure feeling, like a high school student, and I also sing about the world's problems. And now the rock songs that I couldn't sing when I made my debut suit me. My only interest is "singing songs I want to sing now," not "singing age-appropriate songs."

       Junko Yagami(image courtesy of author)

       I've decided to keeping singing for my entire life, and not only that, but to keep singing love songs. When I turn 80, what kind of love songs will I be singing? I may no longer have the voice to match "Mizuiro no Ame," but when that happens, I want to look forward to writing and singing new love songs that match my voice. When I consider this, I think one can even say that getting old is not degeneration, but evolution.

       On New Year's Day, before eating "osechi" traditional New Year's food and having "ozoni" mochi soup, I went for a run. My first singing performance of the new year will be at Aichi Arts Center (in Nagoya) on Jan. 15, together with a symphony orchestra. Just like with voice training, jogging trains the muscles I use to sing. The person I was when I made my debut wouldn't be able to overtake me now, after 30 years of running. Just how far can I evolve my songs? I feel like I've written a challenge to myself.

       (Japanese original by Junko Yagami)

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       Junko Yagami is a singer-songwriter who was born in the central Japan city of Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. Yagami made her professional singing debut on her 20th birthday with a piece titled "Omoide wa Utsukushisugite" (The memories are too beautiful). She has numerous hit songs including "Mizuiro no Ame" (Sky blue rain). She moved to the United States in 1986, and resumed her stage career in Japan in 2012.

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