Having left Japanese pop idoldom and a career that always saw her albums in the top twenty, Mari Iijima faces the turbulence of the international market with the release of her latest all-English CD "No Limit." Iijima hit superstardom in the early eighties as the voice of Lin Minmei in the original "Macross." Now a mother of two boys, Iijima's pace hasn't slowed a beat, already working on a follow-up English album. Though somewhat daunted by the Herculean task of breaking into a market already packed with trans-national pop stars and fickle fans, Iijima has garnered the support of her enormous anime fan base. And, with a small but notable screen part on an upcoming MTV soap, Iijima is poised to re-inventing herself. Akadot sat down with her at the diminutive but spirited Ani-Magic in Lancaster, California after one of her solo concerts. A sprinkling of fans busied about her --

Akadot: You seem to really like your fans.

Iijima: I'm just friendly person.

Akadot: Because you really seemed to want to talk a lot about your album at the panel yesterday.

Iijima: I'm sorry. No one asked me about "Macross." I'm not, you know, forcing them to ask me about my album but everybody asked about my music, so...

Akadot: How often do you perform "Macross" songs in non-convention scenarios?

Iijima: I always throw one "Macross" song at every venue because there are always some "Macross" fans in my audience.

Akadot: Where are you playing next?

Iijima: November 24 at a place called Genghis Cohen in Los Angeles.

Akadot: How would you characterize your work?

Iijima: Characterize?

Akadot: You indulge a lot of styles: that dance piece you played for us the other day; love ballads that dominate "No Limit;" and you say you're doing to do some more Rock stuff on the next album. So how would you characterize your work?

Iijima: I have been very versatile. And I wasn't particularly loving it. I am going for this organic rock sound for the next album.

Akadot: How would you characterize "No Limit?"

Iijima: For "No Limit" the main thing about that album was putting my best songs together. Some of the songs are from the previous albums and then I wrote three new songs. So...I just wanted to include my best material.

Akadot: Why did you choose to sing in English?

Iijima: Because its for international.

Akadot: Do you write first in Japanese and then translate into English?

Iijima: Some of them already have Japanese lyrics. Writing English lyrics for the entire album was a challenge. But I like the challenge. And I didn't want anyone who doesn't know me to write my lyrics because it's not me then. So I wanted to do it, so I decided to do that by myself. And it's funny, saying one thing in Japanese takes so much time. Sometimes much more time. It needs more melody to say one thing. For example, this is a very basic example, "I love you" is "I love you" in English. But if I translate it in Japanese, "Watashi wa anata wo aishite imasu." It takes up a lot of space. If I only translate my Japanese lyrics into English, it ends in just one verse maybe, so I am able to add more in English.

Akadot: English being limiting in that regard - "I love you" could represent the love between a brother and a sister, father and son, lovers, etc. - do you find that it’s a little more difficult convey specifically what you’re trying to say?

Iijima: I didn’t think that way. I had fun adding more story to my songs in English because there was more space left.

Akadot: In your panel yesterday you talked a little bit about your inspirations. You mentioned Queen. You mentioned organic guitar sounds. What’s in your CD player right now?

Iijima: Third Eye Blind, "Blue." Third Eye Blind, "Color Blind." Nine Days. First Album. No Doubt’s new album. And Sixpence None the Richer.

Akadot: Are you listening to a lot of British influenced Rock?

Iijima: I used to like the Cure and I like Squeeze.

Akadot: Did you ever go through that Goth phase that characterizes The Cure? Do you draw a lot of inspiration from that 80’s period considering it also houses the "Macross" sound?

Iijima: I don’t think so. I get inspired by new stuff, too.

Akadot: Do you have a full band when you’re in concert?

Iijima: Yeah, I do. I do usually in Tokyo because I do bigger concerts there.

Akadot: What about at Genghis Cohen?

Iijima: Genghis. I haven’t thought about it. I want to do something different than just me and the piano, though. Maybe I’m gonna have another guitar player with me or something new, different.

Akadot: Do feel that you’re constantly gravitating towards a specific theme like, lost love? I know on "No Limit" there are a lot of songs about...

Iijima: Sad love? You know, that’s just, um, I don’t have good luck with men. My songs are like my diaries, you know. I express my feelings while I’m writing songs so...It’s almost like telling another person about my life.

Akadot: Do you keep a diary as well?

Iijima: No. My songs are like my diaries. They reflect how my life is going. My fans all know ... see my life.

Akadot: I know you use the synthesizer a lot in the studio. You talked about synthesizers yesterday. Is that for convenience sake or would you rather work with live instruments?

Iijima: Me and my husband, ex-husband ... my partner are both keyboard players. So that’s a very natural thing for us, using synthesizers.

Akadot: Have you felt that you’ve been able to use them in interesting ways?

Iijima: He’s more creative with equipment.

Akadot: You are more...?

Iijima: I’m more musically...

Akadot: The songwriter type.

Iijima: Right.

Akadot: Though this risks being a cliché question, what do you think is the difference between the Eastern, Japanese sensibilities when it comes to pop stars and the America ideas when it comes to pop stars

Iijima: It’s almost the same maybe. If you are pop star in America, though, it means you are famous in the world. When I went to France, I watched MTV and everything was American. Hanson and the top ten stuff were American. I realized that fame in America means fame in the world. It doesn’t happen like that in Japan. A Japanese singer, famous in Japan, doesn’t have fame internationally.

Akadot: Where do you see yourself, like in five years?

Iijima: I’m want to be famous in America! That’s the reason I came to this country so...I want to make it.

Akadot: You have the classic American dream then.

Iijima: Yeah.

Akadot: In terms of your acting career, how does your music figure into your grand scheme? Do you want to combine them at some point?

Iijima: Like where I do music for and act in a movie?