Originally Posted by TurtleFu
So here's what I can say:
Most people in Japan know of her, but they know mostly about Honnou. Iroha is also very recongizable. A lot of people say "Ah... Shiina Ringo huh?" so it's a bit embarassing. I have come across 3 types of people: People who know he primarily from her recent output and describe her as 'shibui' (refined elegance perhaps), people who know he from honnou and thinks she's weird, or people who are fans of her. All the people I have met in person share the same opinion of her as me: her early materials is markedly different from her current output, but her jazzy stuff is just as good if not better. I have met people who are Tokyo Jihen fans more than solo fans, people who like me love KZK the most but still like Jihen.
The funny thing is, everyone EXCEPT Shiina fans seem to like NIPPON, so there's that.
As for mainstream press, she seems more favorable nowadays, but after reading about her mgazine appearences, it seems like Rockon Japan still supports her. They are giving her just as much cover appearences/featuers as when she was a truly "rock" artist.
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This is reassuring, and relatively congruent with my own understanding of her... I once brought her up to my Japanese professor in an assignment and maybe mentioned her once in conversation with her, but she didn't even react. She was a big fan of jazz too, Sarah Vaughn in particular. I think Ringo is a lot like Bjork in so far as no matter what she does, the rock scene should always recognize the depth of her work and appreciate her idiosyncrasies.