If any readers ever asked me about finding about a kayo singer with some melodrama and a touch of class, I would always refer them to Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）.
My brother and I often talked about a fellow student in our Japanese language school who had the saddest expression on his face due in part to some really large brown eyes. We joked that if he ever made eye contact with us, we would basically rush to him and beg him to take money from our wallets (back in those days, it was really only coinage including the now-defunct penny, but hey, it's the idea that counts) and any assistance that we could provide. I think that would also describe Ms. Kurahashi who turned 60 a week ago (Happy Birthday to her, and if she needs help of any sort, I would be happy to assist). Except for a very few photos, she always looked very sad or ennui-ridden in her albums, and from at least several of her shots, Ruiko seemed to inhabit the classiest of joints.
However, when I did attend her concert in Minami-Aoyama well over a decade ago that one rainy Friday night, she wasn't exactly bouncing off the walls on a caffeine high, but she was quite cheerful and chatty with the audience. I was relieved.
As mentioned above, Kurahashi's music was often quite moody and introspective with a bit of overseas flair, so perhaps that may have informed the many photographers who were at work on her album covers and liner notes. In any case, I bring you another quintessential Ruiko ballad "Ano Hashi Watare" (Cross That Bridge), the final track on her 1984 album "RUIKO".
I don't have this particular album but wouldn't mind getting it, if it even exists out there anymore. "Ano Hashi Watare" definitely has that Ruiko sound...I kinda feel like I'm walking through a cool foggy day along the Champs-Elysees wondering ruefully about my place in the cosmos. Would probably need a demitasse of espresso after that. The song was written by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）and composed by Kazuya Amikura（網倉一也）.
Since I'm writing this several days before Xmas, allow me to recommend her Xmas tune from a few years earlier, "December 24th".
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