The arranger who arranged both songs secretly told her that he liked her song better. It's common for pop stars in Japan to have their own radio shows. When Mari was living in Japan, she had two or three shows each week. Mari went to an audition for a soap opera called Port Charles , but the character wasn't supposed to have an accent. Japanese media people like to take really young girls to make money from.
Experienced veterans have trouble getting support.
Mari's fans in Japan have been talking about putting money together themselves to pay for a tour. Mari wants to get a record contract with an American company, but it's hard to do. She will do another gig on June 28. She wants to do gigs every month, she needs more people to come see her first. Mari listened to all those people, but her real influence was from British pop music such as Queen and Elton John.