"I've been on the Crystal Kay train," says the R&B diva sitting across the table. Twenty-one-year-old Crystal Kay isn't speaking figuratively, or in some sort of existential code; she's referring instead to Tokyo's Yamanote Line, whose carriages were recently plastered inside and out with her visage in an advertisement for Tully's Coffee. How's that for a compromising situation?
"I take the train to school [university], and I was wondering whether the train I was waiting for was going to be the Crystal Kay train or not," she continues. "And it was, so I'm like, 'Oh shoot!' But it's no problem. Nobody really recognizes me. I don't think a lot of people are paying attention, especially in the morning," she laughs.
It's acceptable for artists to kowtow to the advertising yen in consumerist Japan. Unlike in the West, brand sponsorship rarely effects credibility, with a less cynical populace eagerly embracing the extra exposure for their favorite artists. In huge billboards around Tokyo at the moment, for example, you'll see J-pop's reigning queen, Ayumi Hamasaki, hawking the Weider energy drink, while another idol, Kaela Kimura, seems to promote just about every product in the whole country.