After a 4 month hiatus from her blog, here are two new Japanese messages
[2009/Sep/3 12:47pm GMT+6]
[2009/Sep/3 1:43pm GMT+6]
See Nuuks Translations here and here.
On July 17th, 2009, Utada had a 'Meet and Greet' session with contest winners of 102.7 Da Bomb radio station. This was a rescheduled event from May, when several of Utada's appearances in the U.S. were canceled due to illness. It is good to see that she is alive and well :)
The 'Utada Meet and Greet' was held at the Kahala Hotel near Waikiki.
You can view photos from 102.7FM Da Bomb here.
Or watch the full video interview from the videographer. The interview video is about an hour long and has some very insightful details about what she has been up to, thoughts on recent events, and Hikki herself.
The winners of the American Myspace Karaoke Contest has been announced. The Grand Prize winner is Kristen Candra. Kristen wins a Trip to Tokyo with 3 friends and karaokeing with Utada. The second place runner up was Tommy and there were ten other contestants that won the third place prizes.
[UPDATE]
If you haven't already, you can watch the video of the Karaoke party here:
Utada Karaoke Party ☆ Japan winner ZUNTATTA
Utada Karaoke Party ☆ United States winner Kristen
A remix of Utada's 'Come Back To Me' will be featured in Island Def Jam / Ultra Records' compilation album 'JUST DANCE'. The compilation will be available May 26th.
Utada's latest album, This Is The One, is in stores all over America today, May 12, 2009! While the album was released digitally over a month ago, the physical CD is now available. Make sure you go out and grab your copy of the CD today! [Walmart] [BestBuy] [Amazon]
Included in the promotions, Island Def Jam has created a new website for TITO - www.Utada-ThisIsTheOne.com
It looks like the promotional tours for May 12-16 are canceled. Due to illness, Utada has been advised not to travel or use her voice for two weeks. She has been diagnosed with a relapse of Acute Peritonsillitis. She will make a full recovery.
Hikkiちゃん、早く良くなってください!
Utada.com Quote:
INTERNATIONAL POP STAR POSTPONES U.S. PROMOTION FOR ALBUM RELEASE
Renowned international singer and songwriter, Utada, who is set to release her new album This Is The One on May 12th (the Island Def Jam Music Group), has been forced to postpone her promotions to launch the album along with a series of in-store appearances. The 26 year-old artist, who had planned to arrive today May 11th to promote and drive the album release, has been diagnosed with an acute case of left relapsing peritonsillitis.
Utada, who is Japan's best selling artist ever, was set to make highly anticipated in-store appearances in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Honolulu to promote the May 12th album. Upon consultation with doctors and a brief hospitalization, she's been advised not to travel or use her voice for at least two weeks. A full recovery is expected.
According to the artist?s representative, ?Utada was very much looking forward to sharing her new album with her U.S fans and is very disappointed that her illness has forced her to postpone these promotional activities. She looks forward to rescheduling them as soon as she can."
Fans are encouraged to check www.utada.com for more information.
[UPDATE]:
Hikki has updated with a new message:
U3music.com Quote:
To my fans in America!
5.12(Tue) 19:25
I suppose a lot of you have heard already; I've had to cancel the instore events that were scheduled for this week.
The reason is, I'm sick. I came down with a case of "peritonsillitis"---it's basically a more severe form of tonsillitis, in which the area around the tonsils get badly swollen as well.
This happens this to me once or twice a year, when I'm extremely tired and my immune system gets in bad shape.
I was in bed this past week, making daily trips to the hospital to get intravenous administration of hardcore medication, and now I'm near the end of the recovering stage, but the problem with this condition is that I have to be very careful until it is completely take care of, as it tends to easily come back.
It was decided that I'm in no shape to be traveling and working for a while.
I'm trying to rest as much as possible, relax a little and take it easy.
I apologize to my fans who were looking forward to the events, and to everyone involved with organizing these events.
Utada is coming to town!
Utada is having another round of appearances set for the physical launch of her upcoming album, "This Is The One". This will be another crazy week with Utada doing four cities in four days! Remember to arrive early, don't push, and be courteous! 
From Utada.com News:
Quote:
UTADA IN STORE APPEARANCESTuesday, 5.12 @ 7:00 PM
Best Buy
529 5th Ave
New York, NY 10017-4608
For more info call: 212-808-0309
Wednesday, 5.13 @ 6:00 PM
Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood & FYE
1000 Universal Studios Blvd
Ste. 99
Universal City, CA 91608
For more info call 818.622.ROCK (7625) or 310.641.7170
Thursday, 5.14 @ 6:00 PM
Best Buy
1717 Harrison
San Francisco, CA 94103-4272
For more info call 415.626.9682
Friday, 5.15 @ 6:00 PM
FYE @ Southcenter Mall
2636 Southcenter Mall
Ste. 2110
Seattle, WA 98188-2823
For more info call 206.439.3636
Saturday, 5.16 @ 3:00 PM
Sam Goody
1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Ste. 1049
Honolulu, HI 96814-4607
For more info call: 808.945.9027
[UPDATE:]
Best Buy NYC, May 12 has been canceled:
http://stores.bestbuy.com/1028/
According to this Yahoo! Music page, Utada Hikaru will be releasing a new single called "9歳の想い出" ("9 Sai no Omoide") or "9-Year-Old Memories". The single will be released August 21, 2009.
Amazon.com is featuring the digital version of Utada's "This Is The One" album in it's 50/$5 (a monthly feature of 50 selected albums for $5 each). So get your digital copy of "This Is The One" for only $5 now!
[She is currently ranked #10 in the Amazon bestsellers list and rapidly rising at the time of this writing]
Utada.jp has posted news of a long interview done by Yahoo Japan. The interview and features will be available in Japan only on May 7th in Yahoo! Music Magazine, Yahoo! Video, and available as downloads on mobile phones.
After the previous blurb in the May issue of Vibe Magazine, their website Vibe.com has posted a short interview. In the article "REAL TALK THURSDAYS: Utada?s Popping" they mention her recent Sephora NYC appearance, talk about her 'genre', her fashion and beauty tips.
Utada.com is hosting a Q&A session to get your Utada questions answered! Post your question in the Utada.com comments here.
After the initial announcement that Utada would be performing for Ryan Seacrest, we have not seen any broadcast of said performance or any other details other than pictures and vlog messages. Today we get an update with a video uploaded to the ryanseacrest youtube. The video shows part of Utada's performance for Ryan and chronicles her uber-busy appearance schedule in late March. It also includes UtadaNet member, ufofreek's fan video of her meeting Utada at Sephora NYC.
UPDATE: On ryanseacrest.com there is a new post about the video calling her the Japanese Madonna, and peaking our interest by telling us to check back to see her other performances.
Photos of the performance are now also available.
Entertainment store FYE will be holding special MEET UTADA events at two of their stores.
On May 15th at 6pm, Utada will be at the Southcenter Mall FYE location in Seattle.
On May 16th at 2pm, Utada will be at the Ala Moana Center FYE location in Honolulu.
Lets hope these events will be better organized.
[UPDATE] From UBlog:
Update: For fans near Santa Rosa, CA, it appears that Y100.9 FM will be giving away a trip to Hawaii to see Utada, during the 12 o?clock (noon) hour today (Apr29). Make sure you listen!
MySpace.com has launched an Utada Karaoke Contest! To enter the contest, you record yourself singing 'Come Back To Me'.
The contest runs from April 26th 3pm PST to May 11th, 2009 3pm PST.
The Grand Prize is a free trip to Tokyo and a 30 minute karaoke session with Utada herself!
Second Prize is an Utada gift bag.
Third Prize is some autographed Utada CDs.
Check out the video of Utada introducing the contest and other entries to date.