Miki Imai -- Totte Oki no Asa wo （とっておきの朝を）

Got hit with some pretty heavy translation work over the past few days so could really use a bit of relaxation time about now.

So I've decided to with this, Miki Imai's（今井美樹）"Totte Oki no Asa wo" (A Precious Morning) which is about as mellow as one can get in Japanese pop. With a nice hint of Latin, Imai goes on about waking up one lovely morning while her darling is still sleeping away in bed. The next thing you know, there will be that familiar chime signalling that coffee is ready followed by the Maxwell House logo on TV.

All joking aside, though, this is the second Miki Imai song that I had ever heard after first hearing "Natsu wo Kasanete"（夏をかさねて）in that Gunma coffee house back in 1989 or 1990. It turns out that "Totte Oki no Asa wo" was the second track following the first track of "Natsu wo Kasanete" on her first BEST album "Ivory" that was released in the year that I got to Japan on the JET Programme. At the time, I wasn't all that amazed by "Totte Oki no Asa wo" because it just seemed a little too mellow for me. Well, time has mellowed me. I'm a bit more accepting of my bossa nova-influenced J-Pop.

Both tracks originally came from Imai's 3rd original album "Bewith" in June 1988. Imai provided the lyrics while guitarist Ryohei Yamanashi（山梨鐐平）came up with the soft melody. The album hit No. 1 on Oricon.