Mikuni Shimokawa – Chain
Song: Chain (Album Version)
Artist: Mikuni Shimokawa
Album: Heavenly
Year: 2009
Most of Mikuni’s discography is on YouTube already, so I’m only uploading certain tracks to craft a personal narrative or just listen to them when I want to. This time, I wanted a track from Heavenly that properly expresses the kind of artist she is, and being an anime single, the translated lyrics for Chain are readily available.
Japanese fans might know this very well already, and they should, since they’re the ones she’s trying to reach. But I’m American. I don’t know much Japanese. So when the instruments fade during a brief interlude before the bridge, and she starts whispering intimately, it’s a given I’d miss that she’s praying to our Lord.
Read it, and weep:
Lyrics:
I jumped into this town without knowing anything.
何も知らぬままこの街飛び込んだ
A world like fast forward
早送りのような世界
Knock on the door of the dream that I grabbed in my hands
この手に掴んだ夢の扉叩く
The days when I swore not to lose
負けないように誓った日々を
Even now, under the blue sky I’ll never forget
今も 忘れない青空の下
We both felt it
二人で感じた
powder snow begins to fall
粉雪が降り始める
That nostalgic scent
あの懐かしい香りを
Where love was once born
愛がいつか生まれた場所に
Carry all the feelings you have
ありったけの想いを乗せて
I’ll sing everything I feel
感じるすべてを歌うよ
I wish I could reach you
君に届けばいいと
What if you lost sight of your dreams now?
もしも今君が夢を見失って
Even if I’m indescribably anxious
喩えようもなく不安でも
In the depths of the depths, I look up at the sky
深い聞の底 見上げた空を往く
Night flight, aiming for a faint light
夜間飛行 僅かな光めざし
There is nothing in the expanding world
広がる世界には何一つ
Even if there’s no clue
手がかりはなくても
The warmth
ぬくもりが
Toward a tomorrow that still tempts this heart
まだこの心を誘う明日へと
Where everything begins
何もかもが始まる場所に
On the day when our bonds are reunited
絆がまた結ばれる日に
I pat you on the shoulder and tell you not to give up.
負けるなと肩を叩く
Don’t forget that hand
あの手を忘れないでね
That nostalgic scent you’ll never forget
忘れないあの懐かしい香りを
Where love was once born
愛がいつか生まれた場所に
Carry all the feelings you have
ありったけの想いを乗せて
I’ll sing everything I feel
感じるすべてを歌うよ
I wish I could reach you
君に届けばいいと
The earliest sound of winter’s footsteps
一番早く冬の足音が
A place where you can hear…
聞こえる場所…。