is a song by Japanese recording artist Misia

MISIA (Japanese singer)

, commonly stylized as MISIA, is a Japanese R&B singer originally from Fukuoka. She debuted in 1998 on BMG Japan, but has since moved to Sony Music Japan's Ariola Japan imprint...

 from her tenth studio album, Soul Quest

Soul Quest

Soul Quest is the tenth studio album by Japanese R&B singer MISIA, released on July 27, 2011. It will be released in a standard CD-only edition and as a limited 2-CD edition featuring a 77-minute DJ mix of various fan favorite songs by MISIA as mixed by MURO. Soul Quest debuted on the Oricon's...

.

Background

A live recording of the song originally performed on April 8, 2011 at the NHK Hall

NHK Hall

NHK Hall is a part of the NHK Broadcasting Center, located in Jinnan, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Address is 2-2-1, Jinnan, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-8001. This facility has a 3677-seat capacity.* 1955, NHK Hall opened in Tokyo's Uchisaiwai-cho district...

 in Tokyo was digitally released on April 27, 2011 to benefit victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...

 through the "Hope For Japan" campaign of Misia's organization Mudef. The live version was featured in the end segment of the ANN

All-Nippon News Network

, or ANN, is a commercial television news network in Japan run by TV Asahi Corporation.-All-Nippon News Network stations:-Remote Controller Buttons of Digital TV:*1: Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting*3: TV Miyazaki*5: 20 ANN stations...

 coverage program Tsunagarō! Nippon: Terebi ga Tsutaeta Koto, Tsutaetai Koto.

Composition

After the March 11 natural disaster struck, Misia postponed three dates of The Tour of Misia Japan Soul Quest. On her third date since resuming the tour, she took the stage and addressed the audience before performing "Ashita e."

Before resuming the tour, I put all my wishes together and wrote a song. I first sang this "message song" in the City of Peace, Hiroshima. Everyday, I hear about more people worrying about what the future holds as they follow the coverage. I will sing in hopes to, if only a little, lift some of this worry away from people. Let's go toward tomorrow together. I, too, will sing toward tomorrow. I wrote this song to convey this feeling. There's no studio version yet, but, if possible, I would like to record a live version of it here and release it as a charity song.

A studio version of "Ashita e" will be featured on Misia's upcoming tenth studio album Soul Quest.

Track listing