Stuck In A Pagoda With Motoko Aoyama

News broke this afternoon that Maki Goto signed with Avex’s Rhythm Trax imprint, which is also the home of Koda Kumi. Maki’s new label-sponsored site is here; hopefully she will not be giving up her own blog in the process. Apparently the vocal and dance training Gocchin was going through in Los Angeles earlier this spring was in preparation for her move to her new label. That training as documented on her blog, plus her being on Rhythm Trax has folks already predicting that Maki will be going down a J-Urban path not dissimilar than Kumi’s. And judging from the picture above, Maki seems to not only be sharing the same label as Koda Kumi, but also the same wardrobe department and nail artist. I like a lot of Kumi’s stuff, and Maki’s already flirted with that musical road before early on in her H!P days (with “SHALL WE LOVE?” in Gomattou), then started learning heavily towards the urban pop side of things with much of her last Piccolo Town/King album How To Use SEXY), so her first Rhythm Trax singles should be very interesting records indeed. Release dates, anyone?