How are you enjoying New York thus far?

We went out last night because the weather was good. As I was out walking, thinking, 'Ah, this feels good!' I noticed that even at night there are a lot of people working here, and they move so briskly -- like they've all got somewhere to go (motions giant waves of people moving)  -- it's very different than my own town. It's a very interesting city.

I heard from the people who attended your panel that you've really been drumming up going to eat a hot dog. Yet people still haven't heard where you went to go enjoy it. Tell us: where did you sample one of New York's finest?

Actually, to tell the truth, I was so busy with everything I only had a chance to go to the cafeteria upstairs and eat a hotdog there.

That's no good. You need to explore the side-streets for great food! So, to switch gears for a minute: the other big guest here is Yoshiyuki "Kill 'em All" Tomino. He has a reputation for killing off his characters. Any thoughts on seeing characters die in stories?

It actually doesn't affect me all that much when I see a character I like get killed. But if it's the hero or such, and he's told "you're going to die next week," but is still able to complete his mission, then I really don't want to see him die.

Oh, and as a seiyuu, I really don't want to see my characters die (laugh).

What sort of music do you think is underrepresented in Japan?

It might seem from overseas that's the case, but if you live within Japan, you get into Japanese culture and you'll see in daily life that some songs can be huge hits, but you'll find some people like myself who like any number of genres, like me for example, but it's not so deep.

You might feel that classical music is not so popular as much as in the United States, where some people are SO into classical music, but I'm really big into classical. Also, some people listen to an album and absolutely love the first one, but then the second, they don't like it so much because there was no specific cut that really grabbed them. Some people are very into one artist, but others aren't -- not shallow -- but they enjoy a much wider range instead of delving deep into one. That's how I feel.

With the recent election of the Hatoyama government and the DPJ taking over for the LDP in a historic political change, there has been a message of "change" going throughout Japan. In your position, what can you do to help make Japan -- or the world -- a better place?

I can't really even consider doing something that large as changing the world, seeing as I'm just a normal citizen, but I think that there's a basic need of supply and demand within the world that has to be met, and that's what I see my role as. Like, for example, there are fewer and fewer CD shops, but does that the demand for music has gone down? No. And there are people who still want to create music, and so they put their works online, so that they can match the demand that does exist.

As a musician and voice actress, I'm always in a position where I'm in front of people. So, as I mentioned in the East Meets West Panel, I told everyone that I would take my job seriously and try to keep it real and do the best I can. Also, I keep my base in what I do, and when I show up in front of the media, I'll send more positive messages to everyone -- that's what I think I can do in the world.

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As an editorial note, I was really surprised by the humble attitude that Ms. Makino had when it came to her role in society. Compared to the image of Hollywood that we have here in America, it seems that singers and voice actresses simply see their work as what it is: work. They certainly don't treat it as a platform to launch their opinions off of, and that's the big message I took away from that last question.

I'd like to thank Yui Makino, Naoki Sekine of Sony, and Ai Aota for her wonderful help translating. And of course, thanks to those at NYAF who made this possible!