"Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi" (これが私の生きる道, "This Is the Way That I Live") is the 2nd single released by the Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi on October 7, 1996. It sold over 1.5 million copies and was their first #1 hit.[1] They won "Japan Record Award for Best New Artist" in 1996.[2]
It is known in American releases as being titled '"That's the Way It Is"' in An Illustrated History and the album Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, although not a direct translation of the song title.
A Mandarin version of the song was released as a single in China and Taiwan in late 1998 and can be found on their compilation album The Very Best of Puffy/amiyumi Jet Fever. A remix of this version is also on their 2003 remix album PRMX Turbo.
"Kore ga Watashi no Ikirumichi" is filled with phrases and harmonies of The Beatles and The Who.[2]
In 2012, Tamio Okuda explained it in the magazine PEN's interview featured the Beatles:
"I thought it would be fun if women played a song as a parody of the Beatles a little bit. If I played it, it would only become a song that was merely parodied by the man who liked the Beatles. But I thought it would be OK if Puffy played it."
("あれは、女の人がちょっとビートルズのパロディ的な曲をやるっていうのも、面白いかもしれないと思って。僕がやったら、ただ好きなヤツがパロディにしたっていうだけになっちゃうけど、あいつらならいいかと")[3]
Chart performance
The song became the first Puffy single to debut at number 1, selling 402,920 copies that week (until date,[when?] Puffy's biggest first-week sales of a single); the track stayed for another two weeks at the top of the chart and became Puffy's longest reign at number one, selling 735,230 copies only in its first three weeks; it stayed nine non-consecutive weeks at the top 10. The song remained for 16 weeks on the chart and sold 1,566,060 copies, Puffy's biggest selling single. On the J-Wave chart, the song debuted at number 85 and in its fifth week peaked at number 12; it remained on the chart for 20 weeks, Puffy's longest run on the chart.
