Princess Princess -- M

In place of the usual NHK "Kayo Concert", there was an NHK documentary about the return of the rock band Princess Princess. I mentioned in my first entry ("Diamonds") on the band that the five ladies were getting back together after 16 years of retirement from active performing to raise funds for recovery efforts from the 2011 Earthquake in November. The documentary was an interesting one as the camera focused on each member as she individually prepared herself for the return while take care of regular life. Lead vocal Kaori Kishitani（岸谷香） spoke on the demands of taking care of her kids at school, guitarist Kanako Nakayama（中山加奈子） has just been taking the train like everyone else while sporting her guitar without any fear of being mobbed by rabid fans, and drummer Kyoko Tomita（富田京子） has been renting out a music space and hitting the gym to get herself back into touring shape.

Going back to 1989 though, "M" was actually the B-side to Princess Princess' biggest hit, "Diamonds". However, "M" probably got as much airplay as the other hits by the band. I used to hear it tons of times at the junior high schools I used to teach at, especially when it came to graduation season since the song, written by Tomita and composed by Kishitani, referenced a woman's remembrances of a high school friendship that has now gone into wistful memory as the two have gone their separate ways. I recollect one playing of the song near the end of a school year which had the female students sobbing away. Princess Princess definitely is one of my bands of memory when it came to my time in Gunma Prefecture.

So, back in 2012, it's nice to hear that Princess Princess will be appearing on this year's Kohaku Utagassen in a few weeks....for the very first time. Will like to see what the ratings will be like at that time.