Akadot: Yeah, something like that.

Iijima: That’s my dream. Yeah, I never thought about that really but if I were to sing the theme and act in the main part, that’s a dream.

Akadot: Cool. When I was reading the lyrics to your song "Fate" off "No Limit," it sounded almost like haiku. It was like that kind of very metered poetry. Do you ever think about that?

Iijima: I never thought about it.

Akadot: We haven’t really spoken much about your anime voice acting. Do you want to voice act again?

Iijima: If there is some offer, I don’t mind doing it. But when I was famous as Lynn Minmei in Japan, I was really touchy about it. So my staff didn’t tell me about those offers because they didn’t want to make me mad. I was really tired of everybody thinking of me as a voice actress because I wasn’t. I mean, I was Minmei, I was chosen. But people didn’t want to know the real part of me. They didn’t even want to admit that I write songs and I was frustrated.

Akadot: Do you watch any anime nowadays?

Iijima: No I don’t. When my boys are watching something, I sometimes see it.

Akadot: "Irony of Fate,” on your latest album, has a country flavor to it. Do you like country music?

Iijima: It’s so funny. During the recording session, I told everybody, "Please don’t play like country music." But it automatically goes for that direction, you know, for everybody. So I was like, okay. I joked during the session that maybe I’d send this to Nashville, this one song with a picture of me in a cowboy hat picture.

Akadot: It’s a touching song, though. How much of your lyrics are drawn from your personal life, your personal experience.

Iijima: Almost one hundred percent.

Akadot: Is there any song you didn’t write from personal experience?

Iijima: Every time I write for somebody else, I write something different from my life.

Akadot: Who have you written for?

Iijima: Some idol singers in Japan like Kyoko (Futumi), few people. And just recently I wrote an ending theme. It’s a very short piece, though. It had to be short. It’s for a short film. And it goes to the Sundance film festival next year. It was made by a Japanese person who was a huge fan of me. It was his dream to work with me. So I wrote that theme. It’s called "White Shadow." "Looking for Shadow" is my song title but the movie is called "White Shadow."

Akadot: Do you see yourself acting in any Japanese films?

Iijima: Sure.

Akadot: Are you pursuing that at all? Do you have an agent in Japan?

Iijima: I have a manager in Japan but he doesn’t do anything.

Akadot: Do you like playing bigger venues or smaller venues?

Iijima: I like big places. It’s different. It’s more difficult to perform in an intimate setting because I’m being watched. Close. Well, I got used to it because I have to perform in small venues to start in Los Angeles. I never struggled to be a star before. I mean, when I started, I was touring in the big halls already so it’s a new thing for me to perform in a small place.

Akadot: It must take a huge amount of humility to be able do that, going from huge auditoriums in Japan to small places in here. What are your coping mechanisms? How do you deal with it?

Iijima: I’m remind myself that I’m not singing in a bar getting spare change thrown at me. This is my show and, even if it’s a small venue, people are still coming to see me, so I should be proud of it. Every time I do gigs there, it’s packed. I’m very fortunate.

Akadot: Where do these audiences come from?

Iijima: From anime fans. From the conventions. I have a web site people come to. They get information from that. And every concert, somebody there is from Japan, too.

Akadot: Are you planning maybe to distribute your albums on the Net?

Iijima: "No Limit" I sold through Internet.

Akadot: Are you allowed to sell the rest of your catalogue? Your other fifteen albums?

Iijima: No.

Akadot: No. Because they belong to record labels.

Iijima: The record labels paid for those.

Akadot: How successful has it been selling "No Limit" over the internet?

Iijima: I almost sold five thousand copies. That's pretty good.

Akadot: Strictly Internet and conventions?

Iijima: Yeah. Its not huge amount of copies numbers wise. But five thousand makes my life. I did it all by myself. Packing and going to the post office and everything. I didn’t have anybody with me.

Akadot: That seems to be an American success right there.

Mari Iijima maintains her own web site at http://www.marimusic.com/