EP 10: Making sense of "One Last Kiss" by Utada Hikaru (English & Romaji Lyrics)

Dissecting the Japanese Song "One Last Kiss" By Utada Hikaru

This will be a different style of blog entry where I will be dissecting (breaking down) a Japanese song and try to make sense of it.

I have been a huge fan of Utada Hikaru for some time. It started even before I travelled to Japan or knew any Japanese. I feel she has a certain charm about her being a singer-songwriter and I always felt that she can sing and carry herself very effortlessly & elegantly.

Last month she released a new song “One Last Kiss” and I feel that this is probably one of her best work. Maybe on par with “First Love” which has been my favourite for a long time.

I love the fact that she writes and composes her own songs, so in a way by reading the lyrics you can peek into her brain and see whatever she is going through at a particular phase of her life. I don’t have much interest in her personal life but the lyrics of this song is sort of interesting. I only know a handful of Japanese songs, and this is my first time trying to dissect a song - so please bear with me!

Also a little disclaimer: I have no idea if my interpretation is correct as I am using various sources, Translation engine to make sense of the song. If you have a different take / view on my interpretation feel free to let me know.

So let’s start with the title “One Last Kiss” (Saigo no Kisu / 最後のキス) - You can already tell that it’s not a lovey-dovey song. Nothing “Last” （最後）is ever good lol. However I must say - this song is not ‘negative’ in any way, in fact quite the opposite. The word I would use to describe the song is “Bittersweet” (ほろ苦い). There is a subtle sadness, but in a way she is also very happy about her ‘memory’ with this person.

I will only do the first part of the song as it gets little complicated after.

So the songs starts like this:

[Verse 1]

初めてのルーブルは

Hajimete no rūburu (Louvre ) wa

My first time in Louvre

Louvre is one the World’s Famous Art Museum located in Paris, France. This place is particularly famous because the original painting of Mona Lisa is displayed here. Due to covid, you can’t go there now - however you can take a free virtual tour online - https://www.louvre.fr/en/online-tours

なんてことはなかったわ

Nante koto wa nakatta wa

It felt nothing / It wasn’t impressive

If you are going to Louvre for the first time, you probably would be ‘amazed’, but looks like she wasn’t. Let’s find out why…

私だけのモナリザ

Watashi dake no Monariza

(Because)….
I have my very own Monalisa

She is referring to the painting of Monalisa in Louvre. Of course she is talking about someone (人) - a precious person, and not literally the painting. This is Someone special, someone she can compare to Monalisa.

もうとっくに出会ってたから

Mō tokkuni deattetakara

(who) I have met long time ago.

初めてあなたを見た

Hajimete anata o mita

(When) I first met you / (when) i first saw you / laid eyes on you

So she is still referencing this special person.

あの日動き出した歯車

Ano hi ugokidashita haguruma

(my heart’s) wheels began to turn

Things progressed / Feelings started / Maybe they even had a little bit of romance / relationship (Perhaps a secret one… you will know why soon enough..)

止められない喪失の予感

tomerarenai soushitsu…. no yokan

I couldn’t stop myself but to think that I will lose you.

This line is very interesting. For someone who is in the level as Utada Hikaru (Rich, Famous, Beautiful) - It seems like she felt very insecure around this special person. She wasn’t confident that it would last. She felt she wasn’t good enough or maybe he wasn’t available. So she had a hunch that she will lose him (eventually).

[Verse 2]

もういっぱいあるけど

Mou ippai aru keredo
(although) you have given me a lot

So what did he give? Not Gucci bags….Well I suppose she is implying that she has gotten a lot of “Love”, “Attention” or “Good feeling” from this person.

もう一つ増やしましょう

Mōhitotsu fuyashimashou

Let’s add one more

もう一つ Means One more. 増やしましょう Literally means increase.

Can you give me one last kiss? / 最後のキスをしてくれる？

Suddenly she switches to english in typical Utada Hikaru style.

忘れたくないこと

Wasuretakunai koto

something that I don’t want to forget / Sometime that I won’t forget.

I love you more than you’ll ever know

English line again - It means that you don't understand how large the feeling of love someone has for you. So in this case, her feeling for this ‘special person’ is massive, and she thinks he doesn’t have a clue about it. So again she is implying that her love for him is more than his love for her.

写真は苦手なんだ

shashin wa nigate nanda

I'm not good with pictures / I don’t like to be photographed

でもそんなものはいらないわ

Demo sonna mono wa iranaiwa

But its ok / I don’t need them

She probably means - she and this special person doesn’t have many pictures together. But she is だいじょうぶ！Why? Well maybe she has a photographic memory (写真の記憶)….let’s see.

あなたが焼きついたまま
私の心のプロジェクター

Anata ga yaki tsuita mama
Watashi no kokoro no purojekutā

Images of you remains burned
In the projector of my heart

Basically this special person’s picture is forever saved in her heart. In english songs you will often hear reference of “Tattoo”. The reason is, a Tattoo can’t be removed. So imagine if you Tattoo the name of your ‘special person’ on your body then you are pretty much forever stuck with that! (Pretty lame thing to do…Just for the record).

Her reference to “image burned in her heart’s projector” is cute. But of course its not very accurate - Projectors doesn’t burn - It just projects light. So if you shut it off, the projected picture would be gone. I guess she could say something like “His picture is burned with laser in her heart! But Ouch! That will be chotto painful.

寂しくないふりしてた
まあ、そんなのお互い様か

sabishikunai furi shiteta
maa, sonna no otagaisama ka

I pretend I don't miss you / I pretend i wasn’t lonely

Well, I guess that we both do / did

this is another interesting verse where she confesses that she still misses him. But she is also confidentially thinking that her feeling is mutual (He misses her too!). It’s interesting to see that in this part of the song she seems very confident as opposed to the beginning of the song where she was sure she would lose him. The word otagai means “Mutual” or “Each other”.

誰かを求めることは
即ち傷つくことだった

dareka wo motomeru koto wa
sunawachi kizutsuku koto datta

Yearning for someone
Came hand in hand with heartache

Yearning (憧れ) for someone means — craving to be with someone that you love, but they are either unavailable or far away.

So this special person wasn’t available it seems.

Now I really curious to find out who was she thinking of when she wrote this song! (If you have any idea, let me know…)

But anyway that’s the first part of the song! I have to say that just like english songs - making sense of the lyrics is extremely difficult because there are way too many hidden meanings and nuances in a song. But this was a fun exercise.

Feel free to let me know if you feel that I got something wrong.

Finally let me embed the video of the actual song, enjoy!